Just in case you missed them the first time, throughout the next week you get the chance the read the Glass Nail Records: Label Of 2013 interviews. First up: Arrows In Her.
Hello Arrows In Her!
Hello Kelly!
For the record, and the unluckily unacquainted, who is Arrows In Her and how did you get together?
Arrows In Her is me (Damian), I play guitar and sing, two of my childhood best friends, Edwin who plays bass and Roger who plays guitar and our good friend Harold, on drums and vocals. Us getting together is a bit of a long story, but me and Edwin played in a "serious" band when we were teenagers called Astrophel and Stella and Arrows In Her was a side thing that incorporated a shitty beat program trying to make experimental the sound of animals fighting-esque stuff, it really didn't work out that way. It wasn't a serious project and basically was left on Myspace, haha, and then after 2 bands that we didn't take all too seriously we were kind of sick of trying to come up with new band names so we used this one. We had a fantastic drummer in our old band Jeff who wanted nothing more than to move to California so after a few months of not having a drummer and getting sad we got in touch with Harold who played keyboards in another local band, not knowing he'd be a hell of a drummer, and just started playing a lot of shows, around December of 2011. Work and school kind of slowed us down until the summer of 12 and that's when we really got together and tried our best to make an EP.
How has your 2012 been?
As far as life is concerned, its been less than magical. But for the band its been going so much better than we'd ever had thought. the fact that our free downloads on Bandcamp have run out every month since the EP has been out and a lot of kids have reached out to us and donated money and offered their support in promoting us has been beautiful. We were in talks with Glass Nail the day after our EP was released online and they have been really great and supportive and given us the chance to be in a family with a bunch of great bands. We've also had some really great shows, as well as not so great. but for only being a band that people have known about for a little over 3 months, I'd say its been greater than we could have ever hoped!
What are you up to at the moment?
Writing. We've been trying to write some songs for a winter demo for a week long tour in January as well as trying to work on songs for a full length, booking shows for a 5 day trip down to Virginia and back and trying to scrape our pennies to get some merch done for those 2 outings.
So, all hard work at the moment?
It's not hard, it is stressful at times, but nothing brightens my day more than the opportunity to make music with my best friends. All the hard work is getting together consistently. I guess booking a tour is a bit hard, its been a long while since I've had to attempt to book one.
What was it like seeing the pre-orders of the 7" re-pressing selling so fast? You mentioned it being awesome that the downloads going so fast was awesome, so how is it knowing so many people want to pay for a physical copy?
Yeah I was shocked. I only really promoted it for a few days, I don't want to "spam" people or look desperate for sales. but luckily enough people were hearing the music and making the choice to buy the vinyl. It's actually a 10 inch now, our EP is too long, haha. But yes, it feels amazing. Honestly as long as people have it on their iPod or computer and really like it, it's just a great feeling. People getting the vinyl have a record player and are just a little more enthusiastic, i guess?
Awesome! How was the writing process for leaving.? Is there anything you regret about the record? Or are you happy with it?
The writing process was long. Our guitarist Roger works overnights, so its a rare occasion for all of us to sit in a room and work out everything. It was usually really pleasant though. I will always have regrets about anything I do, but it's the happiest I've ever been about anything I've put on record. It was also the best studio experience, a lot of studio types are really pretentious and you feel like a child, but recording with Adam was the funnest time and I don't see us straying from him for a long while. I think next time we'll work a bit more with the guitars we use, but all and all, I am happy, we all are.
Why did you decide to join Glass Nail Records?
Some guy came to us, 30 something year old, had a successful career and seemed to have a bigger budget for us to work with, he was a nice guy and he was looking to start a label with us being the first release. We were debating which offer we were more comfortable with. Kenneth from Glass Nail is our age, he's been booking shows for like 6 years, he had a roster with not only our best friends Gatherer, but 3 other awesome bands and we felt like glass nail really has a lot of potential and ambition. We have no delusions, we are a young band and we really wanted to join a family rather than carry the pressure of bringing a label up out of obscurity. We'd rather be obscure with friends, haha.
Want to share any details on the aforementioned Winter Demo? Or the upcoming full length?
We're going to record a 3 song demo with our friends viper party records, he runs his own studio on the second floor of our rehearsal space. all or at least 2 of those songs will be on the full length. We're thinking the full length will be 8-10 songs and we're going to try to have it out by spring. We don't have any song titles or album names yet.
Will the vibe on the new full length be similar to what we heard on leaving.? Or has your tastes in the music you want to create changed at all?
It will be similar. It's going to be kind of an eclectic album, haha, some songs are mellow, some songs are "heavy" it will be a bit more mathy but more driving? Our taste in music is all over the place, it always has been. Maybe a few influences will come out that didn't make it on to leaving.
Who are your influences? Who would be the band's favourite bands?
The Smiths, Lifetime, American Football, At The Drive-in, The Mars Volta, Glassjaw, Elliot Smith, The Get Up Kids, The Cure, old Against Me!, Saetia, Sunny Day Real Estate, Braid, Bane, The Promise Ring, Minus The Bear, The Lawrence Arms
What's your opinion of the scene at the moment?
In general it seems strong. our general area is picking up. us and Gatherer's area is like a black-hole of comradeship and art, it's been dead for years and it's laughable to try throwing shows and be in a band. But there's a nice little clique of bands that are making shows happen in Hudson County. Underage drinking and drug use has made shows a nightmare for a long time, but I think more and more kids are starting to see shows as a place to hear new music as opposed to a free-for-all party.
What can we expect from your upcoming live shows? And from the Stay Glassy Tour 2.0?
You can expect 1 or 2 new songs and us being awkward. the Stay Glassy tour is looking like it will be in April and it will most likely include Glass Nail's newest signing Things Fall Apart. I can't say much, but it seems like it will be a bit longer and reach out further into the midwest. it should be awesome.
Sounds awesome! If Arrows In Her was a word, what would it be?
Pensive
Lovely. Okay, so we're coming to the end of the interview, do you have any final words?
Download our EP, burn it for a friend, listen to it on headphones and make it out to a show whenever we get to your part of the country!
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