A few months ago we introduced you a band called Arrows which consists of two men originally from Detroit and three from Omaha, where they all currently live. If you are smart you listened and gave them a chance to become one of your favorite new bands. If you didn't listen, we are giving you another chance to check them out before they head to Detroit to play two back to back shows March 15th and 16th.
This is a special treat for us because we have literally not been able to stop listening to their first EP “Triangles” since we heard it. It’s catchy and makes us want to dance and have a good time. What I find most interesting is that these musicians are finding and embracing new territory. This is one of the first bands to use all sorts of electronic elements in their music and do it right. I am so excited to see how they pull this off live because there is so much to recreate. They have played a few times in Omaha, so hopefully they have worked out the kinks for their triumphant return to Michigan.
Friday, Arrows perform at The Loving Touch in Ferndale alongside The A-Gang, Squid The Whale, and The Company We Keep. We are giving a ticket away each day this week! You can find out how to enter to win your way in the door here. The doors for this show are at 8 p.m. and admission is $5 for 21+ and $10 for 18-21.
Saturday, Arrows will perform at The Old Miami alongside Almost Free, HauntedHouse and The Paper Sound. Doors for this show are at 9 p.m. and it is also only $5, but only 21+ are allowed to attend this show.
Both shows boast killer lineups and at $5 you get a lot of bang for your buck. If this has not convinced you to come out to the show please take a moment and read my pre-show interview with Jim and Aaron of Arrows. Both are Detroit boys that are ready to come home and show us what they have been up to, and both of them need a Hani and and Coney stat!
Hip In Detroit- What made you decide to bring Arrows to Detroit for back to back shows?
Aaron- "Being from Detroit, James and I have wanted to bring Arrows “home” since the first hint that the project might become a live-performance band and not simply the recording-only project that was first intended.
We'd have loved to come all the way to MI to play either one of these gigs. The bands on both bills are so great, and our friends/fans have given us some great feedback about the recordings we released last fall.
By some stroke of cosmic fortune, we were approached about playing one Detroit show in March, and by the end of the day had two great shows to play on the same weekend. We couldn’t be more excited."
James- "I'm homesick."
Hip In Detroit- Tell us a little bit about this project? How long have you been together as Arrows, how did you all meet? What inspired you to work together?
Aaron- "Quick answer: I knew James from high school in Detroit, Scott from summer camp as a kid, and Josh from my wife, Thea. I met Kyle through Scott.
James moved to Omaha. Music ensued. Righteous dudes joined up. Arrows.
Long answer: James and I basically met the last week of our senior year at Adlai E. Stevenson high school. Soon after our first attempt at music together, we actually became something like enemies for a short stint. [Hahahaha] We figured things out about the time Short of 1st was ready for a singer. Once they asked me to try out for the part, James and I were like brothers, and have been since.
James left Detroit in Spring of 2010 to begin his “Journey to the End of Night." I’ll let him explain what that means."
James- "Journey to the End of the Night is restlessness. I was feeling restless."
Aaron (continued)- "With James visiting, we decided to play music together again, and invited Josh along for the ride, come what may.
Throughout 2011 we discovered a whole new perspective on music and creativity. We were writing music on the computer with a nearly limitless arsenal of instruments, sounds, and effects. Writing music in an environment with so few limitations is literally like being the engineers of a dream.
When we showed Kyle one of our rough tracks, he sat down at the desk and made a few mix adjustments that made the song sound a hundred times better. Based on the sound Kyle produced almost effortlessly, we changed direction toward releasing the “rough” recordings we laid down at my house, with Kyle’s help.
All of the drums in the recordings were drum machine and samples, and often times NOT humanly possible to play live. Scott had the tricky job of hearing what was there on the album, and interpreting it to live-drums. He totally killed it."
Hip In Detroit- Your album features multiple singers, sounds, and instruments. What can we expect to see and hear when you play live?
Aaron- "Having written the album based on what we could imagine rather than what we could physically play, it was an adventure figuring out how we wanted to play live. A fantastic adventure. We’ve ended up with a rich, high-energy, dance-inducing set. Expect to see acoustic, electric, digital, analog, and glitter. Expect it to be as LOUD as the club sound will allow."
Hip In Detroit- Describe Arrows to someone who has never heard you before?
James- "Arrows is that band you're forced to check out because you know a few of its members. When you finally get around to streaming the first 15 seconds of the song they keep posting on your newsfeed, you think, "Yeah, okay, I get it. Not bad." A few days later, you have a song stuck in your head. It's Taylor Swift. You discard it. A few days after that, you're singing, "Hot stuff baby…" THAT's Arrows. But you forgot where you heard it. You Shazam your voice in a desperate attempt. Nothing. You Google the lyrics. Nothing. So you retreat back to Facebook and complain how much space that band Arrows is taking up."
Hip In Detroit- Since you have played here and in Omaha over the years can you compare and contrast the "scene" there to the "scene" here.
Aaron- "That's a really tough one for me to answer. I feel like the advantages of one over the other are equally the disadvantages. For example: Detroit is such a large, sprawling metropolis that you can easily find out about a band from the metro area that has been killing it for a couple years, but you never heard of them. There's advantage in that continuing opportunity to discover new fans or discover new bands, but there's a disadvantage in how disconnected the scene can be. The opposite might be true of Omaha, where the scene is far more centralized and concentrated. Omaha is a place where it can be much easier to go see bands play, or find out about bands, simply because of the concentration within a smaller area, however you might run out of places to play if you're trying not to over-play certain clubs. I think both cities have this in common: They are so hungry for genuine art and culture and will support the shit out of something that they can connect with."
Hip In Detroit- Give me one good reason why someone should come see you live ?
James- "The chance to touch Josh Foo."
Hip In Detroit- What do you miss the most about Detroit?
Aaron- "Friends, Vernors, Coney Island, in that order."
James- "The people."
Hip In Detroit- What do you most look forward to doing when you come back home? Seeing friends, bands, eating a certain place ect.?
James- "It'll feel good to shake my father's hand, to hug my brother and Victoria, to eat an Inn Season salad, to pet Woobie, to drink a Dunkin' Donuts ice coffee, to eat General Tso's cauliflower at Seva, and to sit in traffic."
Aaron- "Most of all I can't wait to see the faces of friends and musicians that have influenced who and what I am today. I'm pretty much beside myself at the opportunity of sharing the stage with a few of my musical heroes two nights in a row. Also, it's a huge bonus that James and I get to show Kyle, Scott, and Josh (native to Omaha) what a fucking great scene/community we came from in Detroit. I know some of the dudes in the band are stoked to taste a real Detroit perogi and a Hani from National (present company included)."
Hip In Detroit- Any future releases planned ?
Aaron- "Absolutely, and we're incredibly excited for the new material. We've already snuck some of it into live shows. The next release will undoubtedly be just as diverse and energized, but I think it will also feel deeper, more focused. Right now we're planning on getting three new songs released by the end of summer."
Hip In Detroit- Where can someone find your album or find you online to follow?
Aaron & James- "Follow us on FB: Facebook.com/thankyouarrows
Search for Keyword “Arrows Triangles” on Spotify, iTunes, Google Play, Amazon MP3, etc.
Check out our videos on YouTube: youtube.com/thankyouarrows"
~S
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