An Interview with Chicago's Own Arsenal Road At Q Bar on July 23, 2016
An
Interview with Chicago’s Own Arsenal Road
At
Q Bar on July 23, 2016
By: Coren E. McLeod
With any band, change is always a good step in the right
direction. It tends to bring along new
ideas and fresh attitudes. I had a
chance to catch the band Arsenal Road at Q Bar this past Saturday. Aaron from Left With Tomorrow suggested that
I go check them out. Aaron has been a
fan for a while and thought I would enjoy myself.
Arsenal Road impressed me with their stage presence,
amazing lyrics and one could see a great friendship among the band
members. With a philosophy of, “We play rock and drink Mountain Dew
& Miller High Life. We drive vehicles with excellent storage capacity,” one
could tell this band is super chill with a dash of hard core metal sneaking in with
the music.
Arsenal Road brings along years of experience with an
unrestricted boldness towards the world of music. Arsenal Road consist of: Nick Grawe (Vocals and
Lead Guitar), Dick LaVergne (Bass), Liz Ele (Drums) and the newest member
Steve Stanczyk (Rhythm Guitar).
After I got to witness
the intense yet coolness “fuck you…. I
do want I want” set from Arsenal Road, I sat down with each member and
get to know this band on another level.
Plus, with the addition of Steve from Left With Tomorrow, I was
wondering how he was handling juggling both bands….
Here is how it went:
Coren UnRated: Tell me the back
story of Arsenal Road…. How did you
acquire Stephen?
Nick: For the past 9 years, it
has been a 3 piece.
Dick: It is an interesting
story…. It involves campfires and
drinking.
Nick: I was basically
band-less. I had a gig booked. A 44 kegger down in
Joliet. So, I had a couple of fill in
guys for that show. Dickie was in studio
with another band. So, Dickie and I
started the project. We went through a
couple of drummers. We were kind of
going through a Spinal Tap deal. We met
a lot of cool people. However, not the
right fit.
Dick: Here is how we got Liz as
our drummer. I am at a random dive
bar.
Liz: It was Phyllis’ Music Inn. I remember the day like it was yesterday.
Dick: Yes it was.
Liz: I was there because I was
meeting up with some friends. And that
is how I met up with Dick.
Dick: We just happen to be there at the same time. My buddy Pete knew Liz from a rehearsal space
Downtown. He says to me, “This girl. She’s got the pocket you need.”
Dick: We just happen to be there at the same time. My buddy Pete knew Liz from a rehearsal space
Downtown. He says to me, “This girl. She’s got the pocket you need.”
The door guy was like, “That’s
the pocket you need in your band.”
Coren UnRated: Liz, did you play
in a band beforehand?
Liz: I have played around
Chicago. I have too many bands.
Dick: Not such a thing. There could never be too many bands.
Liz: Ok… I have known Pete for a long time. I use to
practice at athe place he worked at. Pete
hooked us up and the rest is history.
Nick: 5 years ago, then Liz came
in. She set up her drums and we jammed a couple of songs. It was like, “Nope, that's it.” We started to pick up shows,
playing and writing more stuff. We
recorded a little 4 song demo.
Coren UnRated: Who helped with
the recording of the demo?
Liz: Our buddy Frosty has a
studio in Chicago called SOS. He is a
really good friend of ours.
Nick: We booked sometime in the
studio. Steve (Left With Tomorrow) and
I had played in a band years back. And
last couple of years we have talked about jamming. We (Arsenal Road) are doing an album and I
told Steve he had to be in on it.
Coren UnRated: Is that how
Steve joined Arsenal Road?
Dick: Yes. He is the only guy that could join this band.
Liz: Steve was already a part
of the family. We were like, “Hey, do you want to be in this nest of
awesomeness?” He is the only person that
gets us and can play his guitar subtly.
He rounds out the antics of the band.
Steve: I played last night with
Left With Tomorrow. (Left With Tomorrow
was at the Metal Grill in Milwaukee.) I feel like I'm on tour.
Coren UnRated: Steve, how did
you and Nick get along with the other band?
Stephen: In the other band, Nick
and I were pretty tight like musically and friendship wise. But then, I came back and I missed
playing with Nick. I think he missed
playing with me.
Liz: Stephen came down and jammed
with us at our secret lair. The Compound.
I believe it was 3 years ago. We
were all like, “We need to make this a regular thing."
Dick: It was fun.
Liz: We were wondering when Steve was going to make it official.
Coren UnRated: How long ago was
that?
Nick: About 2 years ago.
Liz: We were in talks and when
the timing is right; it is right.
Coren UnRated: How many shows has
Steve played with Arsenal Road so far?
Liz: I believe like 6 shows so
far.
Nick: Yeah, I think it is 6.
Steve: I am still kind of fresh
to the band…
Dick: You are not fresh. YOU ARE IN!
Coren UnRated: How does everyone
come together to write music?
Liz: It mostly starts with this
guy… (Pointing towards Nick.) The dynamic may change since we have other members
now. Steve is bringing other guitar
elements in there. We have been jamming
a lot more at practice. Typically, Nick
has an idea for a song. He may have a
riff or two he worked on. Sometimes, we
end up “Frankensteining” it all together.
We still have a lot of things in process with bits and pieces of
songs.
Dick: We just come together and
play.
Liz: We have a lot of instrumental
that doesn’t have words to it. So, we
are kind of like metal meets jam band.
Steve: We are actually working
on a “Sex Jams Session….”
Nick: It is like Santana with Ron
Jeremy on bongos…. (Laughter hits an all-time
high…)
Steve: It music for people that
really like “to get down…”
Nick: I like to write songs
people can relate to. I don’t write hip,
poppy songs.
Coren UnRated: Ok, last question… What can we expect from Arsenal Road for the
rest of the year?
Nick: We have an album
coming out. I am guessing this
fall. We are in post-production at Cherry
Pit Studios. The month of April was like
12 hour days on the weekends. Nothing
but work.
Dick: It was a lot of work. It was very hard work.
Liz: We are very excited. We finally have something to give to people. We wanted something that represents our
band. And it is a good product to share
with the world. We are very happy with
where it is going. Arsenal Road is ready
to get it out there. Go around the Midwest
and hopefully further. Full
Throttle!!!!!
Let me be honest
here: I cannot wait to hear the new
album from Arsenal Road. The entire group
brings such a great magnitude of positive energy and just a fun atmosphere to
their shows. Make sure you check them
out throughout the Chicagoland area. I
was just amazed at how Arsenal Road combined different elements to their
set. A few of my favorite songs are “Homestead,”
“Painkillers,” and “Wake Up.”
So, if you are ready to
rock out with some solid metal with a dash of clever musical drive, go see Arsenal Road. Your dad may join you on a
Saturday night. Just make sure you offer
him and the band a Miller High Life….
#Cheers
Website: http://www.arsenalroad.com/
ReVerbNation: https://www.reverbnation.com/arsenalroad
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