A Dirty Dozen with ARLINGTON – October 2018

According to a recent press release: “New Rise Records signees Arlington have shared the new single from their upcoming debut album A Walk Through Jackson County. The record release date is October 26. “It’s the only track on our record that was completely written before we officially became a band. So, technically, it is the very first Arlington song,” the band said. “Also, it has a cowbell in it.”” We get the band to discuss new music, influences, and much more…

1. Tell us a little about your latest release.  What might a fan or listener not grab the first or second time they listen through?  Are there any hidden nuggets the band put in the material or that only diehard fans might find?

Channing Peake: During the recording of the record it wasn’t really on our minds to squeeze any hidden gems into the tracks, but after a couple of listens people will start to notice a few songs have a very light organ supporting the sound.

2. What got you into music, and can you tell us about the moment you realized you wanted to be a musician?

Channing: Growing up I was fortunate enough to have parents who had a wide variety of musical tastes, and some family friends who only added countless albums for me to listen to and learn from. Music was always a very natural part of life for me. I guess my “moment” came when I was in elementary school. I wanted to play guitar in a hair metal band.

3. Building on that, is there a specific song, album, performer, or live show that guided your musical taste?

Channing: I don’t think there was any specific artist or album that guided me more than any other, I tried to gain influence from as much music as I could. When I was a youth I was super into Green Day, Nirvana, Metallica, more or less the biggest rock bands I could find, but over time I tapped into more music styles and artists.

4. Who would be your main five musical influences?

Channing: Geez, five main influences. A few big ones for me are Flogging Molly, Cake, and Red Hot Chili Peppers. All three are very original groups that had me hooked from a young age. Metallica and Blink-182 are two more, both have outstanding catalogues punctuated by tenacious style.

5. If you could call in any one collaborator to do a song with, who would it be, and why?

Channing: I think the three of us would collectively pick Jack White as our dream collaborator. His style and musical vision make him a really prominent influence for our sound, not to mention the fact that the only type of music he puts out is great fuckin’ music.

6. How would you describe your music to someone who’d never listened to you before? What is the one comparison a reviewer or fan has made that made you cringe or you disagreed with?

Grant Whitson: We usually describe it along the lines of alternative blues influenced rock. Music and listener interpretation is hugely subjective, so nothing’s ever made us cringe. There’s definitely been a few that people have made some connections where we don’t hear it at all, but as long as they like it, we’re stoked.

7. What’s the best thing about being a musician?

Tyler Benko: Probably the best thing about it is just having a healthy creative outlet. The idea of making something that nobody else has made before is pretty powerful and music is a great way to do that. It allows you to have complete control of the way you want to express your ideas to the world because it’s coming directly from you.

8. When the band are all hanging out together, who cooks; who gets the drinks in; and who is first to crack out the acoustic guitars for a singalong?

Grant: Tyler is definitely the chef of the group, and quite the cooking show fan. When we were recording the album Tyler would cook himself all these fancy meals while I’d make the same ham and cheese sandwich every day. Channing and Tyler are both always down for drinks. Channing actually read through a whole book about different types of beer while we were recording and now he can educate us on pretty much every type out there. As far guitar Kumbaya circles it’s fair game for any of us.

9. When was the last time you were star struck and who was it?

Grant: Not really starstruck but once I ran into Matt Skiba at a coffeeshop and he put my entire family on the guest list for the blink-182 show later that night, which was super cool of him.

10. If you weren’t a musician, what would be your dream job?

Tyler: If I wasn’t pursuing music I would live to work in an emergency services-related career. Ideally as a firefighter. I actually got my California EMT license right before we left to record our album.

11. Looking back over your career, is there a single moment or situation you feel was a misstep or you would like to have a “do over”, even if it didn’t change your current situation?

Tyler: I’ve definitely said some things on stage trying to be funny that I probably could have phrased differently. I don’t know if I’d say I have any “regrets” but I might go back and keep my mouth shut a little more.

12. If you could magically go back in time and be a part of the recording sessions for any one record in history, which would you choose – and what does that record mean to you?

Tyler: I’d love to be there when David Bowie recorded Ziggy Stardust. That’s one of the best and most original records of all time and I’d love to be a part of that creative process. I’d want to see what was going on in that studio that resulted in such a unique album. Probably a ton of black magik and cocaine.

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Category: Interviews