A year has come and gone since the release of White Arrows debut album ‘Dry Land Is Not A Myth’ We conducted an interview with the LA based group, the day of the release of their phenomenal rock-pop LP. Once again, we catch up with frontman Mickey to talk ‘road life’ since the groups non-stop world wind tour last year, their experiences, and how their upcoming second album is coming together.
FS: It seems like you guys have been bouncing all over the map playing shows since the release of your debut album. How has seeing the world shaped your sound?
WA: Well, it’s kind of crazy because we were bouncing around before the record. We got lucky and just started getting offered tours based on our live show and our very first 7” digital EP. (Get Gone 7″) It’s been amazing, some of the most memorable shows have been overseas. I really liked Amsterdam, and our entire tour in Australia has been awesome, none of us had ever been before. So it was cool to perform for people who don’t even speak the same languages sometimes.
FS: What are a few lessons you learned from traveling on the road?
WA: I don’t even know, its all happened so fast so it’s kinda hard to reflect. You just gotta take it as it comes, its strange but the thing you learn most is that the music ‘transcends’ as cheesy as it sounds. It transcends physical borders, and language barriers, they’re those that don’t speak English that are singing the words to some of our songs. It’s kinda trippy and surreal.
FS: What’s a foreign country that’s really taken to your music, that’s surprised you? Like are you SUPER popular in a small town in Iceland or something?
WA: I’m surprised anywhere in the country or out of the country when anyone knows the words to my song. It’s shocking, any song that has been written or put out has been, up until now, has been written & recorded at my house. Something that was taken from the privacy of my bedroom, I’m now playing it and someone is now singing it as I sing it.
Anywhere in Europe, or Australia, and a person knew who we were. It was so strange, the internet is a wild thing.
FS: You guys have very unique style, do you have any fashion tips for the summer?
WA: Be as functional as possible. Clothes with ventilation for sweats, and camouflage, and crocs. Mix & match!
FS: How’s material for the second album coming along?
WA: Up until now, we had never worked with anyone, like legitimately, and it was all written and recorded at home. This album we’re kinda making it a point to work with as many people and collaborate with actual producers in different studios. We’re just now delving into that, this past week we’ve been recording in a studio in Venice. We’re so used to doing it by ourselves, It would be nice to make ourselves purposely feel uncomfortable by doing something we’ve never done before.
FS: I brought a friend of mine to a show of yours the other day and I didn’t know how to classify the music. I just told him, ‘close your eyes and you can see the music’ he got it, once he heard. How would you introduce your music to someone who’s never listened to you?
WA: What you said is awesome, I might use that from now on, because that’s one of the most common things that we get. We’re very hard to specify what we are, we’re just a mix of a bunch of different things. Pop, psychedelic, and a little bit of electronic, but it makes it hard to describe to people who’ve never heard it. That’s a good way to do it, to experience it visually and with all of your senses. I’m actually more curious to find out what people ‘think’ we sound like, because I have such a hard time describing it.
