Local Band Spotlight – Arbor Lights – Interview
The West Midlands scene is a vibrant and thriving one and we always like to highlight local bands. Dave Musson interviews Arbor Lights about their music, the expanding local scene and this weekend’s Oxjam.
Ditching vocals for intense musical soundscapes, Arbor Lights are arguably one of the region’s most innovative and epic bands. With a stellar debut album behind them — last year’s stunning Hatherton Lake — and some fantastic live shows too, this fourpiece has the potential to go far. Find out more as they become the first subject of our brand new feature – Scene Spotlight.
Band name: Arbor Lights
Genre: Instrumental Rock
When did you form?: 2010
Current line-up: Alex Clarke – Guitar, Greg Aston – Bass, James D Clarke – Drums, Matt Elton — Guitar
Influences?:
Greg: When I got into bass I also happened to get really into ‘Metal Box’ by PiL so I guess I always wanted to sound like Jah Wobble. Other than that: Steve Hanley’s stuff for The Fall, Joe Lally of Fugazi, that kind of thing.
Alex: My influences are a bit all over the place so I’ll just name a few bands that I think have had a big impact on what and how I play: Asian Kung-Fu Generation, Hundred Reasons, Billy Talent, Reuben, Killswitch Engage, Sigur Ros, Explosions In The Sky, IO.
Matt: I’ve always been a massive fan of bands like Mogwai and Explosions In The Sky so I suppose my guitar playing would always reflect that, though more recently I’ve been more inspired by the guitar sounds of bands like The Cure and The Appleseed Cast. Anything with loads of melodies going on all at once, really!
James: A child of the 90’s; Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Screaming Trees, Soundgarden, Stone Temple Pilots and so on. These days I listen to a lot of My Morning Jacket, Wilco, Band Of Horses, but still love stuff like the Foo Fighters, Biffy Clyro, Incubus. Playing wise I grew up listening to Dave Grohl and I’m a huge Secret Machines fan. I’m the least post-rock member of the band!
What’s the story of the band?
How did you form and what do you count as your biggest achievements so far?
Alex: Matt and I met at college and quickly found a shared love of post-rock, I was only just getting into it at the time but Matt was already well versed! The two bands in particular that got us talking were 65daysofstatic and Oceansize. We started going to loads of local gigs in and around Brum and the Midlands, and while watching local bands like IO and Sunrise Over Europe (now Watchfires) we decided we should start a band. How hard could it be? For about 2 years we tried on and off to get something going when finally, after going through a couple of drummers/bassists to no avail, we put an ad on joinmyband.co.uk and through that met up with Greg. We met at a pub called Arbor Lights (gold star for anyone who can guess where our name came from) and hit it off pretty quickly. At the time Greg didn’t play bass.
Greg: So yeah, I joined and started to play bass for the first time as I’d only ever played guitar previously. We had a few pretty ropey, drummerless practices where we started to piece together our first single, ‘On A Sea’. We tried out one drummer who was very metal and that didn’t really work, eventually Al managed to talk J into getting involved and we started to really kick on from there.
James: I’ve played in bands on and off for 15+ years but hadn’t played for a couple of years, when Alex (my youngest brother) asked me if I wanted to jam. I was pretty busy doing non-musical stuff and specifically said I didn’t have time to commit to joining a band, but was happy to jam this once. That was four years ago….and we’re still ‘jamming’ regularly!
What has been the best thing that has happened to the band since you formed?
Alex: Recording and releasing a full length album is something I didn’t even think about when Matt and I were just messing around with delay pedals making random noises, so that’s pretty cool. And for me personally, to be able to play some of the same venues as my peers has been a great feeling.
Greg: For me it’s just those moments when we’re in the lock up, working on a new song and out of nowhere it all clicks and we all collectively know we have a new song. Nothing really beats that.
Matt: Almost every new thing we do feels like the best thing, which isn’t really a good answer to this question but it’s pretty good for us! The excitement of coming together and making something happen out of nothing is always brilliant. Playing live isn’t always perfect, but sometimes when it clicks it feels like the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done. We played a show in Worcester recently at the Firefly and there was the best atmosphere in the room, like we were playing to our best friends. That’ll always be the best thing, I think.
James: Similarly to what Greg said, the moments when you’re working on a new idea and you’re on the verge of nailing it – that feeling of anticipation is one of the best things that happens. That’s the most enjoyable bit of being in a band. The gig we played at Worcester Firefly in November 2013 was also our best gig to date. It just felt perfect and I had a really weird, almost out-of-body moment, where my eyes were closed and it was as if I wasn’t playing…it was just ‘happening’. I sound like a fucking hippy, but it was the first time I’d ever felt that! (And I was stone cold sober!)
When and where did you play your first show?
Alex: HESFES 2012. A little festival currently held in Suffolk.
How did it go?
Greg: Pretty well! We played for about 20 minutes and there were calls for more when we were done, the only problem was that we were completely out of material at that point.
Alex: It was pretty packed in this small marquee, it was a little daunting for a ‘first’ gig, I’d done small live shows before but only ever in family and friends type situations, but it went well and was over all too quickly!
Matt: I just remember panic-sweating lots and drinking too much cider about twenty minutes before going on. Oops.
James: It was better than the following year, when we arrived to find half the drum kit missing and Al’s amp died, mid-set!
What’s the biggest show you’ve played so far?
Greg: We’ve played a variety of shows over the years, I’m guessing the biggest would have been the gig we did for the launch of our album ‘Hatherton Lake’. We had Sunrise Over Europe, Coldfields and IO on the bill with us so it was a pretty killer night!
James: The biggest venue was probably Newhampton Arts Centre in Wolverhampton. There was a dressing room and dry ice. Very Tap.
What is your favourite venue in Birmingham to play?
Alex: The Flapper (though the firefly in Worcester is the bestest!)
Matt: The Flapper is almost always brilliant, though I bet the old Barfly would be lots of fun to play at, nudge nudge wink wink.
James: The Flapper always just works for us; they’ve got a good PA and great sound guys!
What does the immediate future hold for the band?
Alex: We’re playing the Oxjam Festival this weekend! We play the Flapper at 9pm.
Apart from you, what other unsigned West Midlands band(s) should we keep an eye out for?
Watchfires (Ex-Sunrise Over Europe)
If you could have any band/artist cover one of your songs, who would you want to do it and what song would suit them best?
Alex: Oceansize. Any of the songs; They once did a cover of Walking In The Air and it’s one of the most amazing covers ever! Biffy Clyro would be cool as well; they’ve done some really unique covers in the past!
Greg: Maybe if some of it could be sampled for something hiphop/triphop-y, that’d be pretty interesting.
Matt: I’d love to see something really out-of-the-blue. Maybe the Ukelele Orchestra of Great Britain, or that guy who did the Slayer cover on the banjo. More seriously, I’d love for someone to turn one of our tracks into some kind of synthesiser bedlam, like Zombi did with Mogwai’s song Letters To The Metro (link). I find the idea of anyone dancing to a song that I had some part in pretty hilarious.
James: The Secret Machines, they’d take our songs and make them better.
Arbor Lights — the links effect
Website: http://www.arborlightsband.co.uk
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/arborlightsband
YouTube: http://youtube.com/arborlightsband
Twitter: https://twitter.com/arborlightsband
Soundcloud: http://soundcloud.com/arborlights
Instagram: http://instagram.com/arborlightsband
Catch Arbor Lights at the Flapper this Saturday, 18 October, at 9pm as part of the Oxjam Festival
Interview: Dave Musson
In a band in the West Midlands and want to be featured on Scene Spotlight? Email your answers to the questions that Arbor Lights covered, including a decent photo of your band, and we’ll be in touch! All genres welcome.