interview with Arms of the Girl
Have any of you played in other bands? David used to be a member of From Day One (pop-rock) and Afton was part of One Gun Salute (metal). Phil plays in a cover band called Amplitude (classic rock covers) and Carolyn sings vocals for the project We Used to Be Gunslingers.
How is it that you started playing music?
How is it that you started playing music?
Dave and Afton started young. Afton is part of a musical family and learned to play several instruments before getting into bass. Dave picked up guitar as a teenager and spent hours practicing riffs in his bedroom, while playing with his high school band.
Carolyn and Phil started later. Carolyn started playing guitar at 18 when she was in university and looking for a hobby. Her music teacher encouraged her to start singing and songwriting. Phil was playing the video game Rock Band, and he enjoyed the drums so much that he decided to play them for real.
What are your names? / Who plays what? / How old are you?
Arms of the Girl is made up of:
Carolyn (Cee) Côté, singer and rhythm guitar, age 30;
David Cutler, lead guitar, age 27;
Phil DesRoches, drums, age 31;
Afton Penny, bass, age 26.
Have you had other previous members? We've been around for more than 10 years and have had a few members switch out over that time. Carolyn and Afton are original band members and have been playing together since they were teenagers.
Did you make music even when you were young? Afton and Dave were involved in music when they were younger and belonged to high school bands. Carolyn started playing music later, but used to perform in theatre and dance productions.
Where are you from? Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
What year did the band form? 2006, which seems like such a long time ago! Over the years, the band has grown and changed as the members themselves have grown and changed.
What's your style of genre? We play alternative rock that has a bit of a blues element.
What inspires you? We are inspired by other bands and by the reactions that we get from audiences. They make us want to keep working hard and doing our best.
How often and where do you rehearse? We rehearse once a week in a basement jam space in Phil's house. Fortunately, his wife is very tolerant when we are working on the same tune over and over!
How have you developed since you started with the music? We started very young and just wanting to play music and do a few shows. Over the years, we've performed more and more often, learned some of the dos and don'ts, and gotten more comfortable writing and playing. If you've followed us for a long time, you can definitely see that there's been growth and change and that we've settled more into our sound and style. Recently, the band has been leaning in more of a rock direction, away from the folk / alt-country sound that we used to have. The next music that we release will show that newer sound.
Do you have other interests of work outside the band? Outside of the band, we have different day jobs. Phil works with computers, Carolyn teaches, Dave sells beer, and Afton works for an event company. The band is our passion project, and we love being able to escape and play music.
Are you looking for a booking agency, and what are your thoughts around that? We're not actively looking, but we would be open to it. The more people are helping you to promote your music, the better.
Are you looking for a label, and what are your thoughts around that? Same as above. The benefit of a label is that you're part of a music community, working together to promote your music and others' music.
What made you decide to make this music? It's just fun. Being onstage is the greatest feeling in the world, and it's a privilege to have people come and watch and enjoy.
What are your songs about? Mostly relationship-based; not romantic, necessarily, but about different interactions with people. It's loosely based on Carolyn's experiences.
Who does the composing and writes the lyrics? Carolyn is the main songwriter. She creates the basic composition and the lyrics. The rest of the band takes the initial song and helps to flesh it out.
Do you start with the music or the lyrics? Sometimes with the music, sometimes with the lyric. It depends on the moment, and the inspiration for writing a song.
Do you compose in a certain environment? Carolyn gets a lot of song ideas while driving or in the shower. It's very distracting, because she has to keep the idea in her head until she can get a pen and paper and write it down. The rest of the song is written in her basement or backyard, depending on the mood of the song.
Have you done any covers live? Yes, we play classic and modern rock covers. It's a great way to give new audience members something familiar.
What language do you sing in? English.
What are the least and most people to attend one of your gigs? It really depends. Anywhere from tens of people to hundreds of people, depending on the venue and the event.
What ages are most of your concert attendants? Hard to say. We appeal to a broad range of ages, and it can depend on the venue and event. Usually 20s and 30s though.
Do you always play the same songs live, or do you vary? There are some songs that we love to play, so we play them quite often. Our sets are varied though. We have a lot of original material, and we are constantly writing and adding more.
What was your latest gig? Our latest gig was part of Canada Day celebrations in the nation's capital. It was on a big stage outdoors, and it was a lot of fun to be part of a big celebration.
Where have you played live this year? Where do you plan to gig the coming year? We mostly play in Ontario, Canada as we're trying to build our reputation close to home.
When did you start to sell merchandise, and what do you have for sale? We have music for sale (CDs, downloads) and Arms of the Girl buttons.
Where can people buy your merchandise? We are on iTunes (https://itunes.apple.com/ca/artist/arms-of-the-girl/id279893956) and BandCamp (http://armsofthegirl.bandcamp.com/) for downloads, and CDBaby (https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/armsofthegirl8). Our newest release is called Paper | Copper | Steel.
How do you think the music industry have changed because of this? It's definitely changed the music industry. In some ways, it's great -- it's easier nowadays for bands to get their music online and reach a wide audience. At the same time, you don't make as much money off of a paid download, and, obviously, you get nothing or next to nothing for streaming or unpaid downloads. There will always be demand for buying physical copies, though. Vinyl is a great example of that. It's becoming more and more popular, to the extent that Sony has revived its vinyl production. Physical copies of music provide a very real, tangible connection to artists.
What do you think of my work? It's very cool that you're reaching out to artists all over the world. It creates a larger musical community.
How do you think and know that this interview will help you in the music business? We hope that people will be interested in finding out more about us and listening to our music.
Is it easier to find inspiration from older bands, or bands that are more active today? Both. Classics are great for a reason, and we do like a lot of older bands; however, there are always great bands making music. You just have to take the time to leave the older band comfort zone and listen to what's out there.
What advice would you give other bands or artists? Be nice to everyone and learn from your mistakes.
Do you have any new material? We are working on a new single and music video, which will be released in August 2017. Our last EP (Paper | Copper | Steel) was released in 2016, and we plan on a new one for 2018.
What are your web sites?
http://www.armsofthegirl.com
Carolyn and Phil started later. Carolyn started playing guitar at 18 when she was in university and looking for a hobby. Her music teacher encouraged her to start singing and songwriting. Phil was playing the video game Rock Band, and he enjoyed the drums so much that he decided to play them for real.
What are your names? / Who plays what? / How old are you?
Arms of the Girl is made up of:
Carolyn (Cee) Côté, singer and rhythm guitar, age 30;
David Cutler, lead guitar, age 27;
Phil DesRoches, drums, age 31;
Afton Penny, bass, age 26.
Have you had other previous members? We've been around for more than 10 years and have had a few members switch out over that time. Carolyn and Afton are original band members and have been playing together since they were teenagers.
Did you make music even when you were young? Afton and Dave were involved in music when they were younger and belonged to high school bands. Carolyn started playing music later, but used to perform in theatre and dance productions.
Where are you from? Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
What year did the band form? 2006, which seems like such a long time ago! Over the years, the band has grown and changed as the members themselves have grown and changed.
What's your style of genre? We play alternative rock that has a bit of a blues element.
What inspires you? We are inspired by other bands and by the reactions that we get from audiences. They make us want to keep working hard and doing our best.
How often and where do you rehearse? We rehearse once a week in a basement jam space in Phil's house. Fortunately, his wife is very tolerant when we are working on the same tune over and over!
How have you developed since you started with the music? We started very young and just wanting to play music and do a few shows. Over the years, we've performed more and more often, learned some of the dos and don'ts, and gotten more comfortable writing and playing. If you've followed us for a long time, you can definitely see that there's been growth and change and that we've settled more into our sound and style. Recently, the band has been leaning in more of a rock direction, away from the folk / alt-country sound that we used to have. The next music that we release will show that newer sound.
Do you have other interests of work outside the band? Outside of the band, we have different day jobs. Phil works with computers, Carolyn teaches, Dave sells beer, and Afton works for an event company. The band is our passion project, and we love being able to escape and play music.
Are you looking for a booking agency, and what are your thoughts around that? We're not actively looking, but we would be open to it. The more people are helping you to promote your music, the better.
Are you looking for a label, and what are your thoughts around that? Same as above. The benefit of a label is that you're part of a music community, working together to promote your music and others' music.
What made you decide to make this music? It's just fun. Being onstage is the greatest feeling in the world, and it's a privilege to have people come and watch and enjoy.
What are your songs about? Mostly relationship-based; not romantic, necessarily, but about different interactions with people. It's loosely based on Carolyn's experiences.
Who does the composing and writes the lyrics? Carolyn is the main songwriter. She creates the basic composition and the lyrics. The rest of the band takes the initial song and helps to flesh it out.
Do you start with the music or the lyrics? Sometimes with the music, sometimes with the lyric. It depends on the moment, and the inspiration for writing a song.
Do you compose in a certain environment? Carolyn gets a lot of song ideas while driving or in the shower. It's very distracting, because she has to keep the idea in her head until she can get a pen and paper and write it down. The rest of the song is written in her basement or backyard, depending on the mood of the song.
Have you done any covers live? Yes, we play classic and modern rock covers. It's a great way to give new audience members something familiar.
What language do you sing in? English.
What are the least and most people to attend one of your gigs? It really depends. Anywhere from tens of people to hundreds of people, depending on the venue and the event.
What ages are most of your concert attendants? Hard to say. We appeal to a broad range of ages, and it can depend on the venue and event. Usually 20s and 30s though.
Do you always play the same songs live, or do you vary? There are some songs that we love to play, so we play them quite often. Our sets are varied though. We have a lot of original material, and we are constantly writing and adding more.
What was your latest gig? Our latest gig was part of Canada Day celebrations in the nation's capital. It was on a big stage outdoors, and it was a lot of fun to be part of a big celebration.
Where have you played live this year? Where do you plan to gig the coming year? We mostly play in Ontario, Canada as we're trying to build our reputation close to home.
When did you start to sell merchandise, and what do you have for sale? We have music for sale (CDs, downloads) and Arms of the Girl buttons.
Where can people buy your merchandise? We are on iTunes (https://itunes.apple.com/ca/artist/arms-of-the-girl/id279893956) and BandCamp (http://armsofthegirl.bandcamp.com/) for downloads, and CDBaby (https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/armsofthegirl8). Our newest release is called Paper | Copper | Steel.
How do you think the music industry have changed because of this? It's definitely changed the music industry. In some ways, it's great -- it's easier nowadays for bands to get their music online and reach a wide audience. At the same time, you don't make as much money off of a paid download, and, obviously, you get nothing or next to nothing for streaming or unpaid downloads. There will always be demand for buying physical copies, though. Vinyl is a great example of that. It's becoming more and more popular, to the extent that Sony has revived its vinyl production. Physical copies of music provide a very real, tangible connection to artists.
What do you think of my work? It's very cool that you're reaching out to artists all over the world. It creates a larger musical community.
How do you think and know that this interview will help you in the music business? We hope that people will be interested in finding out more about us and listening to our music.
Is it easier to find inspiration from older bands, or bands that are more active today? Both. Classics are great for a reason, and we do like a lot of older bands; however, there are always great bands making music. You just have to take the time to leave the older band comfort zone and listen to what's out there.
What advice would you give other bands or artists? Be nice to everyone and learn from your mistakes.
Do you have any new material? We are working on a new single and music video, which will be released in August 2017. Our last EP (Paper | Copper | Steel) was released in 2016, and we plan on a new one for 2018.
What are your web sites?
http://www.armsofthegirl.com
https://www.instagram.com/armsofthegirl/
http://www.youtube.com/armsofthegirl
How can people reach you? Through any of our links above, or by emailing [email protected]
What are your plans for the future? Play more shows, release more music, connect with more people.
http://www.youtube.com/armsofthegirl
How can people reach you? Through any of our links above, or by emailing [email protected]
What are your plans for the future? Play more shows, release more music, connect with more people.