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LA based indie rock band White Arrows have been on the grind. After hitting the stage at Coachella last year, the guys have regrouped and allowed the creative process to take hold.
The end result is their highly anticipated sophomore album ‘In Bardo.’ Expected to drop this fall, the album will shine a whole new light on the band. GroundSounds recently caught up with frontman Mickey Church to talk about their upcoming album, musical inspirations and more, check out the interview below.
For those just discovering White Arrows, can you tell us about how you guys came together and started making music?
I initially wrote some songs while I was at school in New York, and they kinda took off on the internet, so I moved back to LA and formed the band with my brother, and friends.
How did you guys come up with the name White Arrows?
It kinda just happened. I like the imagery, and the reference to Shel Silverstein “Where The Sidewalk Ends”.
We at GroundSounds are extremely excited for White Arrows sophomore album In Bardo, can you tell us about working on this project and bringing it to fruition?
It was the first time we were off tour long enough for us to make an album at one point in time, as opposed to in between tours for a week at a time which is what we did for the first album. This album is darker, heavier, and feels like it is a time capsule of how I feel now.
You guys are currently embarking on a North American tour, what do you all enjoy most about being on the road? What cities are you guys looking forward to most?
I never really like to travel as a tourist, so this is a good way for me to see the world. I like having a reason to be a place, and see the city and move on to the next place. I’m looking forward to coming back to the same cities that we’ve been to, but just playing the bigger venues in those towns. It’s always nice to get to the east coast, and New York where I lived for a many years.
Are you guys all originally from SoCal? What do you guys enjoy most about LA?
Yeah we are all from Southern California. I like how there is space, and you can be near things but feel remote. I like that there are mountains, and beaches, and dense metropolitan areas very close to each other.
What music are you guys currently listening to?
I’ve been listening to Alice Cooper from the 70s, and been feeling this unreleased Phil Lynott song “One Wish”, which he recorded the year he died.
How did some of the thematic elements of death, sex and religion work its way into the music on In Bardo?
It was subconscious. It just seems to be that’s what is constantly in the ether or swirling around in my brain.
What was the inspiration behind the track “We Can’t Ever Die?” What were you guys thinking and feeling as this track came together?
Andrew and I were just in the basement of where I live, where we write most of our songs, and it just came out. We were messing around with this weird Phil Collins-y vocal effect on the chorus, and it sounded cool and big and chanty. We ended up not using that effect, but it sort of helped the way I sang the part in the chorus.
What is it about psychedelic rock and electro-pop that attracts you guys to this sound?
I can’t really decide why it came to be that way. It’s just whats always been pleasing to me. I like trippy things, and good melodies.
Can you tell us about the writing and creative process for the track “Leave It Alone?”
That song is one of the more rock songs we’ve ever written. It gets heavy in the chorus, and is kind of ethereal in the verses. We dug that juxtaposition.
After the album drops what’s next for White Arrows?
Probably a lot of touring. Not dying.
