In our first interview, Small Talk sits down with Todd Goldstein of ARMS, an NYC-based musician whose work is both entirely personal and something we can all sympathize with. Often recorded in his own home and using a fairly traditional band set-up, his work as ARMS makes great use of soundscapes and effects to deliver its message to listeners.
So first, before we start things off, introductions are in order here: Who are you, where are you from, and what do you do?
My name is Todd Goldstein, I'm from Brookline, Massachusetts (just outside of Boston), and I have been writing and recording pop songs under the name ARMS since 2004.
I know that after your first album as ARMS, Kids Aflame (made during your time with the Harlem Shakes), you expanded ARMS from a solo project to a full-on band; this might be old news, but why the change? I mean, even without the Harlem Shakes, you could've kept on by yourself; what prompted the formation of a new group?
When Harlem Shakes broke up in 2009, I had been writing songs by myself for most of my life previously. While Harlem Shakes was never 'my' band (it was resolutely 'our' band, and I was the guitarist), I'd always had designs on leading my own group—and so once the Shakes dissolved, that seemed like the perfect time to pull the trigger. I was looking forward to the opportunity to have more minds at work in ARMS than my own. Luckily, I found some amazing guys, and the results far exceeded my expectations.
How did you all meet and start making music together?
It's important to note that the ARMS I'm talking about now—the band as it existed from 2009 to 2012 or so—is different from the band as it exists now. (Today it's just me and my drummer Tlacael, with a revolving cast of buddies filling in the spaces.) At the time though, Matty Fasano emailed me out of the blue asking if I was looking for any new bandmates after the Shakes had broken up; I snagged Tlacael Esparza as his old band, the dearly departed chamber-pop group Frances, was breaking up; and Dave Harrington (who's currently one-half of DARKSIDE with Nicolas Jaar) was an extended member of our music family who I'd always wanted to make noise with. And so poof! We were a band. Sometimes it's actually that easy.
Was there a definitive moment where you said "Yeah, we're officially a band", or did it just happen over time?
We knew it instantly. I was in awe of everyone's musicianship, I was lucky enough that they liked my songs, and we came together around that common purpose and started writing and arranging Summer Skills right away.
The first album by ARMS was very personal and highly involved in your time in New York, while from there the band focused a little more on creating worlds and telling stories: what inspired that change in subject?
I think I just started widening my scope. My 20s were overall a pretty depressive, anxiety-filled time for me, and I'd initially started writing ARMS songs as a way of exploring that floating sense of dread by being brutally, painfully honest both in my delivery and in my lyrical subject matter—but by the time I got to album 2, that approach started to feel old. The abstracted fictional storytelling thing may have come out of a growing familiarity with that anxiety… instead of talking about what it feels like (the 'what'), I started finding supernatural ways of explaining its presence in my life (the 'why'), and that expanded to become the world of Summer Skills.
Speaking of that dreaded beast inspiration, what inspired the supernatural elements of Summer Skills? There's a fair amount of imagery on that album of monsters and creatures, and it's even described as a "fractured tale of love under supernatural circumstances" on your bandcamp page.
I wanted to create a world that felt like the inside of my head in those days, without actually addressing the circumstances of my life—which at the time involved a lot of breakups and new beginnings and complicated emotions. Something about the inhuman darkness that was constantly at my shoulder felt like the horror and sci-fi movies I'd loved as a teenager, so I set the album's dissolving romance in a similar universe.
Changing tack, what's the average live show by you like? How's the fan interaction?
The live show is always different. I've got great bandmates these days—we're usually a quartet with guitar / bass / drums / keys and samples—and the show itself is always tight, focused, and loose in the right ways. Audience-wise, the folks who go to shows in NYC these days are pretty sedate and fan interaction tends to be fairly minimal, unfortunately. Strange to say, but we're much "bigger" on the Internet than we are in real life. Our hometown crowds tend to be sparse, but every once in a while I'll meet someone after a show who'd been into my songs since the early days and it totally makes my evening.
How's your fanbase interaction in general? I know from experience you're good at getting back to replies and such, but what are the interactions like? Any crazy fan stories?
We've had super-fans over the years, and that's always pretty heart-warming, although no one's stalked me or anything. The best fan mail I've ever gotten, though, was from Gary Lightbody, the lead singer in the humongous UK band Snow Patrol. He wrote a review of "Heat & Hot Water" in Q Magazine one day—I still have no idea how he got ahold of the song—and we struck up an email correspondence. He's a fantastic guy, incredibly supportive, and a totally inspirational songwriter. He's my rock 'n roll uncle.
How far have you gone on tour, and what's your favourite place you've been?
We haven't toured as much as I'd like over the years—it's pretty damn expensive, with very little chance of breaking even—but we've gotten out there a bit. Harlem Shakes used to tour a hell of a lot more, back when such things were possible. My favorite place is probably Charleston, SC. It's the charming-est Southern town in the nation. Spanish moss all over everything. Great grits. Raucous shows.
Going back to the Harlem Shakes, I know I've heard fans still talking, and I've even seen new fans discover them; have you all kept in touch, and are there any chances for any collaborative efforts between you all again?
Yeah it's amazing that our records are still finding their way out there! I love it. Jose (bass) and Brent (drums) and I are all still very close. They've both sidelined music since the band broke up, but Jose's become a pretty unbelievable techno DJ and Brent writes novels and very occasionally puts out music under the name Thunder & Lightning. I'm mixing Brent's new record right now, actually. It's extraordinary. We'll get it out there eventually.
On that note, if you could work with any person in music today (aside from the fine folks you currently associate with), who would it be and why?
I've always wanted to sing standards in a jazz band. Lounge-style, in a suit.
Are there any new music movements going on in New York you wish had more exposure or recognition, or that you just plain think are cool? Art in general?
I've become a bit of a musical hermit over the years, so I'm not sure I can speak to 'movements' going on in NYC, but one of my favorite locals bands is my friend Martin, who goes by Brazos—he's on Dead Oceans, his stuff is killer—and I just found out about this cartoonist/artist and I think his stuff is magic: http://www.guybillout.com/
How did you start making music-the very beginning, as far back as you can remember?
My parents forced me to take piano lessons when I was 8! How else does anyone get started in music??
What plans do you have for the future, for both yourself and ARMS?
Well our last EP—which was called EP2—came out on a small label and did pretty well, and I'm in the midst of writing a new record. It'll be a good bit poppier than anything I've done before, which should be interesting. Putting the finishing touches on a special Valentine's Day surprise, too. I'm also in grad school for graphic design, so that takes up most of my energy. Always gotta be moving forward.
You can find Todd and ARMS online at http://www.armsarms.com/ , or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/armsongs .
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