Q&A: We’ve Been Looking For A Light Like Arrows in Action
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
☆ BY GIGI KANG ☆
Photo by Rachel Dwyer
ALT-ROCK TRIO ARROWS IN ACTION—are undeniably delightful. Victor Viramontes-Pattison (vocals, guitar), Matthew Fowler (guitar), and Jesse Frimmel (drums) are friends first and bandmates second. It’s obvious in their light-hearted music videos like “Hello Sunlight!” and “Feel It Again.” The band always maintains an element of liveliness despite routinely writing on themes of falling behind, falling apart, and heartbreak. Now, more than ever, Arrows in Action are leaning into lighter themes and sounds.
Previous releases like “Head in the Clouds” displayed the band’s knack for writing an uplifting track that sticks in your mind with catchy and encouraging lyrics like, “I think I’m gonna be alright / Every day a little more alive / With all that I leave behind / Know I’m gonna get there somehow.” But the band’s latest releases, including their single “Light Like You” released on April 4, are even more upbeat, both lyrically and sonically.
“Light Like You” is about meeting the girl of your dreams who breathes life into hopelessness. Viramontes-Pattison’s vocals are charming as ever, balancing soft verses and a booming chorus, as he relays swoon-worthy lyrics like, “Her eyes turned to stars in my darkness.” Fowler evokes a nostalgic feeling of summer on guitar, like the second verse that differs slightly from the first by bringing in a lowkey, groovy lightness. A cymbal crash kicks off the chorus with Frimmel on drums. As a drummer, Frimmel always brings playfulness even to the band’s darker songs, and it is this back and forth that establishes a perfect balance between pop and rock.
I spoke with the band about “Light Like You” and the first half of their upcoming album I Think I’ve Been Here Before, scheduled for release on May 16. The second half will follow in the fall.
About the song, Viramontes-Pattison describes, “We took a very DIY approach with a lot of the content, as we do with a lot of our work. I feel like this song takes the best parts of some of our older songs. It’s kind of like ‘Head in the Clouds’ and ‘Checking In.’ It feels great to still keep it in a rock realm. The response has been amazing.”
Arrows in Action recently signed with Nettwerk Music Group after being an independent band since the start of their career. Viramontes-Pattison shares the importance of label support in being able to nurture meaningful connections with supporters, saying, “[Our fans] care so much about what we do. To be able to level it up with Nettwerk feels necessary and it feels right to be able to give them the best of what we can do. We know that we’ve been getting better, we know that we’ve been improving on what we want to do, and Nettwerk has been helping us do that. Being able to deliver better and bigger to our fans on our terms—it feels like we can do that with Nettwerk.”
No matter the direction that Arrows in Action are headed, it’s clear that fostering their community is a top priority. Read my full conversation with the band below.
LUNA: How did “Light Like You” come together?
FOWLER: We had two days in a row where Spencer Jordan was coming in. He’s a writer that we work with a lot and a good friend of ours. We had been working on “Cheekbones” and he had to leave for the day. Us and [producer] Dan Swank, we got some frosés in us…and went back to the studio and just started jamming.
FRIMMEL: It was a very late night. I think Victor had a chord progression or something he was playing on acoustic guitar. The melody popped into my head. I was, you know, three frosés in, and I was like, “She said, ‘Do you want to do acid?’” I just thought it was funny and Dan was like, “Wait, that’s really good.” We ran with it.
VIRAMONTES-PATTISON: We’ve gotten more open to chasing the really fun ideas, whether or not it’s like, “Does that feel like us?” It feels good, I’m so glad we do that.
FRIMMEL: “Light Like You” highlights that, where we’re like, “Well, if we do it, it is us!”
LUNA: You’ve been leaning into a lighter and brighter sound. How has it been taking a new direction lately?
VIRAMONTES-PATTISON: With Built To Last, we were so all over the place with it—intentionally. We wanted it to feel like everything that we could do on a record, we would. I think we’ve written a lot of songs that can be darker, so we wanted to try a brighter approach. And we’re always big on picking colors. We were like, “What if we do blue and yellow?” A brighter, sunnier feel. One of the first songs we ended up writing for the record was “Hello Sunlight!” It felt like such a good indicator of where we wanted to go. We wrote that in one day with Dan. It was a really snowy, gray day—but it felt like such a ray of sunshine.
We felt so good about “Hello Sunlight!” and wanted to keep chasing that with songs like “Feel It Again” and “Light Like You.” They all seemed to fit together really well. We haven’t done songs in this style. We also haven’t had this many upbeat, danceable songs. We ended up writing a little more into the darker side on the other half of the record. It felt like, “We’ve done this first half—how do we make these darker songs in a new way that still feels cohesive with the bright songs on the record?”
LUNA: What was behind the decision to release the upcoming album in two parts?
FOWLER: The first and main reason goes along with what Victor was saying about the style of the album. After we wrote all the songs, we realized that everything fell into one or two sounds. We were like, “There’s clearly a bright, happy side to this. There’s also clearly a darker, moodier side to this.” We decided it would be cool to theme it: one half as daytime and one as nighttime.
What really pushed us even further into splitting it into two halves and stretching the release out that long was that it was going to give us more opportunities to create stuff. We think it would be more fun for fans. There’s just so much more time and opportunities for videos, promotion strategies that celebrate each release, theming different parts of different tours to songs—by the time the entire thing is out, there’s a little bit of a world that has been created.
VIRAMONTES-PATTISON: We’re gonna make it to where you can’t stop talking about Arrows in Action this year (laughs)!
LUNA: Victor, in terms of your voice, you bring power to songs like “Wide Eyes,” but also keep it playful on songs like “Light Like You.” How do you approach your vocals?
VIRAMONTES-PATTISON: When we started the band, I didn’t know how to sing other than just belting fully. I didn’t have a lot of vocal control when it came to softer or lower parts. That’s something we’ve tried to do a lot more—to make the songs more dynamic and create more moments. I also like it a lot more because it doesn’t feel boxed in. It gives me confidence to know that there are a million different ways to sing a line. It’s cool because each line can be different and have something special about it.
When I’m sitting down to write an idea, I always write out whatever the melody is going to be on guitar because I can see it better. I can map it out on the guitar, and then I try to sing it. That helps me understand where the notes sit and whether to keep them more legato or staccato, play them softer or louder. That’s where a lot of mine and Matt’s communication musically came from when we first started working together. We mainly try to chase melody with just a really good beat. Lyrics are so important to us too. We try to get those to either hit home emotionally, or be fun in songs like “Light Like You.”
LUNA: Same for Matt and Jesse—this band is all about a balance between pop and rock. What kind of considerations are you keeping top of mind for guitar and drums when you’re finding how to strike that perfect balance?
FRIMMEL: We’re very collaborative on all parts. People often say, “Drums make the genre.” You know, you could take a really poppy song and if you add live drums to it, and if it has any guitar, it kind of becomes an indie song or a rock song. So, definitely on this album, a big focus for me was drum sounds and thinking, “What’s the default? What have we been doing this whole time?” Obviously, we’ve been thinking about parts and dynamics and whatnot. But sounds a lot less. Drum sounds were a big emphasis for this record and understanding how to use that to make it not like, “Oh, these are the pop-punk drums.” Well, that’s not exactly what we want. So, I think that really changed the vibe for us. Whether people will hear it, time will tell. For us, it made it feel like a fresh take.
FOWLER: As guitars go, it’s a pretty similar thing. We all talk about each other’s parts as we’re going. With guitars, I think early on, the temptation is to go, “What’s the chord progression? Great. That belongs to guitar, power chords.” But I think what has been really fun is to create the chord bed with piano or with something else. And then go, “What are the necessary guitar parts?” Or, “What are the really fun guitar parts?”
Something that we managed to do on this record was have intentional, hooky, fun guitar parts that poke in and out. In a lot of the songs, the rhythm section is still mostly built on guitars but there are a lot where it’s piano or more subdued moments where there isn’t just a constant chord bed. That has been creatively really interesting. I think we’ll keep trying to do that.
VIRAMONTES-PATTISON: To Jesse’s point, the drums were probably one of the more collaborative parts. It would come down to not even necessarily the part, but [something like] the tone of the snare. We’d be like, “That’s awesome, but let’s tweak it a little more like this.” The same goes for when Matt’s playing guitar or bass—we don’t each just focus on one thing. Whenever one of us is doing our thing, the other two are over our shoulder, being like, “Yeah, now do it this way” (laughs). And it’s really cool to have that encouragement.
For me, when I’m singing, I’m very one-track focused on whatever I’m doing. I’m not thinking about every other option. Jesse, Matt, and Dan often are, and I’m like, “I didn’t even think about that!” The collaboration has been so incredible these last couple years.
LUNA: Do you feel like over the years, you’re starting to learn more about each other’s working styles? Is that influencing the music?
VIRAMONTES-PATTISON: Absolutely. We’ve talked about this before with each other. I feel like our communication in the writing room is so efficient now. There’s still always the, “How do you feel about that?” There was never any ego in the room. We’re all hyper-focused on like, “What does that do for the song? Does that make the song better? Maybe I’m not thinking about it the same way you are. Let’s give it a shot and maybe I’ll hear it then.” It’s one of the most satisfying things when you’re like, “Yup, you were right. That sounds awesome.”
FOWLER: Almost every element that makes it onto the final product is something that has been put through everyone’s creative lens. I definitely think it’s for the better. We’ve only learned to do that more, and we’ve only enjoyed the process more and more.
LUNA: You’ve signed your first record deal—congratulations! You independently released two albums and your whole community comes from the foundation you created independently. Now, moving into this new phase of the band with label support, what stands out about the years you spent building?
FRIMMEL: I think what we have today started in 2020. There were the very early building blocks ahead of that, of course, but really collaborating, growing, and learning new techniques—that started in 2020. I feel like we can look back at every single year since then and point to “level-up moments,” or things we learned, or when “This Time” started doing well on TikTok in 2020. Every year has had a moment that we either learned something or grew our career. Looking back, it’s just seeing how we’ve grown together. I think about all the fans who put so much time and everything [into us.] There are lots of memories.
VIRAMONTES-PATTISON: We’ve always been so engaged with our fans because we’ve always been independent. When COVID hit, we were going live on TikTok every week, sometimes multiple times a week, just to engage with people because, obviously, we couldn’t play shows. We didn’t know most of the people on the stream which was very exciting for us to know that people who we had never met had any interest in us. We would play covers, originals, and do whatever they wanted us to. It was such a cool community building over those years. Our fans are very much a part of this with us. They’ve helped us build this. They sing our praises to their friends. They tell us, like, “I got the dentist that I work at to play it over the speakers!” It’s always amazing to hear.
FOWLER: One of the craziest things reflecting on the past five years is showing up somewhere very far from where we met, and having anyone care at all. We all dreamed of doing this when we were pretty young. A huge part of that dream is touring which is something that we spent a long time not doing as a band, both because of COVID and because of being a local band where you’re playing to maybe 20 people where you’re from. To be able to go on tour and to be able to meet people who have a personal connection with what we do is mind blowing. It will continue to be mind blowing. The fact that people care as much as they do is beautiful, and we always want to validate that and give them more. A huge part of signing with Nettwerk is leveling up to create an even bigger, more interactive world for everybody.
LUNA: You have a lot of touring coming up, including the Summer School Tour, Warped Tour, and Download Festival. What are you each most looking forward to?
VIRAMONTES-PATTISON: I’m most excited for Summer School, which is tough to say because I’m also very excited that we’re going to Europe. I’m already looking forward to the summer camp vibes that are going to be on Summer School! We’ve got so much fun, silly stuff planned for this. We already know Taylor [Acorn] and we’re excited to get to know everyone else on the tour. We’ve got a lot planned for it.
FOWLER: I’m most excited for the European shows on the Europe and UK headliner that we’re doing. I’m excited for all the shows and the festivals. It’ll be one of the biggest things we’ve ever done for the UK shows. We’ve been to some of those places, not all of them, and just can’t wait to go back and have our own headliner happen. Going to places in France and Germany like that is an actual dream come true. It’s a bucket list thing and it’s absolutely crazy to me that we can go play shows over there. So I’m really looking forward to seeing some places for the first time ever, and meeting Arrows in Action fans there!
FRIMMEL: I’m very excited for Download Festival. I feel like that potentially may be one of the biggest shows we’ve ever played. It’s also the day after my birthday. There’s always something special about that, like, “Hell yeah, this is definitely a year better.” Of course, Warped Tour. I actually went to the last Warped Tour in 2018, the Orlando date, which is really cool because we’re playing the exact same place. Warped Tour was definitely what got me into music in the first place, so that’s very full circle.
