INTERVIEW: OPEN ARMS — Music Musings & Such

INTERVIEW:

OPEN ARMS

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IT has been great…

speaking with Ben of the band OPEN ARMS. He has been telling me about their latest single, Honey, and what its story is. I ask him about their upcoming Sunflowers E.P. and what sort of stories impacted its creation; how the band got together and what music they grew up listening to – Ben chooses some upcoming artists we need to get involved with.

I was keen to learn whether the guys, being based out on Birmingham, have a lot of opportunities; if there are any gigs coming up; whether Ben (and the guys) find time to unwind – each band member ends the interview by selecting a track.

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Hi, Ben. How are you? How has your week been?

Ben: Hi! It’s been pretty crazy this week. Things are starting to pick up ahead of our new release.

For those new to your music; can you introduce yourselves, please?

We are OPEN ARMS - a four-piece Pop band from Birmingham. We are influenced by a mix of Michael Jackson, Madonna; Journey, Walk the Moon, The 1975 - and pretty much everything in-between.

Honey is your new single. Can you tell me its story and how it came together?

We wrote the song about eight months ago. The songs can stem from lyrical or musical beginnings but this one was kind of a mixture of the two. We had worked on the track at a similar time that I wrote the lyrics for it and somehow the two married together really nicely. We spent some time working on it in a closed environment, which is usually how we write, and we just fell in love with it.

What I love about it is that it took us in a totally new direction - one that we knew would be commercially viable but still an interesting Pop tune that stands out. It got stuck in our heads and has been ever since, at which point you know you’ve got something.

It is from the Sunflowers E.P. In terms of themes and stories, what has impacted the writing and direction?

I think the main driving force for this body of work is the fact that we’ve been writing solidly for months and months and we kind of got engulfed by it. The last record we put out was Telescope last February and it’s been frustrating to only have that in our repertoire in terms of released music for over twelve months. It put us in a really emotive state where we’ve just wanted to take everything we’ve done in that year and make something that can summarise it - which is not an easy thing to do.

We’ve had a lot of personal stuff going on - huge celebrations and devastating losses - and I think you can hear that in this upcoming EP. It’s almost a soundtrack to what we were going through. The title track (Sunflowers) was written around the same time as Honey and carries quite personal messages. It’s my late grandma’s favourite flower but it became a metaphor for that feeling of trawling through so much and coming out of the other side.

Anyway; I’m a firm believer in not giving everything away where music is concerned because I think the best records are those that develop a personal meaning to the listener…so I guess the rest is up to you!

How did OPEN ARMS get together? When did you come across one another?

The three of us (minus Sam the guitarist) grew up together in secondary school and played in various cover bands and line-ups. We started writing music back in late-2014 and the results weren’t as bad as we thought they would be. Saying that they wouldn’t stand against our current music but they weren’t horrific. We got Sam in by around September 2015 and really started writing and playing live as a unit. It was as if we just knew from that point we were doing something right.

The songs even at that point managed to connect with people and we developed a decent fanbase of really passionate people, all learning lyrics and such. It was very surreal.

What sort of music did you all grow up listening to? Are there particular bands who have inspired you to write your own music?

We were all brought up on Classic Rock funnily enough; bands like Queen, Thin Lizzy; Guns N’ Roses and, of course, Journey. We’ve always prided ourselves on being sixty-year-old souls because we love all music and we’ve learnt so much. I don’t think there is one music genre that we haven’t grown up loving and this has helped massively in writing our own stuff.

I think Michael Jackson has always been in the forefront of music, along with Prince and Queen. We’ve learnt so much from those artists. They do music as a package and a brand - not just a few thirteen-track albums.

Do you think there will be touring dates? Can we catch you play?

We are just organising a winter tour - provisionally from mid-October through till Christmas, but time will tell. There will be odd shows before then though so it’s worth keeping an eye on our socials.

What has the reaction been like to your gigs? Is it still quite scary so early in the career playing songs to the people?!

From the start, we managed to suss out what was required to put on a show. We managed to learn pretty early on what makes people tick and we’ve always been known to offer something to audiences of all ages and backgrounds.

The scary ones are the intimate ones - if we do a festival it’s difficult to pick out the man shaking his head thirteen rows back, whereas in the basement of a club you’re all on each other’s laps. However you do sometimes get some intimate shows where the whole room is on one wavelength and that can be just as incredible as playing to a few thousand people at a festival, so it’s a gamble really.

Our love for playing live has translated massively into how we pull off our songs live. We have quite ambitious multitrack synth anthems that require a lot of planning to make sure we can get across the sound we want.

You are based out of Birmingham. What is the scene like there right now? Does the area get the attention it warrants?

Honestly, not great. We’ve found that when it’s good it’s great - but that’s very rare.

It’s all down to who you work with, what ‘promoters’ will work best to what you need them for. You would think that, with Birmingham being such a big name in the U.K., its music scene would be the next step down from a place like London...but it’s just not. The walk-up audience is non-existent, but we have kept our head above water by going all-out and making the most of everyone we meet. Birmingham’s music scene isn’t what it should be - we want to be a part of changing that.

If you had to select the album that means the most to you; which would it be and why?

Escape - Journey

I don’t think there is a more diverse and significant body of work than this. It boasts the impressive Don’t Stop Believin’ as its feature track but, in fact, that’s my least favourite song on it (and I love that song) which is a testament to how great the album is. It gave us our name and it’s been an anthem for our family events since I was little. I would highly recommend it to anyone.

Have you got a favourite memory from your time in music – the one that sticks in the mind?

It has to be when we opened the Solihull Summer Fest. We met some incredible and prestigious musicians such as Lulu and Peter Andre and just had the best day.

A close second was our first play on BBC Introducing.

If you could support any musician alive today, and choose your own rider, what would that entail?

The 1975 have played a massive part in our development and we identify with them heavily, so that would be a dream come true.

I’d like to say the rider would be something like cocaine and vodka but actually it’s more along the lines of white wine and pretzels. Sam would have Smirnoff Ice and Josh would have Jack Daniel’s and Coke (Coca-Cola). Drew, on the other hand, will have whatever is going. There would probably be a speaker on it as we love listening to music before we go on stage - and something daft like a poster of Ariana Grande… like I say, we aren’t very cool.

What advice would you give to artists coming through?

Just get a game-plan that’s inspired by those around you but full of your own ideas - and stick to it. But, it’s dependant on what you want out of it. We’ve always known that we want to go to the top and to do that it’s got to be your life.

IN THIS PHOTO: Walk the Moon

Are there any new artists you recommend we check out?

Walk the Moon are huge in America and have had a few hits over here but they are another band who I promise have never done a bad song. You won’t be disappointed.

Also, there’s a very new artist called No Rome who signed to Dirty Hit recently. We like him a lot.

IN THIS PHOTO: No Rome

Do you get much time to chill away from music? How do you unwind?

We try and balance it the best we can but we find our social lives revolve around the band anyway. Since mid-May, we’ve had about three full weekends off and that’s it. We always try and go for a night out to unwind. Otherwise, it’s giving a little time back to your family and friends who can get a little neglected with the line of work we do. They help us so much, so that’s really important we give back to them when we can.

Finally, and for being good sports; you can each choose a song and I’ll play it here (not any of your music - I will do that).

If it’s not our music, we will go with the following:

Ben: Heart Out - The 1975