JOEL ARNOLD, guitarist for local alternative rockers ARCTIC, talks JAKEB SMITH about positivity, Brisbane music, and naming yourself after an icy wasteland.

JAKEB SMITH: So, how’d the name Arctic come about in a place like Queensland?

JOEL ARNOLD: Well Arctic was actually the third name this band has had. We had to just pick something and this came about from me looking at photos of glaciers on the internet.

JS: You have a couple of demo songs on your MySpace, are there any plans for a proper release?

JA: Well we would hope to have a proper release next year sometime. Our aim at this point though is to get more quality songs up our sleeve. We aren’t in too much of a hurry. I think we would much rather wait to have the best songs we can before we start thinking of an EP etc.

JS: You plan to set a new, positive trend in Australian music. What’s so great about being positive anyway? Negativity is productive.

JA: The great thing about music is that people write from all different viewpoints, emotions and states of mind. You don’t always need to be negative to create something that is powerful and reaches people. It is a good feeling when you write something that is positive and you truly believe in it.

JS: How is music wonderful? Isn’t it just a theoretical system of noise?

JA: Well isn’t anything you love to do wonderful?

JS: Semantically? No. But anyway, when you’re writing songs, what are the most important aspects to focus on?

JA: I think the most important thing is that we love the song to start with. We try not to focus on anything specifically. What we have found so far is if you create music that you love to play and love to listen too, things like melody, song structure etc take care of themselves. All of us have a bit of history with playing in bands and I think we are a little past over-analysing things. Totally takes the fun out of it.

JS: What do you think of the current state of Brisbane’s music scene?

JA: I think it could be better but you could say that about almost everything. What really bugs us is the lack of venues with in Brisbane. There are venues, but not enough that a start-up band can actually play at. It is a product of the times though and people in general I think still want to find new music but the availability of new mediums are taking away the need for lots of live music venues. It’s far too easy to find new music on MySpace or on the ‘net, [thus] less people head out to local venues to find that new band, etc. It’s a sad thing in Brisbane but you see it all too often. A venue opens up with the best intentions to pump live music but give it a few months and the doors tend to be closed again. I don’t know a solution but we just chug along and deal with it, as does every other band.

ARCTIC play BarSoma this Thursday Nov 27, alongside Sweetness and New Manic Spree. Check out their demo at www.myspace.com/arctictheband

Comments (8)

1. Written by abie, on 25-11-2008 09:36 , IP: 203.43.11.133 The guy on the right is really hot!

4. Written by Liam, on 25-11-2008 12:48 , IP: 203.43.11.133 Yes! I will marry you! Just come along to the gig on Thursday at Barsoma. I will sing to you.

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