To describe Arms Akimbo is a maddening series of clichés that manage to form something truly original. They met in college. They all liked the same bands (Portugal.The Man, Local Natives, Hippo Campus, Walk The Moon). They released a self-produced EP (Vignettes) that found quick success. They opened for some bigger bands.
This would be tiringly familiar were it not for the surprising speed with which the band gained fans in their Los Angeles hometown. They sold out a small club, sold out a larger club, then another, then sold out legendary club The Troubadour. For a local band, standing out can be a slow and painful task but Arms Akimbo’s Peter Schrupp, Christopher Kalli, Matthew Sutton and Colin Boppell have tapped into that post-college-now-wtf vein of hope, insecurity and fuck it, let’s just enjoy this with their most recent EP The Wrong Kind Of Dance Party. Instantly familiar, the EP (songs from which are interspersed by recordings from an actual house party they threw in their former house), immediately drops you into a typical kegger with all the promise of a good time as well all the dashed hopes and inevitable heartbreak. But the EP slowly exposes the deeper side. The part where you end up at the end of the night, sitting with your best friend in the driveway and wondering what the point of life is. Whatever it is, the band has hit a nerve. Maybe it’s that never ending nag that this time in life is fleeting, that responsibility is knocking hard on the door. Maybe it’s the inspiration that you don’t ever have to lose this feeling. Maybe it’s also a sign of the times… that in an increasingly unpredictable world, the only thing you can count on are friends and the moment: This time, your time.
“Devil” is about our love/hate relationship with Los Angeles and a sarcastic observation on how easy it is to get jaded about the faux-celebrity instagram culture that is all over the city. We’re taking a jab at social media obsession for painting a false picture of the way things are — and we’re taking a jab at ourselves for choosing to take part in it all. – Chris Kalil.
Stream Devil on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/track/5l44LAbciy1RvxzmEWVQR8?si=2zpMgC1bT7CLq214QD2kvg
One of the most enchanting bands I’ve ever stumbled across” – Flaunt Magazine
“An infectious party-inspired single” – Billboard
“Triumphant music that’ s simultaneously fresh and nostalgic” – Culture Collide
“Feel-good indie rock magic” – Ones To Watch
“We’re not sure how these four guys found each other, but we are so glad that they did” – Impose Magazine
https://twitter.com/armsakimboband
