Familiarize Yourself

As we venture further into January, it is time to welcome back our weekly edition of “Band of the Week.” 2009 introduced us to acts from all over the world with one thing in common – each of them now calls Chicago home. Brother and sister duo The Arrowsics’ story may be similar to interviews we have conducted in the past, but lead singer and composer Trevor Geiger gives us a glimpse into his musical background and the beautiful coastal town they are named after, Arrowsic, Maine.

The Arrowsics is comprised of you and your sister, have you always played music together or is this a new project?
Back when I started playing in bands everyone always said that Molly should sing for my group and I was always annoyed. My little sister….in my band? But about three years ago when my long-time band DPOM broke up, I realized that she has a great voice, and that any annoyance from years ago was gone. We’re really great friends and our voices are really similar, so it actually made a lot of sense.

We’ve done a bunch of stuff where she sings lead, but for this latest project she’s been really nice and done support vocals for me on my solo work. I love having a female voice for the high harmonies and even though Molly’s more used to singing lead, she does a great job.

What was the influence behind moving to Chicago from your hometown of Arrowsic, ME?
I dropped out of college in 2003 to move to Atlanta with my old band. After a few years down there we had all decided to move to Portland, Oregon where we thought we’d fit in better. We packed up all of our gear and began the cross-country drive. But we only made it as far as Chicago. After spending a few days in the city we had decided to stay. A reunion with our old guitarist (studying at the University of Chicago) convinced us that this was a pretty cool town. And even though the band broke up after that, we all still live here. I brought my sister out after she graduated college and didn’t want to move back to rural Maine.

Your hometown must of had a lot of influence on you since you named your band after it. What’s the music scene like in Maine?
Well, there isn’t much of a scene, so you make your own. Growing up, my friends and I would have huge jam sessions every weekend at my house in the woods. My parents were incredibly cool and bought me a drum set when I was 10 years old, and from that point on our house was always the music house.

The place where my parents live is incredibly beautiful. Its on a lake in the middle of an island on the coast of Maine. The name Arrowsic is an indian word meaning “place of obstruction” because the river [in Arrowsic] used to be really rocky and dangerous and a lot of ships sank there in the old days. There are still 4 or 5 lighthouses on the island though no longer in use.

Your sound is unique, if you had to classify genres what genre would the Arrowsics fall into?
Well, if you want to go the easy route I would call it Alt. Country. However, the long, indie-rock-genre answer to that question would have to be Beard Rock. Beards are the new long hair, and I identify with a lot of those bands, and beards.

Your band bio says you record in your bedroom late at night, do you ever have plans to take the show on the road and show off your talent to a live audience?
I’m gearing up to release my first EP as a more-or-less solo artist. With that release I’m really excited to start playing out again over the spring and summer. When my drummer went crazy a few years ago I lost two bands at once in the middle of a tour. It was a real bummer and I haven’t wanted to gig much since. But performing is in my blood and I’m excited enough about the new material to start booking shows really soon.

What bands are you currently listening to that our readers should be familiar with?
I just gave my dad a CD of all the new indie music that I think is really good and it had artists like Grizzly Bear, Arcade Fire, Bon Iver, Blitzen Trapper, Neko Case, St. Vincent, Bonnie Price Billy, and a personal favorite of mine, The Handsome Family.

Anything else you’d like to add?
I recorded and mixed all of the music for the EP at my little home studio. I wanted this project to be really organic so there’s no a lot of “studio magic” on there. Just real sounds: drums, bass, and guitars. I’m not an expert engineer but its amazing to be able to record at home. It’s really relaxing and I think it captures some good takes and intimate moments.