TDM's first Interview: Aroarah!

So, Friday night before their show at The Boardwalk in Orangevale, CA, I had a chance to hang out with the lovely ladies of AroArah and ask them a few questions about who they are and what they’re about. In the process we have some laughs, talk about balls and make up a new word; Manthem. O'm sure it will catch on.

Here is my interview with AroArah!





TDM: This is That Devil Music with AroArah. What’s up, girls?

LG: How’s it going?

TDM: What’s happening? Ok, first things first, why don’t you introduce yourselves?

MaK: I guess I’ll start. I’m Mackenzie Knoester, I play drums in AroArah.

MoK: I’m Morgan Knoester, I play guitar.

CB: I’m Chelsea, I play Bass

LG: I’m Lydia, I play rhythm guitar and lead vocal.

LM: I’m Liani and I play Guitar, Violin and Piano.

TDM: Awesome. So how did you come up with the name AroArah and its particular spelling?

LG: Basically, um, it started back in garage days, I think we were ranging from like, I don’t know, 4 to 15 (years old) and um, we were just going through different variations; we wanted something that was strong and feminine at the same time and edgy. So we thought Aurora is the Roman Goddess of dawn. We thought it was beautiful and powerful and Mackenzie actually came up with the spelling of the name. She thought it looked cool, kinda like, I don’t know, the big letters on the side of Metallica or something.

CB: Ours is more in the middle, rawr!

LG: Yeah.

TDM: Very nice. So, who are your guys’ musical influences? Who inspired you to be musicians?

MaK: Really, all of us have different influences ranging all the way from classic rock to pop to everyone in between. 90’s, 80’s, 70’s.

TDM: Ok, so how about what’s in your cd player right now?

LM: Aroarah!

MoK: Right now?

CB: Do you want all of us to do this individually?

TDM: Sure.

MaK: Actually, I have Led Zeppelin II

MoK: I have an old Under Oath CD actually.

CB: I have Stone Temple Pilots.

Lyd: Nirvana – In Utero.

LM: I suppose I have The Mis-education of Lauryn Hill.

TDM: Very nice.

LG: A very broad spectrum.

TDM: So, how supportive is your family and friends with this musical venture?

CB: Our family and friends are super supportive. They’ve been supportive since the beginning and we love everything that they’ve done for us with helping with promoting the band and managing the band to, you know, friends coming out to all of our shows it’s just been awesome.

LG: Yeah. Everybody’s been really cool, you know, they sell merchandise for us, they tech for us and stuff. It’s like a really big family. That’s how we like to make it.

TDM: Very good. So you guys are sponsored by ESP, who also sponsors members of Metallica, Alice In Chains, Lacuna Coil, etc. How has that partnership worked out so far for you so far?

MoK: Oh, fantastic. They’re like family to us. Actually, yeah, we have one here with us today.

LG: Yeah, Scott from EMG (pickups) is actually hanging out (laughs) here right now.

CB: In our our back yard

LG: …Who actually (works with) Lacuna Coil, Metallica like all of those.

CB: And Mark and Allen from ESP have been really great guys, they’ve helped us out with everything for the past four years. It’s just been awesome.

LG: Yeah.

MoK: Yeah.

LG: They’ve got a lot of balls, you know what I mean, because mainly they have the Metal genre, with a lot of things that they endorse and sponsor. And it’s really cool that they have us on board, because we are something that is so drastically different, so it’s actually, it’s um, we’re honored.

MoK: We just got hooked up with AKG as well and we’re totally different from what they have already, so it’s really cool that we can become part of their family as well.

TDM: That’s great to hear. So can you guys talk about a few of your songs? Like “Payback is a Bitch”, “In Dreams”, some of the older ones? What are some of the inspirations for some of your songs?

LG: Life experience. Pretty much, in general. Um, “Payback is a Bitch” is a really cock-blocking manthem. Manthem?! (everyone laughs)

CB: That’s great!

LG: Manthem. I guess it’s a new word, you know, ‘cause we have really big dicks. (laughs) So we cock-block ourselves in a sense: I don’t know. But um, “Payback is a Bitch” is pretty much a ‘hater song’. You know what I mean; someone who did you wrong and guess what, shit comes back tenfold. That’s what that song’s about. “In Dreams” is kind of like a subconscious backing song. It has to do a lot with, you know, your inner thoughts that, you know, comes out in your sleep and um death and….

CB: It’s very poetic.

LG: Yeah. There’s a lot of symbolism in it. So, a bunch of craziness.

TDM: Cool.

LG: ‘Cause I’m crazy (laughs)

CB: We’re all crazy: we all have big balls.

(laughs)

LG: Manthem!

TDM: So you recently received some help from Liani here when Morgan broke her hand. Now she’s performing with you. Is she a permanent addition and if so How has this changed the dynamic of AroArah?

LM: We actually haven’t talked about that yet, so this would be a good forum for that, right?

LG: I know, right? Liani, are you a permanent member of this band?

LM: You asking me to go steady?

(laughs)

LG: Will you were my letterman’s jacket?

LM: Where’s the fucking jacket?

LG: (Laughs) Uh. Liani’s cool because she plays violin and piano and guitar so it’s like if I wanna step up and be that front man, Manthem, and you know, command the stage, she’s got my back, she can pick up the guitar and then when I play she can get down on the keys and the violin and she really just rounds out the sound and I think it makes it ten times bigger. It’s a fucking great addition and I hope you continue to play shows.

CB: And another great thing about Liani that we didn’t know til after she started playing wish us is that she has a great voice, you know. Harmonies, and everything. It sounds really good. You know, we got the screamer and then we got the harmonies and it’s all, it’s all working out really well.

TDM: That’s awesome. I look forward to hearing it tonight. So, Lydia, you recently went to audition for American Idol; what was that like and were there any concerns about the dynamic of the band if you were to advance??

LG: Um, American Idol was insane. It was insane. I went to AT&T park in San Francisco, and um, pretty much I showed up in San Fran at 4:00 in the morning, waiting in line for about two hours, got inside. It’s pretty much just a big cattle call. And they were just mass auditioning people, you know, just back to back to back to back. I, unfortunately didn’t make it to the next level. Which is fine. It was a great experience, and I don’t know. What would you guys think if I made it?

MaK: Really, if she made it thought, we would have been supportive the whole way. I mean, there’s definitely no problem with her going and being on TV for like six months or whatever.

TDM: As long as she’s wearing AroArah shirts?

(laughs)

LG: Yeah. Shameless self promotion.

TDM: Nothing wrong with that. Alright. So last but not least, is there anything you’d like to say to all your fans because you do have so many.

LG: Thank you

CB: Yes.

LG: Fucking thank you. Thank you for the endless support and the tattoos, and the energy there, it’s just a really big happy family and we’re so thankful for everything.

CB: And basically, when we have shows it’s like our friends and our fans come to support us. It’s like a big party and we love to have fun and we love people coming out and supporting us and it’s awesome. Thank you guys.

LG: Party!

TDM: Alright. Thanks a lot for the interview and this will be seen on ThatDevilMusic.Blogspot.com and of course, don’t forget to check out AroArah at Aroarah.com. They have Facebook, they have Myspace, they have kick ass CD’s on iTunes.

LG: We do.

TDM: So you can check it out, there’s no reason for you to not listen to AroArah.

LG: And you can stalk us on Twitter.

laughs)

TDM: Alright, thanks guys.

LG: Thanks

So there you have it.. ThatDevilMusic's first interview. I really enjoyed myself and I hope they did too. There's no real need to mention it, but I will.. Their show, is as always, amazing. They absolutely love their fans and never fail at give them a show to remember. If you want to find more about these amazingly talented musicians, don't forget you can follow them on Twitter

Facebook

Myspace

...And, of course, Aroarah's own website!

Thanks again to Lydia, Chelsea, Morgan, Mackenzie and Liani.

It's not just noise, it's Sleepnoise

So far, I'm not making a lot of fans here with some of the choices of music I've posted so far, but I actually think I have a winner here.. Rob Liz has his critiques of unsigned bands, so I think I'll take my shot at one, though it's just going to be the music. Not really arsed about the image or graphics or anything. You can be the judge of that.

To get everything out on the table, one of the only reasons I even listened to this band is because Chelsea Baker (of AroArah), one of the coolest peoples and bad-assed bassists in the world, is playing with them. Not sure it it's a side project or she's covering, but it's a good thing I looked.





Here is their Bio, taken from the website Reverbnation.

"At the end of 2008 four long time friends decided to come together to vent frustrations, to share ideas, to try and step outside of themselves…to make music. SLEEPNOISE was born partly out of the necessity to create and express themselves, and partly to change the current face of rock. With so many mainstream bands turning out regurgitated, plastic ideas, aesthetically molded to fit into a stale scene, SLEEPNOISE has turned their back and is forging their own path."

According to ReverbNation;
Mike - Bass,
Dave- Drums,
Joe - Guitar,
Danny vocals
Chelsea Baker- Bass
Dave Buckner- drum

So, here are my thoughts on the EP, White Empty Room. I just bought it on iTunes. If you're also willing to support local music, you can search them on iTunes as well. You can also hear their music on ReverbNation as well as their Myspace

1. Penance - Pretty rockin track. Kinda sounds like Tool to me, the vocals are very clean and some interesting falsettos in there. I like it. It's just a good, solid song. A bit of alternative, a bit a grunge and a splash of experimental rock in there.
7 out of 10

2. Faces - Good start to it. The vocalist does have a bit of Maynard in him. Not saying that's a bad thing, it's good. A little bit of Layne Staley too. This track's pretty rocking but there's a bit of ambiance to it where you can just kick back in a dark room and veg out to it. You can definitely tell the band is highly influenced by the music from the previous decade.
8 out of 10

3. Already in Love - Grungy, crunchy guitars. If Stone Temple Pilots and the Beatles had a baby, it would be this song. It's funny, with the name of the song, I expected a sappy, boo-hoo song.. No such luck here. It's pretty rockin' and there's a good energy about it.
8 out of 10

4. Red - Off to a great start. Jumps right into the meat of the song. Still feels like there's a LOT of influences here but again, no complains. I think this one's my fav so far...
9 out of 10

5. When We Two Parted - Bad-assry most awesome. Here's another just kick-ass songs. Completely solid all the way through. Great production. Song-writing's fantastic. Music is just - DAMN...
10 out of 10


The song-writing's good all throughout the album. The way they describe the creation of the band it seems like they mashed it out, though it sounds like careful consideration was taken in the crafting of their music. I likey. All around a solid cd. I'm really glad I picked it up. Since they're based out of Sacramento, I think there's a good chance I'll get a chance to see them live, which I hope is as good as the studio performance.

My one complaint is that I found out about them too little too late. They had a show last night with other Sacramento Favourites, and I just didn't know how good they were til now. Next time.

Check out their Myspace!

Here is a video for a song not on their EP, called "Jezebel" featuring Chelsea Baker of AroArah and Dave Buckner of Papa Roach.