We Are The Arsenal
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We Are The Arsenal

| INDIE

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"We Are the Arsenal is ready to fire"


Most bands can't wait to get out on stage and play music in front of a live audience. For Orange County band We Are the Arsenal, surviving in the music scene has been all about the pacing.

WATA built its solid and ever-growing local following by taking an old school, DIY approach to promoting its music. Vocalist and guitarist Ryan Terrigno remembers the days before all of the social networking Web sites like MySpace and Facebook, when up-and-coming acts would stand outside of other bands' shows and hand out their own flyers and chat with people in person. Although he says that the group is using the available Web tools to the fullest, he's a big advocate of meet-and-greets and putting in face time with fans.

"Online, on MySpace, we have about 75,000 friends but on top of that we knew that we had to go back to the real grassroots way of promoting ourselves," he says. "That included us spending hours at our computers burning copies of promo CDs and actually taking them and handing them out to people outside of shows along with flyers. Just to promote the House of Blues show this week, we've been out four times already meeting with people and selling our tickets, just by taking the time and making the personal connections."

Hard work and all of the groups' efforts haven't gone unnoticed. Its local shows have sold well and WATA will be headlining a local band music night at the House of Blues in Anaheim on Friday.

The band came together in 2006 after Terrigno and drummer Kris Dufour parted ways with their previous O.C. band, Wester. The duo spent five years with that group, which achieved moderate success locally. After taking a six-month hiatus from music, Terrigno and Dufour were back in the game and looking to start another band.

They found bassist Alan Bauer a few months later and the newly formed group immediately began writing an album and practicing the material. With the experience of being in other bands under his belt, Terrigno says that he decided to do things differently this time around.

"We actually were practicing and writing our entire album for at least a year before we came out to the online community or did even a show," he says. "Our album, the entire thing, was finished before we did that because we wanted the very first impression of We Are the Arsenal to be the full impression and we wanted people to take us seriously."

Within that year the trio met up at least three times a week to work on the music. At this point, the group was floundering, Terrigno says, and unsure of how exactly the dynamics of the band would work and even if they'd be able to make it as far in the business as their previous endeavor. After finally deciding on who should take on what role, they began the search for a guitarist and in 2007, Peter Moe joined the band.

With an album full of songs WATA decided it was time to unleash itself on the masses and played its first show at the Showcase Theater in Corona on Aug. 9, 2007.

Just three months later, the group entered and won a contest to open for Blink-player Tom DeLonge's band Angels and Airwaves at the Active Ride Shop Bling Fest in Rancho Cucamonga. The gig was only the band's third real live performance.

"We didn't let on like it was only our third show," Terrigno says. "But we were standing backstage next to Tom DeLonge and we were like 'what are we doing here'?"

Now, all in their mid-20s, Terrigno says that the guys have finally hit their stride musically as they're creating the music they've always wanted to make – and actually listen to. Like its musical influences (artists such as AFI, Thrice, Rise Against and Green Day) WATA has a big rock sound.

"We just consider it honest, catchy rock music that's really not trying to be anything it isn't," he says. "It may have a big sound but all of the songs start with myself and an acoustic guitar. We pride ourselves in a high energy rock show, but we've played acoustic. All of our songs can be stripped down to like an acoustic guitar and a tambourine."

In February 2008, the group released its first EP "The Trees" as a small taste of what would be on its full-length record. After waiting two long years the album, titled "They Worship the Trees," came out in March of this year. The band is currently busy working on some new material and booking shows for the summer.

Contact the writer: 714-796-3570 or kfadroski@ocregister.com
- OC Register


Discography

EP - The Trees

LP - They Worshipped The Trees

Photos

Bio

We Are The Arsenal is a musical quartet which formed in Orange County, CA fueled by nothing more than a true passion for music and a love of what they do. The simple appreciation of good melodies, honest lyrics, and good old-fashioned rock and roll are the drive behind the rock anthems found on both current releases by the band.

With the release of the band’s debut EP known simply as “The Trees” in February 2008, came the attention of Japanese based record label RadTone Music as well as US based Authentik Artists. The teaming with both companies led to the eventual release of We Are The Arsenal’s debut full-length album entitled “They Worshipped The Trees” in 2009.

“They Worshipped The Trees” is a thirteen track epic with songs woven together by a common thread of melody, aggression, and emotion. Sucked in immediately by a startling introduction known simply as “The Truth”, you are immediately taken over by the feeling that you have just gotten involved with something big, something major. The album is highlighted by dozens of memorable moments and mesmerizing choruses such as that found in “Airwaves” and the unsettling nursery rhyme-esque reprise of “Skeletons.” The raw aggression and brutal gang chants found in many of the tracks on “They Worshipped The Trees” are very evenly balanced out by softer tracks such the anthemic “Like My Body” or the melancholic balladry of “If I Had Known”.
2009 has sent the band on their very own North American tour and fans have discovered their music on the airwaves (both radio and television).

Look for We Are The Arsenal on the season premiere of Real World/Road Rules Challenge: The Ruins this fall on MTV and listen for “So Long” during the 2009 World Series on Fox.
A music video for “So Long” is currently in the final editing stages and will be debuting on MTV, Fuse, and numerous online websites this November.

For more info contact:
G Scott Barrett
scott@chopchop.org