We Are The Arsenal

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. - Orange County Register 6/4/09

We are the Arsenal is a band that has worked hard to reach the success they have today with television placements on Real World, Parental Control and The Hard Times of RJ Berger, and consistent radio play in Los Angeles; their determination and passion for what they do is shown strongly through their music.

The public was hooked from the start, with talented vocals from lead singer Ryan Terrigno, along with the aggression the band can’t help but force into their fast paced songs compiled in their debut album released in 2009 titled “They worshipped Trees”.

In their new EP “There Will Come Soft Rains” set to release on Sep 7th it’s noticeable that the members of WATA have put in that extra effort to create something new while keeping that original sound everyone was first impressed with. This EP contains 6 songs allowing everyone to hear howthe band has grown and evolved.

If one thing is certain about WATA, it is that chanting is a major part of their sound and it is something that they will probably always try to incorporate. In the songs Cities by The Sea, Hey Little Girl, and Like History it can be heard the most but luckily a great job was done in keeping the chanting from getting tiresome.

Hopefully everyone who gets to hear this new EP will notice the vocal in their music has developed and now holds a rougher edge to it and less of winy higher pitched voice heard in their earlier work. Listeners will enjoy this because it couldn’t sound better with the natural emotion lead singer Ryan pours into the songs; with lyrics for example “we are nothing but a cancer on this earth and we’ll be on here all alone till we find our worth” in Circling vultures and “when will my life begin, cause it feels like I’m loosing control” sung in the song Strangers; which is the song they chose to show off on their website www.myspace.com/wearethearsenal.

Also interesting about their new sound is a calmness which can be heard in bands like Jimmy Eat World that flows in a couple of the songs, one of them being Fairytale. This is refreshing to hear because it’s not the normal pace forthe band and gives a different feel to the music.

We are the Arsenal are definitely excited to go out and share the new music they’ve been working on as they start their tour this fall covering most of the United States. Dedicated fans will sure be taking the time to see them live and though it’s been a while since they’ve heard something fresh, “There Will Come Soft Rains” is an EP they will not be disappointed with and surely will do a great job of catching others attention as well. - MVRemix Rock.com 8/24/10

MEMBERS & INSTRUMENTS:

Ryan Terrigno (vocals, guitar); Peter Moe (lead guitar); Alan Bauer (bass); Kris Dufour (drums).

CITIES OF ORIGIN:

Corona, Chino Hills, Fullerton, Placentia, Costa Mesa.
RECENT RELEASE:

There Will Come Soft Rains (Authentik Artists, 2010).

KINDRED SPIRITS:

The influences mix here ranges from Green Day, Nirvana, Thrice and AFI to Tom Petty, Pat Benatar, The Beatles and Death Cab for Cutie.
WEBSITE: www.wearethearsenal.com; www.facebook.com/WeAreTheArsenal.



High-pressure systems. Jet streams. On-shore flows. Marine layers. That’s the terminology used by Southern California weathercasters about the meteorological reasoning behind another weather-filled week. However, flash the five-day outlook with high and low temps, and most television viewers can expeditiously catch a numerical weather drift.



The same could be said for music. While musicians often expound on their art using vivid literary language in hopes that the audience will better understand their approach, it isn’t until the album’s in the player that the listenership actually has a grasp, and more importantly an opinion, on whether the stuff’s enjoyable.



We Are The Arsenal’s latest EP title, There Will Come Soft Rains, seems to have melded the aforementioned—well, to an extent. Taken literally, the name’s just a weather prediction. But it also sets a forecasted theme on the (yes, enjoyable) recording, which hits streets this week.



According to guitarist Peter Moe, the title hails from a short story written by Ray Bradbury, as the band felt that it fit the mood of the EP, both musically and lyrically. Moe notes that the six-track release still grasps the band’s signature melodic edge, yet brings forth a calm sound.


This release (and subsequent stylistic introduction) is rather nicely timed. Just over three years ago, the foursome kicked off with its inaugural gig at the now-defunct Showcase Theatre in Corona. Today, the band’s built a successful recording and touring career, having performed with well-known acts like Angels & Airwaves and I Am Ghost, plus landing tracks on popular television shows. And they’ve also received some healthy promo courtesy of KROQ, which has regularly spun the band’s tunes and even co-sponsored their local live shows. Of course, they’re no strangers to playing outside the region, either.



“We have been super fortunate to have toured the West Coast relentlessly over the past few years,” says Moe. “We have met so many cool people that have become like family to us due to touring . . . With the release of [the EP] we plan on touring the U.S. non-stop in support and eventually making our way overseas.”



There will come We Are The Arsenal. That’s our prediction.



We Are The Arsenal’s new six-song EP, There Will Come Soft Rains, is schedule for release Sept. 7.


- Inland Empire Weekly 9/7/10

We Are the Arsenal, the Placentia-based quartet that has been plugging away in the local scene since 2006, now stands as one of the hardest-working bands in Orange County.

The band — vocalist and guitarist Ryan Terrigno, bassist Alan Bauer, lead guitarist Peter Moe and drummer Kris Dufour — has been able to land gigs consistently and headline venues like House of Blues Anaheim and the Grove of Anaheim. It also found some commercial success with its 2009 full-length release, They Worshiped the Trees, as a couple of tracks from it were featured on the MTV programs Real World/Road Rules Challenge: The Ruins, Parental Control and The Hard Times of RJ Berger. The songs “So Long” and “Like My Body” are also played in rotation at retail stores like Tilly’s, Journey’s, Macy’s and Nordstrom. “So Long” even landed the band on KROQ’s Locals Only program.

Its latest effort, There Will Come Soft Rains, available on iTunes as of today (Sept. 7), is another solid batch. OK, so it’s not a proper album just yet, but for a local band a six-song EP a year after a full-length disc is still noteworthy. Recorded in studios in Chino and Upland with producer Justin Powers (who also worked on They Worshiped the Trees), the new tunes show that there has been an obvious maturity in the music and lyrics since the group’s debut.

The title of the EP, Terrigno says, comes from a short story included in The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury, about a robotic house that survives a nuclear war and continues to function as if human life still existed. “It’s kind of the same theme from our last album,” he says, “about how man’s place in life is very insignificant in comparison to nature.”

Although the lyrical themes are similar to the previous record — “look within yourself, open your eyes to the world and don’t be afraid to ask questions,” as Terrigno puts it — the writing here is much deeper here and more personal. “Fairytales” is a standout with a bouncy, singalong, get-stuck-in-your-head chorus splashed with a moment of self-realization: “I told you that I would change the world / But what’s the use if I can’t even change myself.”

Like some of the band’s core influences — Rise Against, Thrice — “Like History” serves as the group’s political rebel yell: “And so it goes like history / We’ll just burn this town and wash our red hands in the sea / They’ll never really know just how far we will go.” “Cities by the Sea,” meanwhile, will surely be We Are the Arsenal’s next Locals Only hit, but straying slightly from its more-punk-than-pop sound are “Circling Vultures” and “Hey Little Girl,” both of which seem to draw from indie influences, like Death Cab for Cutie and Jimmy Eat World. Grade: B - Orange County Register 9/7/10