Newcastle indie rock band, Arcades and Lions have taken out the 2015 final of Youth Rockin The Black Dog band competition. The event is run by the Hunter Institute of Mental Health in partnership with headspace Maitland and headspace Newcastle, along with support from the local Newcastle music industry and business sectors.
Arcades and Lions struck a chord with the judges on the night of the final and their success landed them with an EP recording package and live gig at the Cambridge Hotel in November.
Second prize was awarded to alternative rock-blues band Southern End, who will join the winning group for the live gig at the Cambridge Hotel and was awarded a cash prize and two-track recording. Acoustic folk duo My Friend Rupert put on a stellar performance to take out third place, also with a cash prize for the evening.
We chatted with guitarist from Arcades and Lions, Cal Glendenning after the band’s win.
NL: How did you guys meet and end up putting a band together?
CAL: Darren, Hayden and I go to the same school (went to technically since we just finished Year 12), and through music at Cardiff High we started jamming and then Arcades and Lions came to be a year ago with just Darren and I jamming, but we decided to discontinue the band due to school and other commitments. Though about six months ago I decided to put the band together with Hayden on the bass guitar and Darren on the drums. We posted advertisements for a vocalist/rhythm guitarist online and in shops such as Muso’s and Music Solutions, after a few unsuccessful auditions we got a message from Tim and after that things just started falling into place. We really gel together well as musicians and our playing styles all seem to compliment each other quite well.
NL: Who writes your songs?
CAL: We don’t have any one songwriter really, if someone writes a song it’s eventually put together. Instrumentally, we all write our parts around the composer’s idea(s) and eventually a mess of chords and beats can turn into something amazing. So far I have done the majority of the writing, with Darren doing a few songs here and there. But yeah, everyone in the band is working on stuff, which I feel brings a bit of variety to the songs we write.
NL: Do you write for a particular sound, or just ride the inspiration train?
CAL: I guess we do, but at the same time we don’t. For example; we try to stick to our roots and not get too experimental, and write music we enjoy, but we also like to push ourselves. We do try and stick to the indie-rock sound in a way whilst still retaining something new.
NL: Tell us about your guitar sounds. What sort of guitars do you use and what effects do you use on stage?
CAL: I try to model my guitar sounds after all of my influences such as Johnny Marr, Dave Gilmour, Slash, Eric Johnson, SRV and others. Also trying to establish my own sound that is recognizable as me. I currently use on stage three guitars; A Gibson Les Paul Traditional which is used for the drop D songs and anything that needs a throatier sound, my second and most used guitar is my Fender Select Stratocaster which is fundamental to the Arcades sound, and finally a Fender Select Thinline Telecaster which is a bloody amazing guitar. I also used a Gretsch G6120 for our ABC radio performance. As for effects, I’m currently running a temporary setup of just a wah, fuzz, tuner, echo and reverb. However I am building two large pedal-boards at the moment to expand our sound as much as I can.
NL: What do you think bands like yourselves get out of entering a comp like Youth Rockin The Black Dog?
CAL: Firstly, experience. I find in the local music scene doesn’t have much place for teen bands, especially since the closure of “The Loft” and the fact “Hombre Records” are closing soon. The fact we as a band were able to play live in an amazing venue, with good sound and a good crowd. What I found personally is that we got to play alongside some really amazing acts in our heat and the finals, and just hanging backstage with some of the acts has earned us some fantastic friends whom we will definitely be gigging with in the future. It also provides us with an objective critique from multiple people, which we have used to improve our songs and stage show.
NL: How do you think music can help people who are suffering from mental illness?
CAL: I think for musicians music can be a form of release for emotions, which can often help with coping with depression or anxiety. As for the listeners I guess some songs relate with certain feelings and can make people not feel so alone in their world. Music has power on an emotional level, which can truly help an individual to become more comfortable in themselves or calm them in times of distress.
NL What do you think the biggest factors are for depression in young people?
CAL: I believe social circumstances are generally the biggest factors in depression for young people. The pressure to adhere to the status quo is placed upon us by all forms of digital media. This in combination with a fairly demanding schooling system and increasingly distorted social scenes in schools cause depression in young people.
NL: Do you have a plan heading into the recording studio?
CAL: Well the prize we got for winning YRBD was a 3-track EP recording. Which we are currently planning the track-list for at the moment. We plan to book the studio once Hayden, Darren and I have finished the HSC in a few weeks. Then it’s all up to studio availability and sorting it out. Fingers crossed for it being soon, we’re very keen to record.
NL: Who are the band’s biggest influences?
CAL: That’s difficult to answer, there’s so many. I guess as a band we all bring different elements that help shape our sound. Darren for example is into indie music such as The Wombats and Two Door Cinema Club, but also into hip-hop/rap music such as Kanye, which tends to bring a different sound in his writing/playing. Hayden is into more alternative music such as The Smashing Pumpkins, The Strokes, Muse, Primus and RHCP. Tim tends to have a wide selection of music ranging from Royal Blood and Mute-Math to the classics like Pink Floyd and David Bowie. I tend to listen to more British music such as Oasis, The Smiths, Blur and The Stone Roses which is pretty obvious in the shaping of our sound. As a whole though our major influences would be Arctic Monkeys, The Kooks, Pink Floyd, The Smiths, David Bowie, Foo Fighters and Catfish and the Bottlemen. Which leads to a pretty cool sound, in my opinion.
NL: If you could have written any song in the world, which one do you wish you had written?
CAL: I’d have to say “True Survivor” by David Hasselhoff, that is our band jam! But in all seriousness, I’d have to say “Wish You Were Here” by Pink Floyd or “Don’t Look Back In Anger” by Oasis or ummm I can’t decide hahaha.
NL: For anyone who’s not been lucky enough to see you guys, can you describe what an Arcades and Lions show is like?
CAL: We’ve not played all that many shows yet, but one word that comes to mind is LOUD! We do love playing loud so you can feel the music. People seem to enjoy getting up and dancing to our songs, so it gets pretty intimate and energetic in the room. Lots of guitar solos throughout songs. Crowd sing-alongs seem to be becoming a thing, hopefully when the EP is out we can get more people singing along to our songs! It just tends to be a lot of fun really, with us (the band) and the crowd all getting involved and having a blast!
NL: What does an after party look like for Arcades and Lions?
CAL: We generally lug all the gear back to our rehearsal studio and then have a few hours of conversation. But that will all change now that the HSC is over as that’s been taking a lot of our time recently.An after party for Arcades and Lions will generally be drinking around a bonfire with friends and listening to some good music nice and loud (the neighbours will love that…) just chilling out and really having a good time, though I don’t think that anything really beats playing on stage as that is the greatest feeling in the world!
You can find out more about Arcades & Lions by visiting their Facebook page.
