Arlie

By Sydney King

Hailing from Nashville, I got to chat with 4-member band Arlie before their show in Knoxville, TN. We chatted about their time SXSW, their inspirations, and new music in the works.

HEM: Thank you for taking the time to talk to us! Can you introduce yourselves and what your role is in the band?

A: I’m Nathaniel and I’m the diva; I’m Jason and I play the bass; I’m Tyler and I do keyboard, vocals, and vibes; I’m Carson and I play guitar…and vibes!; and Adam plays the drums.

HEM: How was SXSW and what was something that really stood out to you about the whole experience?”

A: SXSW was like Candyland for bands. You just walk around and there’s just free music, free food, and free beer and hats and strings and picks and capos….juuls! We saw so many good bands. And it’s also like The Hunger Games because it’s like every band that’s trying to do something big next year is there trying to kill all of the other bands. So it’s a friendly competition, but it’s fun and exciting. That’s kind of what Nashville is like all the time.

HEM: Nice! While we’re on the topic of festivals, you guys are playing Bonnaroo! Are you excited about that? Are there any acts that you guys want to see while you’re there?

A: We’re so excited to play, we can’t wait to get up there. There’s some other cool bands playing on Thursday who are from Nashville, who we’ve played shows with. I mean it’s the dream, playing Bonnaroo.

HEM: When it comes to writing, where do you draw inspiration from?

A: Anything but music. A lot of times it’ll start with just walking around, going about. It used to be going to class, now it’s like running errands or just taking a walk in the park.. Or a phrase that I see or hear somebody say, or when I’m talking aloud and a phrase sounds melodic. That sparks a feeling and we’ll just kind of go at it and make up anything and then edit and refine. It kind of goes in cycles like that.

HEM: Awesome. So what are you guys listening to lately? What songs should we be adding to our playlists?

A: Our last two focused listening sessions in the van were A History Of Death Grips and then we listened to The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan. We’re all over the place. We’ve been listening to this band called XTC a lot lately. We heard the Kanye record, haven’t decided how we feel about it yet. Oh, and early Tame Impala!

HEM: Last question! You guys released your new single this year called “blackboard.edu,” can you tell us about that and can we expect an album anytime soon?

A: [Nathaniel] Blackboard was the first time that Adam and I actually just made something together. Previously the demos had just been me before we started the band. So it was pretty sweet. We went to Adam’s house over spring break last year with our friend George who used to be in the band, and we just like went through my old demos. We wanted to write a song about a feeling that we could all sort of share, so in a way it was like the first Arlie collab. And it’s about everything. As far as an album, we have an EP that’s being mixed right now that will be out as soon as we can get it and we can’t wait to share it with you! Hopefully an LP next year.