Locals Only: : Armed Forces

1000 Arms

"I'm just glad that you didn't ask us to describe our sound," says Gabe Molnar, guitarist and vocalist for 1000 Arms. His reluctance to hang a label on their music is understandable, since it sounds about as premeditated as sleepwalking. But if the destination is haphazard, the individual songs contain enough complexity to compensate for this, painting the trio as a group of researchers painstakingly documenting the seemingly random results of their experimentation.

"Gabe and I would just sit around my house and make shit up," says drummer Andy Eschenbach of their genesis. "Eventually it began to sound good to us. Either we were getting it or we were causing severe cranial trauma."

The pair started with drum machines, then added guitar. Once they began morphing their dabblings into individual pieces in early 2005, Molnar evolved into the primary songwriter, which has been a learning experience for him. In live performances, this newness is not the least bit evident. The band has a confident and energetic stage presence, whereas reading their history and listening to their recorded work, you could easily picture them as shy shoegazers.

Likewise, Eschenbach's precision behind the kit hides the fact that it's not his primary instrument.

"I was given a Casio when I was 8, then I would try to figure out any instrument I could get a hold of," he recalls. "I also played the trumpet from the sixth to 10th grade; after that it was shitty Punk and Thrash bands. It is just now that I really feel at home with myself musically."

While the members of 1000 Arms all have disparate musical backgrounds, they have individual teenage Punk band experience in common. But rather than sticking to this straightforward path, they ended up following a more avant-garde route, drawn towards noise and improvisation. This includes their most recent addition, bassist Scott McDonough, who also plays with The Invitational.

This flair for the extraordinary makes their music a bit challenging, but visceral playing and meaty hooks hold your interest. Molnar's Darkwave singing is also very magnetic. Although the songs would hold up just fine as instrumentals, his vocals are as endearing as they are incidental.

"It's just about adding another melody or counter melody," he explains. "That's why I try to drench it in reverb and delay so it really doesn't get the sibilance and consonant qualities, it's just another sound floating on top. People tend to focus on lyrics too much, I think. Like, Sigur Ros is a great band, but I don't understand a thing that guys says, and I'm fine with that. I know it's sad or pretty, he doesn't have to tell me."

Also adding to the band's impact is friend Nathan Ober's video backdrops. The Columbus native brings his homemade setup to 1000 Arms shows whenever he can, projecting a combination of his own footage mixed with closed-circuit shots of the band. The result adds drama to the live show without overshadowing the music. Unfortunately, Ober's busy freelance schedule prevents him from making every show.

"I thought about getting a projector for the band and letting him e-mail me files, but it wouldn't be the same, because he's actually flipping switches at the shows on this box that he built himself. He's constantly altering what's going on and intercutting different things so it's never the same video."

This month is a particularly busy one for the band, with a standing Tuesday night gig at The Comet, as well as a slot at this weekend's "Jammin On 2.0" festival, hosting Indianapolis' Ari.Ari at the Southgate House May 28 and even sneaking over to Athens for a show. They've played in and out of town a lot for a new band, and they've networked well, on which they eventually plan to capitalize by touring regionally. They're also planning to make an album this year.

"We mainly want to capture the live sound as best we can," says Molnar, "but I do have plans to do some remixing of a few songs with other bands in the studio while we're recording them."

This unusual approach is just another example of 1000 Arms stretching their creative tentacles in new directions.