Arrows In Action are currently on tour with Boys Like Girls and iDKHOW on The Soundtrack Of Your Life Tour, and they also blessed listeners today with the deluxe version of their album I Think I’ve Heard This Before, featuring the new song “Twice.”
idobi Radio had the chance to catch up with frontman Victor Viramontes-Pattison, guitarist Matt Fowler, and drummer Jesse Frimmel to chat all things tour with Boys Like Girls, their new offering “Twice,” and the best songs in the High School Musical franchise. Check out the full interview below.
You’re currently out on the road with Boys Like Girls and iDKHOW. How has the tour gone so far, and how has it been supporting this pop-rock legacy act?
Victor: I mean, it’s been fantastic. We’re pretty easy on tour, and it has been really cool how friendly everyone has been, and how welcoming everyone has been. It feels like three days in, we were on summer camp. We’re all friends.
Have you learned any tips or tricks that really help you mentally, physically, or emotionally on long runs like this?
Victor: We’re always learning stuff on the road, but I feel like we kind of came into this one pretty well-prepped. We’ve done van touring, we’ve done bandwagon touring, we’ve done support and headliner—so we’ve kind of done a lot of different versions of touring. Like, the biggest thing I do is try to sleep as much as I can. I sleep 10 hours some days, maybe 13. Apart from that, drinking enough water, drinking enough Emergen-C, taking care of our diets…whether that’s spending money on a meal that is too fancy for us, or just eating some vegetables. It goes both ways.
Matt: And in the same vein, you’ve got to give yourself one little present a day. Get a nice coffee or if you need alone time, take a nap. Give yourself a little treat. It helps keep the machine going.
Jesse: I mean, this tour has been so easy for us that I’m having to remember, you know, if we ever go on another headliner, that it is much harder!
Victor: There’s so much work to be done [on headliners]. We are so spoiled on this run. It’s like our job in so many ways is to stay out of the way until it’s time for us to be in the way. We love that. And I feel like we have so many little systems now at this point where, like…I don’t go to breakfast. I sleep. And what’s great about that is by the time I get out of bed, they’ve found the best breakfast spot!
Matt: Little tips and tricks, I would say, enjoy the show, because that part is supposed to be fun and people can tell if you’re having fun. And then, take care of yourself, whatever that looks like. And then try to see where you are. It’s easy to forget where you are. I think it’s really important to go to one local spot, one local restaurant, and see where you are.
Victor: I used to hate New York City, and now every time we go, we have a restaurant that we go to! Every time we go somewhere again, we come to love each city a little more.
Matt: There’s so much variety. We get excited about different things when we’re going to a different place. We’re like, “Oh, this part of the country is where we’re going to get really good coffee!”
Being a support act is sometimes the best possible position on tour, so I’m glad it’s smooth sailing, because you deserve that. And while on this tour, you’re officially finalizing this album era with the deluxe version. How are you feeling as you wrap up your third record, and what made “Twice” the perfect way to tie a bow on this chapter?
Matt: Conceptually, we split the release into day and night. And that was a decision that we made when we were writing the record because there were two pretty distinct vibes happening. There were some songs that we were excited about that didn’t fit. After the record was already rolling out, we wrote more songs with Dan [Swank], our producer, that we realized were still part of this era. Adding songs to the middle kind of created [the deluxe] just inherently, and it felt like just a creatively satisfying way to end it and give everyone some more music as we’re touring this month.
Victor: I feel like every time we start writing a record like this, it takes us a minute to get into it, and then once we kind of get the gears turning, it’s hard to stop. We like to say, “Once the faucet’s on, it’s hard to turn it off.” We got so much of this record done, it felt like such a nice, completed thing with a bow on it…but we just kept writing, and we [wanted those songs] to come out now. And these feel like they do belong in the same world.
Matt: And the fun thing about “Twice,” specifically, is that I think it is maybe the most different-sounding song on the album. We did some things on “Twice” that I think we’ve always wanted to do, that we didn’t realize that we could do. And with the addition of “Cold” on the deluxe, too, it’s sort of fun to have, like, where we came from and where we’re going that close to each other on the same record, I think, sonically.
You guys have a deep love of all things High School Musical and even share your love live during shows. On the idobi Radio Summer School Tour, you even had your own matching tracksuits! So, it might be a hard thing to narrow down, but do you have a favorite song from the High School Musical universe? Do any other Disney original movies come close to those ones for you?
Jesse: Favorite High School Musical song, I think it’s “Get’cha Head In The Game.” I really like how the intro is a beat made from basketball noises.
Matt: My favorite song from it is “All In This Together.”
Victor: Good songs. All right, I’ll go with “Bet On It.”
Matt: I mean, if any other movies come close, it’s got to be the Hannah Montana movie, right?
Victor: Wendy Wu was great.
Jesse: Johnny Tsunami.
Victor: The Thirteenth Year, Luck Of The Irish.
Oh, we’re going deep into the Disney movies! Good stuff! Is there anything else you want long-time listeners and new fans to know about your new deluxe record?
Victor: It’s very good.
Matt: You’re going to love it!
