Today, we are speaking with Fort Worth band Left Arm Tan. Can you give us a little background information about yourselves? How did you get into music?
Well, Left Arm Tan has been a band for about 7 years. The three original members, Troy Austin, Tim Manders and Daniel Hines, got together to record an album for the fun of it in 2009. We rehearsed five times and then went in the studio to record. We really didn’t have any big plans or hopes for the album, which was called “Jim”, but we sent three copies out to the press. Saving Country Music gave us Song of the Year in 2010 and Fort Worth Star Telegram called us a “band to watch.” We sort of wish they had called us “band to pay” so we could have more money for gas and bandaids.
Anyway, we decided we should get serious about it. We have since put out three additional albums, Thurm, Alticana and Lorene. Brian Lee joined the band during the recording of Lorene and Paul Jenkins joined just afterwards. We feel this is the lineup that really clicks and the audience seems to be responding to our shows. Also, it doesn’t hurt to have five guys so we can afford bail.
You have been deep at work on your next release. What sort of work have you put into the recording and creative processes for this release?
Troy, Brian and Daniel tend to be the primary writers, but everyone contributes to each song. Typically, one of us has a song idea that we flesh out a bit, then the three of us get together to work it into shape. Then we take the song to the whole band and work through it to finalize the arrangement, key, harmonies and instrumentation. Then we schedule time at the studio when we have three or four songs ready to record. There’s always whiskey involved to make sure no one gets fussy.
Our producer on the last two albums (Alticana and Lorene) was Salim Nourallah. Salim produced Old 97’s, the Damnwells and a number of great artists. For this new project we worked with Jim Volentine, who most recently did the Band of Heathens album. We went to his studio in Austin and all played in the same room with very few overdubs. It gave a great sound to the recordings. And of course Jim uses amazing vintage equipment so the audio quality is top notch.
What does your recording set up look like (what do you use to record, what are your favorite tools)?
We are heavily influenced by folks like Tom Petty, the Beatles, Wilco and bands that put a lot of effort into making their records sonically interesting. The art of making a record is important to us. It’s something that seems to be a lost art for some modern artists. We will do whatever it takes to make a great sounding record, including holding our mouths just right and standing in awkward positions so the stars line up.
We play together in the same room and there’s something about how the microphones bleed into each other that captures the feel of the song. For this batch of songs we used Jim’s 1972 MCI console, which was actually the broadcast console for the 1972 Munich Olympics. It sounds amazing. And of course knowing that it was used at the Munich Olympics is a nice reminder that America won the Cold War. Cuz ‘Merica.
All of the mixing was done live, not automated in a computer. Jim uses vintage equipment on everything. Lots of hot vacuum tubes and plate reverbs and, of course, a Fairchild compressor like the one in Abbey Road. It’s amazing that technology has grown so much but vintage equipment still sounds better.
Tell us a bit more about your latest single, El Camino. I understand you’ve just released a promo video for the track.
Much of our music, as our name would suggest, is about road trips and the journey of life. So the song El Camino just sort of fell out as a story about a guy who drives a long way every weekend to see his honey. It’s sort of a romantic, long distance booty call. And we think El Camino’s are super cool. They’re sort of the first hybrid car.
We are currently promoting El Camino to radio, primarily Texas Country radio and also Americana stations. We are basically an Americana band so this is our first push to get on the Texas charts. It seems to be going really well and there aren’t many bands with five part harmonies, so we have our own little niche in the music scene.
We are doing this project in reverse, releasing a song each month or so and then the full album will come out in February or March of 2018. It’s a lot of fun because each song gets unique attention and we don’t have to kill ourselves working on a big album all at one time. Our last album, Lorene, was a double album and was just a ton of work. So this project is a nice change and doesn’t give us brain damage like last time.
Which artists are the greatest influences for you and your music? Is there a dream lineup of performers that you would like to perform with if given the chance?
Each of us has a unique set of influences. Troy and Brian are the lead singers. Troy is from Louisiana and grew up listening to classic country and singing Don Williams songs around the house. Brian grew up in Lubbock so there’s a big Buddy Holly and Joe Ely influence. Tim plays drums and is a classic rock guy. He loves everything from Journey to Motorhead. Paul is also from Louisiana and spent a lot of time listening to those cool grooves that seem to float out of the swamp. And that’s a cool thing since he’s the bassist. Plus, Paul is part Cuban so he likes to wear tight pants and the girls like that. Our lead guitarist, Daniel, grew up on classic rock and cut his teeth on Van Halen and Stevie Ray Vaughn before getting into bands like Son Volt, Wilco and The Bay City Rollers.
Honestly, we’ve never thought about performers we’d like to play with before. We had the great pleasure to back the amazing Walt Wilkins at one of our shows and it was really a highlight. And there are awesome artists like Jason Isbell, Ryan Adams, Jeff Tweedy and the Jayhawks we really admire. But it would probably be awesome to share the stage with someone like Eleanor Roosevelt because she couldn’t play a lick but she could sure party.
Which sort of social media website have you had the best successes with? What about these online services are different from the traditional face to face meeting and performances that musicians utilize?
We use Facebook and Instagram a good bit. Online music is a lot like Madonna. It’s successful and easy. Push a button and send your music to every digital outlet. But like all bands, we bemoan the fact that many people just take music for granted with services like Spotify. There’s very little money to be made selling music these days. That said, things like Facebook Live are really working for us right now. When we visit a radio station we broadcast it live on our FB page and folks really like watching it.
In the end, regardless of the technology, we just like playing live. It’s a ton of fun and it’s where special things happen. We love playing together and meeting new people at shows. We really try to foster a fun, friendly vibe at our shows and we’ve met some amazing, life long friends through playing music. Plus, sometimes people give us homemade moonshine and Daniel ends up wearing a beaver pelt all night long.
What should listeners expect from your music in the future? How can interested NeuFutur readers locate samples of your music? How has the radio response been for your music?
You can find us at www.leftarmtan.com and on Facebook and Instagram. Or just google Left Arm Tan and you will find many links to us.
Radio is really picking up El Camino and they have been very kind to us. We are quite busy visiting radio stations right now. It’s hard work but we love the friends we make along the way.
As for future expectations, we just plan to keep writing and releasing music. We mainly play in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, New Mexico and Colorado. But we always love going to new places and it’s fun when someone invites us to do a house show. In fact, we strongly recommend people book us for house shows because we are most comfortable when we get to take a nap in their beds. Or futons if they are stuck in the 80’s. We are easy to please.
What does the rest of 2017 hold for your music and tour date wise?
We will play a few more shows this year and we are working on bookings for 2018. But we also have radio visits and more recording to finish before the year is over. We’d also like to work more fire into our shows and maybe some cat juggling. Right now America is a very divided place but surely we can all agree that fire and cat juggling go hand in hand with Americana live music.
Thank you so much for your time. Finally, do you have any additional thoughts about life and the universe for our readers?
We would just invite folks to find us on Facebook so you can keep up with what’s going on in the LAT world. We don’t think of people as “fans,” we think of them as family. A really weird looking family.