The Arrivals Interview

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For more information, visit our website at NWCCU.com or call them at 1-800-2-BELONG. This is a WXAV 773 Sound Podcast, introducing you to the best local bands in the Chicago Land area. Hi, this is Peter Creighton from 773 Sound. Here on the XWXAV88.3 FM Chicago, you're escaped from ordinary radio.

And I don't even know what to say about this next band that we have here as our featured artists of the week. It is one of the most legendary punk rock bands to ever come out of the Chicago Land area. The hail from the southwest side, in back down the street in Blue Island, Illinois. And rumor has it, they used to listen to WXAV back in the day.

I have Dave and Ronnie from The Arrivals here on 773 Sound. Guys, how are you tonight? Hey, Mom and Peter, thank you for having us. Yeah, we're doing great.

Thank you. So a new album coming out later on this year. In fact, it's coming out April 10th. The new single is so fantastic.

Just like my brother, we've been playing it a lot. What was it like, what kind of writing in 2025, 2026? For a good chunk of the songs, they've been bubbling up for years. Like, I think maybe lyrically, we might have touched some stuff up and made it a little more modern.

I mean, we were talking about the gas crisis in the 70s. I'm just kidding. But one of the songs in particular, the last song on the record, we had demoed at the same time we did our last record, Valtal, Mtaf. So that is at least from 2019.

No, no, 2009. Yeah, it's been a long time. But I feel like since both Isaac and Ronnie have all done a little bit of like, we've deviated from the arrival stylistically and the others things we've done since Valtal, Mtaf came out. And I think a lot of that shows.

But when we were getting the songs together and knocking them out in the jam spot that we were in, it was completely pure and natural. And just as if we never stopped jamming. It was the Wednesday practice we picked it up from last Wednesday. You know, it was so...

Yeah, I was going to say, Dave, just like just to kind of piggyback off with Dave saying, you know, with just like my brother and just a handful of tunes that Dave did, and Isaac did that weren't kind of built up from the older days, some of those we actually, Isaac had brought it up. Isaac wanted to have a really good feel for some of those that were just being brought in kind of as demos. But like in the studio, we wanted to have that same feeling as feeling fresh. So we went ahead and just said, you know, we have this handful of tunes that have been kind of building up and that we have these ideas for and in a grantable with Dave said, just kind of, how do I say it, just like picking up where we left off.

Basically, we wanted to have a fresh feeling. So we went into the studio at Million Yen with Andy Gerber. And we were like, hey, let's bring this fresh stuff to the table and see what happens. And let's just push record.

And we ended up pushing recording, getting demos to kind of push us to the next level, which basically when we were at electrical audio, and we were recording those, there was still stuff that was kind of being created on the spot, I guess, in a way. But just wanted to just kind of wanted to bring up the fact that some of that stuff on this new record coming out, even just like my brother, and everything was fairly new. I mean, it was like fairly new ideas. We're like, you know, we're not going to dive into this a super ton and try to dissect it.

We're going to try to get the feel for it and get that same feeling. Yeah, and you really can get that with this record. I mean, listening to the lead single from payload, just like my brother, there is this focus on family. And this very like, I don't want to say family first, but almost like this family first.

And in fact, correct me if I'm wrong, but the music video of it was filmed by Isaac Sun. Yeah. Yeah. Can you kind of talk me through like that, that approach?

And do you find that the topics of your songs it's kind of matured with age, if you will? Well, I with the video, it kind of came from necessity. We knew we were going to put it out as a single and it's like teaser for the record. And it just seemed like you kind of need a video nowadays, like, like, people are way more visual and it's easier to hit a video in your feed than to approach it later or whatever.

So like it's, so Isaac and I both do film stuff, like, and we were talking about it. And I thought to myself, I'm like, Sirik Isaac Sun, he's been going to school for videography. And I think he was even working, maybe wrong, but he's working for like an ESPN, like local station near his college as well, like being the film, the camera person for sporting events, stuff. He made like skate videos like with his friends.

And he just got it took an interest in what would bring his camera everywhere. So he had all this footage of goofy stuff. And I was thinking, to me, the song, and to going back to Ronnie's point about how that was one of the newer ones, to me, it sounded like a young song. It's like, you know, if you imagine that video, if it was us filming us with our friends, like, it'll be me, giving my daughter a bath and then like everybody sitting there having like a quiet beer at a bar.

So these are all the wild ass kids going nuts. But I knew Isaac or I knew Sirik had a bunch of footage. And I'm like, why don't you ask Sirik if he's got any footage he'd be willing to lend to the video? Because Isaac, he makes great everything.

He's good at everything. But he's a great film editor. And a lot of the videos he makes are almost like video collages of found stuff like stock footage that he gets from like the Library of Congress and stuff. And so Isaac went, oh, whoa, that's a good idea.

I'll ask Sirik. And then it was maybe two weeks later, he's like, I got a version going. So yeah, it was the idea sparked of having it be something young and fun, remembering that Isaac son Sirik was a videographer and probably had tons of footage to play with and serendipity and good timing and seizing the moment all coalesced. And then we got that video.

I was going to crack you guys up for a second. And I just want to add a small short story to that. It's it's funny because I'm pretty sure when we played San Pedro at the Sardine, which is Isaac's, you know, club in LA. And also when we played Florida, Dave, I remember you mentioning that to me.

And then I think Isaac had mentioned that that was that was something that was possibly in the making. I think just with day to day life and just with, you know, everything else going on, I wasn't expecting it. And I was on my way to work. And I looked at Facebook and I was like, holy, holy cow, I was like, Hey, there's a video out of just like my brother.

And I watched it. And I was like, man, today's gonna be a good day. I mean, not to say that I wasn't aware, I'd forgotten about that, forgot about it. But it was a really nice surprise to to it was a good start to the day.

I really like it. And I like what Sirik did. Oh, no, I'm glad that you shared that story because it is there's there's a interesting quality with it. And it does have that feeling of youth and teenagers.

And you're going out to meet your friends and it's a journey. And it's this really wonderful piece of art that that's been created for this really wonderful song. This is your first new record in 16 years you guys took along hiatus. You know, what was it like, you know, getting back into a room and playing music again when that happened?

Well, I'll go out and say this. The one thing that I have always found, even though I'm involved in it, I've always found this intriguing about Dave Isaac and Patty, you know, and myself, we can go a very long time without playing. And then all of a sudden, like, we'll have a show and we'll say, okay, well, we got to get the nuts and bolts tightened a little bit. So, you know, let's plan a rehearsal or let's let's get together.

Let's say a day before the show and then we'll go out and have drinks and, you know, get excited about the show and all that kind of stuff. But I do have to say this, every single time we get together, it could be not seeing each other for two years. It could be, you know, a very long time. And we always seem to like recapture that feel like I hate to sound so cliche, but like the first time, you know, I feel like as a musician or just somebody who plays music sometimes, that's what's very, I don't want to say a big thing, but like what keeps you striving for that feeling, that good feeling.

And I can speak for myself when I say that, yeah, anytime, anytime we get together and we play music, it's like, holy cow, like, this is all coming together so quick and it feels so good. So for me, I love it. You know, we don't really do, like, you know, weak rehearsals or we don't see each other like all the time, but when we do it, like, it's like, man, this feels so good. The magic is still there.

Yeah, I would say. I mean, I would definitely say and that's how it felt with getting together, doing the demo stuff. And then when all four of us were in electrical audio, actually laying down the tracks for this new album, it was like, okay, well, you know, we still got it, you know, kind of in a non-cocky way, I guess just like, wow, like, okay, this is happening and it feels really good. Good to say that better myself.

I'm with Dave and Ronnie from the Arrivals here on 773 Sounds. Now, if people want to go and find you guys online, where can they go and where can they check you guys out? Instagram is probably is the easiest Instagram in Facebook. Yeah, it is.

And you guys are also on on Bandcamp. People can just search the arrival. Oh, that's damn. Well, on Bandcamp, it's still recess records.

If you want to get our records, if you want to get our stuff, recess records, anxiousandangry.com has shirts too. That's Ryan from Off With Their Heads. He's got his own business there. But it's the Arrivals with two E's because we picked the most basic name that we've, I think even, you know, in 96, when I first started looking together, like the Arrivals back on, it was already taken.

So like, you know, maybe fashion people, like the Arrived red carpet arrivals. And then a few years after we started, there was the, it was like a conspiracy theory website or it was like a web series, usually on YouTube, about all of the conspiracy theories kind of wrapped up in one of that was called the Arrivals. So any time you like searched the arrivals, that would be the first, it was hard. So the with two E's, the Arrivals, so to be like Facebook.com slash the Arrivals and Instagram, the Arrivals.

Yeah, so be sure, give them a follow, check them out. Now, I kind of want to go, you know, back in time with you guys for a moment, because you were really a part of this great DIY scene here in Chicago, in the mid 90s to the early, early 2000s and that for those of our listeners who weren't there, and a part of that scene, what was it like, what was it like being able to like go in like, you're playing the fireside bowl, which is not this legendary venue in Chicago mythology, you know, I always tell people, you know, fireside bowl is essentially our CBGBs, you know. So, so what was that scene like, and also what was it like playing fireside bowl so many times? You know, like thinking, thinking back just about when the fireside bowl was really like in a say day, I know that even a little time before the Arrivals had been playing that, you know, fireside bowl was a very nostalgic, you know, place to play.

I have to say that, like looking back on it, you really think about, wow, like that place had a really good feel about it. You know, you go in, wasn't, you know, wasn't the most cleansey place or anything like that. It's a punk rock punk rock venue where you can bowl and have a good time in and they had a bar where there's a bartender bartender hammer that used the bar 10. That was some of our, I would say, with the Arrivals and then just meeting other bands like Lawrence Arms and just even meeting some of our, some people that we've always looked up to were that were an influence for us.

John Hagerty used to pop his head in the door there every once in a while. A Masciba would hop in Larry D'Amour from Peg Boy and it's just like, and it would be a Wednesday night, you know, it would be like, hey, we're playing the show with, you know, with so-and-so and it's happening and all of a sudden, you know, you find yourself kind of hanging out at the bar and you're like, holy cow, I had no idea I'd run into this person that night. But I would say for me, I almost met three quarters of almost all of the people that I know through, through Fireside, you know, just just and friends that I still talk to to this day. But it was just cool.

It just had a really cool vibe. Of course, there were like ceiling links, ceiling leaks and once in a while some ceiling tiles falling down. If it was a banging show there and there were, you know, so many people that it was a packed house, it's like kind of like a feeling that you can almost remember the smell and the place, you know, and so I yeah. And I mean, I could, we've had a couple, I remember one time we played there for, I think it was a record release.

We were all so pumped up and I think the power went out and we had to, was that for a record release, Dave? Yeah. Was that for Marvel's industry or? No, we did the Marvel's, that would have been like Senator Orange.

So that was 2003. Anyways, I don't know why I brought that up. That's one memory. I remember it was a packed house in there.

We were getting ready to play and I was, we were so amped up. We were just ready to tear the roof off the joint and all of a sudden before we struck our first note of the power went out in here. It's like, okay, hopefully it comes back on and it never came back on. But without taking too much more time, if I could, if I could like say anything about the fireside, I'd say, yeah, it definitely had a really good feel about it.

It had that punk rock kind of like nostalgic feel to it back in that day. It was, it was really fun. It was really fun. Yeah.

And they always had wild bills, like, just like really odd pairings. I like seeing old fireside flyers nowadays and like seeing all the bands that were playing on like one lineup, I mean, like Jesus. And how many bands like that are huge now play their like second billing on like a weird Sunday show? It's pretty cool.

Yeah, I went through a rabbit hole and it's like, you mentioned that ski, but I mean, alkaline trio was there all the time you had a fi you had like, like 182 my chemical romance. I mean, bands that are now doing Soldier Field and their first gigs were here in Chicago at a bowling. No, but it did have Peter, everybody that you just mentioned too, it's just like weird because I know that you say have a lot of flyers there of past bands that played and it was a really good feeling to like walk in and be like, wow, you know, I'm we're part of something. And then all of a sudden it's like, I mean, especially at that time, you don't think that things are going to change or you know, you think that that place is just going to go on forever, you know, the way it is.

And I mean, things over the years, I think have changed there a little bit. It's not, it's not the same as it used to be. But I would say, yeah, for that whole time period, I feel very, very happy to be a part of that. Yeah, it was a magic 10 years from like 94 to like 04.

We did a set there with treasure fleet on the, like the fireside part two. Oh, yeah. I have a good story about that actually. I started another band called treasure fleet.

And with Neil Hennessey from previously mentioned Lawrence Arms on bass, Eli, caterer from the popes was on guitar at the time, Mike from the sastreggans and Rad Piaf on drums. But Neil, like he's and stuff. We got there early for load in. I had to go right after work.

So I ended up like taking a cab from my work to meet them at fireside. Wasn't gonna have time to have any dinner. And I stopped at a 7-11. I grabbed a banana and like a granola bar thing like right off the thing real quick.

And so we load in and I couldn't believe Hammer was still working there. And for those who don't know Hammer, it was this little, he was a short-stetchered, bespecti-gold man who, and a real hairy chest would wear a gold chain. He was really, really grumpy all the time. And he talked like this.

He'd be like, yeah, what you doing? What do you mean? Yeah, like if he's bartending, like, what you want? I don't got all night.

He was like that guy. Much older than us. He wasn't like, he wasn't part of like our friend. Like he was a guy who worked there before the punk rocker started hanging out and was just like, I'm sick of these guys coming in here.

And so the first thing I see what I say when I see him, it was like, Oh man, Hammer, I can't believe it's been so long. I haven't, you know, I haven't seen you in years. I can't believe you're still working. He's like, you know what?

People keep coming in here and saying that. I don't remember any of you guys. And I'm like, whoa, he's still Hammer as hell. So, so we were a few minutes later, everything's the dust settled and the doors aren't open yet.

I'm sitting at the bar and I'm eating the banana and looking at my phone. And him and the other bartender was also like old school, older dude, piece of work. He looked like a character and like, you'd like a background guy and taxi driver or something. And like, they're like, they're like, whispered to each other and like looking at me and then like, I think going, and I'm like, what are they talking about to?

So Hammer gets a little closer and he's like wiping the bar arbitrarily just like, and he gets a little closer. I'm like, Hey, Hammer, you think I can get an old style? He's like, I don't know. You're the one you're the one you're telling me?

And I'm like, I have no idea what the Everest was, but he was, he was pretty lit up that I was eating a banana at the bar. Oh man, what a I love that story. Now, any gigs coming up, any tours, any opportunity for people to come and see the new album live? Not nothing planned yet.

Nothing planned yet. We're taking it just as easy as we take most things. You know, we're quite busy. Can I go back yet about the fireside and say one thing?

Yeah, please. It kind of popped in my head, especially being an XAV show back then. And I don't know if it still is the same way. There was a lot of separation between the South Side and the North Side.

And like being from Blue Island and also like we weren't part of that scene initially. Like we were outside looking in the first time we played there would have been like 97. And like we got there because we played with this band to the geezers. We were playing it off the alley of which was a all ages club that was in Homewood at the time.

And that was that was the the South Side equivalent. And they'd often, you know, a lot of the same fans played. And there was like a whole scene of South Side based bands like the Michiganas and the fighters. Was it messed apart of that at that time too?

No, mess were kind of like with us where they were Blue Islanders who didn't really know anybody from the scene outside. Gotcha. Like I will say, yeah, like we we didn't we got kind of pulled into that scene. So it's it's kind of amazing to go back to what Rani said that so much of our life was changed by all the friends that we've met and everything like I know for a fact you met your wife there, right?

Yeah, I remember that day. Yeah, I remember that day. Yeah, like for South Side is that feel like maybe that there is an invisible barrier. I think the only thing you need to do to break it is to just break it.

I don't know why but there was always this like inferiority that we felt like these more siders get all the it's not being not inferior, but like a difference between the outside looking in that like the north side was happening and the south side was a wasteland. Oh, it's definitely a chip on the shoulder and I think it's still there. Definitely think it's still there. You know, it's I've always said the south side is more like family oriented.

You know, there's a lot more houses, not a lot of clubs and things like that that the north side has but I mean you actually look at like the talent that the south side has. It's really impressive of all the bands that have come up and they're all south siders and everything. I know a lot of the most interesting and the bands that changed things for the better. The bands that sound that wasn't a kind of already a boilerplate all of us came from the south side.

I think about like the blue meanies with the shickens. Yeah. I would say crudoes but I think there's a similar similar attitude in the Pilsen too. Like it's us it's like family work to us against them like a little bit of David vs.

life. I guess the fact that we were welcomed in there two there's two ways to get to Carnegie Hall and it's practice practice practice practice. I was making that joke to say that like part of the reason that we got accepted there was that we worked really hard to make sure we had good stuff. We we we didn't busted our butts to like make sure that the songs were cool and we had something interesting and we weren't just hashing it old thing and that we were creating something that I think that's part of it too.

Like we tried really hard to set ourselves apart by doing something a little different than what our peers were up to. No I totally agree and you can still hear that on the new album. I mean it sounds like an arrivals record. It still has that really great sound that you guys were able to produce and everything and it's it's I can't wait to hear the whole album to and to share it with everyone on WXAV because it is such a good record payload.

It's coming out later on in April. Final question I have for you Dave and for you Ronnie but first off thank you so much for spending time and and chatting with me about the new album and the fireside bowl. It's it's been so much fun for a lot of students because we're a college radio station. There's that fear of the unknown.

There's that fear of going to check out that band that they may have never heard of. I think a lot of that is Spotify you know Spotify really kind of feeds you the same stuff right. What would you say to that young person who they really want to get into the local scene but they don't know how they don't know how to find the show or get into a band or things like that. What encouragement would you would you give them?

It's not as scary as you might think it is. That's a big one. I know kind of speaking to what I was saying earlier about the kind of inferiority complex of being an outsider from the north side club scene. I was really intimidated going into that arena and then once once you walk in it's like everybody has their head up their butts as far as we do our own and most people love meeting new people.

You're not going to go to that show where you think maybe it's too cool or you don't know anybody. I mean I would say go with friend. That's a good practical advice for that but we're all humans and we're life's too short to miss out on the interaction with other humans and it's easy today with the internet to do a whole lot without having to see anybody face to face. But when you see live music it's something different and I don't want to use the word magic with you know frivolously but there's magic there.

Like I've seen bands that I heard on Spotify or heard a demo from them. It was like I sound all right and then I see them live and like who the hell are these guys? That's dumb. The cats that I heard that demo and I did and these guys are amazing.

Things are better live and like I think live shows are as much about making friends and what better way to meet like-minded people than to see a band that you could be into or to go to a show that is a genre of music that you enjoy. I love going to shows where I don't know who's playing and I it's like oh so and so is that. All right let's see let's see and I've been amazed. I've bought records from bands I never heard of prior to the day I've seen them and still listen to them.

So I would say if you're scared just dive in hold your nose and just dive in don't put your foot in slow. Yeah that's good advice Dave. I there's like it's so funny you took the words out of my mouth with a few things and what you brought up earlier just just a backtrack a hair you know just talking about like North Side and things like that it's like I do think like one one factor that I'd like to bring in is I think when when the arrivals when we were you know playing a lot and you know we're all living in close recorders and playing more often we were having fun like we were having fun creating something and not necessarily knew what we were creating but we were enjoying it and I think presenting that out to people because we toured a lot you know it wasn't you know just in Chicago I mean we toured our bucks off I mean we went on a lot of tours slept on a lot of floors and ruffed it out you know so and and and every major city and every small city you have a North Side and South Side you know so you kind of have that that factor there but I think a lot of people and a lot of bands bring that to the table but when we were doing it I think probably just kind of piggyback a little bit off what you're saying but just you know saying like having fun you know sometimes you don't know what you're going to get into nothing's planned out and you don't know unless you go try you know and you don't know unless like Dave said like you might hear a band on Spotify or you might hear a band or see a video from a band and be like oh this is really catchy and you might go see them and be like man dude I didn't really enjoy that live performance from them they sound nothing like what I liked or you might go there and be like wow they really didn't sound like their life record but holy I love this band you know so it's really one of those things where just like all the bands that are putting themselves out there you kind of have to put yourself out there too to lend a lend a listening ear and also too you never know who you're going to run into or who you're going to meet they said at the fireside bowl that's where I met my wife you know it's like I didn't know that was going to happen but yeah so just just the kind of also that advice for anybody who's you know thinking about going out to see a band or you know not quite sure if they want to make make a step to you know to travel or go see a band or anything like that it's like you're not going to know unless you go in and do it great advice and don't be fake some people try to put out a persona when they go into out of a defense mechanism or something and I found people that do that tend to have to live that live for the rest of their lives so just be yourself yeah no that's great advice that's great advice Dave Ronnie from the Arrivals the new album is coming out in April it is called Payload Guys Thank You So Much for Joining Us on 773 Sounds thanks for having us yeah thank you very much thank you for listening to this WXAV 773 Sounds podcast for more information on 773 Sounds please visit our website wxav.com