A brand new outfit from no fixed address in the US of A, The Arcs is a collaboration between The Black Keys' frontman Dan Auerbach and a group of his mates from the music realms (namely Leon Michels, Richard Swift, Homer Steinweiss and Nick Movshon). They arrive at the party firmly clutching their debut long-player, Yours, Dreamily, and although it might seem a new concern to outsiders Auerbach explains that they've actually been squirreling away songs for years now.
"They're some of my oldest friends, guys who I've made records with over the years, so when we had free time we'd get together and record," he tells. "We just had a ridiculous amount of songs, so Leon and I got together about eight months ago just to go through the computers to see what we had — because we always record and then just put it away — and we had about 70 songs, and at that point we decided that we should share this music with people and figure out how to do it. That's how The Arcs started — we gave it the name and the identity and it's taken on a life of its own."
Yours, Dreamily has a vaguely soul-tinged psych feel to it, but despite The Arcs being a fully collaborative affair at no stage was the band's direction ever discussed amongst the circle.
"You know what's going to be the perfect combination for stardom? Two anti-stars!"
"Whatever happens happens, you know?" Auerbach smiles. "We co-wrote all the songs together and worked them up in the studio, but musically we don't ever talk about it, we just go for it. All of us do something well on our own, but without a doubt when we get together something is starting to happen where it's not sounding like any of us individually so much as sounding like The Arcs. Which is really exciting to watch unfold before your eyes.
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"We were really influenced from that period in the '60s or early-'70s when things were really experimental — I guess you could call it psych, but it's more just pop songwriting that was really experimental. They were trying to do new things but in the analogue domain, which gives it a particular feel or sound — we really do love those records. But at the same time we all listen to new music, and we wouldn't want The Arcs to just sound like an old retro project."
And despite fronting one of rock's biggest bands, Auerbach tells that making music for music's sake with The Arcs wasn't all that removed from his day job.
"In all honesty I've never really felt that much pressure," he shrugs. "With The Black Keys it's not formulated; we never said, 'You know what's going to be the perfect combination for stardom? Two anti-stars! A two-man band of guys who are uncomfortable on stage!' So that's never really been a concern of mine, I've been really fortunate that I've only ever had to make music that I like. I never had to do it for a living so much. I mean touring can be difficult occasionally, but that's about as 'work' as my work ever gets."
