New stuff in the works for Arrison Kirby
When last we caught up with East Tennessee musical entrepreneur and musical genius Arrison Kirby, he was resurrecting his El Deth label with some reissues and preparing for reentry into the local music scene. That was two years ago; we’re happy to report that he hasn’t gone missing in the Bermuda Triangle and is, in fact, ready to debut a band new band that — for now — is going by the name of Pocket Strength.
We caught up with him this week at practice with his new bandmates, Katie Collins and Megan Driscoll, and he told us what he’s been up to.
“I’ve been doing solo sets here and there, and out of a night of hanging out me and Katie and Megan got together and decided to come together musically,” he said. “I was making beats and playing guitar, Katie was playing ukulele and Omnichord and Megan was singing and playing flute. We decided to take it Rachel Jae, who’s a theatrical director, and she, in turn, got her boyfriend involved — Dane Hill. He’s a cool guy and a good musician, and he’s been playing drums and bass.
“We’ve been taking songs I have written, plus some new covers and fleshing the project out.”
On Aug. 25, the band played at The Pilot Light with Katie and the Bass Drums, a show that was originally booked as Arrison Kirby solo.
“By that point, we could do all this, so we decided we might as well put on a show,” Kirby said. “I did about three songs by myself, and then they came out and joined in. We had a good turnout, and we had some theatrics to it — a fog machine, everything we could muster. We try to evolve it every time.”
After struggling through a relationship that he says sucked the life out of him, he feels like he’s back on track musically. El Deth isn’t making money hand over fist, but he did recoup the expenses for putting out “Inkling” by Senryu, and he’s looking forward to what’s ahead.
“The eternal goal always is to erect some massively huge conglomeration type of project, and I feel like I’m back on that path toward that,” he said.
Personally, we feel that’s a good thing — Kirby and his El Deth label add a much-needed dose of avant-garde, quirkiness and experimentalism that every scene sorely needs.
FREE MUSIC!
DOWNLOAD “ALL OF ME ALL OF US,” BY ARRISON KIRBY: Right-click here (choose “Save Link As” or “Save Target As”)