Although ARMS' debut full-length, Kids Aflame, came out in 2008, founder and frontman Todd Goldstein has been concocting music under the moniker quietly since 2004. Goldstein's day job as guitarist for the Brooklyn outfit Harlem Shakes took up most of his time during that period, but he squirreled away bedroom recordings of his personal compositions without knowing what would come of them. Harlem Shakes' record label, Gigantic Music, released Kids Aflame, and shortly after, the Shakes disbanded. The universe conspired to finally make ARMS Goldstein's main focus.
Now, ARMS is a full band, still helmed by Goldstein, but also including drummer Tlacael Esparza (of fellow Brooklyn band Frances) and bassist Matty Fasano. They write songs together, as Goldstein told Playback when Deputy Editor Lavinia Jones Wright met him at Lower East Side club Piano's before an ARMS gig there. He also played Playback three songs from ARMS' newest EP, the suitably titled EP, a taste of what will be a full-length album soon, tentatively called Summer Skills.
For more info on ARMS visit:
http://www.myspace.com/armsongs
http://www.armsarms.com
