My Pop Five
My Pop Five
Arrows In Action: School of Rock, Mayday Parade, Fall Out Boy, Surf's Up, and Kingdom of Hearts
What do a classroom of kid rockers, a surfing penguin, and a keyblade have to do with a modern pop-rock band? We invited Arrows In Action to walk us through the five influences that actually shaped their sound and the world around their new record, “I Think I’ve Been Here Before.” The through-line isn’t random; it’s a map of how community, big melodies, and vivid, even unlikely, references can turn into songs that feel immediate and alive.
We start with School of Rock as the north star for band life—joyful, scrappy, and possible—then move through first shows and first loves: Mayday Parade in a Florida parking lot and the earnest, high-voltage writing that stuck. Fall Out Boy anchors a craft lesson: melody first, lyrics bent to fit with conviction, and a fearless approach to range and runs learned on early morning walks. The conversation swerves to Surfs Up, a surprising but perfect fit; its sun-faded soundtrack and underdog heart seeped into the album’s front half, right down to a track that syncs to the film’s final surf sequence. And Kingdom Hearts adds scale and stakes—cinematic intros, friendship-as-compass themes, and little glints of “video game” texture that give their arrangements lift.
We dig into how the band rebuilt in 2018, moved in together, wrote relentlessly, and designed this release as two cohesive halves with their own tones. They talk intentional choices—synth colors, vocal stacks, and tempos—that keep the record tight without losing contrast. There are tour stories, a drum kit disaster turned crowd moment, closer debates, and practical advice for any band trying to “do it for real”: keep improving the music, copy what works and make it yours, persist when numbers dip, and make sure it stays fun.
If you love pop-punk, emo-adjacent hooks, and big-hearted songwriting, this one’s for you. Hit play, stream “I Think I’ve Been Here Before,” and tell us which influence you hear first. And if you enjoyed the show, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a quick review—your support helps more listeners find the music and the stories behind it.
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We'll see you next time. But until then, what's your Pop Five?
Hello everyone, we're back. It is another episode of My Pop 5. And our guests today are people that are really exciting. To me, they're defining the next generation of what pop influence rock with high energy, hard on your sleeve types of lyrics, and an audience that is deservedly growing by the day. Their debut label album just came out here in September called I Think I've Been Here Before. And they're currently gearing up for a run, including a stop here in LA on November 9th. We have Arrows in Action. I am so excited to have you all here. Your music is so great, and I'm so thankful that you're here to do the show. So thank you.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, thanks for having us. Excited to do it. I'm Victor. I sing. I'm Matt. I play guitar.
SPEAKER_02:I'm Jesse. I play the drums. Awesome. You know, one of the things that I think can sometimes be difficult, and I know we were kind of musing on it before we actually started recording, is that for some folks, I think actually coming up with the pot five can be difficult even when you're one person. But coming up with it as a collective can be a whole different type of approach. So, first question for you was it easy? Do you all have similar tastes enough that you felt like you were able to put it together pretty easily, or was it hotly debated as y'all were putting together your pot five today?
SPEAKER_06:Well, I think there's a pretty solid, like shared space on our Venn diagram. We know each other. Yeah. But there's uh I don't know, there's quite a few things that are that are specific to us. I would say on this list, like there are some things that are just for one of us, but we all like the thing, but like the attachment maybe uh is is from just one of us, it's just different. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. I love that. I love that approach. You know, sometimes you know, when we've had bands before, it's like the things that influence the band directly, but I love getting into and the fact that we will get into some individual touch points and personality touches and how as a band, you know, you are just a combination of all of those different influences and personalities. So very cool. Just to kind of get things started, you know, without any comment or context, will y'all list what your pop five is for the audience?
SPEAKER_06:Yes, it was School of Rock, made a parade, Fallout Boy, Surfs Up, and Kingdom Hearts.
SPEAKER_02:Love it. Well, you know, let's get straight into it. And I'm super uh, you know, excited to kind of hear some of the story behind this. And let's start with that first one, which is School of Rock, Jack Black, one of the GOATs out there. Uh, but tell me, why is it here on your Pop 5? And yeah, share, share what's what's so special about it.
SPEAKER_10:I heard you in music class. You guys can really play. Why didn't anyone tell me? I think it's time we started our new class project. Rock band. Can we tell our parents? No! League guitar, Zach Attack. On bass, Posh Spice. Keyboards, Mr. Cool. Drum, Spazzy McGee. You three, groupies.
SPEAKER_06:I included that one, I guess mostly for myself. That is my favorite movie of all time. I can watch it always. It's it's comforting, and it was a a large part of what made me want to uh be in a band. Just like just so much about that movie uh that is just like inspiring, makes everything seem so attainable and possible.
SPEAKER_02:That's such a core memory movie for so many musicians, especially you know, getting started here in the last decade or so. When did you first see it and kind of what effect did it have on you?
SPEAKER_06:What year did that movie come back?
SPEAKER_02:I'm gonna guess 2004, 2004-ish.
SPEAKER_04:I thought it was your favorite movie of all time. Your F moat, if you will.
SPEAKER_06:It is my favorite my it is my my F mode. My F mote? Uh it is, and I uh I forgot if it was 2003. 2003. It's 2003.
SPEAKER_02:Okay.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah. Um, I guess that I saw it in 2003. Uh I was one of the things. I was seven and uh I started playing guitar when I was eight. So there's a pretty there's a pretty one-to-one thing there. Took a year off, took a lot of things. Yeah. Yeah. I just thought it was super cool that the actors in the movie are all playing their instruments. That was the priority because the original script was more of a musical, so they were just looking for people who could actually sing and play, more so than act, even.
SPEAKER_02:That's very cool. And whenever you're saying like it inspired you to kind of want to do music on your own, was it like, hey, I want to learn an instrument, or was it the actual like be in a band, like the camaraderie pieces of it, or maybe a mix of all of it?
SPEAKER_06:It was all of it. That's that's never been they've never been separate for me. I've like, I love playing guitar and I love sitting alone and playing guitar, but the interest in playing guitar has always been connected to wanting to be in a band the whole time for me. And I think it's just because of that, that movie, and then that movie making me want to go listen to all the artists that are in that movie and watching all the concert footage of those artists and documentaries about those artists. It's been completely attached to being in a band the whole time.
SPEAKER_04:So I think the first time I saw that movie was with you. Really? I think so. Well, because we watched it together.
SPEAKER_06:I definitely have seen it before then, but Matt has has shown it to us a few times in a in a positive way.
SPEAKER_05:Parentheses positive. Oh, it's an incredible movie. Hey, we're we're kind of due for a rewatch for sure.
SPEAKER_06:We haven't watched it the last two years together, at least. I think feeling at least last year. Which we we should do a yearly watch of that. I'm down. I know I know Matt already does it. I should include you. Jesse include you in my yearly watch. Jesse and I should join Matt for one of his two yearly watches of School of Rock that he does every year.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, I think we watched it in like 2019 or 2020. We definitely watched whenever Lived Beatles. I think that was the first time I've seen the whole movie. And I'm like, yeah, this is a great movie. Great job, guys. Yeah. Good movie. Yeah, which is pretty crazy. I didn't really watch that many movies when I was like really like younger. Definitely wasn't watching. Definitely wasn't watching School of Rock when I was eight. Yeah. So yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. I think it brings up a good point, which is like, you know, there's something that got y'all started playing, right? And it's awesome to hear how School of Rock was here, but I also think it's a good kind of break to kind of hear the other stories here about when you first started playing and you know, what kind of got you to the point that you formed together as a band. So maybe let's interject here a little bit to get a little bit more history on arrows in action. Whoever wants to kind of take the lead on that.
SPEAKER_06:When did you start playing an instrument? Uh when I start playing an instrument, I was 10 years old. This is not included in my pop five, but I distinctly remember the movie I saw right before I decided to play guitar was First Dates with Adam Sandler. Yeah, I saw him play guitar for the girl and I was like, that's what I want to do. I need to do that. So there is a pen in that movie, so you can see the through line of surf of the surf susser. But uh yeah, so I think I was like 10 when I started. I took lessons from my history teacher. And then after a year, I just I learned like all the so some basic chords and then just went on to play a bunch of green day songs.
SPEAKER_02:Yes. How cool.
SPEAKER_04:And then on the drum side. Yeah, so I started my musical career playing piano when I was like six. I took a lot of piano lessons when I was younger. But what got me into the drums was the game Rock Band.
SPEAKER_08:Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_04:One of the, you know, best video games of all time, or B vote, if you're following along. I'm gonna try and get as many of those in as I can now. Oh, I guess it's B Vat.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04:B V Goats. Yeah, yeah. Um, and yeah, I got quite good at Guitar Hero and then drums on rock band. I was playing on Expert.
SPEAKER_06:You know, it was a song of less. Well, expert is real. You should quantify it.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, you should quantify now with it. They're like, what was he playing? Like hard. Easy?
SPEAKER_05:No.
SPEAKER_04:Expert. And I 100% did Enter Sandman, and I was like, I think I can play the drum. Like, I should try this on the drums. And then I, you know, put in my headphones and I played Enter Sandman on the drums, and I was like, I'm doing it. I'm playing this in real life.
SPEAKER_05:And he looks like an expert, doesn't he? Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:Uh so yeah, I mean, rock band truly was what got me into playing the drums.
SPEAKER_06:It really does transfer on rock band drums.
SPEAKER_04:It's 100%.
SPEAKER_06:It's just playing it.
SPEAKER_04:It's right. I mean, like, obviously, all the intricacies, you know, add up later, but you know, Metallica, if you can play Metallica on rock band, you can play it on the real drums. It's a great quote.
SPEAKER_02:Wild. I have never heard any from that's insane. I mean, one of the things, like, I I kind of went in reverse order, uh drummer as well, but like playing rock band was like oh easy for me to see because I was like, okay, I could see what rhythms are happening, and like it's easier to translate, but hearing the opposite is wild. Like, it's cool, like that you had the the dexterity, you know, and like the ability to then like translate it later. Like, that's a cool origin story. My favorite rock band memory was like because I was a drummer too. Like, I was trying to Phil Collins it, you know. I had the mic set up trying to do it both at the same time. Was never successful. Nice.
SPEAKER_04:I was never successful.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:I don't think I've ever tried that. What the like bean vocal or singing vocal like singing in the game, yeah.
SPEAKER_06:Because you sing and play all the time, but on expert, by the way. On expert. Yeah. You can choose both screens to get the hard. You really find your own.
SPEAKER_02:You just have to have the song memorized. Like, I just was like only doing it with like the killers or something. Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. Cool. And now tell me about the inception of the band being formed. Like, how did y'all come across each other? What's the way? What's the way y'all met?
SPEAKER_04:Jesse, you know how the story started. Uh I technically formed the band in 2012. Technically, yeah. They had the TVs back then, uh, like we've discussed. I formed the band uh and Matt and Victor were not in it in the at the very beginning inception, but Arrows in Action opened for Victor's band at the time. Arrows in Action's first show was opening for Foul Play, and Victor sang in that band. Long story short, that was their last show. Our singer left Arrows and Victor joined. This is before any recorded music exists for context. Victor joined because we you know knew each other from the show and just from like music in general and games will and then we picked up Matt to sub on bass for us because we were like kind of filling things out. We played shows with his band bothering Dennis. So Arrows played shows with Matt, and then we eventually moved Matt to guitar, and that was kind of that was kind of the end of it.
SPEAKER_06:Matt sort of sat us down and was like, you know, we can do this for real, right? Like, you know, we can go all the way with this.
SPEAKER_04:And we're like, oh, you're right, we can. We should do that.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah. That was like 2018. 2018. So we were we were reborn in 2018.
SPEAKER_04:2018 is like more kind of like the real stamp of uh year of ascension. Birth future. Yeah, our year of ascension. Our YOA. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:What was your what was the inception point for you then, Matt? Like what made you feel like, oh yeah, we've got this? Like what like to even prompt that conversation one, but like you had to have had a moment yourself before that to get to that point to be like, guys, let's do this.
SPEAKER_06:Um, I mean, I always I always really liked them as people and as a band. I always thought they were super fucking good. Before I was in the band, I was playing. Can we curse on this? I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_04:Uh did you think we were the greatest band of all time?
SPEAKER_06:I thought you were the greatest band of all time. The G bugs. The G bugs. Yeah, I think I think what did it for me is I was graduating college in 2019. I knew that was coming up, and I was like, I just all I ever wanted to do was play in a band and think of it.
SPEAKER_04:I was watching School of Rock every day.
SPEAKER_06:I was watching School of Rock a lot, and I was like, I think that if we really focus on this, and that just back then is really just meant like move in together, write all the time, do whatever it was gonna take, which then became in the pandemic TikTok, you know, like like do whatever it's gonna take. And uh I just really, really thought that. I think what yeah, I don't know what started other than just watching them play and knowing that they were fucking amazing and like spending time with them and uh and then this the th the looming threat of graduating from college. Yeah. Yeah, Matt had like an actual timeline. Jesse and I had already graduated college, and Matt was like, either I leave or we do this. And we're like, oh shit, maybe you should stay. Yeah, yeah. Let's do it. Yeah, well, because I was like, if you don't want to do it, like then I might move. But if you do, we'll move in together. And we didn't. It was it all worked out.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. There this is all in Florida, is that right? Yes. Gainesville. Gainesville. So y'all were like just hearing the story with all the various different bands. It ended up being the super group of Gainesville. That's kind of how the information starts.
SPEAKER_06:That's what they all call them.
SPEAKER_02:And that's what everyone there still calls us. I love it. Okay, very cool. No, awesome to and honestly, the listening to the new record, it's it's so good. I think y'all have such a good thing going, right? I think both instrumentally, lyrically, that it's like you can hear the cohesion, and I think that only comes from having spent all that time together. So uh very cool to hear the story.
SPEAKER_07:Thank you.
SPEAKER_02:Thank you. Um, okay, before we move on from School of Rock, I gotta ask most memorable scene or most memorable moment for you that like just immediately comes to mind when you think of that movie.
SPEAKER_06:This is Spider. He's your replacement. Yeah. That's a good one. That's a good one. Jesse.
SPEAKER_04:Mine was also gonna be the scene with Spider and the principal. Oh my god. Towards the end of the movie, I think. Yeah. That's a lot. Um sorry, is it Mormon here? I think he's like hitting on her. He is really good.
SPEAKER_06:He's hitting on her a lot.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, yes.
SPEAKER_06:Mine would be the handshake scene when yeah, when Dewey Dewey improvises a secret handshake for uh Lawrence to feel like he belongs. He doesn't feel like he belongs. I have a little tattoo for it. Larry.
SPEAKER_09:Welcome to my world. Boom. Okay. Boom. A couple of these. Now here. Okay. Now give me a platform. Let's rock. Let's rock today. Now do it to me.
SPEAKER_02:That's awesome.
SPEAKER_06:For anybody who's watching, I don't know if they listen to it.
SPEAKER_02:So prove it. Yeah. That's incredible. Awesome. Well, school rock, so good, so many memorable moments. Like you mentioned, excellent soundtrack. Yeah, I love the building of the band moment. Like, you play this, you play that. Like it's just such a cool, cool moment, that's for sure. Love that scene.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:Jack Black. That's what makes it seem so attainable.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:It was that scene.
SPEAKER_02:It's it was so crazy, like over the years, to see like some of the casts like tweet when they would have like a reunion or whatever. Just like, you know, you remember them as those little kids and now how they've kind of grown up. And you know, the drummer actually has since passed, and it's just crazy to see how time goes. But yeah, just wild to have that time capsule. But all right, let's move on to your next one here. Staying in the musical round. Let's talk about Mayday Parade, a band that sits in my memory of like my going to warp tour days and things like that. But tell me what you love about Mayday Parade and why it's here on your Pop 5.
SPEAKER_04:So Mayday Parade was my first concert ever. And they were kind of like, so I have like very, very strong memory of I was going home from a field trip to uh there's like this water park in Tampa, Florida, and like every year we would there was we had like a field trip to go there. Pretty great. Uh and on the way back, one of my like classmates showed me like we were just listening to music on uh an iPod. Oh, the split earphones. Not even split. Uh yeah, we weren't at the technical, you know, the split. Um they played Black Cat by Made a Parade from Lesson in Romantics, and I was like, this is really cool. I like this a lot. Um, and then like an assortment of other bands like uh Panic at the Disco was definitely on there, Fall Out Boy. Um so then I think I got to see them when I was 15. They played in Naples, Florida. Opening for, or they were like uh direct support to Andy Grammar. Whoa guys, whoa. I don't even know if they remembered it. I've since like mentioned it to like Alex, and he's like he was like, wait, we did what? I was like, no man, I promise you did this. It's uh I'm surprised. I feel like that's gotta be like such an outlier that it would be extra memorable. But it was like a weird outdoor music festival in Naples, Florida. Oh, was it like a festival?
SPEAKER_06:Were there other bands? Because that would make sense if they didn't really like it. It was weird. Would you even say that?
SPEAKER_04:It was underattended for the time. Did they go on tour? Oh, yeah. Yeah, 239 music festival in Naples, Florida. We've confirmed it. So it's hard to call it a music festival. There was like four bands playing, but Andy Gramer was one of them as well, as made a parade, and I got like uh a drumstick from that show and set list signed by everybody. By Andy Grammar. Not by Andy Grammar, you know. I would have liked that too. So yeah, so they they hold uh all of their albums have been kind of like big for me too. So yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Big band in uh the early upbringing. First concert type of experience. Mostly that's like you're dragged by your parents to go see, you know, Z Z Top or something. What is uh that one was one you led, right? Like you had heard the band and you're like, I gotta finally go see them. Is that what the story was in that instance?
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, it was I went with uh a couple friends from high school.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:Um, and it was like a it was like a two-hour drive, so into I don't know if you know much about Naples, Florida, but it's basically a retirement community along the West Coast, yeah, from one to the next. Yeah.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:So we just took a little drive down there to this parking lot, essentially. Uh and incredibly exciting.
SPEAKER_02:Do you feel that there's any direct correlation in terms of your love for the band and how it correlates back to what y'all do? You know, as an outsider, I might be able to kind of say, like, you know, instrumentally, there's like genre-like things that are kind of in the same vein, but also like I think they walk a line between like energy and vulnerability, and that's something I definitely hear in your music. But sometimes that's not necessarily like intentional, right? Sometimes it's just like a product of you know your influence. But I'm curious if for you, if Mayday Parade like has actual some direct correlation into the way you approach writing and making music.
SPEAKER_04:I would say back in the day, probably, and I think like we have, especially Vic and I have a lot of like that era like warp tour band influence that just like lives on like without a doubt, like subliminally within us. Like, I don't think we reference them currently.
SPEAKER_06:I do think that like lyric we've oh yeah, not that we've taken anything from them that like that has influenced our style lyrically, and I feel like that is why we always have like the the I don't know, there's always like a tinge of like emo or something to it, or emotionalness or vulnerability. And I think we gained a lot of that from those early like scene bands, yes, and learning how to like just put your heart on your sleeve like that. There's something about finding that SAT word and that is very them. It's like you know, yeah, there's there's and that maybe is an emo thing to do. I don't know, or you have some flowery language that that still accomplishes you needed to. Yeah, like panic, fall up boy, like B, all of them are doing that. So we always we don't always do it, but we're like, should we get an SAT word in this song? So uh let's take a look. What can we do here? What words have we got?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah. Oh, that's very cool. Um, they're also from Florida, so like was that any like special portion of it too for you when you first heard them, or did you not even know that when you first got into them?
SPEAKER_04:I think I would have known afterward, not right when I heard listened to them, but I think before I saw them, they talk about like Tallahassee and Gainesville and some of their songs. And like and Valdasta, like specific to like uh songs about Valdasta.
SPEAKER_06:Well, they I think that's fucking awesome. Did they play the Valdasta DIY house?
SPEAKER_04:I hope so.
SPEAKER_06:That's my next question.
SPEAKER_04:So they have, you know, they mention a very specific It's just called Valdasta.
SPEAKER_06:Well, the album's called the EP's called Valdasta. Yeah, it's like an episode. I mean it's bad. What a crazy sorry. We just we're realizing this now. Yeah. So they uh uh yeah, they have that's so cool.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, a bit of uh, you know, very specific like cross-section of regional Florida, Georgia region. Yeah, so that is very cool.
SPEAKER_02:I gotta say, you are fast with the Google or chat GBT search or whatever you go wrong this whole time while you're chatting. I'm like, you're finding stuff fast. Yeah, we've got a fact.
SPEAKER_05:Victor's just googling us. I mean, like, I love when we have a conversation and go, man, I wonder what that is. And I go, Gosh, guess what?
SPEAKER_02:Man, funny story. When my band, when when we were touring uh back in uh like 2016, we decided we were gonna do like a writer's retreat in the mountains for like to make a new record, and that place had no service. And I don't know how like ridiculous it was for us to be like, and who who had that one song or that one band, and then like no one could look anything up. And so like we would go into town, we would go into town like maybe once every like three or four days, and we had just like a list in our notes app on our phone of like what's the stuff we have to look up when we get back into town.
SPEAKER_06:Like it drove us crazy.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, that's funny what you said.
SPEAKER_06:So that's awesome. I could just imagine like we're in like the cabin and we're like at a whiteboard, and we're like, all right, you got a question for it.
SPEAKER_04:I'm just imagining saving up a list of all the things that I Google in one day. Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:The function is taking into the library with you on Saturday or whatever. Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:That was the most fun. Is like when we'd have the list, and like even before we went into town, someone finally remembered, like, oh, it was Shakira or whatever, you know, and then we're like crossing it off the list, you know. Anyway, that's awesome. Funny aside, let's stay in this vein, right? And talk about your next one here, which is Fallout Boy. Fallout Boy is also just like the premier band of that time that you're kind of like talking through, you know, uh, especially in terms of popularity, right? Like blowing up with, you know, sugar were going down and and so on. Um, but yeah, tell me what your kind of influence was with Fallout Boy and and why they're here on your pot five.
SPEAKER_06:So Fallout Boy for me was like one of the first like band, like the first band that I got into was like Green Day and Blink, but once I like got into Fallout Boy, like it really made it clear like how much like I love punk music, but it made it, it gave it so much more range. Like there was so much more they were doing, and like I remember the first song I ever heard by them was Dance Dance. Um, and that was the first time I knew what a bass was. And I was like, that's sick. I don't know what that is, but I like it.
SPEAKER_00:She says she's no good with words that aren't even worse, but it started on a joke of a romantic stuff.
SPEAKER_06:Um, and that piqued my interest in bass. But like I I remember we're getting really into their first two albums, um, and just like that was how I learned to sing. Like, I didn't take vocal lessons growing up or anything. I would wake up, walk my dog at five in the morning, and just sing through a Fallout Boy album.
SPEAKER_04:Just wake up the whole name.
SPEAKER_06:Oh, yeah, I was the worst. And so I just walk my dog like a half hour or whatever, sing most of the Fallout Boy album, and just try to like, I would be breaking my voice trying to get there, and then eventually it would like get better. But no, like that was that was basically where I learned to sing, and like I didn't know that like runs weren't like I couldn't do runs like Patrick Stump, but I was like, oh, this is what singers do. Okay, like I gotta be good at this, I gotta be good at Falsetto, like all these things, and like it's uh I don't know, I still like to this day, Infinity on High and Folly Ado are like my favorite records. They're I was listening through Infinity Fall yesterday. Folly I do truther. Yes, absolutely. And I used to not be I used to not be a Folly Ado truther. I honestly didn't listen to it until like 2017, bad on my part. And then I was like, this is the best thing I'd ever done. This is the best thing in music.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, the greatest album of all time.
SPEAKER_06:Well, and the new the new one kind of sounds like it. The new one is kind of like the closest thing to it. It feels like a natural sequel to it. Yeah. And the the only time I've ever seen Fallout Boy was uh when we were young last year, which is kind of crazy, I think. I didn't see them until I was 29. That is crazy. Yeah, my favorite band ever. That was my first Fallout Boy show. And they played every era. They played like they did like they start with like Saturday or something. Or no, they closed the Saturday. I think they started they still closed the Saturday. I think they started with Grand Theft Autumn.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, it was like Grand Theft Autumn and they went like yeah, earliest to latest album order.
SPEAKER_06:It was they're doing an Aeros tour thing. It was sick. And I think like Pete went specifically, like Patrick Stump is an amazing vocalist, amazing composer. But Pete, you know, always gets so much love for being like the frontman of that band. But he is such an awesome lyricist. Like, there were so many things that I loved learning from them where it kind of felt like almost like Green Day lyrics. It would be like a fun twist on something like there's a line in Carpal Tunnel of Love, first of all, great title, where it goes like Robbing Lips and Kissing Banks Under this moon. That means nothing, but I think that's so funny. I think that's such a cool line as to have. Like it was, I think he influenced a lot of like my writing at least.
SPEAKER_02:That's awesome. Yeah, I I listened to uh them do the show Song Exploder. I'm not sure if y'all have heard of it, but they like break down the inception of a song, and they were talking about uh sugar were going down. And one of the things that I thought was interesting is like so much of what Pete Wentz would just do is while they're in the studio, they'd have a rough melody, and he's like, Here, use this, you know, and you're just trying to like dissect whatever he wrote in this like journal entry of sorts into like making it work into the song, and like, yeah, it's like all these great songs started just from Pete Wentz, just you know, constantly writing lyrics, and uh, I think that's cool.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, well, and like the last thing I'll say about it is just like it's so like it's so funny when you hear Patrick singing, because like when you look at the lyrics, you're like, Oh, he had a melody and he just twisted whatever Pete had into this, and it just works because of how he sings it with so much confidence. Like I know it's the lyrics are great. Yeah, it's not too dissimilar from how we write sometimes, I think, where it's like we usually have a melody we're really excited about already, and then it's fitting a concept or even a journal entry or a or a rant of or some kind of thing into it, like a like puzzle pieces, you know, but like we start with melody and then we go, okay, what is this conceptually? Can it fit that? So, like it's a lot like that. Yeah, it's like what what is this super kind of like heady concept thing? How do you make it digestible to fit this melody everyone's stoked on that?
SPEAKER_02:That's cool. Yeah, no, totally, that makes complete sense. Awesome. Yeah, last memory that I have for them is like one thing that I'll always like feel special about that band is like uh I'm a little older than y'all, but like when I first got my first iPod, like in iTunes was like the first place you could like download music. My first MP3 download that I paid 99 cents for was Sugar Were Going Down. And so it's just like what was the first thing you ever downloaded on iTunes? It's like I can say it was that song at the end. Best song ever.
SPEAKER_05:I think my first Teenagers by MCR. Oh my first record.
SPEAKER_04:Yes, that was like probably the first of four songs I downloaded on my iPod. I think mine was great escape, but Boys Like Hell Yes. Yeah, brother.
SPEAKER_06:I went to iPod 2 that came with the gorillas album.
SPEAKER_04:What nice?
SPEAKER_06:The one that had like Feel Good Ink and uh Demon Days. That one. I was I got an iPod 2 that had that one. So this is where your hip hop comes from. I have no I don't know how to do any of that, but I love it.
SPEAKER_02:Oh man, you mentioned the great escape record, and that just like unlocked something for me with like, especially like because the drumming on that record I think is unreal. Like it's so good. But let's get on to your next one. Finally, moving away from music. Uh, we're talking about surf. Up. I'm curious about you know, I love when we can like see the things that I'm like, I could see that's an obvious influence. And then there's other ones that you're like, I'm very curious. How did this one come to be? So tell me what about surfs up? It's here for you.
SPEAKER_06:You'll hear it after he explains. Just watch the movie sometime, put us on field again to it. It'll be uh honestly, like, so I saw Surfs Up for the first time, I think like when it came out, so it must have been in seventh grade or something like that, or sixth grade. Um, and like so my dad has always been a big surfer like his whole life. He taught me to surf, and so there was like a little bit of uh I just I just like that about it. It was like a fun, like like kids' movie that Shia LaBeouf. I love Zoe De Chanel, she's in it. Jeff Ridges, who's Napoleon Dynamite's actor.
SPEAKER_02:John Heater.
SPEAKER_04:But he's that guy's in it, he's Chicken Joe.
SPEAKER_06:And uh so many of yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04:Wait, what's the name? John Hater? He haters honestly.
SPEAKER_06:I hadn't even seen anything he was in before that. I hadn't seen Napoleon Dynamite, but I was just like, oh, you mean the Chicken Joe guy? Awesome. Chicken Joe. Um, but like it's not even that it has like an incredible, I mean it does have a good message where it's just like, you know, do what you want to do for yourself. Like, you know, like like do what makes you happy and don't worry about like pleasing other people. But I also just really like the soundtrack, like it really opened up a lot for me. Like it had like Incubus and like the dirty heads, and I remember it had like Sugar Ray and and New Radicals, you get what you give, and like there were and and holiday my green day, and there was just such a cool mix of songs on there where I was like I was liking a lot of punk music, and then I was like, oh, but also this stuff's like super chill, like you get what you give, and like sugar ray, and so I think uh I'm also just I love the beach, so I think that's part of it too.
SPEAKER_02:I love it, you know that that it was like one of my favorite things about doing this show is uh as much as possible, you know. Sometimes people will put like a you know, 800-page novel or whatever, but like I try to experience everything before we come in and have a chat. So like I remembered watching this years and years and years ago, but it just left my mind. And so, like going back and re-watching it, it's just like, yeah, it's a great, you know, sometimes you like get hit in the gut with these animated uh movies sometimes because they really have like a real emotional payoff and like the whole underdog vibe to it, and so yeah, just a fun one here for sure.
SPEAKER_06:So to me, that one's kind of like school of rock where like it doesn't have like any like horribly devastating sad part, it's sort of like an uplifting movie, like the whole time, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, for sure. Um, and I think it it's just like I you always want to root for that like underdog tale, right? You're rooting for that experience, and so yeah, but it was fun to kind of go back, and all the different characters too are just like awesome. But was there anyone for you specifically that you felt most drawn to in the movie? Oh, Chick Jell.
SPEAKER_05:Chick Jones. You feel it in my nuggets. That's that is so good.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. You mentioned the like, hey, if we go back and listen to your tune and and watch it again, like we'll get it. What what is it that you think and how it has kind of come back into your work? Like, what what would those things be for the audience?
SPEAKER_06:We were writing this song Feel It Again. Like, we we will leave movies on in the background just on mute. And like it's not really like let's pick this movie to go with this song. We just put something on and it was my turn to pick the movies.
SPEAKER_04:It's no thing. This was also it was playing on DVD. We had acts so we were writing in like a cabin in California and we had access to DVDs, all the DVDs, and surfs up. We were like, oh hell yeah, we gotta put I think it was day one specifically. Day one in the cabin, we're like, oh yeah, we gotta put like a cool movie on in the background just because like that's I think it did help the song.
SPEAKER_06:I think it did like almost without real. I think normally we'll just put on a movie and it's cool to have it there, but like I remember at one point Jesse turned to the TV and he turned back to the computer and then back to TV, and he was like, guys, this is for this movie. This works. And and if you're looking for a part, it's like the last three minutes of the movie when they're surfing, when they're when he's uh it's like the slow-mo surfing's happening, yeah.
SPEAKER_04:And feel it again comes on. Right when Cody's getting barreled, yeah.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, it's so it's perfect. Yeah. That whole first the whole uh first half of I think I've been here before and like the soundtrack of that movie. I feel like three because it's like the you were listing like sugar a and like new radicals, and I mean like there's green ice phone on there, like what else? It's like new romantic. Yeah, like oh romantics like it's all like upbeat things that fit of like the beach and the sunset, but they're all also kind of punk influenced, like kind of yeah, because there's the eleven, yeah. Three eleven's on there. Yeah, exactly. Like that the first half of our album was written for Surf Subs. Yes, yeah, yeah. You can watch Surf Set with the Yeah, I hear if you turn on Surf Set with the sound off. The first half I think I've been here before it lines up with it.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, that's hilarious. Yeah, it it's interesting that this is the song that we're talking about because like when I was like writing down like stuff after listening to your record, like I loved the big opening like to the to the record, and then like you really get into that like fun groove there on like track two, and I was like, I love this, and that's just one I jotted down. And so like now that it comes back full circle with surfs up, it's just it's awesome. So we will plug it here in the episode for everyone to listen, you know, for that for that moment. But awesome. Well, let's get to your last one here Kingdom Hearts. I think nothing screams emotionally complex escapism like this game. What got you hooked in Kingdom Hearts?
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, and I'm assuming leading up to this, you played through all the games to just get caught in the podcast. Including Chain of Memories, I hope. Yeah, Chain of Memories. Uh yeah, so uh Kingdom Hearts, that that is one that uh I love a lot. I think, well, one, it's got a really great soundtrack, including the like intro songs, which are insane, like simple and clean and sanctuary, like ridiculously good, and then I can't remember the name of it, but the the third one has like a Skrillix remix that's insanely cool. So like they went way too hard on the the soundtrack for whatever reason. Yeah, it's so cool. But uh yeah, it's funny. When I played Kingdom Hearts, I hadn't actually watched any Dis Disney movies. Hell I wasn't really like allowed to watch Disney movies. I'm learning this at the time. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_06:So introduction to Goofy is like a guy fighting with him.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah, for me. I'm very curious. You know, one of the things like it's very interesting, every time you you've been speaking up, it's like I never saw any movie or went to any concert or did anything, so it it's it's fun to hear all of this stuff in hindsight.
SPEAKER_04:You can read into my childhood, I guess, as much as you like there. Yeah, so when I played Kingdom Hearts, I was like, oh this is this is sick. So for me, like Disney is Kingdom Hearts. It's like, oh, that's Stitch from Kingdom Hearts. No wonder you have such an affinity for this game. King Nikki from Kingdom Hearts.
SPEAKER_09:He's invented all of it.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. And uh so yeah, crazy story. I mean, you I you couldn't even possibly sum it all up uh you know in an hour. I've watched our many hours long summaries of the Kingdom Hearts storyline and to really understand it by the end. But it's really, really fun game. Obviously, all the Disney Worlds are super, super cool. And uh how it influenced me, I'm not sure. But I have a Kingdom Hearts tattoo, so I certainly did something.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, it's interesting, you know, like whenever you you have a game like that that just like can be, you know, hey, look, we like beating bosses and hanging out with Mickey and listening to the cool soundtrack, but also has like some pretty deeper meeting meanings and themes. Like I remember the like going back and reflecting on like when I had first played through them younger, like such like a huge importance and value on friendship or just like belonging, like you know, like not knowing where you belong and like those elements of it. And like I don't think that I would have been able to place that when I was playing it, that like these are themes, but like when I look back on it later, it's like, oh my gosh, like there's so much learning that you have and kind of experiencing those things with those characters. So yeah, it's interesting that you say, like, I don't know how it influenced you, but like it wasn't until like revisiting it for this conversation that I was like, oh gosh, yeah, like there's so much elements about like how you can view the importance of friendship or navigating darkness or otherwise, you know, just from playing a video game with Mickey and Goofy in Stitch, you know.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, it's very like sense of purpose and like you know, your place in the world. I feel like much like Kingdom Hearts, we do everything big. Yeah, we do big.
SPEAKER_06:It's it's funny that it kind of fits that stuff in kind of subliminally, like I should have put like avatar-like airbender, like that kind of does some some of that teaching sometimes right in front of your face, but a lot of it subliminally too, with the way that the friends interact and solve problems amongst themselves. It's like if you watch that as a young at a young age, like you might have some of those like emotionally intelligent problem-solving skills just from watching it.
SPEAKER_02:Definitely, yeah. So, similar to uh, you know, feel it again, uh, if one of your songs is playing in the background of like a boss fight or something here, what do you think it would be?
SPEAKER_06:Well, uh this this you pick yours, but I just made a video edit on TikTok of one of my songs too.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, yeah. Matt made a great edit to uh stay awake to like one of the intros of the I think one or something.
SPEAKER_06:It's the it's the ending of two.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, just which is like really, you know, obviously there's like a lot of like dreamy, surrealish like uh visuals that go with that, but they're very like, oh no, that guy just disappeared. Uh stay awake definitely fits for a lot of that like like very loft lofty visuals that happen in like the intros and outros of the game.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, I don't know how intense these fights are, so I don't know what what would fit.
SPEAKER_04:You know, I I think something here is I think here, like I don't Vic did not play any of Kingdom Hearts, but he did play Pokemon, and I know Matt loves a lot of different video game soundtracks. Yeah so there's definit video game music whether you know we probably don't reference it much, but definitely exists. We've probably heard a lot of video game original soundtracks in our lives.
SPEAKER_05:Feel it again, even has a little bit of that too, like even just the sound. Like that was actually like video game reference that Jesse was making where he was like, Oh, it's yeah, like we and we would just do it into the mic. We would just make the video game noise in the mic and then kind of yeah, like sprinkling throughout the track.
SPEAKER_02:That's sick. That's awesome. Very cool. Well, hey, let's talk a bit about. I think I've been here before. I know it's kind of circled, you know, your pop five in general, but I want to give you the actual time to kind of plug it. It's your first label release. What feels different about this one in comparison to what you've done before?
SPEAKER_06:I think part of what's different this time is we had I won't venture to call it a concept record, but we had a concept to chase, right? We had we knew what we wanted to do to keep things cohesive. And as we were doing that, we realized that we had two cohesive pieces. And so I think splitting it up into two halves was definitely something we hadn't done before. And it was something that was really fun to explore conceptually while we were finishing things, of like, even if it just came down to like what syntones are we gonna do? What's the vocal arrangement gonna be like? You know, what are we gonna do to make these things really fit the themes we want them to? So that was really cool, and we feel like we've created a little bit of a world for people to kind of imagine while they're listening. And then just having network alongside us has been awesome so far. It's been really, really helpful. And you know, having a single office record at radio is something that's completely new for us and just really exciting.
SPEAKER_02:That's awesome.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah. I feel like maybe one other thing is just like our first album was like we we purposefully made it so eclectic. Like we intended for there to be a lot of like stark contrast between a lot of songs, I feel like. And what was cool about this was that we kind of uh I don't know, it felt like more purposeful, like it felt like more of a choice to like kind of be like, oh, let's use this on these songs so they feel connected, but then also like distinctly have a contrast between the first half and the back half. So still kind of calling back to what we did with the last one, but making it more like concise. Yeah, totally intentional. Yeah. Maybe a little less existential on this record, but it's got its moments.
SPEAKER_02:Yes. Yeah, no, I think it's it's so well done, and I think you you get pulled into a world, like I said, whether it's it's the sonics or lyrically, it's it's so well done. Y'all have such a good thing going, and yeah, I just can't wait for more and more people to hear it because it it's solid. No skips, top to bottom, really great work, y'all. Uh we'll get you out of here, but before we do, we ask everyone five rapid fire questions to wrap up everything. So, first things first, if y'all had to be on a reality TV show, which one would you choose? Survivor. For me at least. Survivor. Yes. Okay, and now I will probably probably cut this, but this is just for me because I'm also a Survivor fan. Old era, new era rules. Do you have a preference?
SPEAKER_04:Honestly, I like the new era because I think because I'm a nerd and I just like like metagame shit. Like built on its own. It's really turned into like a brutal strategy game. Uh-huh. Whereas although old old era survivor was very fun to watch. For sure. I like it. But now it's like it's it really is like survival of the strategist. Sure. And it's very interesting to watch from the game and just like the social perspective. It's very, it's very cool.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Very cool. Awesome. Uh, next one here. If people have never consumed any of your pop five, what's the one you'd want them to go experience right now? Let's say school of rock. Or Fallout.
SPEAKER_06:I was gonna say Fallout boy. You gotta say School of Rock, understandably.
SPEAKER_04:I think you should play all 10 Kingdom Hearts games.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, I guess we have individual actors for this one.
SPEAKER_04:You should watch School of Rock. It'll make you a better person. You should watch School of Rock. If you haven't seen School of Rock, you should see School of Rock.
SPEAKER_06:Yes, yeah.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Beautiful. What's a favorite on stage moment or performance?
SPEAKER_06:Jesse ripping off his pants. Whenever we have tracks, we do tearaways.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, I did uh a little fun little tearaway pants bit on this last tour. I think I think the the most notable one moment was when my drums fell apart at a show in Atlanta. Oh yes.
SPEAKER_06:Completely fell off the riser.
SPEAKER_04:The drums all fell off the riser. How? You know, hard to explain how that happened, I guess. We know to this day, but you can look it up on TikTok. There's nothing to do with magnets.
SPEAKER_05:Oh, I know that.
SPEAKER_04:But it turned into a very like funny moment. Uh-huh. It was very characteristic of us, our reaction to what is a show stopping moment. But it was very fun. And everyone who was at that show, whenever they see us, they go, Oh, is that the show where the drums fell apart?
SPEAKER_06:He jumped off of his drum riser, walked to the front, and grabbed the microphone, said, Hey guys. What are you gonna take a second? It was just positive. Everybody laughed and then everything's so funny. You'd ever see a drummer jump off his drum riser and walk to the front of the stage like talk about this instead of fixing it.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. And it was crazy. Yeah, it was it was really funny.
SPEAKER_02:I feel like I still have nightmares. Uh I don't tour anything anymore, but I feel like I still have stress dreams of like something not working, like my clutch flying off, or you know, kick kick drum head breaking mid-show. But to for the whole thing to collapse, that's just like nightmare fuel for me.
SPEAKER_06:There's only so much you can do. Accept it for what it is. No damn tracking.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:Just a really funny clunk and a crash.
SPEAKER_02:Yep.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:All right. If you found out tonight was your last show you'll ever play, what's the song you're closing with? With cheekbones, right?
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:It's a topical discussion. If we if we thought it was the last show ever tonight, I think I would vote we still fall. We still close with uncomfortable.
SPEAKER_04:Close with uncomfortable night. Yeah, you're right. Yeah, you are right.
SPEAKER_06:We said that because we were talking about the closing. Yeah, we've been talking about this today. Like, let's all feel this first thing that got us here way. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Either that or MJF.
SPEAKER_04:Oh go way back.
SPEAKER_06:Way back.
SPEAKER_08:Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, I think the cheekbones closer potential is a future-looking thing. Yeah, yeah. You're right. I say we play a song from Matt's old band.
SPEAKER_02:I say uh Andy Grammar. A cover of Andy Grammar.
SPEAKER_04:Andy Grammar. Yeah, I'm good.
SPEAKER_02:All right, last one. Uh, what's one piece of advice you'd give a group of folks trying to do the whole band thing? They're like, hey, we want to do this. They have their own Matt in their world that's pulling them to say, hey, we can actually do this if we take it seriously. What's the advice you'd give them?
SPEAKER_04:I like to say, because there's no like go to this guy and do this thing. I always say just like look at what truly like look at what you're doing and can it get better? How can you improve? Because there's like make the music better, make the content better, make the show better, make the like actually just like level headed, sit down, like assess what you do well and what you can improve on, and just make incremental steps to improve each thing. Because there is no like and keep doing it, don't let that stop you from making music, right? Like, if you're not gonna if like keep making music, keep recording music, even if it's not as good as you wish it was, keep trying, keep going, because all the little things add up. Yeah, yeah. And uh yeah, all all of that. See, look at what your peers are doing and what's working for them, and do that too.
SPEAKER_06:What do you think? I think uh to kind of jump off of like the look at what your peers are doing, is like whether that's with TikTok with what we do now, or like looking at like our like heroes that we wanted to be like, like we have always copied what they've done, and not like lyrically specific, but just like how are they going about promoting this? How are they using social media?
SPEAKER_05:And then looking at that and going, okay, and how would they do it? How would we do it better?
SPEAKER_06:Not to say that they're not doing it good, but like to Jesse's point of like looking at what your heroes and peers are doing and say, great, so we'll do that too, but we'll do our own spin on it. Yeah, yeah. And learning how to like differentiate yourself.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, like what does that look like for us?
SPEAKER_06:Like uh, yeah, like us figuring out our bits has been like our biggest personality thing.
SPEAKER_05:Like, we're not taking ourselves seriously very seriously.
SPEAKER_10:Very seriously.
SPEAKER_06:And I want to add two things to it. I do want to give him credit. Uh I would say add two things to that, two little things. Uh one is just in all that, persist. Keep doing it, even if you feel like oh the numbers went down or oh, there aren't any numbers, like persist. Because there will be, and the numbers will go back up. They just zero is if you stop believing in yourself, then you'll be right. And then on top of that, have fun. And that might sound really stupid, but for real, make sure you're enjoying it. And if you're not, check in and ask why. Is it a temporary thing? Oh, that's fine. Is it something that you need to change? Great. Do whatever it takes to do that. Because if you're not having fun while you're performing in front of 10 people and making music for those people, you're certainly not going to have fun when there's a thousand. And at that point, it's your life.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:Figure out right now what makes it fun and keep it that way.
SPEAKER_04:There's actually like a four commercial running right now. That's just what you just said.
SPEAKER_06:Well, I should begin advertising.
SPEAKER_04:What the that's whether you believe that you can or you can't, you're right. Oh, well, that's it. That's the trope. That's just the idea. It just made me laugh. They didn't coin that, but I was just like, I had seen it so many times, and then you said it, and I was like, Is everyone saying this?
SPEAKER_06:You have just seen the inception of a new bit here at Arrows in Action, where every time some one of us tells a story or says something more than 30 seconds, we don't, you know, I saw that in a Ford commercial. Say something that sounds like it's coming from the heart, and you're like, I think I heard that in the Ford commercial. Yes, from a Ford commercial. Thank you for giving us commercial.
SPEAKER_02:Yes.
SPEAKER_04:Anyway, awesome.
SPEAKER_02:Well, great, y'all. Thank you so much.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, we still want an endorsement. I I don't know. Whatever it takes.
SPEAKER_06:That's true. That's true.
SPEAKER_02:Awesome, guys. What else do you want to promote? Where can people follow you? Um, and how can we show you love?
SPEAKER_06:Well, uh stream the record anywhere you stream music, please. Uh come see us on tour this November. Almost the whole tour is sold out, though. So if you didn't get tickets, fly to Worcester. Uh fly to Worcester and buy tickets there. Um or you know, follow us and uh just uh stay on the lookout for more touring because we're very busy and uh yeah, we want to say hey. Coming soon. Big year ahead of us. Yeah, a big year after that, and a big year after that. And a big year ahead of you, too. And you should have some. That's right. Thanks.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I'm hopeful to be there. I was talking to Claire. Uh I'm hoping to be there at uh the show at the Blasco. So would love to be glad to be there.
SPEAKER_04:We look forward to meeting you.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Well, awesome, y'all. Thank you so much. Uh, you know, appreciate it. You y'all are doing a really great thing. Uh forever a fan now, and thank you so much for doing it. Hey, thanks for having us. That'll do it for today's show. Thank you so much for listening. Go stream arrows in action, wherever you listen to music, go check them out on tour. And we're gonna head out with the song Uncomfortably Numb. It's a song they mentioned that they would put on the last of the set list uh if it was their last show. So here's Uncomfortably Numb. We'll see you next time. But until then, what's your pop five?
SPEAKER_01:Tell me when it stopped in the middle of the city.
