Last week, I wrote an extended piece for MetalSucks in which I sang the praises of The Armed, who I consider to be the leaders of the pack of punk and one of the great bands going today. I’ve been consistently impressed by what this band does artistically, and feel that their new Kurt Ballou-engineered record Untitled is one of the most refreshing pieces of work I’ve heard in a long time.
But as I discussed in the MetalSucks article, I actually don’t know too much about this band, and they tend to shy away from drawing attention to any individual member, viewing themselves more as a collective unit than a cast of characters – something that is reflected in the music, which is primarily focused on the voice of the song first, performances second.
So we are proud to be able to shed a bit of light on The Armed via the following rigged video, in which bassist Cara Drolshagen shows off her formidable collection of boutique gear and gross noise devices, including some Traynor amps, Emperor cabs, Death By Audio pedals, and other cool shit that you wish you had.
Cara’s playing on the album is great – it really means something to hold it down in the rhythm section when there’s so much chaos via vocals, guitars, and noise, and she locks in great with guest drummer Nick Yacyshyn of Baptists (another of our favorites!). So check it out and get schooled:
Untitled is out now via No Rest Until Ruin. You can download it for free here, along with the rest of the band’s discography, and purchase a vinyl copy here.
