WL 375 - Sunday, August 12 - 12am
Purveyors of: punishing your ears and making love to them at the same time

When I Can Put My Arm Back On You Can’t went on hiatus in June of 2005 I crossed my fingers and hoped they would play again so I wouldn’t have to feel like a chump for missing their last show. Luckily, one year, one month, and one day later they returned to the stage as a trio (they were formerly a quartet) with a fierce batch of new tunes. Their second full-length, “Stands for ICPMABOYC”, was recently released by Standard Form, a private press run by Arm Back On’s guitarist Alex Durlak. Pick it up if you want to hear a really good heavy record. I asked Durlak some questions via e-mail.

What happened to your other guitarist? Did he lose a limb in a freak accident and just couldn't face the irony or...?

That's funny, I actually have nightmares of that exact scenario, like we get in a car accident or something. How brutal would that be.

Matt left the band in February of 2006. My understanding of it is he got to a point where he wasn't having as much fun in the band as he once did and that the responsibilities of his daily life were growing in importance. I think it's a point that everyone who plays in a band faces, especially as we inch ever closer to 30 and beyond. Not everyone wants to play in a band all their life, a lot of it can be a big pain in the ass. Matt is getting married to his sweet-heart Michelle, maybe even by the time this goes to press (or is it server?).

What type of guitar do you use? Is the neck metal or is that just the finish?

It is made by a company called Electrical Guitars out of Florida which is run by a swell guy named Kevin. I believe he refers to that model as the Custom. Basically, the body is made of wood and is shaped like a Mosrite and the neck is made of Aluminum. The neck actually extends all the way into the body so that the strings are always resting on the metal from either end of the guitar. The benefits of this are that there is less concern about warping the neck so you can put really heavy gauge strings on there, the sustain is longer, and the tone is really unique. The pickups are also bolted directly to the neck, so the whole neck is resonating into them, which makes for an incredibly loud output. The thing is basically driven into the guitar amp right off the bat.

Seriously, anyone wants to nerd out about guitars, especially these aluminum ones, just say Hi. It's a good story behind the Electrical Guitars. It's total fetish.

Do you use any alternate tunings on the new record?

On the previous records I alternated between regular tuning, drop D and a custom one I came up with at the very first armbackon practice. Ever since I got the aluminum one I decided I didn't want to use multiple guitars on stage, so I just stuck with the custom tuning. I haven't played regular tuning in ages, I miss it sometimes.

Basically, the custom tuning is:

6: Baritone B
5: B
4: D
3: F#
2: B
1: C#

It's dark. Me likey dark.

What upcoming releases do you have planned for Standard Form? Also, is SF solely your project or are there others involved?

Well, the next round of releases will actually be artist's books instead of albums. It's something I've been dying to do for a long time, publish both music and books. I've got three scheduled for launch in mid-September. The first will be my own book which is a response to a government report written in the late 70's by the Advisory Arts Panel to the Canada Council. The second will be by Katie Bond Pretti who has created an original set of drawings inspired by a series of theoretical texts she has been reading. It will have elaborate fold-outs and a bibliography despite there being no actual text in her work. The third one will be by Tony K who has written a guide on how to get an A+ in Art School. It's a really fun read with tips on how to 'play' the system, the reality of the art world, and all the things they don't teach you in school. We have a launch here in Toronto at Art Metropole on Sept. 13th and then we will be Art Met's feature at the New York Book Arts Fair hosted by Printed Matter. Needless to say, we're giddy.

As for the organizational structure of SF, it depends on which end of the business you're asking about. It started as a concept for a label shared by myself and Damian from armbackon. As it's grown he has been pretty focused on his own label, Music Made By People, but has remained my go-to guy for advice regarding the music label realm of things. The commercial printing end of SF is predominately run by myself, though I'm in desperate need of assistance. It's just hard to find people with the right melange (wow, never thought I'd actually get to use that word) of skills required. I share the space with David Robinson who has been running his own printing business called Print Maximum out of here for over 15 years. He is an endless supply of advice. There's a slew of other folks who have helped in various regards and hopefully I'll actually have some staff in the next six months. Crazy days!

by Jordan Richie