On The Verge

Arizona

Asheville, NC
Unexpected Musical Marriages
www.arizonatheband.com

Indie rockers Arizona formed in 2005 when bassist Alex Hornblake and guitarist Nick Campbell traveled from Atlanta, where they’d been attending school, to Long Island, New York, where Hornblake and guitarist Benjamin Wigler had been playing prog rock together since junior high. They’d planned to record some of Wigler’s tunes, but ended up laying down their first EP The Sun and the Room from scratch in about a week. After recording its debut full-length, Welcome Back Dear Children, and Fameseeker and the Mono EP with studio guru Danny Kadar, Arizona relocated to Asheville, where Kadar had recently taken over as head engineer at Echo Mountain Studios. “We were literally recording through gear that Led Zeppelin and The Beatles would have used,” says Campbell. Or did use, considering that pieces of the former Abbey Road Studio reside at the North Carolina recording mecca. On its recent album, The Glowing Bird, the band refines and focuses its lush sound into a layer cake of indie-psych that echoes the best of early ‘90s shoe-gaze, ‘60s harmonic pop and contemporary alt-country. Asked about its musical influences, the band cites some unexpected sources: Smashing Pumpkins, Helmet, Metallica, the soundtrack to the film Gattaca, and video game music. Trying to nail down his musical roots, Wiggler says, “I listen to more Dream Theatre than Beach Boys” and noting that “analyzing guitar harmonies on [Metallica’s] …And Justice for All is pretty much the only music theory I have.”