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Photo Credit: Jodi Lynn Burton.
Combining power punk rock with personal lyrics, Extra Arms brings the energy throughout the first two albums.
What started out as a solo project known as ‘Ryan Allen & His Extra Arms’ has turned into the melodic rock quartet Extra Arms. Ryan Allen was part of numerous bands such as Thunderbirds Are Now!, Friendly Foes, and Red Shirt Brigade, but when those bands started to fizzle out, Allen wanted to do something on his own. His goal was to make a record on his own where he played everything – bass, drums, guitars, vocals – and then have his friends come in and add instrumentation he didn’t know how to play – violin, saxophone, piano.
Allen made three solo records, and it was after that third album, “Basement Punk,” he realized that he wanted to focus on Extra Arms as his main project. The quartet is rounded out with guitarist Michael Gallacher, bassist Ryan Marshall, and recently added drummer Daniel Stover. The group released their first album together last year, the acclaimed “Headacher,” and has kept the momentum going with their second official album which came out on October 25. Titled “Up From Here,” the group took a new approach as they recorded a 22-minute, eight track concept album in just five days. Allen wanted to make a more personal record that focused on letting go and find a positive, new way of life for yourself. The goal wasn’t to make a downer of an album, but instead an inspiration of how to handle change in one’s life. “It’s a pretty emotional journey that addresses separation, confusion, anger and change, but also the motivation to persevere through it all to find something positive on the other side. Also, it rules,” Allen said. The new album continues the band’s loud melodic rock sound with catchy hooks and energetic rhythms, but tackles some more human emotions. Allen knows it’s his job as a songwriter to marry the band’s power punk sound with lyrics that aren’t just filler. “At its core if the songs aren’t loud and don’t make you feel like you can conquer the world then I’m not doing my job as a songwriter,” Allen said. You can listen to and order the group’s new album on their Bandcamp site. If you want to keep up to date on the group’s latest announcements and tour dates, be sure to follow Extra Arms on Facebook.
