Posted on January 17, 2010 - by Editor

Thinking Back & Looking Forward: Crazy Arm

All words & photo by Emma Stone
Crazy Arm represented by Darren Johns (Vocals and Guitar)

Emma: You’re embarking on a tour with Frank Turner and Chuck Ragan in March. Looking forward to it?

Darren: You bet. With equal doses of fear and excitement. On the one hand, it’s going to be an honour and a blast to play with such established musicians to such big crowds. On the other hand, I’m not sure if we’re ready to deal with something on such a scale as this as we never usually play anywhere bigger than 300 capacity venues. I’m sure we’ll rise to the challenge and relish the moment.

Emma: Last year’s album “Born To Ruin” was well received by both fans and critics.  Were you surprised by the responses?

Darren: More relieved than surprised. We’d spent so long getting around to recording the debut album and then another ten months releasing it, we felt that if it wasn’t received well then we really were shit! Thankfully, the vast majority of feedback has been really positive.

Emma: What’s your opinion on the recent battle for Christmas No.1 in which RATM triumphed?

Darren: I didn’t really care much about it but I understand the principle. It’s fair enough to upset the apple cart and to buck the X-Factor trend, but it’s all money for old rope as far as the major players are concerned. The Rage song is over 15 years old and sounds dated. The only good thing is that the band donated all their profits to Shelter. The Christmas Number One race is hardly the place for genuine revolutionary ideas to flourish!

Emma: Do you have any plans for a new record in 2010?

Darren: Absolutely. We’ve demo’ed 13 songs for the next album/singles with another ten or so songs in the making. I’d love it if we could get the second album ready for a June release again, but finances may slow us up a bit. One album a year sounds just about right. And we’re releasing ‘Still To Keep’ as a limited edition split 7” with Frank Turner in March to coincide with the Frank’n’Chuck tour. There’ll also be two new Crazy Arm songs released as download B-sides to the single.

Emma: A few months ago, your guitarist Dan Couling left the band, resulting in a bit of a reshuffle for the band in terms of instrument responsibilities.  Has it worked out better this way?

Darren: It couldn’t have worked out better, to be honest. Jon had been wanting to play guitar for a while, and Tim [Rowing-Parker] had just moved back to Plymouth when Dan left the band. He pretty much stepped into Crazy Arm off the train! Although Tim’s also a guitarist, he took to the bass as easily as Jon did five years earlier and he settled into the band incredibly quickly. We all feel very positive about the change. Dan’s starting up a new band this year and we wish him the best of luck.

Emma: It’s the end of the decade. What bands/albums have you been most impressed with in the past ten years?

Darren: You’ll have to bear with me because my memory is fucking terrible. Last year, for me, was all about Baroness, Austin Lucas, The Maccabees, The Dodos, Bangers, The Skints and Future Of The Left. Thinking back, Fugazi’s “The Argument” was a genre-defining classic in 2001, and At The Drive-In’s “Relationship Of Command” came at just the right time at the turn of the decade. The Dismemberment Plan, Constantines, Cursive, Midlake, Black Mountain, Fucked Up, Battles, Ted Leo + Pharmacists, Woven Hand all made amazing records over the past ten years. I can’t remember much else. I’m old, you see.

Emma: What can fans expect from you in the next 12 months?

Darren: Lots of new music and solid touring, hopefully. As I’ve said, we’ve got loads of songs on the go, and ideas of how to go about releasing them, including the split 7” with Frank. ‘Born To Ruin’ will be released on mainland Europe in early 2010 on Gunner Records, which will involve touring Germany, Austria, Holland etc. Needless to say, that’s something we’re really looking forward to. And we head out to France and Belgium in February for a mini-tour with our Cornish buddies, Bangers.

Emma: Who would be your ideal headliner to support?

Darren: As a band, I would say Bruce Springsteen. A cliché, I know, but he’s taken modern punk rock under his wing, as he did with the original punk bands, and shows no signs of slowing down. Personally, I’d love to support Joni Mitchell but I don’t think she, nor her fans, would take to our racket. More realistically, it would have to be someone like Constantines, Ted Leo or Woven Hand.

Emma: Sum up 2009 in 5 words.

Darren: For the band;  The year that things changed.  For the world; The less said the better.

Emma: Do you have any New Year’s resolutions for this year?

Darren: No. It’s all too predictable. I prefer to make resolutions at other times of the year when they feel more relevant. Like the resolve to lose half a stone just before summer, or to get the chimney swept before winter. I still usually fail to do these things but I don’t feel so bad about it when there’s no self-imposed New Year pressure to succeed!