CHIMAIRA Guitarist: 'We Want Our Potential To Be Realized'

Ben Preuss of The Ticker recently conducted an interview with CHIMAIRA guitarist Rob Arnold. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

The Ticker: What can we expect from the new album ["Resurrection"]?

Rob Arnold: I think everyone's going to be pleasantly surprised; people are going to think it's bad-ass. There's a lot of ups and downs on the record, a lot of interesting points that people will latch onto, it's heavy, it's melodic, it's all the things that everybody says about the band, but I mean it. We've got a renewed vigor and we're on a high that we haven't felt since the beginning. The album hasn't even come out yet and things are better than they've ever been for us.

The Ticker: You guys are currently on tour with KILLSWITCH ENGAGE, DRAGONFORCE and HE IS LEGEND. How does it feel to be touring with such a strong lineup?

Rob Arnold: It's the perfect tour for us to start things off. We haven't toured in about eight months, and it's cool to come back [to] places nice and jam-packed every night. We get to do a full-throttle half-hour set; we don't have to worry about the headlining spot. We want this to be more of a building record for us anyways. We're out with KILLSWITCH — we've done a lot of touring with them, they're a great band and the success that they're experiencing now is just phenomenal. And the DRAGONFORCE guys, they're totally cool. I never really heard them before, but we already started hanging out and they're totally nuts — man, a couple of those guys are shredders. The HE IS LEGEND guys are cool, we get along with everybody and we're out here to have a good time.

The Ticker: In the last couple years, it seems like the metal scene has gotten pushed toward the mainstream and is becoming larger and more acceptable. Anybody with tight jeans, a black t-shirt and a sexy haircut can pick up a guitar and form a band. How do you make sure that you're differentiating yourself from the imitators?

Rob Arnold: In my opinion — and you nailed it right on the head when you said anyone can get a pair of tight jeans and go out there — I think that comes from a thing called ProTools, recording programs and Guitar Centers. Not that I'm opposed to any of that. Of course we go to Guitar Center and use ProTools, but it's not like it was back in the day when guys had to be good. Now-a-days, let's say a group of guys wants to start a band and they need a bass player. They have a friend that's never touched a bass in his life but he's got three hundred bucks and can go down to Guitar Center and get sh*t. Now he's in the band and if his tracks sound like crap it doesn't matter because you can digitally fix them. And because of things like MySpace, it doesn't matter how good you are, it doesn't matter what you sound like, you can instantly write a song, put it on the Web and have whoever you want listen to it. A lot of music out there is becoming saturated, but I think it's always been there, we just didn't know it as much. As far as separating ourselves, I feel like we've already done that because we put in the groundwork early. We're already on a higher tier. We're doing our fourth record right now; it's already acclaimed and anticipated and there's definitely a buzz about it. This doesn't happen to super young bands until they've put in the work like we did.

The Ticker: How does it feel to be on Ferret Music? You guys were on Roadrunner for a while. Was there anything behind the switch?

Rob Arnold: We're completely ecstatic. Of course, when we got signed to Roadrunner we were super stoked, like we were on the Mecca of all metal labels. All the bands we grew up listening to were on Roadrunner. But after that nostalgia wore off, we realized they were just putting out our records and not really getting behind the band. That's our fault and we'll accept that. But we wouldn't accept being told "no," we wouldn't accept having a ceiling put on us saying "well, we're going to lump you in this category within Roadrunner Records, sweep you under the carpet and be happy that we're putting out your records." F*ck no! That's not CHIMAIRA's attitude. We want our potential to be realized and we want to work as hard as we possibly can until we realize that it isn't working anymore. To be the band that we want to be, we need a group of people that love the band, who are enthusiastic and willing to do what it takes to get behind the product and really push it. That's what we found with Ferret.

Read the entire interview at The Ticker.