Today we’d like to introduce you to Matthew Sutton.
Matthew, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
We are four guys, all born and raised in different parts of Southern California, that met in college.
The band actually stems from Chris’ recording arts senior thesis project at Loyola Marymount University. For the assignment, Chris and Peter teamed up to track some of his solo project material… at the time, the band wasn’t anything more than a group project for a class. They then recruited Peter’s roommate, Colin, to work on some drums and vocals. I was abroad at the time and got a Facebook message asking if I’d come work on bass when I got back to the US. Needless to say, the project went well, we all got along great, and the rest is history.
Through constantly playing live and releasing music on a regular basis over the past four years, we’ve been fortunate enough to build a pretty strong grassroots local fan base. We’ve played and sold out shows all around LA (The Troubadour, Echo, Roxy, to name a few) and recently, started branching out into new markets.
On the heels of our second EP, we are gearing up for an east coast/midwest tour with The Mowgli’s then heading back to the studio to work on new music. We have some big plans for the fall but more on that later.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Much like any musical endeavor, there have been peaks and valleys.
At the genesis of the band, we were blessed to have a great baked in fan base made up of our college buddies/people that heard our music around campus and turned up to our show. It was smooth sailing, but breaking out of the LA scene has proven to be difficult (and something we are still trying to do). It took us years to even get the opportunity to get out and play shows, and now that we are finally doing it, we’re realizing how hard it is to “break” a market.
Even though we’ve got the best traction of our careers in Arms Akimbo, it is an everyday struggle to give music your all and still be able to pay rent in LA. We’re all guys who work day jobs and that balance isn’t easy.
What else should our readers know?
We are an unsigned indie rock band from Los Angeles, California.
What were you like growing up?
I was a total music nerd for a majority of my life. At an early age, I started playing drums and really became obsessed with practicing, writing, collecting gear, going to shows… pretty much anything that involved music, I was interested in. The obsession has only gotten worse and takes up basically all of my free time (and money).
Contact Info:
- Website: armsakimbo.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/armsakimboband/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ArmsAkimboBand/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/ArmsAkimboBand
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