Skip to main content

Arc of History


Band: Arc of History

Members: Brent Shultz, guitar, bass and vocals; Chris Greenberg, guitar, vocals, piano and mandolin; Matt Lawson, guitar, vocals, drums and bass; Matt Himmelright, percussion

Who we talked to: Himmelright

How did you guys get together? Chris lives in Santa Barbara,(Cali.). Brent is in Nashville. We also have Matt Lawson. He's in Texas, but I actually haven't met him yet. Chris Greenberg is actually from York also originally. I used to go to school with him (at York Country Day School), and we used to have our own band together. When he went off to college, he met Brent who's in Nashville. We ended up playing together one time while they were here in York (over the summer). After that, we decided we had to find some way to make it work.

How do you practice while in different states? It's actually been working out amazing. We get more done these days than we used to in person. It's pretty hilarious actually. Since the time zones are so different, it actually works out pretty nice because I'll get off school and they'll get off school a little later. We just end up going on video chat online and talking on that . . . and coming up with different song ideas. They'll be playing the guitar, while someone will be thinking up lyrics and vice versa.

What got you into music? It's definitely always been at least a hobby for me. I started out with the symphony when I was younger and through that, I just loved to play drums. I (picked up the drumsticks) in fourth grade.

Describe your sound and style. It's definitely different. It's an indie/rock feel, but we also have a little country roots in there with a little alternative rock and a little bluegrass maybe. It's catchy, and we want to make sure a story is being told for our songs instead of just a generic sound . . . (so) the listener gets into it. We really want to stress the lyric aspect of it.

Who are your influences? I guess I'd say Jack's Mannequin, (Red Hot) Chili Peppers, Sublime (and) Dispatch. As far as alternative rock, there's a couple of other big bands like Blink-182 and Bob Marley.

When you guys played around here, what did you think about the local scene? I think York is great for the local music scene. (Chris and I) did used to play around a little bit, mostly around Sparky & Clark's. We loved to watch Kingsfoil when we were all back in town. I love it when Dana Alexander is around. Regency, when they were together, were awesome and Hey Elephant. They're a fun group of guys.

Have you gotten to go down to Nashville at all? I haven't seen Brent since the summer. Chris was just in York for the election. We are all going to be together at the end of December. We're all going to be in Nashville for New Year's and get the chance to record some songs we've come up with. I've been to Nashville before, but not for recording. It's going to be a great experience. I can't wait. I've always wanted to do some actual real recording instead of just, like, bedroom jam sessions. The biggest part is going to be practicing all the songs together because all we've done right now is write the music and come up with the songs. With the lag on the video chat, you can't play with four people together. We're going to be there for four days, and the first couple days is going to be strictly practicing.

Do you plan to lay down an album or an EP? I don't think we'll have enough time for a whole album. Most likely, it's probably going to be a four- or five-track EP. We'll be very happy with that.

Do you plan to move so that you can be closer together? We have. It looks like I'll be moving out to Santa Barbara (Cali.) in January. As soon as (Brent) graduates, he's probably going to be moving out to California, too.

Are you excited about relocating to the West Coast? It's going to be quite a change for sure. I've grown up in York. It's going to be definitely a different scene, especially for music. The music scene is going to be out of this world.

Will you come back, if you have the chance? When we start doing shows, one of our stops will definitely be York. We'll love coming back here and playing.

- ERIN McCRACKEN, FLIPSIDE STAFF