When Blake Bickel moved to Kalamazoo after living in Seattle for over a decade, he had no idea his new basement band, Bronson Arm, would break out and tour across the country.
A longtime veteran of the music industry, Bickel works on the audio engineering and mastering side of the recording process as his day job, operating out of his own home mastering studio.
He’s played in countless bands over the years as well, but decided to relocate to Kalamazoo after starting a family, and wanting to escape the unaffordability of a city like Seattle, while still hoping to remain close to culture and a thriving music scene.
By chance, Bickel – who plays baritone guitar and sings in Bronson Arm – met drummer Garrett Yates at an elementary school function for their kids back in 2019. Yates had also just moved to Kalamazoo from New York after leaving the Navy, and hadn’t really played drums in over a decade since playing them in high school.
So Bickel invited him to jam in his basement over some beers, and Bronson Arm was born.
“At this point in my life I have to be playing music in some form just to be sane,” Bickel said. “So I knew I would start a band at some point after getting settled here. I just didn’t think it would be that quickly. Or that it would take off the way that it has.
“I think our original thought was just to have fun and make music, and get out, and play it out, and share it,” he added. “And I definitely knew we wanted to make records just because that’s part of my profession. But I don’t think either of us really envisioned that we’d be where we are now.”
The duo, whose self-described “slacker psychedelic sludge punk” immediately demanded attention, played their first live show just a week before the COVID-19 shutdown.
Retaining their sanity during lockdown, they wrote and recorded what would become their self-titled debut album entirely in Bickel’s basement.
“We decided, well, if we can’t play out, we’re going to use this time to write more material, and record it, and make some videos so that we can have a way of sharing it, and just letting people know that we even exist,” Bickel said. “So I think we feel good about what we were able to accomplish during that time. We didn’t let it slip past us. We kept busy and creative in any possible way that we could.”
When restrictions lifted and live music returned, Bronson Arm hit the road, cranking through opening slots, before eventually landing at the Caterwaul festival in Minneapolis. After their set they talked with Minneapolis indie label Learning Curve Records, who went on to release the duo’s self-titled album last year.
They’ve already sold out of the first pressing of the debut record, far surpassing any expectations Bickel said he had, with rave reviews pouring in from across the US and Europe, and they are now preparing for the release of their second album, Casket Schwagg, due out May 9 via Learning Curve Records.
Due to the pandemic, Bickel recorded Bronson Arm’s debut himself in his basement, which he had built as more of a practice space. So this time around he was happy to record with Addison Eilers at Analog Time Machine in Whitehall, with mixing by Brandon Eggleston, while still mastering the record himself.
“Being able to focus on the performance and the music and those sides of things and not have to worry about all the technical things while the performance is happening, I think it translates (into the record),” Bickel said about what was different about this recording process. “I love our first record. I’m very proud of it. But having been behind the scenes, and going through it all, this one just feels a little bit more natural to me.”
Although not a politically charged band, Bronson Arm admit that this is a politically charged record.
“I like things to be open ended,” Bickel said about his lyrics, and the album’s title, Casket Schwagg. “I don’t like things to be perfectly described. I want the listener, or the viewer… to find their own meaning. So Casket Schwagg for me has a variety of different meanings. And I’m OK with any of them. But I think one of the reoccurring themes from the first record and this new record are a disdain for capitalism gone awry… I know that capitalism as a concept is getting a lot of heat and negativity. And I’m not necessarily saying I dislike all things about capitalism, but when capitalism turns into Wall Street and corporations, I think it’s tied in with politics. And those are the aspects of capitalism that drive me crazy. And Casket Schwagg generally was the idea of putting something to rest.”
Bronson Arm
Casket Schwagg Album Release
Wsg. Brother Wolf, Lucius Fox
Bell’s Eccentric Cafe Back Room, 355 E. Kalamazoo Ave., Kalamazoo
May 15, 8 p.m., $10, 18 and older
Bronsonarm.bandcamp.com, events.bellsbeer.com
