The infinity of ARMS AND SLEEPERS

Meet Arms and Sleepers, the band working simultaneously on 6 albums

Arms and Sleepers is an American ambient/trip-hop duo with Max Lewis and Mirza Ramic, who thanks to their unique art and talent are enjoying success and fame around the World. The Duo was formed in 2006 and has released a handful of albums and EPs since, most notably the ‘’Bliss Was It In That Dawn To Be Alive’’ from 2006, the well-received album ‘’Black Paris 86’’ released in 2007, and their latest full-length album “Matador,” released in November 2009.

Before starting Arms and Sleepers, both Lewis and Ramic were members of post-rock band The List Exists. The band eventually split up in 2006 after existing for three years. Ramic explained that the name Arms and Sleepers has the meaning of so much in the world today, the past and probably the future. While so many are fighting and killing ("arms"), others are ignoring it all (the "sleepers").

Arms and Sleepers have a bunch of new releases coming out in the spring of this year. They are also embarking on the biggest tour they've ever done, three months straight through North America, Europe and Asia. So, they will be busy recording and touring until the summer. They do also have some more releases planned for the fall of 2011.

But, most of this information is already available on the internet. The interview below gives you more details about their work, inspiration, music and daily life. From their recording studio to a non-profit organization, they’ll explain every detail.

KS 2.0: You were members of The List Exists for three years. What is the difference between that band and the present one?

Arms and Sleepers: The most obvious difference is that, The List Exists had more permanent members and involved more live instrumentation, e.g. acoustic drums on recordings. The List Exists also featured more prominent vocals. Because neither of us can sing well, we rely on guest singers. However, they often have their own projects and can’t devote the amount of time that a permanent singer could devote to doing vocals, as was the case in The List Exists. Both of us are inspired by a great variety of things. We both love film, and the images/moods of our favorite films, certainly color our music. However, art in general plays a large role in shaping our music. Even mundane things like our daily lives inspire what we do musically. For us, music is a great outlet for our thoughts and feelings and thus anything that we take in and that has an effect on us can be seen as an inspiration—whether conscious or not. We have a wide range of musical inspirations. Both of us view music as one united art form and don’t really categorize things into genres. Although, there are some fairly consistent inspirations, we try to regularly expose ourselves to new music and therefore our inspirations tend to shift over time. Some of our perennial inspirations are: The Beatles, Radiohead, Pink Floyd, Eric Satie, Ennio Morricone, and Bijelo Dugme. Some of more current inspirations are: Sage Francis, Boards of Canada, Air, Grizzly Bear, Toro y Moi, Washed Out, Crookram, Jay-Z, Bohren und der Club of Gore, and Sufjan Stevens.

 

 
KS 2.0: We already know the meaning of Arms and Sleepers. You usually pick interesting song names which make people curious about them…like Matador, how did you come up with it?

Arms and Sleepers: Many of our song titles just come to us while listening to the songs. Matador just came to us while working on the album. One could surely give any number of reasons for it, but at the end of the day, it just felt right. There’s something intangible and inexplicable about music and sometimes the proper words don’t exist in a given language to describe it properly. Therefore, we’re drawn to certain words and images that best describe the music to us.

KS 2.0: When I first heard your material, I wasn’t sure if that's a real song or someone just made a mix or something, but then I got into your world and realized that it’s more about music than people. Is it hard to be unique and make something different from the others in this game?

Arms and Sleepers: We’re not sure that we make a conscious effort to be unique. We just do whatever comes naturally to us and we think sounds good. However, we are pretty demanding on ourselves and so it can be difficult to get the exact sound or mood that we want. So, even the things that come naturally to us can sometimes be hard to realize in a satisfactory way.
 

KS 2.0: Is Arms and Sleepers changing your life?

Arms and Sleepers: Arms and Sleepers has certainly changed our lives in many ways and probably will continue to do so. It has allowed us to travel throughout North America and Europe and play our music. Along the way, we’ve been fortunate to experience a variety of cultures and meet so many nice and kind people. Through the support of the people who appreciate our music, we have also been able to continue doing what we love doing - music. So we’re both really grateful for the life-changing opportunities that Arms and Sleepers has provided us with.
 

KS 2.0: The band's previous full-length ‘’Matador’’ was also released on 12" vinyl. Do you think that listening to music on Vinyl is better than on iPod?

Arms and Sleepers: It depends on the album and the context. Some albums just sound more natural on vinyl and therefore it’s probably better to listen to them on vinyl. However, there are albums that it makes little difference with. The great thing about iPods is that they allow you to bring your music everywhere and therefore you create a soundtrack for every aspect of your life. This is not an option with vinyl. As far as quality of sound is concerned, you can listen to lossless quality files on your iPod now, so there shouldn’t be that noticeable of a difference in the sound quality. There are also a number of digital ways of making one’s music sound warmer and more analog. So, as time goes on, there’ll be less and less of a difference in the listening experience.

KS 2.0: What are you working on, at the moment?

Arms and Sleepers: We are working on about 6 albums at the moment—but we have various other projects that we’re not concentrating on, too. These 6 albums will vary greatly in genre, from modern classical to electro-folk to trip hop to electro-pop. We are also putting the finishing touches on a live album that was recorded during our last European tour.

KS 2.0: Do you plan performing in the Balkans (or even better in Kosovo)?

Arms and Sleepers: We're playing some shows in the Balkans on the upcoming European tour, but nothing in Kosovo---sorry! We'll be in Macedonia and Slovenia, as well as Romania, in May.

KS 2.0: What about Max’ and Mirza’s daily life routine, what do you like doing the most? What do you do except for Arms and Sleepers?

MAX: I’m not sure that I have a daily routine per se. I just finished applying to graduate school, so up until recently, I spent a lot of time filling out applications and writing essays. However, I do volunteer on a regular basis at a variety of non-profit organizations like the American Red Cross. Apart from music, I really enjoy going to the cinema, traveling, and studying religion and philosophy—hence I’m applying to graduate school.

MIRZA: Same here. I just applied to graduate school, so a lot of time recently was spent with application material. I also work full-time, so I try to balance work with music and also school. Both Max and I volunteer together at the local food bank every week, so that adds yet another thing in our busy schedules. But I think that's how we like it---we can't be bored! Otherwise, I enjoy traveling, reading, and watching independent movies, when I do have some free time.