Up In Arms

      Up In Arms, the melodic punk band from Dover, NH dislikes long stupid band names with weird punctuation. The band believes that their short and simple name suits them because they like to think thier music speaks for itself.
      When the band talks about the local scene, they describe it as plentiful with hardcore bands with a good amount of "crust" punk and terrible "butt-rock". "The most active of local venues is a place called The Brick House where bands from all genres and levels of popularity play shows. Everything ranging from the super-underground stuff to the slightly bigger punk acts (Agnostic Front, Off With Their Heads). We're usually more of the basement show type, but we will play literally anywhere we can. Most of our friends are in the Keene, NH area (Duncan and Eric are students at Keene State College) so you'd be most likely to catch us playing in that area."

      The members have been friends since high school and have all been active musicians, so it just made sense to get together and write some music. The band consists of Curtis Charles (bass/vocals), Chris Milton (guitar/vocals), Duncan Garnett (drums), and Eric Milller (guitar).
      The band comes from many backgrounds and has many influences including, but not limited to punk bands and pop-punk bands like Saves The Day, New Found Glory, Kid Dynamite and NOFX. "We try to offer something a little unique in terms of our overall style. We stay away from that cookie-cutter, breakdown-packed brand of pop-punk that's been so trendy lately and focus more on writing catchy melodies and interesting lyrics."

      In October 2010, the band released The Lions Inside Us EP, which lyrically talked about the loss of good friends, falling in love, accountability in military and government, and riding horses. "'Fuck Your Army, I'm Joining Starfleet' was directly inspired by the 'Collateral Murder' video that was leaked onto the internet a while back. Seeing that was a gut-wrenching experience for me that made me extremely tense and angry for days, and the only way I could realease that tension was to write a really spiteful protest song. Aside from 'Starfleet,' which is a bit on the heavier side, there's an overall pop-punk sound to the album. Our singer at the time, Tim, added a hardcore edge to the vocals. He was previously singing for a thrash band called The Nasty, who have a pretty big following around here. "Emergency Breakdown" was the first song we wrote together. The basis of that song was a falling out I had with my best friend since elementary school, who basically dropped off the face of the earth when he started dating this harpy who subsequently devoured his soul."
      Sometime in 2012, the band hopes to release their next EP that follows the traditional pop-punk sound with cleaner vocals and less screaming and shouting. "It's going to be a longer EP. Right now we're looking at about six tracks. Due to all the changes we've had to make to the lineup, it sounds a bit different than "The Lions Inside Us." (we) think that our sound is catchier and more memorable because it allows us to be more melodic overall."

      You can catch the band playing basements and houses around the area. "We're all at that awkward point in our lives where we have a ton of time-consuming shit going on, like finishing college, working, and being grown-ups, so it's hard to coordinate any shows or tours of a larger scale. When it happens, you'll know by the riots we incite that we finally had the chance to travel as a band. I can only wish we were that intense."
      A music video is also in the works, but other than that, the band will be busy working on new material and finding time to perform.