The Arrivals
Chicago Punk Veterans The Arrivals Return with Payload — Their First New Album in 15 Years
Share First Single “Just Like My Brother”
(Watch on YouTube)
New LP Coming Soon via Recess Records
FFO: Dillinger Four, Naked Raygun, The Jam, Television
After a 15-year hiatus, Chicago punk veterans The Arrivals return with Payload, their first new album since 2010’s Volatile Molotov. Coming soon via Recess Records, the album marks a long-awaited and triumphant return for one of Chicago’s most revered and enduring punk bands. Today they share the album’s first single “Just Like My Brother."
Payload was recorded by Joe Gac (Meat Wave) at Chicago’s legendary Electrical Audio, and captured their powerful, dynamic sound in a way that practically jumps out of the speakers.
Talking about the making of the new album, the guitarist/singer Little Dave Merriman says: “It’s still wild to me how every time we get into a room together, after being separated by large swaths of miles and time, we just pick up exactly where we left off. We’ve used the word ‘magic’ unironically more than once. This record definitely captures who we are now, 16 years after our last record, and it shows. It’s got some flavors we haven’t served up yet. But it’s 100% us. 100% Arrivals.”
About The Arrivals
Formed in Blue Island, IL in 1996, The Arrivals have long been a fixture in Chicago’s DIY punk scene — The Jam meets Dillinger Four in sound and spirit (they’ve shared a member with the latter since 2005), something like Naked Raygun revisiting The Kinks. They play a kind of working-class punk rock that’s not patriotic, not overtly populist, but thoughtful and authentic. Their songs are artfully written and delivered with urgency and forthrightness, pairing melody and grit with sharp, grounded storytelling. Lyrics that often center on the lives of working-class Americans and a general disillusionment with civilization, paired with hooks and songcraft that serve as the proverbial sugar that helps the medicine go down. It’s rustbelt realism with a beat.
Each of their four preceding albums are built on the same foundation of proto-punk, street punk, post-punk, surf, garage, mod and classic rock, but each record is a unique structure that expands beyond the architecture of the last. Payload follows in this tradition. About their approach to songwriting, Merriman said, “We always have it in our minds to let each song be its own thing. We try not to repeat ourselves too much. And we all have our own approaches and influences. We’ll come in with the skeleton of a song, show it around to the band and one of us will think it sounds like, say, Fugazi and another will think it sounds like James Gang. And both are correct.”
Their last album, 2010’s Volatile Molotov, continues to find new audiences, thanks in part to the runaway success of its sing-along, closing track, “Simple Pleasures in America.” The first single from Payload, “Just Like My Brother,” bears a slight resemblance to ‘Simple Pleasures’ with its earworm chorus and buoyant rhythm. The video, filmed by singer/guitarist Isaac Thotz’s son, Cyric, perfectly captures this celebration of the families we choose.
The Arrivals are Paddy Costello (Bass), Issac Thotz (Vocals & Guitar), Ronnie DiCola (Drums), Little Dave Merriman (Vocals & Guitar).