July 11th, 2012 
Brian Leak 
UTG is pleased to bring you this exclusive interview with experimental duo, Arms and Sleepers!
In the six short years since the pair’s inception, they’ve been hard at work, releasing over 15 influential experimental albums, EPs, and splits with friends such as Lymbyc Systym and The American Dollar.
In April of this year, Arms and Sleepers announced that they would be going on an indefinite hiatus but members Mirza Ramic and Max Lewis took the time to speak with Under The Gun regardless. Read through and get caught up with AAS about their formation, their inspirations and how they feel about people having sex while listening to their music.
How did Arms and Sleepers originally form?
Arms and Sleepers was started by Max Lewis and I during a hot summer in 2006. We had been playing music together for quite some time in various bands, but always with other people involved as full-time members. Since things were not as productive as we wished them to be, and were not headed into a creative direction that we envisioned, we decided to form a new project that would involve only the two of us. While we have worked with numerous other artists and musicians both in the studio and live over the past six years, Arms and Sleepers at its core remains Max and I.
What made you want to make ambient and electronic music?
We never really set out to make any specific form/type/genre of music. We have always varied greatly in our listening habits; from hip hop and mainstream pop music to instrumental/post-rock and IDM music to jazz and R&B music. I think initially, we were limited in what we could do with only two people. Since neither one of us can sing (unfortunately, because we love music with vocals), we naturally headed into a beat-heavy, synth-layered musical direction. Over time, we became acquainted with many wonderful musicians who have helped bring other dimensions to our music, be it pop, folk or jazz. So, we are not necessarily comfortable with the ambient electronic music label, though we are aware we do have many songs that sound like what I would imagine that genre of music sounds like. In all honesty though, neither Max or I listen greatly to ambient electronic music; he’s probably rocking some Kanye West right now, and I’m stuck on Wilco. (Go Chicago!)
Are you currently working on any other projects?
In terms of other musical projects, no. I think if either one of us ever wanted to seriously release music for public consumption, it would involve the other person. We have known each other for quite some time now, and it’s natural to call the other person over for a listen, input, or complete revision. And if we do that, then we just call it Arms and Sleepers. In terms of non-musical projects, we do have our Music Against Hunger fundraising campaign through United Nations World Food Program USA, which has raised a little over $9,000 thus far.
Are you working on a new release in any way despite the hiatus?
Not actively, though we do have extensive material for a more folky-oriented album that we’ve wanted to release for a while now. These songs started coming to life during the Matador recording sessions, and we’ve been extremely excited for them ever since. However, as we are currently busy with school and other personal endeavors, the whole process is extremely (and sometimes painfully) slow. We are pretty sure that they will see the light of day somewhere down the line, it’s just difficult to say exactly when.
How would you describe an AAS live show?
Well, it depends upon the lineup we have with us. In the past, it was sometimes just the two of us (Max and I). However, over the past few years we incorporated live vocals and drums. Currently the live shows are focused on energy and providing the audience with as memorable an experience as we can. We also always play with visuals that are synced to the music—we try our best to make the live shows a multimedia experience. I think we view the live show as more than a just a chance to listen to our songs. We view it as a chance to experience them.
Why did you decide to remix Tape Deck Mountain’s 80/20?
We had been talking with TDM’s California-based record label, Lefse, for some time about working together with us on an AAS release. While in the end things didn’t work out in that capacity, they asked us to do a remix of a song by TDM, and we chose 80/20 because the vocal line stood out from the rest. In general, we like to remix tracks that have a good vocal line to which we can then write brand new music.
What have you been listening to lately?
Drive soundtrack, M83, The Notwist, Wilco, Toro Y Moi, Craig Armstrong, Why?, St. Vincent, etc., etc.
What inspires your writing process?
There’s no one thing that inspires our writing process. We’re often inspired by films or other visual art and by certain moods that they create. The same goes for personal experiences. If we are in certain moods because of things going on in our respective lives, then we often try to translate those moods into music. Sometimes, however, we hear a piece of music that blows us away or that just inspires us to work on music.
How do you decide which tracks will have vocals and which will not?
I think if it were possible, we would attempt to include vocals on most of our songs. Since we cannot sing ourselves, we rely on guest musicians to provide vocals, and that can be a lengthy process since everyone has their own projects that they are busy with. So, we usually pick the tracks that we think have a suitable structure (ie, more of a pop structure) for adding vocals. If we had a singer as a full-time member of AAS, I think we would consciously attempt to mould our songs to a fitting structure. It’s difficult to say though—we might get a little tired of vocals if we had them on every song, but I think I speak for both of us when I say that we do wish we had more vocals in our songs.
Has anyone ever told you that they’ve made love while listening to your music? Because I’ve done it.
Yes! We have actually heard this quite a lot. I don’t think that either of us ever thought our music would sometimes serve the same purpose as Barry White’s music, but we certainly take it as a compliment.
How does it feel to know that your records have been the soundtrack to countless people’s nights, sleep, and most relaxing moments?
Well, I know that other people’s music in my most relaxing moments has a special place in my heart. So knowing that our music has acted in such capacity for others is quite a special feeling. Certainly as we look back on the past six years and conclude this important phase of our lives, the idea of our records acting as the soundtrack to such personal moments in other people’s lives is something that we will cherish for a long time to come.
Written and conducted by: Brian Lion
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