Straight Arms - ProfilesArchive

About Me

Straight Arms started as the home recordings of Darin Strachan. He moved around a lot and played different instruments (mainly guitar) in different bands. He was a founding member of Denver's Cowboy Curse , before moving to Covington, KY. On the bank of the Ohio River, he became apart of Cincinnati's incredible independent music scene as a member of The Minni-Thins and For Algernon . After 5 years in the 'Nati area, he packed things up once again and is now in the San Francisco area.
For a while in the Cincinnati, there was a live band that focused on being versatile and selective. The members were Sean Sullivan, Goldy , and Aaron Strickland .
The diversity of the music is a testament to Darin's range of influences. It mixes acoustic rock and folk (Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, Nick Drake), indie rock (Wilco, Shins, Built To Spill, Okkervil River), pre-punk (Velvet Underground, The Modern Lovers, David Bowie), and rock and roll (The Rolling Stones, The Replacements).
A truly independent band, Straight Arms really only had one album, "The Final Broadcast of The Underground Radio Show." The theme to this self-made album is the final 30 minutes of a true underground radio show focusing on independent and original music. The album starts with radio static of a listener tuning a dial to find the radio show. There are a total of 9 songs with DJ interludes. After the final song, static fills the disc. The album was available as a free give away at all Straight Arms performances.
Currently, Darin is working on another Straight Arms album.

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 26/10/2004
Influences: Absentee, Ryan Adams, American Horse, Arcade Fire, Badly Drawn Boy, Band Of Horses, The Beatles, Jay Bennett, Beulah, Big Star, Black Lips, Blind Melon, Blues Traveler, David Bowie, The Brakes, Bright Eyes, Built To Spill, Los Campesinos!, Elvis Costello, The Court & Spark, Cowboy Curse, Cracker, CSNY, The Decemberists, Ani DiFranco, Dinosaur Jr., Dr. Jones, Nick Drake, Dressy Bessy, Bob Dylan, The Elected, the Folk Implosion, For Algernon, Bob Geldof, Gogol Bordello, Woody Guthrie, Ben Harper, Jimi Hendrix, John Hiatt, The Hold Steady, Husker Du, Indigo Girls, Iron & Wine, Jackopierce, Robert Johnson, Jesse Malin, Mates of State, McLusky, The Minni-Thins, The New Pornographers, The Newbees, Oakley Hall, Okkervil River, Gram Parsons, Pavement, Tom Petty, Pink Floyd, The Pixies, Radiohead, The Ramones, Lou Reed, The Replacements, Richmond Fontaine, Rilo Kiley, The Rolling Stones, Sam & Dave, Bob Schneider, Sebadoh, The Shins, Paul Simon, Sleater-Kinney, Son Volt, Sorry About Dresden, Spectacular Fantastic, Spoon, The Symptoms, T. Rex, The Thermals, Tokyo Police Club, Two Gallants, David Vandervelde, The Velvet Underground, Rocky Votolato, Tom Waits, Whiskeytown, Wilco, Lucinda Williams, Stevie Wonder, Neil Young
Sounds Like: The modern culmination of listening to Bob Dylan, The Velvet Underground, Big Star, The Replacements, Wilco, and Okkervil River.
Type of Label: Major

My Blog

Review: The Hold Steady 12/8/06 Southgate House, Newport, KY

Last night, The Hold Steady played at The Southgate House in Newport, KY. On tour for their latest album, Boys And Girls In America, they played for an hour and a half. They started by playing some of...
Posted by on Sat, 09 Dec 2006 17:04:00 GMT

A New Mix Tape

I made a mix tape of some of the newer songs I like from the past year or two. This mix fits on a 90 minute tape. If you have a car with a tape deck, like I have been driving, this tape is great for d...
Posted by on Fri, 08 Dec 2006 13:37:00 GMT

What does Straight Arms sound like?

So, what does Straight Arms sound like? That's a good question. I know every band has a little trouble describing their sound. The first thing I'd describe would be the lyrics. Darin, the song writer,...
Posted by on Mon, 18 Sep 2006 15:00:00 GMT

June 13th, 2006

Well, we hit a little bit of an unplanned hiatus. Aaron, our drummer (also the drummer of The Minni-Thins and the Root Canal Kids), broke his ankle. He had a nasty incident with a curb a parking lot. ...
Posted by on Tue, 13 Jun 2006 19:43:00 GMT

April 6th 2006

I'm going to try to keep this blog thing updated about once a month - if anyone's reading. First off, we've played our first 2 shows. The first one was at The Poison Room with Wil-o-ee, Kamikaze Sauce...
Posted by on Thu, 06 Apr 2006 07:33:00 GMT

Our First Show

Last night we had our first show as a full band. It was a great night. Kamikaze Saucers started off the night with a great set. They're a very eclectic band with a mixture of influences. You hear hint...
Posted by on Fri, 10 Mar 2006 09:37:00 GMT

First full band practice

So today I had my first full band practice as Straight Arms. And It was great! I was lucky enough to find a great group of musicians who wanted to play some music with me. Aaron Strickland, my band ma...
Posted by on Wed, 25 Jan 2006 20:06:00 GMT

The Final Broadcast Of The Underground Radio Show

The Final Broadcast Of The Underground Radio Show is the new album by Straight Arms. It showcases the last pirate radio broadcast of The Underground Radio Show. After the FCC sent a letter to cease br...
Posted by on Mon, 16 Jan 2006 13:04:00 GMT

The HiFi Defect With The LoFi Effect

STRAiGHT ARMSThe HiFi Defect With The LoFi EffectReleased in the Fall of 2003, The HiFi Defect With The LoFi Effect was the culmination of hours of Darin Strachans recordings in his home studio, Jama...
Posted by on Wed, 27 Oct 2004 00:01:00 GMT