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Download a PDF of the bio here Christopher Wark – Guitar, Bass, Voice, Keys
Bradley Bean – Drum kit, Voice
Michael Brandon – Stunt Bass
In the face of adversity, it’s easy to give up, to go hide and refuse to deal with life. But in Arma Secreta’s case, when a band member’s mortality was threatened, the band came together with one goal in mind: to make vital and honest music.
Arma Secreta formed in early 2003 with no direction, no name, and no practice space. Then they found a spot in the back of an office furniture factory in Memphis, Tennessee, and with every session came more ideas and more excitement about what they were creating, piecing together, and ultimately introducing to expectant ears.
Nine months after the formation of Arma Secreta, its very existence was threatened when Christopher was diagnosed with cancer in December 2003. After surgery and months of recovery, Christopher, Bradley, and former bass player / mixing engineer Alex Zhort made a pact that they would not play live again until their record was finished. And that is exactly what Arma Secreta did.
“When a doctor tells you that you’re dying, your priorities change pretty quickly. We all decided that touring was a distraction for us, so we holed up for nine months and focused on writing, recording and producing this record ourselves. It was an amazing process; with no pressure, deadlines, or label interference, we had the luxury of making this record exactly what we wanted,” recalls Wark.
Recorded in various sessions over the course of 2004/2005, and notably the last rock record (8 of the11 songs) tracked at Memphis’s legendary Easley-McCain Studios before it burned to the ground, Arma Secreta’s A Century’s Remains was painstakingly produced and meticulously arranged. The songs are smartly constructed; unpredictable, chaotic, and striking.
The meaning of the album’s title is two-fold; as Wark explains, ”the album art is part of an aerial photo essay by the same name documenting the leftovers of a century of industry and progress,” and as for the music, Wark says, it is a collection of fragments of thoughts, feelings, images, and ideas he’s had in his mind since before the turn of this century.
The tone of A Century’s Remains is as intricate as it’s back-story. Songs are dark and reflective (“Segue/Debris”), cautiously hopeful (“Turin Style”), determined (“A Good Clean Sweat”), and sexual (“Undressing Underwater”). Certainly the term “math rock” will come up at some point in describing the musical style, and call it what you will, but math implies cold calculation, and Arma Secreta’s music is anything but; A Century’s Remains is a poignant, expressive, visceral narrative.
Check out Arma Secreta for yourself. A Century’s Remains comes out September 26, 2006.
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