In June, San Pedro’s Collage: A Place for Art and Culture held its fifth anniversary celebration. Wrapping up a video presentation highlighting the year’s performances, Richard Foss, Collage executive director, announced that they had surprise guests.
There was a pause. It continued for a few more seconds. Suddenly, a young woman (Abby) jumped out from the back room, looking surprised herself, but smiling and energetic …
“Oh, sorry! We’re ready …we’re coming in one second!” (or something like that) she said. The crowd laughed.
Two sisters emerged from the back, walking quickly but confidently to the stage. They jumped right into a short set, and if the room wasn’t initially charmed by Abby’s saving face with grace, they clearly were as soon she and younger sister Aubrey began singing.
Abby (19) and Aubrey (16) Katlen, make up Arvin The Band. The name Arvin is after their grandfather. The duo formed about four years ago but the sisters have been writing music together for fun since they were 5 and 7 years old. By adolescence, they knew they wanted to take music more seriously and write “real songs” together.
Abby started writing songs on her own and playing guitar at 12 years old. Aubrey, inspired to write with her sister, started too. Their inspirations range from Steve Lacey, who produces his own music, which inspires Aubrey. They both like Noah Kahan and his writing style. Abby is inspired lyrically by the band Big Thief. She also listens to many solo artists but when it comes to Arvin, Abby likes to diversify her music. Arvin covers many Fleetwood Mac songs “of course” like Dreams and Silver Springs. Joni Mitchell is also an inspiration.
Arvin’s recent EP, Any Lightning, is available to stream on Spotify. They’re trying to find a new producer, which they will pay for themselves, so they are saving their money. Being indie folk kids, the girls said their school classes are geared towards classical and jazz music. (Abby attends Long Beach City College.) They agree, it would “be awesome” to have a songwriting class at school but Long Beach’s Milliken High School isn’t slacking in fostering arts activities. It offers a club called Visions for creative students, which holds open mic nights. The sisters said it’s a good learning experience; “students can find other creative peers.” They also participated in the choir program, which featured “Backstage Bistro,” a showcase for students to perform songs, where Arvin performed.
Opportunity Knocks
“We once did a concert at our house,” Abby said. “It was a small neighborhood event, an art crawl where there’s vendors and neighborhood bands.”
Music promoter and owner of Jacaranda Entertainment, John Antich, was at that art crawl but he wasn’t scouting. He came to shop for Christmas gifts at what he thought was a neighborhood boutique. He stopped to listen to Arvin play and really liked their sound. Afterwards, he spoke to them with their parents to explain what he does.
Antich was responsible for Arvin playing at Collage, initially on June 14, when they opened for Nashville-based Americana artist Alice Wallace, who is on a national tour.
Antich told RLN that he saw Arvin setting up to play in a driveway. When they began playing, he liked their opening number. He stayed for a second song and enjoyed that too.
“Then, the third song really knocked me out,” he said. “So now I stayed for the entire set and I didn’t recognize the tunes. I thought, these can’t all be original tunes. They must be covering some artists. After the show, I asked them about it, [and] no, they are all original tunes.”
Antich talked to the girls and their parents. He made note of the commitment the parents had to their daughters’ music, which got him thinking about the band. He discussed his work with musicians and shows he’s produced, with photos, for the family. He holds shows at his home too, usually with bigger name touring musicians, he explained, including Grammy winners, members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He also books shows at Collage and other venues. So, he started thinking about finding a venue for Arvin.
Antich sent their mom, Wendy — or “Momager” as the girls call her — a video of Alice Wallace playing at his house, noting that she is a top-notch Nashville musician. Wendy played it for the girls who loved it and were blown away by her voice. When he heard that, he asked, “how would you girls like to open for her?” He had already got this okayed by Wallace.
“They said, ‘oh my god, yes,’ and screamed.” Antich said. “They were scheduled for the June show.”
Playful reels
Arvin’s Instagram reels highlight that their talent has been nurtured, to the point that performing seems effortless to them. The sisters have fun, instigating laughter, before seamlessly performing their beautiful harmonies.
At first Abby felt like they had to focus and “lock in” she said.
“Then I realized, we just have to go with it. That’s just how it’s gonna be. Because it’s part of us and it’s authentic. When we’re doing gigs, I feel like I definitely am the one who speaks more … on stage people love a show. Being able to show your personality onstage, I think, makes the audience comfortable and that’s a big thing with performing, making the audience feel super at ease when watching you.”
Building that folk sound
In terms of lyrics, the sisters say they often come from their own experiences. Abby uses writing, on her own, as a vessel for her experiences and her emotions. When Aubrey writes her own songs, it’s also personal. But when writing together, Aubrey said they make up stories which they end up relating to afterwards, by taking experiences from their own lives and tweaking them a little while sticking to one idea.
They recently wrote a song with the lyrics, Now I only write songs about you. Aubrey connected to it as a love song: “now I only write songs about you because you’re in my life.” While Abby’s take was, “now I only write songs about you because I’m so hurt and you’re all that I think about.”
“It’s cool, because we interpret the lyrics in different ways,” Abby said.
“But we could still write it in a way that you could resonate with the entire piece,” Aubrey added.
“When I play guitar, I lean towards more folk sounding instrumental work like finger-picking and chords that are more remnant of that genre,” Abby said.
“Then with lyrics, we just started telling stories with our songs,” Aubrey said. “When it comes to producing we take it in a more folk direction. [At] the beginning of a song when she’s picking in the cords or we’re trying to agree on a chord progression, sometimes we’ll take that [time] to decide if it’s leaning more towards an indie song or folk.”
Arvin has played nearly a half-dozen shows in the last two months. They report their EP, Any Lightning, is doing well and it’s hot.
“It’s challenging …” Abby said. “So, it’s figuring out what as an artist makes you stand out and pushing that to the forefront.
“Our mom said, there’s room for everyone. And if you build it they will come. We try to keep that in mind because if you work hard enough you create a good foundation for yourself by playing gigs, posting on social media and stuff.”
“Treat your sister like they are a friend,” Aubrey said their mom told them. “Which I think also makes us stronger musicians [and] songwriters.”
Prelude
Antich normally has a stage show at the South Pasadena Eclectic, in April, with 12 stages and about 60 musicians playing throughout the day. Antich works with Brad Colerick, who has a show called ‘Wine and Song.’ They planned to share a stage but the City of South Pasadena pulled the plug on all the funding. Some of the participants decided to have a festival anyway. So, Antich set Arvin up to play at his friends’ store, which was participating in the DIY show.
“They did a five-song set and “were fantastic,” he said. “Everybody there was blown away by how good they were. That was the prelude to the show with Alice Wallace.
“When they had their fifth anniversary at Collage, I wasn’t planning on going, but Richard suggested I would and he’d have a big surprise for me,” Antich said. “I went and sure enough, [Arvin was] there and Richard asked them if they’d play a couple songs. I was very surprised.
“I really like the girls,” he said. “They’ve got a lot of talent, [and] ability. They already have very sophisticated harmony for young girls that haven’t been out in the wild. So, I knew I was onto something.”
For Arvin’s part, Abby said, “We’re going to keep working and keep turning out videos for the socials. That definitely helps, not even in the way that we get recognized from a video, but in the sense of creating a communal fan base.”
Arvin will perform a show at Project Barley, in Redondo Beach, on Oct. 6 at 7 p.m.
Abby (Abigail Byrdie) will play a set at ‘Under the Orange Tree Sessions’ Oct. 3 at 7:30 p.m., at 17528 Balfern Ave. Bellflower.
Details: https://tinyurl.com/arvin-the-band