Seth Gile (Arms Aloft)
What are your top five albums that were released in 2024? (In order 1-5)
IU - The Winning EP
Illit - SUPERREALME EP
Kendrick Lamar - Not Like Us (The single drop and surrounding hysteria all ruled.)
Kim Deal - Nobody Loves You More LP
Le Sserafim - EASY EP
I'm sorry I didn't listen to any punk records. It's not all you wonderful bands' fault.
What band did you discover in 2024 (can be a brand new band or an older band) that had an impact on your life? How so?
You know, my back had been giving me a hard time at work, so early in the year I finally switched from wearing fuckin Vans to work everyday to some company called Lem's. They're a little like... systems admin guy mode (respectfully). Definitely verging on a dad shoe, I guess. But instantly helped my back and knees. And they're made for hiking so even the (vegan!) materials they use have been tough and are pretty waterproof and stuff. I can bike, in slush, in them and not regret it.
Oh shit, "BAND"? I did, "BRAND". My b.
How will you remember 2024 (in terms of music)?
It was one of the rare years in which we actually released something, so that's always a landmark of sorts. Sadly also means that the songs I heard most this year were actually Arms Aloft songs. Woof! But that was probably the biggest musical moment of the year, for me. In terms of live music, I saw IU and her absolutely insane band, in Chicago. It was one of the best (if not THE best) gigs I've ever seen. Cried like a baby, multiple times.
What can we look forward to from you in 2025?
We have extremely vague hopes to write another EP and at some point hit the road for at least a week or whatever. Come visit some of you freaks. But we shall see! The groupchat is always buzzing but "real life" also beckons ever sweetly, from the shore. Something, though! We're not dead yet.
Also in 2025, we're all going to get to see a freed Palestine.
What records are you looking forward to most in 2025?
I feel woefully out of touch. New Propagandhi is coming, right? That's always a welcome injection of everything they do.
Otherwise, I hope the NewJeans contract nonsense works out in the artists' favor and in a way that means they can put out new stuff. Everything they'd released in the last couple of years was super sick and always kinda weird and just... cool. But then they got grounded. Bummer times. (Look it up, if that's all nonsense to you. Pretty compelling drama!)
How do you try to get your news to fans as media platforms and algorithms change?
God have mercy, I haven't the slightest idea. We still use some of les classiques terribles, like IG and whatever. But now you've gotta make videos, for that, if you want the robot to show your post to anyone. No pics anymore! I've been trying to move from X to Bluesky, for words-style social media... but it just isn't "there" yet, I don't think. Honestly, the parasocial part of being in a band can be a fuckin 'nightmare, so ultimately I hope we all figure out a way to get the word out about gigs and records and whatever, without relying so heavily on the robots and their fascist owners. Independent music and art could probably do without a comment section or a reply button, let alone a reliance on websites run by mutants like Musk (he yells, shaking his fist at a cloud).
Seth Gile – social media links
- Instagram: @armsaloft
