Mike: So we’ve got the farewell show coming, August 12th, The Varsity Theater. You’ve got a killer lineup; literally a lot of my favorite local bands who are also a lot of your favorite local bands are playing this. Can you tell me what to expect?

Ari: Going into this show, I knew that it wasn’t going to be a proper farewell to Minneapolis without The Varsity Theater—where it all started and where it’s all been for me over the last 5 years—and all my favorite bands on the bill and all my friends bands; who are my favorite bands. That’s what it came down to.

ReadyGoes

ReadyGoes hasn’t been around as long as the other bands, but they’ve definitely found their place in the Minneapolis music community and they’re a phenomenal band. They also put on an incredible live show. Getting them, Roster McCabe, White Light Riot, The Alarmists; those were the first bands I locked in. These are my closest friends and these are some of my favorite bands, let’s lock them in and they all agreed.

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posted August 12th, 2010 at 12:30 pm MN Rock Ari Herstand

Mike: You’ve made a lot of memories in Minneapolis. If you could tell me about a few of your favorite shows you’ve been a part of here that’d be great.

Ari: Some of my favorite Minneapolis shows… I think my favorite Minneapolis show hands down is “The Unknown Order”, November ’07. I had the conception for this show that summer when White Light Riot and The Alarmists were both releasing their new albums and I got to know both of those groups fairly well. I played trumpet with White Light Riot at both of those shows. I got to know This World Fair very well as well. These were three of my favorite bands locally. We all had pretty good draws; White Light Riot and The Alarmists, they were at their peaks really. White Light Riot drew a thousand people to their CD release and The Alarmists drew like 700+ to their First Ave release. I wasn’t drawing those numbers, but I had a pretty significant draw and This World Fair did too. So I was like, let’s bring four bands who all have good draws, and let’s put it in a venue we love, The Varsity Theater. It definitely won’t be able to hold all the people that will want to come to this, but that will be part of the elusive nature of this experience.

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posted August 12th, 2010 at 11:24 am MN Rock Ari Herstand

Mike: With the big move to California, you’ve got a lot in store out there. You’ve probably made plenty of connections already, but tell me a little bit of what you’ve got in store for your future heading out to LA, and really making the “Ari Herstand” brand expand there.

Ari: I feel like where I’m at as a musician, as an artist, that I need to find new challenges. I’ve expressed my love for Minneapolis music at length, and I now feel completely comfortable with all these musicians here—which is great—but I need new challenges. I want to find a community that hones in on what I’m doing; my kind of music. It’s taken me 5-6 years to figure out what kind of music I am doing, and I’m still figuring that out.

But I feel I’m as close as ever right now to developing my sound, and I need to surround myself with other musicians that have similar intentions and similar musical styles as I do. As much as I love White Light Riot, it’s pretty far from the style of music that I’m creating. So as much as I love those guys and their music, I want to surround myself with other singer/songwriters that challenge me as a songwriter and an artist. Who push me to become better, to become great. And not saying that people here don’t push me. The diversity here in the Minneapolis community is the reason that I have grown into the musician and songwriter that I am.

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posted August 12th, 2010 at 10:17 am MN Rock Ari Herstand

Mike: You’ve also worked with quite an all-star cast of musicians in this town. Some of the names that come to mind, like members from bands like Roster McCabe, White Light Riot, This World Fair; you’ve had pretty much the entirety of This World Fair as your backing band at times. So if you could just tell me about some of the other bands in this town, whether it’s working with them, being friends with them, knowing them, or even having them perform with you in your band.

Ari: My absolute favorite part about being in Minneapolis over the last 7 years has been the local music community. Before I was even performing out, my freshman year of college I attended as many local music shows as I could. I would go out sometimes 4-to-5 nights a week on my own to different venues around Minneapolis just to see music. I didn’t have an agenda; I just showed up because I knew that they had music and I’d see whomever was playing. I continued this for a couple years. There was a time—like ’03 through ’06—where really for a good 3 years or so where when I wasn’t performing, I went out and saw music and when I found bands that I loved—that I really got into—I started following them.

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posted August 12th, 2010 at 9:06 am MN Rock Ari Herstand

Mike: We’ve talked a lot about how The Varsity Theater, a very beloved venue in this town, has changed a lot over the years. But let’s talk a little bit about how you’ve evolved over the years with your music, and just being able to create, perform, write, and record. You’ve worked a lot of great people in this town, among the facts that you’ve also added your loop station, you’ve upgraded your loop station, and you’ve worked with literally dozens of different people for your backing bands. So I’m curious to hear a little bit of your perspective on how you think your music has evolved over the years. Basically going from, really starting with those early Steak Knife gigs to where you are today.

Ari: When I first started the earliest incarnation of the “Ari Herstand project,” I was living in Middlebrook Hall at the University of Minnesota. It was my roommate Lucas Shogren as the cellist, and my RA at the time Anthony Brown—Anthony Lamarr, “Soundshaker”, he’s got like 15 different names—was the beatboxer. We started performing around at The Steak Knife and other coffeeshops as a trio initially, and then I found a female vocalist. So it was this kind of quartet; Lucas on cello, Anthony beatboxing, the female vocalist, and I played acoustic guitar and sang. That was my first band as a solo project. Before that I was in a band in high school that I played primarily trumpet in, plus a little guitar and sang backups and lead on a couple songs. So it was very different for me to branch out into a solo acoustic project because I wasn’t doing that prior. But I had been writing a lot of acoustic songs, and I knew that I wanted to start doing that.

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posted August 11th, 2010 at 9:12 pm MN Rock Ari Herstand

Mike: I’m sitting here with Ari Herstand at The Meridius, which is a place of legendary significance in Minneapolis for those of you who know the music scene (Ari laughs). Ari is actually going to be moving to LA very shortly at the end of summer, and we’re all sad to see him go. So we had to sit down with Ari and talk to him at least one last time, just to sort of get a few words and talk about the history of what Minneapolis, the music community, and really the culture in general has meant to Ari being here. Really, speaking of where we’re at right now, we’re sitting on your patio at The Meridius, this house that you’ve lived in for the past three years. Can you tell me a little bit about being here?

Gabe Douglas

Ari: Yeah, well I was living alone before this—right near the Electric Fetus—for a couple years, and I loved living alone. But a couple of the Roster McCabe guys were living here and they were using the basement as their rehearsal space. They needed to find someone to fill a room. I wasn’t really thrilled about moving in with other people again. I had kind of a not-so-fantastic experience in the previous place I was in with other people. But the guys convinced me that it’d be a lot of fun and I’d have a rehearsal space, which was a big plus. So I moved in, and The Meridius—the name given by our roommate Gabe [Douglas, from The 4onthefloor, The Fontanelles and more]—turned into the hangout, I guess.

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posted August 11th, 2010 at 7:50 pm MN Rock Ari Herstand