Arrows At Dawn knows its challenges, but moves along anyway looking for more

Arrows At Dawn is a rock foursome in an exciting place in time.

Consisting of Blooming Prairie graduates Tim Andrews (vocals/guitar), Patrick Zak (bass), Tyler Crabtree (drums) along with Owatonna grad Phil Lesniak (guitar), AAD feels like its on the verge of something big.

They have a local following and slowly, show by show are drawing more attention to itself.

However, the band is realistic, grounded and, like any growing band, understands the road they are climbing.

Out of a basement as it were. The band rehearses in the basement of the home owned by Andrews in Owatonna. Sunday the band came together for one of their scheduled rehearsals, complete with laundry on the floor.

“I had one job,” Andrews said sheepishly, a wry smile gracing the comment.

Christmas lights, which the band calls mood lighting, wrap around supports in the basement and their gear is tucked tightly in the corner with two couches.

After the rehearsal the band talked about where they’ve been, where they are, and where they are going.

Arrow’s first shot

Arrows At Dawn can still remember their first show: a battle of the bands-type contest at the Steel County Fair in Owatonna.

They finished second, but it marked the moment the band arrived.

“We got a lot of good feedback,” Zak said.

But the band also came to realize where they stood at the time.

“It was rough,” Lesniak said. “But every show we improved. It’s been a rough road, but it’s clicking.”

The band has gone through its share of rotations, as bands are apt to do early on. Zak played and left and then returned and Crabtree is their fourth drummer having joined earlier this year.

The one thing the band has come to realize is it’s not the short race, but a marathon. Understanding that has helped them deal with shows where only a very few close fans have attended.

“The biggest thing is endurance,” Andrews said. “How long can you take having five people at your show.”

While many bands might become frustrated with a smaller fanbase, AAD has embraced the give-and-take that comes with it. All four members admitted they would rather play shows with true fans than play a bigger show where people are roundly ignoring the music.

The long road

However AAD finds success, there will be nothing simple about it.

Wrapped up with the effort to become something more as a band is the day-to-day dealings of living by a day job, or in some of the member’s case, a night job.

AAD has one CD under their belt with the hope they can get back into the studio this fall.

Their first album, “Out of Touch,” was recorded at Pachyderm Studio in Cannon Falls, the same studio that’s recorded Nirvana, Mudvayne and host of other top acts.

AAD recorded as a two-piece and had to use studio musicians on bass and drums. Recording cost a modest $10,000. Not an easy amount to part with when you’re a small band.

Striking the right chord

The road to something better inevitably is tread by the continued march forward. The band is tirelessly writing new material in an effort to stay fresh.

“There’s pressure and not pressure,” Crabtree said. “People expect new stuff, but we’re not big enough so they aren’t always asking for a new album.”

There’s also the effort to avoid sounding too much like a band that’s been an influence to them, The Foo Fighters.

Inherently, there is nothing wrong with following an influential band, especially considering all the bands and musicians who can name The Rolling Stones, Led Zepplin and Bob Dylan as influences.

But at the same time, there is the risk of sounding too much like The Foo Fighters.

The band feels like they’ve struck that balance, successfully molding their own sound out of an initial template.

“It just comes out as us now,” Andrews said.

Encore

For certain there is a work ethic to AAD, but it’s carefully balanced by the need to have fun.

“We’re very serious about our music, but we want to have fun,” Andrews said. “At the point it stops being fun then we should stop.”

It’s also not everyday that a band ends rehearsal with thoughts to head out back to play croquet, even right after it rained.

“Then it will be extreme croquet,” Andrews said.

But it doesn’t take much to cycle back to the work end, and like all bands they, have disagreements.

“On ‘Break Free,’ we butted heads,” Zak said.

“We all started getting ideas,” Lesniak added. “We tried to get too complicated.”

What it ends up as is a group that stays until the target is achieved.

“We make a point to stay until it’s done,” Andrews said. “But we’ve had moments where we said, we need to take a break.”

So far so good though, and there is still plenty to accomplish.

They plan on releasing an acoustic album this summer titled, “Into The West,” which will feature both some new stuff and songs off their first album.

“It sounds amazing,” Andrews said. “It’s another spin on our first album.”

They also still have their sites set on playing First Avenue in Minneapolis. They were one of about 30 bands hoping to play there for a benefit concert, but ultimately got bumped when the cut was made.

There is also touring.

“We want to take a week-long break and tour,” Andrews said. “Keep pushing our music.”

While everything is still swirling for a band hell-bent on making their music heard, perhaps it’s the simplest thing that helps keep the band going — like when a song finally comes together.

“I go upstairs and go ‘(heck) yeah,’ and it’s stuck in my head all day,” Andrews said. “All week it will be stuck there, and I’ll call Phil and say, ‘It’s almost there, man.’”