“It definitely made us wanna rip our hair out less” – An Interview With Archer Oh
California indie garage rock band Archer Oh (lead vocalist and guitarist Arturo “Archie” Medrano, drummer Pedro Hernandez, guitarist Diego Jacuinde, and bassist Juan Cabrera) recently released their excellent new studio album, The Internal Theater via AWAL/Sony. Engineered by Sean Cook at John Congleton’s Los Angeles studio, Animal Rites, and mastered by Howie Weinberg, the album unleashes a deeper, more evolved sound from the group. Through a flurry of moody melodies and passionate riffs, The Internal Theater unpacks inner conflict and the coming of age feelings and confusion of what one expects of themselves, versus what is expected of them by society.
The band also just put a new video for recent single “Spineless”. It’s a constantly shifting visual journey as the band faces masked duplicate figures, illustrating a disorienting dance between the real and imagined. Directed by Caitlyn Phu, the video is a perfect juxtaposition to the haunting madness of the lyrics.
The band had just begun a US tour when we caught up with them as they scrambled between shows and we chatted about the new record, the best venues in SoCal and touring with Keanu Reeves.
IDOV – Hey guys. Thanks for meeting with us. How has your South by Southwest been so far?
Archie – It’s been really cool. We’ve been having a lot of fun. It’s been kinda weird.
Pedro – It’s been a very rushed experience, but it’s honestly nothing that we aren’t too familiar with. You know, this is something very similar to what we were used to do back home. When we started playing shows, touring and stuff, the backyards and stuff, it was literally set up, do your thing, get the hell out. So it’s a little nostalgic for us, you know?
IDOV – How many shows have you actually done? Because it looked like you had like a load on the schedule.
Pedro – So this has been seven, right?
Archie – We had eight on the schedule. One fell through, no one told us about it though. So we’ve done six so far and we’ve got one more tonight.
IDOV – So we always ask three questions to the artists we interview. First one is, which classic album cover art is your current mood?
Archie – I’m gonna go first. I’ll pick Sgt. Pepper because it’s got a lot going on. I think there’s a lot of good stuff and that’s how I feel. I’ve got a lot of good ideas and I’ve got a lot of maybe not so good ideas, but there’s a lot going on and it makes me feel weird and crazy.
Diego – I’ll go with The Mars Volta album Frances the Mute. On the cover, it’s these hooded figures with like a red hood and they’re all suited and they’re in like old classic cars and stuff. That’s kind of the mood I’m feeling, you know.
Juan – I agree with that. It’s kind of where we’re going. We have like a whole kinda like mass theater thing, suits. It’s not quite the same, but it’s also similar.
Diego – Actually, I had a different pick – Compact Trauma by this UK band based in Stockholm and I think they’re in London now. They’re called Ulrika Spacek. It’s got these hands coming out of the center and it’s like a weird optical thing. Then all the checkers, like red out of the colors. I think if you listen to the album, it just takes so many turns, it’s like anxious almost. It’s very art rock. And when we’re on the road, it’s a lot of good highs, a lot of good lows or some lows aren’t always good. But, it’s a lot of a mess, a lot of a noise and it’s good to live within that.
Pedro – I’m going to go with Pink Floyd – Meddle ’cause it’s real tranquil and real fluid, you know what I mean?
Archie – You feeling chill right now? After eight shows?
Pedro – Yeah, that’s after eight shows and the pressure of choosing an album cover that fits my mood.
IDOV – So SXSW is part of a tour you’re in the middle of at the moment – where do you head to next?
Archie – We’ve got Southside Spillover in Fort Worth then we go to Paper Tiger in San Antonio. Then we start making our way east to Houston, Chattanooga…
IDOV – Are you playing Philly?
Archie – No, we’re playing Stroudsburg. I would like to play Philly but Philly so far hasn’t been very nice to us. We had a show that got canceled by the promoter last time. We weren’t selling that many tickets over there unfortunately.
Juan – It’s honestly kind of bizarre because we ended up playing a show in New Orleans and there was no tickets sold for that. They still were like, “yeah, go ahead, set up”. But like Philly was not having it. They’re like, “oh, only X amount sold. No, no, we’re gonna cancel.”
IDOV – At the end of the tour you’ve got a homecoming show at the Fox Theater in Corona.
Archie – Yeah. May 31st. It’s our biggest show ever so far. Exciting.
IDOV – That’s a great venue. So is the Glasshouse in Pomona
Diego – Heck yeah. We sold out the Glasshouse. That was cool.
IDOV – What’s your favorite venue out in the SoCal area to play?
Pedro – Well, we don’t play the same venue over and over. For me, just because of the experience of just the way that it went, it’s when we played the Glasshouse, that’s gotta be my favorite.
Juan – I’d have to agree that playing the glasshouse was like a full circle moment. I used to go and see shows for some of my favorite bands that I liked growing up. So the Glasshouse is probably my favorite as well.
Diego – Definitely The Glasshouse is a great sounding room. But The Teragram Ballroom – I’ve caught so many good acts there and playing that was really cool. Just because I know so many of the bands that have been on the stage, not personally, but I’m a fan of a lot of music.
Archie – I like The Troubadour. We opened up for Dogstar there and I saw The Districts there when I was younger and I’m like, this is a really weird spot and it’s small and the stage is all wonky and everybody knows about it. I love The Troubadour. I wish we could play there again.
IDOV – If you could only listen to one record, what would it be?
Archie – A Flourish and a Spoil by The Districts. That is my favorite record of all time and I love that band. They’re from Philly. They don’t exist anymore and I wish they did. I’m always kind of bugging them, messaging them, like, “Hey, we’re gonna play here. Come see us.” And they ignore me and I love them and I’ve ripped them off. Everything I write is just “I love this band!” Maybe that’s why they don’t talk to me being such a fan girl. I feel like I’m literally the biggest fan in the whole world.
Diego – I listen to a lot of different music and it’s always rotating. But I’ve been coming back to Thank You Happy Birthday by Cage The Elephant. It’s one of their older albums but they got so many different sounds in there. They get punkish but it’s also still like indie and sweet. It has been really influential to stuff I’m making and the way I play it too. I think if I had to stick with one forever, that would definitely kind of fluff it up pretty nicely,
Juan – I’m just like Diego. I listen to a lot of other stuff too but I’m picking Frances the Mute by The Mars Volta. I’d probably listen to that album forever. It’s their second album as a band and every time I listen to that album, there’s something else I’m picking up on or there’s something new I discover from it. So it’s a whole experience.
Pedro – I’d probably have to go with Muse’s Showbiz. That’s my favorite album of all time, man.
IDOV – When did the band get together?
Archie – Well, it was a solo project that I started when I was still in high school at the end of 2015. Then in 2016, Pedro and I started kind of playing drums. I’ll be like “I’m Archer Oh and this is my friend” (laughs). And people were like, “that’s a cool band.” And I realized that, yeah, it is a band. Then Juan joined and then he left, and then Diego joined and then Juan’s back. All four of us full force in 2017.
IDOV – You’ve recently released your new record The Internal Theater. What did you learn from your first EP (2015’s The Gold One) and also (2022 Album) Gradients that you applied to the new record?
Pedro – Pay somebody to do it! Actually go to the studio.
Archie – Yeah, it definitely made us wanna rip our hair out less when someone else helped us with all that. Because on our last record, we went out into the desert and we recorded it on Logic. Before that, we recorded in my garage on Audacity, this free program and like,you wanna die when you’re doing it. I think with The Internal Theater and because it cost us so much money, it took almost all our money, we were really locked in and we were practicing nonstop. We were tight before we got in there.
Pedro – Yeah. And if you go back and listen to the earliest stuff and then listen to Gradients, and then listen to the new album, the quality gets better and better every time. You graduate from Audacity to Logic to whatever Sean (producer Sean Cook) uses.
Diego – I think we also had a more defined sound as a band coming into this one. We had been playing the other songs for so long that, if you come and see the live shows, some of these songs are gonna sound different than when they’re recorded. Which is like a good thing for a lot of bands. You can definitely hear the live sound in the new album, where we’ve kind of grown and the direction we’ve headed in and having that picked up in the studio instead of what we were working with, I think it really shows itself.
Juan – I think overall it’s just us growing as people, as musicians, as a family.
IDOV – You mentioned earlier on that you’ve supported Dogstar on some tours? How did that come about?
Archie – It was really cool. Kind of a little bit luck. They were doing a big comeback show at The Roxy in LA and told the venue to go get some support.
Pedro – They didn’t need us to sell that thing out
Archie – Our booking agent, the day before, he was like “Red alert! Red alert!”. Someone at the venue had seen us before and thought we were cool. So we played there and they liked us enough. We were polite and we moved our stuff off the stage quick enough where they were like, ”Hey, play these other shows with us.” And then on tour they were “you know, these guys stay out the way and they’re pretty good!”
Pedro – Yeah. We didn’t bother them.
Archie – We didn’t fan girl or nothing ’cause I haven’t seen a whole lot of Keanu movies. They were really nice.
IDOV – Keanu has a reputation of being one of the nicest guys in Hollywood.
Archie – Yeah. It’s true and more and more!
IDOV – Final question we ask everybody. What would go on your signature pizza and what would it be called?
Pedro – Just gimme a whole lot of mushroom on there. I don’t even need pepperoni. Just a mushroom pizza. Gimme that mushroom. It would be called “I’ll take your mushroom”
Juan – It’s probably kinda lame, but I like California Pizza Kitchen. They’ve got this Pizza Sicilian which I think it’s Genoa salami and some sort of other sort of meat like capicola? It’s on a thin crust. That’s probably my signature pizza. Mine is called “The Sili” – throw some buffalo sauce on it as well.
Diego – I’m embarrassed to say it but I think I’d have like a conglomerate of whatever on it. I like a lot of like meat. I like any meats thrown on there, peppers, anything that’s spicy, some sauces like a buffalo sauce. It’s a little unhinged, like mine just ends up being messy, you know? What do I call it? Maybe “The Mess”.
Archie – You know they asked me the same question when I was interviewing for Little Caesars. It’s so upsetting because they got mad when I was like, “just pepperoni”. That’s all I need. Just pepperoni. They were “You don’t want anything else?” I’m like, “isn’t that what you sell??? Pepperoni pizza? I’m the perfect salesman” Call it “Just Pizza”.
IDOV – What’s left for 2025 once you finish the current tour?
Archie – I think we’re planning to do a smaller tour in the fall.
Juan – Yeah. Probably more of the PNW, the Pacific North West, up to Portland and Washington and stuff like that. But
Diego – But honestly, anything else we can snag!
Archie – Yeah. We’re hoping for a support tour. Then the big one at Fox Theater Pomona and keep on writing.
Juan – Yeah. Hopefully a LP three, LP four, what are we on? Or an EP, it doesn’t matter. We’re just gonna start writing new stuff.
Diego – It’d be cool to get on Desert Daze again because we were supposed to play that last year and that fell through when they canceled it. That could be fun. We’re gonna cash that rain check.
Juan – I would just say, listen to the album, listen to the new stuff. Thanks for listening and thanks for staying sticking around.
Diego – Really, really proud of these guys and you myself, selfishly, but also just proud of what we’ve put out. It’s been great to have a good reception for it. We’re really excited to just keep it going.
You can find out more about Archer Oh by visiting their website and follow them on Instagram and Twitter for all the latest news on new music and shows.
Feature Image Credit – Isabel Aguirre
