While most students will be studying for mid-terms in the coming weeks, University student Chris Arnold will be plucking his guitar strings for a growing local fan base.
Arnold and his acoustic guitar will open an all-ages show with Dave Matthew’s duet partner, Tim Reynolds, at 8 p.m. Saturday at Agate Hall. Tickets are available through Fastixx outlets for $13.50 in advance and $15 on the day of the performance.
Arnold, a junior in the University’s journalism school, began performing in Eugene in fall 2001, opening for bands such as Easy Target, Trik Turner and Elise Coakley.
“I like opening because it’s fun to meet people,” Arnold said. “I learn so much at every show.”
Arnold said he often talks to other seasoned musicians at the shows, gaining valuable advice about the music business.
“I’m a sponge at every show. I try to soak up as much as I can,” he said.
Coakley and Arnold performed at Sam Bond’s Garage in November.
“His music is pretty mellow,” Coakley said. “Some songs are more fun and upbeat,” she added, while others “seemed pretty
personal to him.”
Often the bands Arnold opens for have a drastically different musical style than his acoustic guitar, but he said that’s one of the things he likes best about performing as a solo act.
“One night I’m playing with Easy Target, the next night it’s David Wilcox,” he said. “Playing with all those different groups allows me to have such a broader range of listeners.”
But Arnold will not remain a solo act for long. He said he has been rehearsing with friends from the band Morning After, and he said once they have tightened up their sound, the band will accompany him to performances.
Morning After features drummer Dan Steinberg, guitarist Kole Hodgen and bassist Greg Dalbey.
Steinberg described their music as “acoustic rock with an edge.”
He said Arnold has worked hard to move up in the Eugene music scene, playing with popular artists such as Reynolds.
This summer, Arnold said he has plans to go into the recording studio with Morning After to lay down tracks for a full-length CD.
“It will be nice to have the time to focus entirely on music,” he said. The release date for the full-length CD has not been decided, but he predicted it will be available by late summer or the beginning of next school year.
Until then, Arnold has an EP that is available at performances or at [email protected]. The EP will also be available in local music stores on May 14 for $3.
“With school and everything, I’m not going to have time to go and do a full-length record until summertime, and so I just wanted to have a chance that people can take something away with them,” he said.
Arnold said he hopes to have the EP available online in the near future.
Through the Internet, “people have a chance to listen to so much music, and that’s so awesome.”
Arnold, like many of the local bands in Eugene, find the Internet is one of the quickest ways to make his music available to listeners.
“It’s not a matter of profits,” he added. “The best way for me to get paid is for people to have a chance to listen to my music, and for people to get a chance to come out and see it and hear it in any way. I’m more concerned with that type of reward.”
Beyond this summer, Arnold said he is not sure where his music career will take him.
“I’m enjoying myself, and it’s not really work for me,” he said. “I’ll let it carry me where it will.”
E-mail reporter Jen West
at [email protected].