Note: This interview has been shortened for conciseness.
I got to have a fun talk with the Michigan-based band Bronson Arm! Their band is encompassed in art, Blake Bickel (Guitar/Vocals) and Garret Yates (Drums). Together, the two are a chaotic, yet well-oiled, machine with, meshing noise punk and post-hardcore to create something all their own.
In May of 2025, the duo released a full album, "Casket Schwag," followed by multiple music videos. Their album "S/T" features tracks mixed by the likes of Robert Cheek, who has worked with Deftones, Band of Horses, and Tera Melos, and is mastered by Blake himself. As Bronson Arm is stacking their accomplishments, I wanted to pick their brains.
To start, I had to know. Did Bronson Arm always foreseen a career in music for themselves?
Blake Bickel: "I studied visual arts and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting and drawing. However, halfway through the program, I knew music was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. So I guess I was almost a visual artist. I mean, I still do a lot of visual art. I AM STILL A VISUAL ARTIST. It’s just that most of it revolves around the band. Designing our t-shirts, making posters, layout designs for our albums, creative direction on music videos, etc. Since graduating from college, I’ve worked as a live sound engineer, managed a recording studio while working as a staff engineer, worked in music instrument sales, designed and built guitar FX pedals, dabbled in audio electronic repairs, instrument repairs, and have owned and operated an audio mastering facility for the last decade."
Garrett Yates: "Since about eighteen years old, I knew I wanted to be in a band with friends and tour. Until Bronson Arm, I never really had the opportunity to tour, other than a blur of a weekend with my first band, Rome, sometime around 2006, with the Tooth & Nail band Search the City and Monument Monument, which was mostly botched by half the band quitting a week before, and the other half scrambling to teach songs to new members. Not long after that, I joined the Navy to try and make some grown-up money, and ended up working on submarines and nuclear power plants for like fourteen years before Blake, and I met up to make some noise."
When I hear their name, the first thing that comes to my mind is Charles Bronson, so of course, I had to ask about the origin of their name!
Blake Bickel: "Regarding the name Bronson Arm, it’s a lyric reference to the song “Get No Toys” by the band KARP. I like band names that don’t make logical sense. Something that won’t be confused with something else. And referencing the band KARP felt like a good launching point. KARP was a band that had an intense and ridiculously BRUTAL sound, yet they delivered it in this lighthearted, carefree way. I think I was attracted to the fact that they were able to successfully make some of the most grinding and heavy music I had heard without the stereotypical macho male posturing. We never had the intention of sounding like KARP. More just inspired by their unique sound and ability to create HEAVY music that felt authentic."
What about the Bronson Arm sound? Did you have a sound in mind or create one along the way?
Blake Bickel: "At first, our goals were just to put together a set, record it in my basement, and play it out and see where it went. Just have fun with a creative outlet. For our sound, I think, we just wanted to be heavy on our own terms. I didn’t want listeners to immediately pinpoint our creative inspirations. We intentionally designed our first album to be as eclectic as we possibly could. I desperately wanted to avoid painting ourselves into a corner."
Next, I decided to dig deep to learn more about where else they pulled creative inspiration from to make their songs.
Blake Bickel: "I love films that are surreal and/or absurd. I'm a fan of John Waters, David Lynch, Wes Anderson, and I’ve recently been digging into Yorgos Lanthimos. And I have a soft spot for low-budget horror movies. I have read everything by Charles Bukowski, Hunter S Thompson, William S Burroughs, Kurt Vonnegut, David Sedaris, and Chuck Palahniuk. There are a lot of visual artists who inspire me. I'm a big fan of Gregory Crewdson, Cindy Sherman, Edward Hopper, and Eric Fischl. I am drawn to art that has a sense of unease, a tension and anxiety building from an unknown source. The viewer is left wondering 'WTF is happening, or what just happened, or is about to happen.'"
As a huge fan of Chuck Palahniuk, Kurt Vonnegut, Charles Bukowski, and surreal/absurd films as well as low-budget horrors, I can get this from their music. Maybe that's why I am so fascinated by Bronson Arm.
Bronson Arm is only on their third album, but I want to know if they think their sound has already evolved in that time?
Blake Bickel: "We are working on our third album. It’s still too early to know what it’s going to be, but we are absolutely pushing ourselves and reaching on this one. In my opinion, our first record was a mission statement: WE ARE HERE, we mean business, we intend to keep you on your toes and change things up as we go. Our second album was us getting comfortable with ourselves, being confident - maybe just having fun and not trying to prove anything to anyone."
Blake Bickel continues: "Now, for this third album, I feel we are trying to be comfortable with taking our time. The first two records were put out a year apart from each other. We were writing the second record before the first was released. I want to see what we can accomplish if we stop and take a breath, and be a touch more methodical about our approach. We started with thirty-two half-baked songs and have whittled them down to sixteen. We are basically going to do a quick and dirty version of the album at Garrett's space. Go through the motions, get through the experimental/exploratory phase. That way, when we book time at the recording studio, we will know EXACTLY what we want AND how to go about getting it!"
With Blake being a visual artist and having a huge hand in the band's visual art and branding, I was curious as to what their creative process is like.
Blake Bickel: "Being a visual artist, I absolutely have a vision of what I think each video “COULD BE”. I usually will have an idea in my head that I’ve been going over for months. I will sketch out the logistics and pitch it to one of our friends. We are incredibly lucky to have friends who are filmmakers; J Ludeker (Hemlock Media), Kyle Bearer, and Matt Trisch (Dark Boiler Productions). We collaborate on each other's projects and do various work trade favors. So, Garrett and I would absolutely not be able to pull it off without their generous contributions and collaboration. Considering it’s a group effort to bring these to fruition, I try to keep things super simple. One location, not too many people, something we can shoot in an afternoon."
I wanted to hear more about their show history. What stages have Bronson Arm shared so far, and is there one particular show or venue that stands out to the band?
Blake Bickel: "We have had a lot of great experiences. For me, “Caterwaul Fest” in Minneapolis has always been an amazing experience. It’s a multi-day festival, featuring heavy and loud avant-garde bands from around the world. We were fortunate enough to “fill in” as a sub the first year - and it was only our twelfth gig as Bronson Arm! It was mind-blowing to all of a sudden be playing to a significantly larger audience than we had previously, and alongside bands I had been listening to for YEARS. It was a trip! Long story short, our van hadn’t left the state just yet. We were flying by the seat of our pants. Van started acting up, transmission wasn’t kicking into high gear. On the final day leading up to our Caterwaul performance, what should have been a five-hour drive turned into a thirteen-hour crawl on three hours of sleep. We must've done something right, as they have asked us back a handful of times and continue to be active in the Caterwaul community."
Blake Bickel continues: "In general, as a band that plays the music we do, it feels like equal parts music festival and... summer camp? Or a noisy art rock convention? It’s our people. Folks travel from all around the world to attend, and bands travel from around the world to play. It’s a trip to meet fans who travelled from Belgium to see us. We've had numerous attendees tell us they heard us hyping the festival and not knowing any other band playing - bought plane tickets and hotels, and made the trip! And now they return every year. It’s a DIY Fest. No corporate sponsors. No mainstream investors. If you like heavy weird music, it should ABSOLUTELY be on your radar."
Garrett Yates: "Caterwaul is amazing and has been a highlight throughout our existence as a band. The RunOff (Garrett’s DIY run from his three-bay garage) has been a staple for us. It's our practice space and a place where we can host a show without the need for outside resources. But more importantly, it has helped us to connect with our local community and connect other touring bands to Kalamazoo, which has been a blessing. We may otherwise have never gotten to share a stage with some of our favorites like Child Bite, Frail Body, Tunic, CNTS, Nerver, etc., and it's been great to be able to showcase other Kzoo bands when cool touring acts come through, and to be able to watch the local music scene grow over the last five years. Opening for Ken Mode, and Pelican at The Pyramid Scheme were also goated shows that stand out in my mind."
Does Bronson Arm have any pre-show rituals? I love a good pre-show tradition.
Garrett Yates: "Not really, I typically just have a couple beers and try not to be socially awkward." I think a lot of us can relate to and feel for Yate's sentiment.
Blake Bickel:"I am diagnosed with ADHD and on the spectrum. So my pre-show rituals are more like obsessive gear and tech checks. I am super methodical about my gear and want to know everything is set up and ready to go, so that I don’t have to think about the gear. I want to get up on stage and know everything is going to do what it’s supposed to do, so that I can focus on the performance. And if it’s not, I have a backup redundant plan ready to be activated. We shoot to get to the venue early and get the gear loaded in as early as possible. I will drink a bunch of water, maybe do a little stretching and jumping jacks to get my blood flowing through my body. I do like to get out on the floor during the opening bands. Not only to show support, but also to get into the vibe, move my body, feel the music, and be a part of what’s happening on the floor."
Blake Bickel continues: "So for me, it’s about being prepared enough that I can ideally be grounded, emote through the performance being recorded, and have it be drenched with vibe. I guess I always bring this one braided guitar cable my mom bought me when I got my first bass guitar. It’s not very long, but I make sure it’s always somewhere in my chain when I record. And I always have my son contribute something to our records. It might just be a scream that I layer in parallel with one of my screams."
With so much new coming for the band in the last year alone, let's explore what their 2026 Goals Roadmap looks like!
Blake Bickel: "Finishing the new record is top of my personal list. As a band, we recently toured the East Coast… Now it’s time to hit, I don't know… Texas? Or the ROCKIES? We are slowly expanding our regions. We finally got our passports and have had offers to tour Europe and Japan! But we will have to repress our records cause the first record has sold out."
Garrett Yates: "Other than pushing Bronson Arm's limits with the next record, my goal is to learn as much as I can about recording and mixing, and to stay busy writing music with my friends. I have a few side projects that I've been working on that should also be releasing music this year, all while balancing work, school, and family time."
I want to make sure I hit all the points of what they have going on and who they are, so why SHOULD everyone check out Bronson Arm in Blake and Garrett's own opinions?
Garrett Yates: "Mainly for Blake's guitar tone, haha. It's not for everyone, but if you like feedback and feeling the music in your chest, it might be for you."
Blake Bickel: "We are a two-piece noise rock band from Middle America. Everything we have, we have built from the ground up. We aren’t trying to be famous or make it rich. We aren’t trying to make watered-down music for the masses. We are trying to make music that means something to US. I feel that tends to resonate with people who appreciate that sort of thing. We are fucking PISSED OFF about working sixty hours a week and still barely getting by. Bronson Arm is how we make sense of it all."
Upcoming Shows:
03.21.2026 - @ The Lucky Wolf in Kalamazoo, MI
04.01.2026 - @ The Brass Rail in Fort Wayne, IN
