After more than twenty years of heartfelt, gravel-voiced storytelling, The Gunshy’s Matt Arbogast returns on 5 December with Hurricane Umbrellas, a new record that balances vulnerability and craft in equal measure. Written during a prolific stretch in 2024 and shaped in his home studio the album is both an ode to personal growth and a treatise on legacy, sobriety and creative endurance. In this interview with TGEFM, Arbogast explores the influence of his late uncle, the quiet discipline of songwriting without distraction and the comfort found in music’s emotional weight.
Catch The Gunshy at these upcoming shows:
Nov 15 – Chicago, IL @ 8AM with Kara Eubanks
Dec 7 – Chicago, IL @ Beat Kitchen (Record Release) with The Heligoats & Marky Hladish (Felix Culpa)
Thank you so much for agreeing to this interview and congratulations on the upcoming record! Hurricane Umbrellas feels deeply personal, both musically and emotionally. When did you realize this album wasn’t just another collection of songs, but something heavier?
I put out a record with my friend Andrew Bryant under the name Loose Collars in 2024. We spent a couple of years sending files back and forth, taking our time and learning some new tricks. It was a really great experience, and it reminded me of the things I love about writing songs and making records.
I’ve always written pretty dark songs. There’s a weird comfort I get in writing about strong memories or the path I could be on if I’d made a different decision here or there. I really wanted to challenge myself to write better songs this time. Not just songs that are emotionally exhausting.
I have a little studio that I built in my basement. A live room and a control room. It’s soundproof to the outside, but a pretty simple set up. I’ve got just what I need to be able to get decent sounds, and I enjoy tinkering down there. I spent a lot of time trying to get the songs on the new record to a place where I felt comfortable approaching collaborators with them. Then Sean, who produced the record, came on board and helped me refine and complete the songs.
I got most of the collaborator parts a week before Sean came to Chicago in March to work on the record. I was frantically trying to get the strings, horns and steel parts somewhat organized before he got here. Once I was able to hear some of the arrangements together, the record became its own beast.
You’ve said that your uncle Rod was one of your earliest inspirations as an artist. How did his influence and ultimately his loss, shape the direction or tone of this record?
A few days after my uncle passed away I wrote a little poem for him. I was looking for a way to make sense of his influence on me. Once I had those words written I was able to understand his impact. He was a watercolor painter, and found ways to have a pretty great life with painting always being a priority for him. It was his identity for me growing up as a kid. “Uncle Rod is a painter.” That never really changed. He taught painting at a college for a bit, and was resourceful when he needed to be, but his art was never secondary.
He was also a really funny guy who spoiled his nephews. There was no pretentiousness. He was a painter like other people are plumbers.
I’m 45 and sometimes I catch myself wondering why I still put so much time into these songs. Thanks to my uncle Rod, this record was able to remind me that creativity is important. It keeps me ticking and that’s all I really need it to do.
You wrote most of these songs in one concentrated burst over summer 2024. Was there a moment or experience that opened the floodgates creatively?
I quit drinking 6.5 years ago and am still adjusting to no longer being someone who has to have a few drinks in him before he can be social. I don’t really hang out at bars anymore, so I have more nights at home and spend a lot of them working on songs. Sometimes that is productive. Sometimes I’m just messing around with a plugin to see how weird I can make something sound. Last summer I found myself writing 2-3 songs a week. Songs that felt right. I just tried not to overthink it and let these songs come out of me while they could.
I found out after the fact that it was the same time my uncle Rod was starting to get seriously sick.
You’ve been releasing music as The Gunshy for over two decades now. How has your relationship to songwriting (and self-reflection) changed in that time?
I toured a lot early on, usually 6-8 months a year for the first few records. I had a pretty good pattern of writing songs on the road, recording them, then going back on the road. A lot of the songs back then were about the road, because it was my life.
Eventually touring started to be a little less exciting. I remember a phone call with my now wife where she pointed out that I didn’t sound so excited about being on the road. I was probably burnt out, and I didn’t want to force myself to keep touring. I scaled back touring to 1-2 months a year and settled into life in Chicago a little more. Doing so gave me a new perspective on myself and the world around me.
In the last 6-7 years, without alcohol, I’ve been able to take a more critical approach to songwriting. I’m pretty sure I’ll be doing this for as long as I’m around, so I want to focus on the craft and work to keep improving.
When you listen back now, what moment on Hurricane Umbrellas hits you hardest personally?
I wrote the song “On the Day I Met You” for my wife. There are very clear references in that song that she’s probably the only one that understands. When the steel guitar and string arrangements were added, they gave the song this timeless sound that put a big smile on my face. And the steel played a really beautiful solo near the end. Whenever I hear that song I can’t believe it’s something I wrote.
What’s next for The Gunshy?
We have an album release show in December and will be playing shows around the Chicago area over the winter. I’ve known all three of the people playing with me now for over 20 years. It’s been really nice getting together and playing these songs with then.
I’m planning on doing a few short tours of the northeast, southeast, and midwest in the spring. Then hopefully some new songs will start making their way out of me.
Was there anything we missed or that you’d like to put more focus on?
I would just like to thank Sean Bonnette for being my guiding light for this record. Sean has a talent for providing direction, while still being considerate. I never felt uncomfortable with his suggestions, and if I pushed back at all he’d quickly find a compromise. He also really helped me improve my singing voice. On past records I tended to bark or whisper the lyrics. I’ve been trying to sing better, and he spent a lot of time helping me get to a place where I felt confident in this new way of singing. I’ve been fortunate to have him as a good friend, and I’m really grateful that he helped me make this record.
Thank you for taking the time with us!
Roll of the Dice is a short interview format with a variable amount of questions. A pair of dice is rolled and the total, between 2 and 12, is the amount of questions we can ask. All questions are given to the interviewee(s) at once, and no follow-ups are allowed. The interview may be lightly edited for content and clarity.
Bad Dad (occasionally called Ed) has been on the periphery of the punk and punk-adjacent scene for over twenty years. While many contributors to this site have musical experience and talent, Ed’s musical claim to fame comes from his time in arguably the most punk rock Blockbuster Video district in NJ where he worked alongside members of Blanks 77, Best Hit TV and Brian Fallon. He is more than just an awful father to his 2 daughters, he is also a dreadful husband, a subpar writer, a terrible dresser and has a severe deficiency in all things talent… but hey, at least he’s self-aware, amirite?
Check out the pathetic attempts at photography on his insta at https://www.instagram.com/bad_dad_photography/