Arsenal was an American indie rock band, formed by the former

Big Black Big Black was an American punk rock band from Evanston, Illinois, active from 1981 to 1987. Founded by singer and guitarist Steve Albini, the band's initial lineup also included guitarist Santiago Durango and bassist Jeff Pezzati, both of Nake ...

guitarist

Santiago Durango Santiago Alonso Durango (born 1957) is a Colombian–American attorney and retired musician. He is best known for his work with the 1980s punk rock groups Naked Raygun and Big Black. Life and career Durango is the son of a Colombian doctor. H ...

, after Big Black broke up. Durango was in law school at the time. Arsenal featured similar characteristics to Big Black ( drum machine, noisy guitar etc.) but a much less abrasive sound, mainly due to the addition of a melodic keyboard sound on certain songs. For the first

record A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, ...

, Santiago asked bassist

Malachi Ritscher Malachi Ritscher (Mark David Ritscher; January 13, 1954 – November 3, 2006) was an American musician, recording engineer, human rights activist, and anti-war protester. He gained fame through his self-immolation, an act of protest against the 200 ...

to play for him, resulting in the self-produced, four-song EP, ''Manipulator'', released on

Touch and Go Records Touch and Go Records is an American independent record label based in Chicago, Illinois. After its genesis as a handmade fanzine in 1979, it grew into one of the key record labels in the American 1980s underground and alternative rock scenes. Tou ...

in 1988.Tgrec.com
/ref> At this time they also appeared on

Blast First Blast First is a sub label of one-time independent record label Mute Records, founded in approximately 1985. It was named after a phrase taken from the first number of the radical Vorticist journal ''Blast'', published by Wyndham Lewis in 1914 ...

's ''Nothing Short of Total War''

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...

, with the song "Little Hitlers". – Then, in 1990, with bassist Pierre Kezdy (

Naked Raygun Naked Raygun was one of the first, one of the longest running, and one of the most recognized Chicago punk bands. They are considered by many to be the most important band in the history of Chicago punk rock and credited with creating “the Chi ...

), Arsenal released a second EP, a 12 inch 45 rpm vinyl disc, titled ''Factory Smog Is a Sign of Progress'', also on Touch and Go Records.Factory Smog Is a Sign of Progress at Tgrec.com
/ref>

Discography

EPs

* ''Manipulator'' (

) (1988) * ''Factory Smog Is a Sign of Progress'' (Touch and Go Records) (1990)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arsenal Musical groups from Chicago Touch and Go Records artists American noise rock music groups Blast First artists