Q&A with You Won't

You Won’t is a Boston-based multi-instrument duo whose songs are as fun and quirky as they are sincere. Staff writer Marcela Guimaraes talked to Josh Arnoudse about the band’s upcoming material and the culture shock of being in the South.

DIVERSIONS: How did you develop your current sound?

JOSH ARNOUDSE: Well it was almost out of necessity because there’s only two of us, and we briefly had another friend playing bass with us, but for the most part it was only the two of us.

So we decided to be really inventive about how much sound we can make with just two people. That means Raky (Sastri) ends up playing fifteen different things at once and sometimes I play two things at once. I have the easier end of the deal in that sense.

But yeah, we just kind of had to spend a lot of time trying stuff out and seeing what worked and it’s taken really all of the last two and a half years and it’s still a process to figure out how we can be most efficient and most effective with just two people.

DIVE: How is your next album going to differ from the previous one?

JA: I think the biggest difference is that we’ve been playing shows now for two years, whereas the first record we made without any sort of consideration of a live show.

But this one is very much shaped by what our shows were like, what we feel worked the best, what was the most fun we had while playing live, and what people responded to the most.

DIVE: Do you have a favorite place you’ve been on tour?

JA: We played a show with Bombadil at the Cat’s Cradle a little more than a year ago. But I really loved that place. It was one of the warmest audiences we’ve ever had, it was a really awesome night, one of the most enjoyable experiences for sure.

We’d come through a few times before and play at the Cave two or three times to like absolutely nobody so it was nice to come down there and they have like a big local crowd, so that was actually one of our favorites.

DIVE: So you’re excited to be back?

JA: Yeah, definitely. We haven’t been back since last August and it’s certainly somewhere we want to make part of our regular circuit. I don’t know, I have like a certain fondness for college towns I guess and I just always liked the vibe down there.

The people are nice. We’re from Massachusetts and as you know people aren’t the warmest up here so it’s kind of like novelty to go to places like Chapel Hill and people are like “Hi how are you?” and I’m just like “I’m okay?… How are you…? Why are you asking? You don’t even know me.”

DIVE: If anyone does that in New England they’re considered crazy.

JA:I was just thinking that. I was at the post office and all these old ladies walked by and I just wanted to say “Hello! How are you?” but it’s just these old ladies and they just don’t give a shit cause they’re from Massachusetts and no one does that.