\n\t\u201cI feel like there\u2019s a nostalgic element to the sound,\u201d Mateyunas continues. \u201cThey can see that we\u2019re starting from nothing. We\u2019re growing. We\u2019ve never been musicians before. We\u2019re all learning together.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tArcy Drive is Mateyunas, drummer Brooke Tuozzo, guitarist Austin Jones, and bassist Patrick Helrigel. The four met in school in Northport, a village on Long Island\u2019s North Shore, an hour east of New York City. Growing up, most of the band was more into sports than music, but shortly before the pandemic, they decided to get together and play some covers.<\/p>\n
\n\tAt the time, only Tuozzo had a musical background. She had played drums in elementary school, but it was enough of a headstart that the first year of Arcy Drive was spent with the other members largely playing catchup. There was one constant, however: Mateyunas had grown up a fan of Neil Young and Nirvana, and he was driven to be a songwriter.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThe first day we were all together, we really just wanted to play at our local dive bar,\u201d Tuozzo says. \u201cCovers and all that. Then, like a week later, Nick came over and showed me an original song, and I was like, \u2018This is what we should be doing.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThe group is social media savvy, and in 2021 and 2022, that was a veritable cheat code for musicians. A few original songs \u2014\u00a0especially \u201cRoll My Stone\u201d and the bluesy \u201cSuperbloomer\u201d \u2014\u00a0went viral, but it was the band turning a decommissioned school bus<\/a> into a tour bus over a series of videos that endeared them to the online crowd.<\/p>\n \t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n \n\tThe band caught enough attention to land festival slots at Lollapalooza and Bonnaroo in 2023, and their song \u201cLouie\u201d helped to showcase Arcy Drive\u2019s potential as bona fide superstars. The track plays out over unconventional percussion and guitars that call back to 1990s post-grunge, with Mateyunas as the centerpiece. There\u2019s just enough inflection in his raspy vocals to draw a Bob Dylan comparison, yet it\u2019s a sound that\u2019s fresh and unique to Arcy Drive.<\/p>\n \n\tIt\u2019s also a song that Mateyunas wrote for a family member. Lyrics such as \u201cAmaretto and Irish cream. Cheers to you, and a cheers to me,\u201d were intended as a snapshot of his grandfather. \u201cLouie\u201d caught on quickly, and the crowd response to the tune<\/a> at the 2026 Bonnaroo became one of the festival\u2019s defining moments.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI actually called my grandpa yesterday,\u201d Mateyunas says. \u201cHe calls everybody \u2018Louie,\u2019 because he forgets everybody\u2019s name. I was like, \u2018Our song\u2019s doing really well! Everyone seems to really like it!\u2019 and he goes, \u2018Yeah, Louie!\u2019 It\u2019s just funny to see this song about my grandpa be the one everyone likes. It\u2019s hilarious, and he loves it.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cLouie\u201d became the signature song on 2025\u2019s The Pit, an album that allowed Arcy Drive to tour on new music for the first time. \u201cIt amplified our live shows. They went from rowdy to real rowdy,\u201d Jones recalls of The Pit\u2019s release. Suddenly, fans knew the words to a dozen of the band\u2019s songs and \u201cRoll My Stone\u201d no longer needed to anchor each set. But perhaps the most important contribution of The Pit to Arcy Drive was that it took the pressure off the band to win over each fan in concert. When they\u2019re onstage now, playing songs like their debut for Atlantic, \u201cOne\u2019n a Million,\u201d<\/a> they just go with the flow.<\/p>\n \t\tRelated Content<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tArcy Drive. Photo: Tate Stussy*<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cSomething has to go slightly wrong, or slightly off, that comes across as human,\u201d Mateyunas says. \u201cWhen you\u2019re playing a set and something happens \u2014\u00a0even if it\u2019s just like, a string breaks \u2014 and it throws off your equilibrium, that\u2019s when the good stuff comes out.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tIn May, Arcy Drive wrapped up The Pit Tour after playing a string of mostly sold-out rock rooms and theaters such as New York\u2019s Webster Hall and the Troubadour in West Hollywood. The group\u2019s summer plans include a high-profile July 4 performance at Rolling Stone\u2019s Stateside<\/a> Festival in New York\u2019s Hudson Valley as well as opening slots for Mt. Joy in August at Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre and Fiddler\u2019s Green Amphitheatre \u2014 both in the outskirts of Denver. A European tour awaits in September that includes stops in Glasgow, London, Hamburg, and Antwerp.<\/p>\n \n\tAs impressive of a slate as that may be, the built-in competitiveness has Arcy Drive viewing it as a stepping-stone. The band has yet to peak, and based on their own ambitions, that\u2019s still a long way off.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cOur own Red Rocks show, and our own stadium show,\u201d Mateyunas deadpans, only slightly wistfully. \u201cWe\u2019re gonna take over. We\u2019ve got good music.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tTuozzo reminds him there\u2019s more music on the way. The band has spent the better part of the past year working on the follow-up to The Pit, and Tuozzo is confident there\u2019s a \u201cnext level\u201d for Arcy Drive that their next record will usher in.<\/p>\n \t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cAlso, it\u2019ll just release a fucking feeling,\u201d Mateyunas says. \u201cThe songs are very much an extension of myself, and I can\u2019t wait to get rid of it. It\u2019s all still so real and still so hot to the touch, and I feel like I need to get rid of it to move on in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tJosh Crutchmer is a journalist and author whose upcoming book, Sonoran Sounds<\/a>, is set for release in March 2027 via Back Lounge Publishing.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/themes\/vip\/pmc-rollingstone-2022\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\")
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