All Yours has been a passion project for the band’s four members. They came together over a year ago because of a shared love for music and have been finding their way as a group.
The garage rock band will be releasing their debut album “James & Maggie” on Friday, Oct. 10. They will celebrate the release of this album with a show on the Plaza Stage of Hotel Congress the same day.
The group will also be competing in the DUSK Battle of the Bands on Hotel Congress’s Plaza Stage on Saturday, Oct. 11. This competition will feature local bands, and the winner will receive a chance to perform at the DUSK Music Festival.
All Yours is made up of rhythm guitar player Brandon Arzate, lead guitarist Benjamin Bjorgo, bass player Diego Pineda and drummer Rein Bradshaw.
Bjorgo also plays the harmonica and pedals.
Although they have mainly stuck to the same instruments within their group, they are all multi-instrumentalists.
Brandon grew up in a musical household with singer-songwriter Carlos Arzate. He started playing the guitar in high school.
Along with All Yours, Bjorgo also plays guitar with country artist Priscilla Priddy, and Bradshaw plays guitar and drums with a band called Judi Gloom.
Brandon said “James & Maggie” centers around two fictional characters whose experiences are based on real life.
“I present all of the struggles on the album through the lens of James and Maggie, two characters who were inspired by my own life. They meet and know it can’t get better than each other, but they have the rest of their lives to live. It’s just a timing thing. A lot of the issues are rooted in the crushing weight of not knowing when to let a good thing end or if it should end… It really is a testament to how it’s a lot easier to go through something with another person, to go through any struggle in life with a support system,” Brandon said.
The album is a culmination of their favorite songs they have written during their time together. Brandon said the album gets very vulnerable and personal.
“I like when lyricists get really in depth and in detail about the human mind and psyche, things that everyone thinks but are too afraid to say. This album focuses on a lot on things that are hard to feel and worry about and hard to express… It’s like therapy, my struggles with being human. We’re all young, still figuring out what it means to be human in Tucson, Arizona,” Brandon said.
“I think that’s the human condition, to not know what it is to be human. That’s the human journey to figure it out. I think these songs are a great time capsule and look into the mind of a real, genuine young adult,” Bjorgo added.
Bradshaw said the songs on the album are powerful when listened to together.
“I think the songs hold their own by themselves, but I really recommend that when it comes out that people listen to the album all the way through. If they have time, they can sit down, and they hear a story and live through the story,” Bradshaw said.
Brandon said through this music, the band really tries to share real, raw emotions and experiences.
“I think the whole appeal of the band is it’s not some class act but just humans that have come together to express these really human things in a very human way that is very imperfect,” Brandon said.
Brandon said that while they hope to connect with listeners on a deeper level, they also want to create music to which people can dance.
All yours has been playing shows publicly since august 2024. (Kayla Bright/Submitted)
“Music can be this intimate, personal experience but can also be an escape to have a good time and do some dancing. I want it to be both for people that listen to our music. I hope that’s the case with this album,” Brandon said. “Whenever I’m writing a song, I keep it in the back of my mind, ‘Are people going to be able to move to this?’ At least bop their head or move their feet. This one has a lot of fast, dancing songs. There’s rockin’ songs. There’s also slow dance music…I wanted it to be a whole mix of emotions the same way that this life is and the way that falling in love is.”
The album includes their singles “Vagabonds” and “Sweetangel,” which they previously released as singles.
They recorded the album in Tucson at Saint Cecilia Studios.
On the album, they incorporated unique sounds such as robotic bleeps and bloops.
They also used a rack unit from the ‘80s to bring different sounds, especially with the guitar.
Brandon is the main lyricist for the group, but the band members tend to work on music together.
They are inspired by modern rock groups such as the Backseat Lovers and Peach Pit as well as groups such as Radiohead and the Strokes.
Each band member also has his own unique influences.
Bjorgo is a big fan of the Grateful Dead and also enjoys listening to older jam, Americana and blues bands. He was in his high school’s jazz band for two years.
His brother played drums and got him into jazz music.
“I learned a great amount about playing with other people from playing in that jazz band. Definitely, there’s some vocabulary and some lessons that have stuck with me from that,” Bjorgo said.
Bradshaw started out on the guitar his senior year. All Yours is the first project where he has really focused on the drums.
He is a fan of hardcore music and 2000s groups such as My Chemical Romance. He said that the drumming style from that time period has shaped his personal style.
“That really influenced the theatrical pieces of my playing, how I try to tell a story,” Bradshaw said.
Pineda’s influences include Midwest emo rock and thrash metal.
He was a guitarist before joining All Yours and learned the bass for the group.
“I think in a way me being a guitarist has helped me to play the bass in the way that I play. As much as I like staying in the pocket and playing root notes, I think I experiment with other things and try to make them a little different,” Pineda said.
Pineda started playing the guitar in 8th grade and picked it up on and off throughout the years. His first time performing publicly with a group was with All Yours.
“I think what really got me into music was Kirk Hammett from Metallica. When I saw him play guitar for the first time, I was like, ‘I want to do that.’ I picked up the guitar and just went with it. I learned a bunch of thrash metal and classic rock and grew from there, listening to different types of music. Especially meeting these guys, they have such unique musical tastes, and discovering a bunch of other music is cool,” Pineda said.
All Yours has been playing shows publicly since August 2024.
They have performed at different in different venues in Tucson and Phoenix, including Hotel Congress, the Rialto Theatre, Slow Body Beer, the Valley Bar and the Rebel Lounge.
Brandon and Bjorgo met through Lizzy, with whom Brandon played piano and guitar, and Bjorgo played bass and guitar.
Pineda and Bradshaw already knew each other through work.
The group came together in a very organic way, like many Tucson bands.
“We had this mutual desire to start our own project focused more on rock music. I had met Diego through shows and knew him from around the scene. We had always wanted to play music together. Last summer is when it all came to fruition. The same thing with Rein. We had seen Rein in a couple of shows, and he crushed,” Brandon said.
Brandon said although they are a new group, their shared dedication and passion for the music has kept them going.
“What I can say about this band is the love is there. That’s important when you’re in project like this, when you’re pouring yourself into something this dramatically. The love has to be there, and it’s absolutely there,” Brandon said.
“I think we really got lucky. This is really something special,” Pineda added.
Along with being part of the Tucson music scene, the group also tries to support other local bands.
“We are so proud of the Tucson music scene, the way it’s going, the amount of friends we’ve made and the beautiful music we’ve been able to experience. I’m so in awe. I’m so grateful that this city has such an incredible music scene that I love watching grow,” Brandon said.
To find out more about All Yours, go to instagram.com/allyoursband. ”