After being part of the Chicago Blogapalooza, I was really really excited to hear the new record from Matt Arbogast’s alter-ego The Gunshy. It is titled There’s No Love In This War and although it isn’t officially released for another six weeks (on Latest Flame Records), we’ve been playing it a ton ‘round these parts. It is something of a concept album which (according to Matt) is based on the following true story.
From 1943 until 1945, Paul Arbogast spent his days preparing for, fighting, recovering from, and again fighting a war. The songs that comprise The Gunshy’s There’s No Love In This War are based on the 17 letters Paul wrote to the girl he met at the Ukranian Club at home in Allentown, Pennsylvania, the year before he left.
Paul and Julia were married six months after he returned and in 1947 she gave birth to their first child, my father Mark. Paul passed away at the age of 39 of a heart attack, attested mainly to the shrapnel still in his chest from wounds received at Anzio in 1944.
Though she never spoke in detail of Paul, to this day there has not been another man in Julia’s life. These songs are his, though they may not do him justice. I’ve never fought in a war and hope to always be able to say that. – Matt Arbogast
There’s No Love In This War is an elaborate album that features myriads of instruments like violins, banjos, mandolins, guitars, brass, organs, and more. IT also features Matt’s unmistakable gravelly Tom Waits-esqe vocals. It is a superb album with a sentiment that is as true today as it was back during WWII: There’s no love in this war.
MP3 | The Gunshy – May 14, 1943 There’s No Love In This War
MP3 | The Gunshy – March 7, 1945 There’s No Love In This War
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I was really wanting to like this but I just can’t get past those vocals. Sorry, never been a Tom Wait fan.