Localized: Wicked Temple

As you flip your calendar to October, are you filled with a lurking desire to do… the mash? The monster mash? There’s no better place to get your fix than SLUG Localized at Kilby Court on October 22. Post-hardcore band Warm Veins will treat you, and heavy metal bands Vicious Souls and Wicked Temple will trick you. See you there — if you dare!

Brandon Arthur (lead guitar) has been making music for the past 30 years, and in the last eight years he has found sanctuary in his band Wicked Temple. Alongside Brandon are CK Arthur (co-founder, lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist), Brad Schatz (who is killing it on bass) and the band’s “final piece,” as CK put it, Jackson Barlow on drums. The addition of Barlow was a blessing for them all, as Barlow “changed the whole dynamic of how the sound sounds. It took us to the next level,” CK says.

After being thought up in the hotel room where CK and his wife were living at the time, Wicked Temple has spent the last eight years defining who they are as a band, as well as individually. It feels rare that sending an email to someone you found on a musician-finder website would lead to something as substantial as this, but that is exactly how Schatz found the Arthur brothers all those years ago.

“There’s not one of us who hasn’t sacrificed and lost to be here, but it feels good to be here.”

Every one of these four men has had moments of such intense mental exhaustion that they questioned the worth of continuing to pursue this band, but each one of them has consistently shown up. They kept deciding that whatever they were doing with this music was worth it, and that endurance is what turned Wicked Temple into something considerably worthwhile. Whatever it is that you are sacrificing for will recognize this deviation and return the favor in unimaginable ways.

These men all have families, day jobs and external responsibilities that take away from their ability to freely create music in every waking moment, though there are times when these lives and families are what are allowing and pushing them to pursue their music. CK credits his wife with igniting the idea that was Wicked Temple, since she brings passion into reality. Barlow acknowledges that the flexibility of his tattoo career allows him to play music on his own schedule. The hardships that both Arthur brothers have overcome, specifically their experiences in the Marine Corps, have influenced almost an entire album. Without music, Schatz wouldn’t even be alive right now, so we have music to thank for keeping him around, and we have him to thank for creating kickass music. All four of them attribute their fathers to introducing them to music, specifically the genres which now inspire their own music.

“If it’s not dangerous, it’s not rock and roll.”

I asked each one of the members to tell me a story, good or bad, from performing, and all Barlow had to say was this: “There has never been a necessarily bad show, because it’s always been fun.” Each of them agreed with this statement. Playing shows for empty rooms, playing fresh out of jail, playing a set learned in less than a week, no matter the circumstance, they were still playing, and that’s all that ever mattered.

“There’s not one of us who hasn’t sacrificed and lost to be here, but it feels good to be here,” CK says. There is a give and take in rock and roll, and these men have felt both sides. “If you don’t give it its due, you ain’t gonna get shit in return,” CK says. More often than not, it is terrifying to commit your life, time and energy to something when you have no perception of the outcome, but as CK says, “If it’s not dangerous, it’s not rock and roll.”

Read more from rocking bands around SLC: 
Localized: Flamingo
Localized: Icky Rogers

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