A Call to Arms is the first CD released by the musical ensemble Bandits of the Acoustic Revolution, and is an EP containing 5 tracks. It was independently released in December 2001 by The RISC Group, to a small, but critically acclaimed reception. The Bandits are unclassifiable genre-wise, one of their main appeals, as they incorporate many different influences into their music. The CD itself is notable for not coming in the standard CD case: instead it comes in handmade packaging made of corrugated cardboard, duct and masking tape, and some velcro to hold it closed. It was due to this handmade nature, which was very time consuming, that the CD is a very limited edition, with only a few hundred copies in existence (the band members who put the packaging together have Assembly next to them in the personnel section). At one point, the band promised that they would offer bonus material of some sort to the few fans that were able to purchase an original CD in the handmade package. To date, these promises have not been realized. Also, it is highly likely that the CD was named after the Ernest Hemingway novel A Farewell to Arms, as he is one of Tomas Kalnoky's literary heroes, as mentioned in the songwriting notes for "Here's to Life".

In October 2005 the CD was reissued with a digipak case and different artwork. It is now available from the online RISC Store.

Along with the reissued digipack of A Call to Arms, The Bandits of the Acoustic Revolution (BOTAR) support file-sharing and music downloading, by offering the full songs in mp3 format on their site for no charge. This option is no longer available.

Track listing

1. "Intro: This Is a Call to Arms" – 1:22
2. "Here's to Life" – 5:18
• Kalnoky originally wrote this while still in Catch 22, who performed the song live but never recorded it.
• This song was later covered by a related project, Streetlight Manifesto, on their first album, Everything Goes Numb.
3. "Dear Sergio:" – 3:04
• This is a reworking of a song Kalnoky originally wrote for the band Catch 22. It includes an additional verse that was not in Catch 22's original song.
4. "It's a Wonderful Life" – 4:56
5. "They Provide The Paint For The Picture-Perfect Masterpiece That You Will Paint On The Insides Of Your Eyelids" – 3:39

Personnel

• Nick Afflitto - Trumpet
• Josh Ansley - Gang Vocals
• Marcy Ciuffreda - Cello
• Greg Davidson - Gang Vocals
• Jeff Davidson - Gang Vocals
• Jamie Egan - Trombone
• Rachel Goldstein - Viola, Vocals
• Layton Hayes - Piano
• John Paul Jones - Trumpet
• Achilles Kalnoky - Assembly, Violin
• Tomas Kalnoky - Art, Assembly, Guitar, Lyrics, Music, Recording, Vocals
• Paul Lowndes - Drums
• Rebecca Mozo - Gang Vocals
• John Noll - Mastering
• Dave Paiva - Gang Vocals
• Chris Paszik - Double bass
• Mark Rendeiro - French horn
• Dan Ross - Alto Saxophone, Baritone Saxophone
• Pete Sibilia - Tenor Saxophone
• Mike Struening - Gang Vocals
• Shane Thomson - Congas, Timbales
• Natalia Ushak - Assembly, Vocals

External links

• Bandits of the Acoustic Revolution official site
• The RISC Group official site
• The RISC Store