Arena news

[keyboardistmatt]

Album = 
John = 
Get Ian back? = 

[Teunis]

Get Ian back? = 

Nope: latest news copied/pasted from the Arena website: “Arena are happy to welcome bassist Kylan Amos into the fold. Kylan appeared with the band at Leamington recently and gelled very well with the guys. He will play on the new album and you will see him in action on the next tour!”

Never heard of him, we'll let us surprise . Welcome to the club Kylan and good luck!

[erik]

He's the bassist for Clive's Alchemy, so he has been tried and tested

From the Alchemy website:

Kylan Amos has been a professional bassist for over twenty years now. Over that time he has played with numerous acts and artists like Strangeworld, Black Belt Jones, The Lizard Kings as well as various different tribute acts and stage shows. He has performed around the UK and Europe and featured on a number of albums over the years. Kylan has joined Caamora Company in 2011 and debuted in an eight-man concert version of 'She' in Holland in September that year. In 2012 he was the principal bassist for the Cheltenham 'She' shows and continues to be so in 'Alchemy'.

[Draco chimera]

A warm welcome to Kylan Amos, can't wait to hear him deliver some good sounds on The Unquiet Sky!!

[PH]

Never heard of the guy. But then again, I never heard of Paul Manzi prior to him joining the band and that turned out fantastic.
Looking forward to the next album!

[Teunis]

Indeed, Arena never disappointed us. Maybe a bit in 'The Shattered Room' participation .

By the way, a cool new band photo on the Arena website! It's now my wallpaper .

[Teunis]

This is what Clive Nolan (touring with Pendragon) wrote on Facebook. Might interest you :

Have sat in the tour bus lounge now for maybe 4 nights - from about 3.30am to 5.30am - writing lyrics for the arena album. The combination of a nasty cold, inability to sleep and a moving bus have turned out some pretty dark stuff - business as usual I guess!
'The Unquiet Sky' is proving to be very ...... Unquiet!

[maddox]

This is what Clive Nolan (touring with Pendragon) wrote on Facebook. Might interest you :

Have sat in the tour bus lounge now for maybe 4 nights - from about 3.30am to 5.30am - writing lyrics for the arena album. The combination of a nasty cold, inability to sleep and a moving bus have turned out some pretty dark stuff - business as usual I guess!
'The Unquiet Sky' is proving to be very ...... Unquiet!

I think my neighbors will disapprove.

[Teunis]

Quote Clive Nolan on Facebook:
So.. we have almost finalised the Arena set list for our 20th anniversary tour next year. It has been very hard to represent all the albums in the format of one gig, but we have done our best. I have asked before, but i will ask again, just in case we have missed an obvious favourite.... any requests?..

[Teunis]

Video (2:21 min.) with Mick Pointer:  Friday 9th Jan 2015 : News From The Studio on the website:

http://www.arenaband.co.uk/

[The Butterfly Man]

There's an interview with Clive posted on www.clivenolan.net. It's all about The Unquiet Sky!

A few months ago the title of the new album was announced. What is the genesis of "The Unquiet Sky"?
Clive: It was a combination of ideas - I had decided to base the album on a short horror story by M.R. James called 'Casting the Runes' - some people may have seen the old 1957 film version called 'Night of the Demon'. We were looking for an album title and John suggested 'The Unquiet Sky' even though he was unaware of my concept idea - as far as I was concerned, it fitted the mood I had in mind for the album - job done!

Is the 8th studio album a concept and what is the story behind it?
Clive: It is indeed a concept - as I said above. I must admit that part of the influence is also the old film version - a great atmosphere. It's the film that inspired me to write the opening orchestral section.

How is the work on the album going and have you got a lot of material so far?
Clive: Work is going well… the album is essentially written, and recently we completed the drum recording. The keyboards are pretty much finalised as well. Time to work on the guitars!

The band has parted ways with John Jowitt. Why such a decision and how was Kylan Amos chosen?
Clive: As you know the plan for this year is to do quite a big Arena tour - that combined with the rehearsal and recording commitments meant that John Jowitt would struggle to find the time. I have worked with Kylan before with the musicals and he is a great bassist. It seemed like the obvious choice. We have already rehearsed and performed with him and there's some good chemistry.

With the altered line-up, how does the writing process go? Is every member of the band contributing to the new material?
Clive: This is the first album where everyone has offered up some ideas - that was an interesting process. I guess the real challenge was making sense of all the bits, and making a cohesive collection of songs… particularly since this is a concept album.

Will the new album be maintained in the 'old Arena vein'? Or have you changed the style, mood and sound?
Clive: I guess it is part of the constant evolution of the band, but because this is our 20th anniversary I think there may be some extra classic Arena references.

2015 will be the year of anniversaries - you have announced The Fire and the Questcelebrating 10 years of your musicals, but Arena's 20th anniversary is a big date! How do you plan to celebrate it?
Clive: Basically with a new album and a big tour!

Can we expect any special guests during the anniversary tour? Past members of the band maybe?
Clive: There are no plans for any special guests, but I think the tour will be well worth checking out. There will be themes from the new album as well as some nice retrospective moments from our last 20 years.

You are known for your Steampunk image in 'Alchemy' and most recently in Pendragon too. Are you planning a costume for the next Arena tour? And what will it be?
Clive: I guess I will need something - but I really don't know what as yet - watch this space.

How do you see the future of Arena after "The Unquiet Sky"?
Clive: It’s impossible to say what will come next, but my advice is come and see us on tour… this will be a special one!

Nice interview. I'm looking forward to hear this album! The only downside for me is that I won't make it to see them live this tour. The first tour I'm going to miss since the Immortal?-tour back in 2000.

Tom

[Teunis]

There's an interview with Clive posted on www.clivenolan.net. It's all about The Unquiet Sky!

Nice interview. I'm looking forward to hear this album!

Yep, bring it on . Release date: 19th March 2015. Twelve days later I'll see them live. Three, maybe four tracks from the new album will be played live, Mick told in the video interview.

[Teunis]

Two short snippets on the website: recording the bass.

These two tracks don't seem to be heavy .

[Teunis]

Copied what mr. Clive Nolan wrote on Facebook:

"The Arena ‘Unquiet Sky Tour' is approaching fast and one of the highlights of these concerts will be the DVD show at the Rialto in Katowice on 9th April. We are promoting the new album as well as celebrating 20 years of Arena… it’s going to be quite a set list representing all our albums along the way, and maybe a few surprises.. . Don’t miss this chance to be a part of this little bit of history!"

Looking forward to the new album and the gig

[Teunis]

A tweet from Arena (@ArenaVerglas) today: "Arena in the rehersal room going through a set of musical delights! coming along quite nicely!"

[Teunis]

First full track 'The Demon Strikes' from the new album: http://www.arenaband.co.uk/.

Exciting times

[PH]

Yeah! And with the previous album I was wondering where all the solos went. Well they're here. Just listened to it once and liked what I heard. Really excited indeed!

[Teunis]

Copied from http://www.clivenolan.net/:

Arena 'The Unquiet Sky": New Album and Tour
In just a few days Arena is setting off for their 20th anniversary European tour. The band will celebrate their 20th birthday by launching and promoting their new album, "The Unquiet Sky". The date of the official release has been confirmed for April 28th. However, the CDs, alongside numerous interesting anniversary merchandise, will be available for purchase at the venues from the first day of the tour.

Arena is currently rehearsing the songs chosen for the tour. The set list will feature compositions representing the whole history of the band.

Clive: “We have been rehearsing down in Devon, in the middle of nowhere. That certainly helps us to focus! This is a big set list and there has been a great deal to work through. It was great to finally be able to play through the whole of 'Moviedrome'... that was quite a challenge. Meantime, it's been fun to revisit some of the old favourites. There is a sense of studious determination in the band as we all realise just how much we need to do in the next few days. I hope we see plenty of people at the shows... this will be an Arena highlight, and I doubt we will do a tour like this again.”

[bellanova]

Well what can I say. Arena were brilliant. I saw them in London and Leamington Spa. I think that makes about 12 times I have seen them now. The set list was perfect although they played nothing from Songs From The Lions Cage and only 1 from Pride. Moviedrome more than made up for it though. All the band were fab. I like Kylan. JM was note perfect as always despite having a broken finger and Paul is proving an excellent front man even though he forgot the words for the 1st verse of The Butterfly man in London. Clive and Mick were great too. They played 3 off of the new album. I had a brilliant time.
A special thanks to Paul Manzi. We were trying to save one another during The Butterfly Man  at Leamington. lol! 

[Teunis]

Seems you had a great time. Looking forward (even more) to next week's gig .

[PH]

Sounds great Bella.
Wow, they played Moviedrome? That seems like a hard one to play. Did they get it right?
Too bad about Songs From The Lions Cage. I always liked Valley Of The Kings a lot. With that keyboard solo. And of course Solomon. But I guess one epic was enough.

And the new songs? Can't wait to hear the new album! Should be here soon now.

[Iggy]

Well what can I say. Arena were brilliant. I saw them in London and Leamington Spa. I think that makes about 12 times I have seen them now. The set list was perfect although they played nothing from Songs From The Lions Cage and only 1 from Pride. Moviedrome more than made up for it though. All the band were fab. I like Kylan. JM was note perfect as always despite having a broken finger and Paul is proving an excellent front man even though he forgot the words for the 1st verse of The Butterfly man in London. Clive and Mick were great too. They played 3 off of the new album. I had a brilliant time.
A special thanks to Paul Manzi. We were trying to save one another during The Butterfly Man  at Leamington. lol! 

I was there as well and Bella summed it up perfectly. Given that I came to Arena late I do feel that Paul Manzi is probably the best singer the band has had.

[bellanova]

They did Moviedrome very well. It all came together perfectly. It's probably my favourite song. I now have the new album and it's an epic.
Oh yeah, I forgot. In London they played The Show Must Go On (Queen) but they didn't do it in Leamington so I'm not sure if it was just a one off. You guys in Europe, let us know and everyone enjoy it. It was well worth the wait.

[erik]

Saw Arena @ Hedon, Zwolle yesterday, great show!! Unquiet Sky couldn't be more apt, it's been unquiet and stormy ever since Arena brought their new album across the pond to the continent!!
But we managed to reach the venue and were in for a treat. Great to see them live again after too long a time!! Moviedrome was a particular highlight, executed to perfection and Hanging Tree as well. I missed Songs and Pride in the anniversary set (Cry VII doesn't really count) but there was a healthy dose of Visitor tracks (5 no less), Unquiet Sky (4), Immortal (2+++), Contagion (3) and then some  Seventh Degree (2) and Pepper's Ghost (1; Smoke and Mirrors has been dropped for Traveller Beware).

1. The Demon Strikes
2. Rapture
3. Double Vision
4. A Crack in the Ice
5. Moviedrome
6. How Did it Come to This?
7. The Butterfly Man
8. Salamander
9. Bedlam Fayre
10. Serenity
11. The Unquiet Sky
12. Traveller Beware
13. The City of Lanterns
14. Riding the Tide
15. The Hanging Tree
16. The Tinder Box
Encore:
17. Don't Forget To Breathe
18. Crying for Help VII

Demon Strikes is gelling well and the other new songs sound pretty good too on first hearing, subject to further scrutiny now that I have the album Kylan proved to be a great asset for the band and was very lively on stage.

Had ample time to study the booklet in the train back but haven’t deciphered the runes nor those number sequences bottom credits page yet... I did spot the subtle visitor velocipede in the background on the Unexpected Dawn page, nice one!

Looking forward to the Boerderij gig and hope they will play The Show Must Go On there!!

Edit: how could I forget Clive's 'anniversary anecdotes', he told about how Arena started with him and Mick meeting in a pub, Mick said he wanted to make music but most definitely did not want to start a band.. After introducing the band Clive also mentioned that line up changes is what they probably do best, even slightly above making music

[Teunis]

Well, what can I add to what Erik wrote? It was a great show indeed. The sound at this venue (Hedon, Zwolle) is crystal clear. Noticed it at an earlier gig (Kayak) too. All the separate instruments could be heard clearly and Paul's voice as well.

Room enough for John Mitchell to shine yesterday and really like Paul's voice. Great performer and it seems all very easy for him.

Personal highlights for me were 'Moviedrome', 'The Butterfly' (the track that introduced me to Arena) and the title track from the new album. Great Mitchell solo! Also a special mention for 'Serenity' (Nolan/Mitchell) .

If your Arena gig is in the near future: have fun and prepare for goosebumps .