Arkarna

For bands of a similar name, see Arcana (Swedish band) and Arcana (American band).
Arkarna
Origin London, England
Genres Electronica, electronic rock, big beat, alternative dance, house
Years active 1994-2001,[1] 2011-present
Associated acts Leftfield, The Prodigy, Pendulum, Thirty Seconds to Mars
Members Ollie Jacobs
Matt Hart
Tim Owen
David Landers
Past members James Barnett
Lalo Creme
Sebastian Beresford

Arkarna are an English electronic rock band, comprising vocalist and programmer Ollie Jacobs, guitarist Matt Hart, drummer Tim Owen and bass player/keyboardist David Landers. Past members included James Barnett, guitarist Lalo Creme (son of former 10cc and Godley and Creme member Lol Creme) and drummer Sebastian Beresford.

History

Formed by Ollie Jacobs in England in the mid-1990s, and debuting in 1997 with the album Fresh Meat, Arkarna were seen to be attempting to duplicate the transatlantic success of peers like The Prodigy and the Chemical Brothers. Jacobs (programmer and vocalist) had worked as an engineer and producer in his father's London studios, Rollover, from the age of 14. By the time he started the group, Jacobs had mixed for Dreadzone, Leftfield and Deep Forest.

Acoustic guitarist and backing vocalist James Barnett, formerly a member of Lunarci, recorded for Big Life Records and regularly appeared on the Megadog club scene. Lalo Creme, son of Lol Creme of Godley and Creme & 10cc fame joined after playing guitar for a series of Trevor Horn sessions, Creme was directed to Rollover Studios where Jacobs and Barnett were in the process of crystallizing their musical ideas.

The trio were signed to WEA Records by Clive Black and Raz Gold in June 1995, but had to wait over a year and a half before the release of their debut single "House on Fire" and the album, Fresh Meat. During this period they took the first steps in performing live, hiring drummer Sebastian Beresford before enrolled him as the fourth member before their 1997 tour of Australia.

As a four piece with extra live keyboards provided by Will Hensal, they went on to tour across the world until after the release of their second album, The Family Album (2001). They decided to go their separate ways once WEA declined on the band's third album option.

New material started to appear in 2011 for their forthcoming third album, the first single from which is entitled "Left Is Best". The promo video for "Left Is Best" appeared on YouTube in December 2011.

Music

Some of Arkarna's more popular songs are "House on Fire" and "Eat Me", both of which appeared on Arkarna's debut album Fresh Meat. "House on Fire" is also well known as it appeared on the Batman & Robin soundtrack. Another song from Fresh Meat, "So Little Time", was to feature as the theme song for the similarly titled television series So Little Time. Arkarna's The Family Album produced the singles "Skin" "Rehab" and "Life is Free".

Ollie Jacobs

Jacobs started out doing remixes for Frankie Goes To Hollywood ("Relax") he went on to mix the platinum selling album, Leftism for Leftfield. He soon started writing his own songs, and became the frontman of Arkarna. During which time Waycobs continued to write and was soon involved with East 17 and Take That plus he made a brief appearance on Top of the Pops with Rozalla.

Waycobs has also collaborated with Trevor Horn, Art of Noise, Barry Manilow, The Prodigy, Skunk Anansie, Madonna and William Orbit. More recently Jacobs has mixed the track "Pop Your Cork" for the Stanton Warriors feat. Twista and has collaborated with Dave Hedger under the name West London Deep.

Discography

Albums

Singles

Remixes

References

  1. ↑ Bogdanov, Vladimir (2001). All Music Guide to Electronica: The Definitive Guide to Electronic Music (4th ed.). Backbeat Books. p. 21. ISBN 978-0879306281.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 29. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.

External links