Arc Angels is a

Blues rock Blues rock is a fusion music genre that combines elements of blues and rock music. It is mostly an electric ensemble-style music with instrumentation similar to electric blues and rock (electric guitar, electric bass guitar, and drums, sometimes w ...

supergroup Supergroup or super group may refer to: * Supergroup (music), a music group formed by artists who are already notable or respected in their fields * Supergroup (physics), a generalization of groups, used in the study of supersymmetry * Supergroup ...

formed in

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

in the early 1990s. The band came together after the death of

Stevie Ray Vaughan Stephen Ray Vaughan (October 3, 1954 – August 27, 1990) was an American musician, best known as the guitarist and frontman of the blues rock trio Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble. Although his mainstream career spanned only seven years, ...

and was composed of Vaughan’s friends

Doyle Bramhall II Doyle Bramhall II (born December 24, 1968) is an American guitarist, producer and songwriter best known for his work with Eric Clapton and Roger Waters. He is the son of the songwriter and drummer Doyle Bramhall. Early life Bramhall was born ...

and

Charlie Sexton Charles Wayne Sexton (born August 11, 1968) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Sexton is best known for his years as a guitarist in Bob Dylan's band, though also has become well known as a music producer. Sexton co-founded the Ar ...

and two of the band members from Vaughan’s band Double Trouble, drummer

Chris Layton Christopher Layton (born November 16, 1955), also known as "Whipper", is an American drummer who rose to fame as one of the founding members of Double Trouble, a blues rock band led by Stevie Ray Vaughan. Born and raised in Corpus Christi, Te ...

and bassist

Tommy Shannon Tommy Shannon (born Thomas Lafitte Smedley; April 18, 1946) is an American bass guitarist, who is best known as a member of Double Trouble, a blues rock band led by Stevie Ray Vaughan. Born in Tucson, Arizona, Shannon moved to Dumas, Texas whe ...

. (Shannon has not been part of the group since 2010.) The 'Arc' in the band's name came from the Austin Rehearsal Complex where the band first started jamming.

History

Arc Angels Arc Angels is a Blues rock supergroup formed in Austin, Texas in the early 1990s. The band came together after the death of Stevie Ray Vaughan and was composed of Vaughan’s friends Doyle Bramhall II and Charlie Sexton and two of the band memb ...

'' their 1992 debut

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

met with critical approval and reached No.127 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...

. The band made its network television debut on ''

Late Night with David Letterman ''Late Night with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on NBC, the first iteration of the ''Late Night'' franchise. It premiered on February 1, 1982, and was produced by Letterman's production company ...

'' on June 9, 1992 performing "Living In A Dream." Arc Angels played Letterman again on January 6, 1993 with Too Many Ways to Fall." Bramhall's heroin addiction as well as internal friction caused the breakup of the band in 1993. The Arc Angels broke-up in October of that year after concluding with a series of farewell concerts at Austin's Backyard Outdoor Venue. The band reunited for occasional live performances beginning in 2002. In recent years, Bramhall played guitar and toured with

Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is often regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s list of ...

's band as well as

Roger Waters George Roger Waters (born 6 September 1943) is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. In 1965, he co-founded the progressive rock band Pink Floyd. Waters initially served as the bassist, but following the departure of singer-so ...

. Charlie Sexton toured with

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

. Meanwhile, Layton and Shannon have recorded three albums with the Texas soul quintet Storyville. The duo have also backed such artists as:

Buddy Guy George "Buddy" Guy (born July 30, 1936) is an American blues guitarist and singer. He is an exponent of Chicago blues who has influenced generations of guitarists including Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, Stevie Ray V ...

Kenny Wayne Shepherd Kenny Wayne Shepherd (born Kenny Wayne Brobst; June 12, 1977) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He has released several studio albums and experienced significant commercial success as a blues artist. Life and career Shepherd wa ...

and

John Mayer John Clayton Mayer ( ; born October 16, 1977) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Born and raised in Fairfield County, Connecticut, Mayer attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, but left and moved to Atlanta in 1997 with ...

. The members of Arc Angels (minus Shannon) announced that they would be reuniting in March 2009, releasing a live album and DVD of a concert from 2005 touring extensively and beginning work on their second album. The album/DVD "Living in a Dream" was released in 2009,. It contained live renditions of previously released Arc Angels songs, new songs performed live, and three new studio tracks. The launch of the Angels tour took place at Austin's annual

South by Southwest South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in m ...

Festival. Although the band never officially broke up again, members pursued solo projects and no talks about future Arc Angels releases or concerts have taken place to date. While on stage in 2014 Bramhall referred to the Arc Angels as "this band I was in" further confirming their demise. As of 2022, the band is performing once again with shows throughout the year.

Members

Current Members

- guitar, vocals (1990-1993, 2005-2010, 2022-Present) *

- drums (1990-1993, 2005-2010, 2022-Present)

Former Members

- bass (1990-1993, 2005-2009)

Touring Members

*Dave Monsey aka "Mark Newmark" - bass (2009-2010) Dave reportedly used an alias during the tour to avoid a contract violation *Eric Holden - bass (2022-Present)

Discography

*''

'' (

Geffen Records Geffen Records is an American record label established by David Geffen and owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M Records imprint. Founded in 1980, Geffen Records has been a part of Interscope Geffen A&M since 1999 and h ...

, 1992) US No. 127 *'' Living in a Dream'' CD/DVD (2009)

References

External links

*
ARC Angels MySpace Site

Arcangels.nl
{{Authority control American blues rock musical groups Blues music supergroups Rock music supergroups Rock music groups from Texas Musical groups from Austin, Texas 1990 establishments in Texas