Arena are an English
neo-progressive rock
Neo-progressive rock (also known as neo-prog) is a genre, subgenre of progressive rock which developed in the UK in the early 1980s. The genre's most popular band, Marillion, achieved mainstream success in the decade. Several bands from the genre ...
band founded in 1995. Their style ranges from
symphonic
A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning com ...
to
hard rock
Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...
.
History
Arena was founded in 1995 by
Clive Nolan
Clive Nolan (born 30 June 1961) is a British musician, composer and producer who has played a prominent role in the development of progressive rock. He has been the regular keyboard player in Pendragon (1986–present), Shadowland (1992–prese ...
keyboardist of
Pendragon
Pendragon or ( wlm, pen dreic, ''pen dragon''; composed of Welsh , 'head, chief, top' and / ''dragon'', 'dragon; warrior'; borrowed from the Latin word , plural , 'dragon , br, Penn Aerouant) literally means 'chief dragon' or 'head dragon', but ...
and
Shadowland, and
Mick Pointer
Michael Pointer (born 22 July 1956) is an English drummer. He is known for his work in the neo-progressive rock bands Marillion and Arena. Away from music, he has also worked as a kitchen designer.
Career
Pointer was the original drummer and a ...
, the original drummer of
Marillion
Marillion are a British rock music, rock band, formed in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, in 1979. They emerged from the post-punk music scene in Britain and existed as a bridge between the styles of punk rock and classic progressive rock, becomin ...
, his tenure lasting from 1979 until 1983. The other founding members of the band were guitarist Keith More, vocalist John Carson, and bassist Cliff Orsi. Orsi was replaced by
John Jowitt
John Jowitt is a British bass guitarist known for his work with several British neo-progressive rock bands, such as Ark, IQ, Arena, Jadis and Frost*, as well as substituting for Trevor Bolder in Uriah Heep in 2013. He has been awarded the Briti ...
(of
IQ) in the band's inaugural year, whilst Carson and More left the band in 1996 and 1997, and were replaced by Paul Wrightson and
John Mitchell (of
Frost*
Frost* are an English neo-progressive rock supergroup, formed in 2004 by Jem Godfrey and members of Arena, Kino, and IQ. Frost* released their first studio album, '' Milliontown'', in 2006, before splitting up. In 2008, Godfrey reformed Fro ...
) respectively.
Both Jowitt and Wrightson left the band in 1998, to be replaced by Ian Salmon and Rob Sowden, creating the band's most stable lineup to date (from 1998 until 2010). This lineup came to an end with Paul Manzi replacing Sowden in 2010. In 2011, Jowitt rejoined the band to replace the departing Salmon, leaving again in 2014 and being replaced by Kylan Amos. In July 2020, Manzi was replaced by
Damian Wilson
Damian Wilson (born 11 October 1969) is an English singer-songwriter and musician. Wilson works in the progressive metal genre and was the lead singer of Headspace and Threshold. He sang and toured with bands and projects for Star One, Ayre ...
.
Most of the band's lyrics are written by Nolan, though Pointer contributed lyrics to Sirens and other tracks on the first two albums.
Musically the band's style ranges from symphonic to hard rock. While in the beginning the Band sound like the "old" Marillion from the Fish era, some of the band's recent albums have a similar sound to Nolan's earlier band, Shadowland.
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
called them one of the dominant
neo-prog groups of the 1990s.
Personnel
Members
;Current members
*
Clive Nolan
Clive Nolan (born 30 June 1961) is a British musician, composer and producer who has played a prominent role in the development of progressive rock. He has been the regular keyboard player in Pendragon (1986–present), Shadowland (1992–prese ...
– keyboards, backing vocals
(1995–present)
*
Mick Pointer
Michael Pointer (born 22 July 1956) is an English drummer. He is known for his work in the neo-progressive rock bands Marillion and Arena. Away from music, he has also worked as a kitchen designer.
Career
Pointer was the original drummer and a ...
– drums
(1995–present)
*
John Mitchell – guitars, backing vocals
(1997–present)
* Kylan Amos – bass
(2014–present)
*
Damian Wilson
Damian Wilson (born 11 October 1969) is an English singer-songwriter and musician. Wilson works in the progressive metal genre and was the lead singer of Headspace and Threshold. He sang and toured with bands and projects for Star One, Ayre ...
– lead vocals
(2020–present)
;Former members
* Keith More – guitars, backing vocals
(1995–1997)
* John Carson – lead vocals
(1995–1996)
* Cliff Orsi – bass
(1995)
*
John Jowitt
John Jowitt is a British bass guitarist known for his work with several British neo-progressive rock bands, such as Ark, IQ, Arena, Jadis and Frost*, as well as substituting for Trevor Bolder in Uriah Heep in 2013. He has been awarded the Briti ...
– bass, backing vocals
(1995–1998, 2011–2014)
* Paul Wrightson – lead vocals
(1996–1998)
* Ian Salmon – bass
(1998–2011)
* Rob Sowden – lead vocals
(1998–2010)
* Paul Manzi – lead vocals
(2010–2020)
Lineups
Timeline
ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20
PlotArea = left:100 bottom:60 top:5 right:10
Alignbars = justify
DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy
Period = from:01/01/1995 till:01/01/2023
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy
Legend = orientation:horizontal position:bottom
ScaleMajor = increment:2 start:1995
ScaleMinor = increment:1 start:1995
Colors =
id:Vocals value:red legend:Vocals
id:Bvocals value:pink legend:Backing_vocals
id:Guitars value:green legend:Guitars
id:Keyboards value:purple legend:Keyboards
id:Bass value:blue legend:Bass
id:Drums value:orange legend:Drums
id:Album value:black legend:Studio_album
id:bars value:gray(0.95)
BackgroundColors = bars:bars
LineData =
at:25/07/1995 color:black layer:back
at:24/09/1996 color:black layer:back
at:22/04/1998 color:black layer:back
at:22/04/2000 color:black layer:back
at:27/01/2003 color:black layer:back
at:17/01/2005 color:black layer:back
at:01/07/2011 color:black layer:back
at:05/05/2015 color:black layer:back
at:25/05/2018 color:black layer:back
at:21/10/2022 color:black layer:back
BarData =
bar:Carson text:"John Carson"
bar:Wrightson text:"Paul Wrightson"
bar:Sowden text:"Rob Sowden"
bar:Manzi text:"Paul Manzi"
bar:Wilson text:"Damian Wilson"
bar:More text:"Keith More"
bar:Mitchell text:"John Mitchell"
bar:Nolan text:"Clive Nolan"
bar:Orsi text:"Cliff Orsi"
bar:Jowitt text:"John Jowitt"
bar:Salmon text:"Ian Salmon"
bar:Amos text:"Kylan Amos"
bar:Pointer text:"Mick Pointer"
PlotData=
width:11 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(11,-6)
bar:Carson from:start till:01/04/1996 color:Vocals
bar:Wrightson from:01/04/1996 till:01/07/1998 color:Vocals
bar:Sowden from:01/07/1998 till:01/07/2010 color:Vocals
bar:Manzi from:01/07/2010 till:14/07/2020 color:Vocals
bar:Wilson from:14/07/2020 till:end color:Vocals
bar:More from:start till:01/07/1997 color:Guitars
bar:More from:start till:01/07/1997 color:Bvocals width:3
bar:Mitchell from:01/07/1997 till:end color:Guitars
bar:Mitchell from:01/07/1997 till:end color:Bvocals width:3
bar:Orsi from:start till:01/09/1995 color:Bass
bar:Jowitt from:01/09/1995 till:01/07/1998 color:Bass
bar:Jowitt from:01/09/1995 till:01/07/1998 color:Bvocals width:3
bar:Jowitt from:01/09/2011 till:25/07/2014 color:Bass
bar:Jowitt from:01/09/2011 till:25/07/2014 color:Bvocals width:3
bar:Salmon from:01/07/1998 till:01/09/2011 color:Bass
bar:Amos from:25/07/2014 till:end color:Bass
bar:Pointer from:start till:end color:Drums
bar:Nolan from:start till:end color:Keyboards
bar:Nolan from:start till:end color:Bvocals width:3
Discography
Studio
* ''
Songs from the Lion's Cage
''Songs from the Lion's Cage'' is the debut album of British Progressive rock group Arena, released on 25 July 1995. This is the only Arena album to feature vocalist John Carson and bassist Cliff Orsi.
Track listing
All songs by Clive Nolan & ...
'' (1995)
* ''
Pride
Pride is defined by Merriam-Webster as "reasonable self-esteem" or "confidence and satisfaction in oneself". A healthy amount of pride is good, however, pride sometimes is used interchangeably with "conceit" or "arrogance" (among other words) wh ...
'' (1996)
* ''The Visitor'' (1998)
* ''Immortal?'' (2000)
* ''Contagion'' (2003)
* ''
Pepper's Ghost
Pepper's ghost is an illusion technique used in the theatre, cinema, amusement parks, museums, television, and concerts.
It is named after the English scientist John Henry Pepper (1821–1900) who began popularising the effect with a theatre ...
'' (2005)
* ''The Seventh Degree of Separation'' (2011)
* ''The Unquiet Sky'' (2015)
* ''Double Vision'' (2018)
* ''The Theory of Molecular Inheritance'' (2022)
Live
* ''Welcome to the Stage'' (1997)
* ''Breakfast in Biarritz'' (2001)
* ''Live & Life'' (2004)
* ''Arena: Live'' (2013)
* ''Arena: XX'' (2016)
EP
* ''Edits'' (1996)
* ''The Cry'' (1997)
* ''Contagious'' (2003)
* ''Contagium'' (2003)
Compilations
* ''Ten Years On'' (2006)
Videos/DVDs
* ''Caught in the Act'' (2003) (live)
* ''Smoke & Mirrors'' (2006) (live)
* ''Rapture'' (2011) (live)
* ''Arena: XX'' (2016) (live)
* ''Re-Visited'' (2018) (live)
Fanclub releases
* ''Welcome Back! To the Stage'' (1997)
* ''The Visitor Revisited'' (1999)
* ''Unlocking the Cage'' (2000)
* ''Radiance'' (2003)
References
External links
Official siteThe Shattered RoomOfficial Arena Forum
Interview with Clive Nolan for "TSDoS"
{{Authority control
English progressive rock groups
Musical groups established in 1995
Articles which contain graphical timelines
Metal Mind Productions artists