Arkells is a Canadian

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band, formed in Hamilton, Ontario. In 2006, they signed with Dine Alone Records, and have since signed with Universal Records Canada and Last Gang Records. They are managed by Last Gang Management. They have released six albums, two EPs and a number of singles that have charted in Canada. The band has won multiple

Juno Award The Juno Awards, more popularly known as the JUNOS, are awards presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music. New members of the Canadian Music Hall of ...

s, including one for their album ''High Noon'' in 2015. The band headlined the

108th Grey Cup The 108th Grey Cup decided the Canadian Football League (CFL) championship for the 2021 season. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 season was cancelled and the start of the 2021 season was delayed, pushing the game to December 12, 2021. The ...

halftime show A halftime show is a performance given during the brief period between the first and second halves, or the second and third quarters, of a sporting event. Halftime shows are not given for sports with an irregular or indeterminate number of div ...

in Hamilton, Ontario on December 12, 2021.

History

Formation (2006–2008)

During their first few live shows the band called themselves Charlemagne but changed their name when another band of the same name threatened to sue them. The band is named after Arkell Street in the Westdale neighbourhood of Hamilton, near McMaster University, where they lived and would practice their music. All five original band members attended McMaster where lead singer Max Kerman graduated with an honours BA in Political Science. Kerman met guitarist Mike DeAngelis at a McMaster Welcome Week event where the two discovered they had an identical taste in music.

''Jackson Square'' (2008–2011)

Arkells' debut album '' Jackson Square'' was released 28 October 2008 on Dine Alone Records. In late 2008, Arkells toured Canada as opening act for Matt Mays & El Torpedo. Later that year, on November 22, they performed the halftime show at the Vanier Cup in their hometown. In early 2009 they toured with Waking Eyes across Canada. Arkells were featured on Aux.tv's Alt Sessions where they performed their full EP. The Arkells

In October, 2009, Arkells won a favourite new artist CASBY Award (short for Canadian Artists Selected by You) from Toronto radio station 102.1 The Edge at a ceremony and concert at Toronto's

Kool Haus The Guvernment, formerly known as RPM, was a nightclub complex in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was also the name of one of the two main performance venues within the complex. The other venue was Kool Haus (formerly The Warehouse). Other smaller roo ...

.
The band also performed at the event. In April 2010, Arkells won the Juno Awards of 2010, Juno Award for New Group of the Year, and on May 15, 2010, were picked to open for Them Crooked Vultures at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto. They made headlines while playing a set at Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto after the 2010

Much Music Video Awards The iHeartRadio MMVAs were an annual awards show broadcast on Much to honour the year's best music videos that was last held in 2018. Originally debuting in 1990 as the Canadian Music Video Awards, the awards were renamed in 1995 to the MuchMu ...

, when rapper

Shad The Alosinae, or the shads,Alosinae

and pop singer

Kesha Kesha Rose Sebert (; born March 1, 1987), formerly stylized as Ke$ha, is an American singer and songwriter. In 2005, at age 18, Kesha was signed to Kemosabe Records. Her first major success came in early 2009 after she was featured on America ...

joined them onstage to freestyle and sing along during a cover of Ms. Jackson by Outkast.

''Michigan Left'' (2011–2014)

In 2011, the band wrote and recorded their second album '' Michigan Left'', which was released on October 18 of that year. The first single, "Whistleblower", was released to iTunes on July 5, 2011. "Whistleblower" has also been used as the Intro Music to the 2011–2012

Calgary Hitmen The Calgary Hitmen are a major junior ice hockey team based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The Hitmen play in the Central Division of the Western Hockey League (WHL). They play their home games at the Scotiabank Saddledome. Bret "The Hitman" ...

hockey team and featured in EA Sports' ''

NHL 13 ''NHL 13'' is an ice hockey video game developed by EA Canada published by EA Sports. It is the 22nd installment of the ''NHL'' series. The game was released on the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360, featuring Philadelphia Flyers forward Claude Giro ...

'' video game. The band also released a second song, "Kiss Cam", in July. On 6 October 2011 it was announced that Dan Griffin would be leaving the band to go back to school. He was replaced by Anthony Carone. In 2012, Arkells won the 2012 Juno Award for Group of the Year. Arkells Live in Buffalo 2013

The band has become known for performing spontaneous Motown cover sets, most recently at Canada House during the PyeongChang 2018 Olympics, and while stranded in St. John's Newfoundland. In September 2012, the band played Jian Ghomeshi's "1982" book launch in Toronto. The band has also started a tradition of sending fans signed postcards and free downloads at Christmas.

''High Noon'' (2014–2016)

On April 7, 2014, Arkells released the first track, "Never Thought That This Would Happen", from their third album, which was produced by Tony Hoffer (Beck, The Kooks, M83). One month later, on May 13, the band released the album's first single "Come to Light", and confirmed the title of the record would be ''

High Noon ''High Noon'' is a 1952 American Western film produced by Stanley Kramer from a screenplay by Carl Foreman, directed by Fred Zinnemann, and starring Gary Cooper. The plot, which occurs in real time, centers on a town marshal whose sense of ...

''. The record was released on Dine Alone/Universal Records, August 5, 2014. Arkells have toured extensively, including tours in the United States with

Lights Light is an electromagnetic radiation, part of which stimulates the sense of vision. Light or Lights may also refer to: Illumination * Light bulb * Traffic light Arts and entertainment Music * Lights (musician) (born 1987), Canadian singer-son ...

, Tokyo Police Club,

The Postelles The Postelles are four-piece rock band hailing from New York City. They formed at Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The band released their debut album, ''The Postelles'', on June 7, 2011. It was produced ...

, X Ambassadors, and

Lydia Lydia (Lydian language, Lydian: ‎𐤮𐤱𐤠𐤭𐤣𐤠, ''Śfarda''; Aramaic: ''Lydia''; el, Λυδία, ''Lȳdíā''; tr, Lidya) was an Iron Age Monarchy, kingdom of western Asia Minor located generally east of ancient Ionia in the mod ...

; European touring with

Billy Talent Billy Talent is a Canadian Rock music, rock band from Mississauga, Ontario. They formed in 1993 with lead vocalist Benjamin Kowalewicz, guitarist Ian D'Sa, bassist Jonathan Gallant, and drummer Aaron Solowoniuk. There have been no lineup change ...

, Augustines, British Sea Power, and

Anti-Flag Anti-Flag is an American punk rock band from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The band is known for its left-wing political activism. Their current members include Justin Sane (vocals, guitar), Chris Head (guitar), Pat Thetic (drums), and Chris Ba ...

as well as Canadian touring with Metric, the Tragically Hip, Hollerado, and Sam Roberts. At the Juno Awards of 2015, Arkells won the Juno Award for Group of the Year and the Juno Award for Rock Album of the Year. ''High Noon'' was also long listed for the Polaris prize in 2015. On October 23, 2015, the band released a new EP, "Study Music", which they self-produced and released on Universal Music Canada/ Dine Alone Records.

''Morning Report'' (2016–2018)

Arkells began teasing new material from their forthcoming album on tour in the spring of 2016. The fourth album, ''Morning Report'', was released on August 5, 2016. The first single, "Private School", debuted on May 6, 2016, and charted at number 1 that summer. The video features cameos from

, Dave Monks of Tokyo Police Club and Steve Jocz (formerly of

Sum 41 Sum 41 is a Canadian rock band from Ajax, Ontario. Originally called Kaspir, the band was formed in 1996 and currently consists of Deryck Whibley (lead vocals, guitars, keyboards), Dave Baksh (lead guitar, backing vocals), Jason "Cone" McCas ...

), who also directed the video. The Arkells song "Round and Round" was featured in the soundtrack of the EA Sports game '' NHL 17''. At the Juno Awards of 2017, Arkells were nominated for Juno Award for Group of the Year and the Juno Award for Rock Album of the Year. They performed their viral hit "Drake's Dad" live on the television broadcast. Arkells released a new single on April 7, 2017, entitled "Knocking at the Door". The track shot to number 1 on the Canadian alt/rock charts, where it spent 14 weeks at #1. It also became their first #1 Active Rock single. They performed the track live that summer on the 2017 NHL Awards in Las Vegas and the 2017 iHeartRadio MMVAs in Toronto. In the summer of 2017, the band toured the festival circuit, playing

Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival (commonly called the Coachella Festival or simply Coachella) is an annual music and arts festival held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Coachella Valley in the Colorado Desert. ...

, Osheaga Festival, and

Sasquatch! Music Festival Sasquatch! Music Festival was an annual music festival held at The Gorge Amphitheatre in George, Washington, United States. It took place on Memorial Day weekend, running for three to four days. In 2018, it was announced that the festival was c ...

. Later in the year, the track cracked the US ALT chart, peaking at #39. In February 2018, the band was invited to South Korea to perform for the Canadian Olympic team during the

2018 Winter Olympics , nations = 93 , athletes = 2,922 (1,680 men and 1,242 women) , events = 102 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = , closing = , opened_by = President Moon Jae-in , cauldron = Kim Yun-a , stadium = Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium , winte ...

. In June 2018, the band played at Tim Hortons Field in their hometown of Hamilton for a crowd of 24,000 people. It was the largest crowd for an outdoor show in Hamilton since

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philo ...

drew 50,000 to Ivor Wynne Stadium in 1975. On August 15, 2018, the band announced that their fifth studio album, ''Rally Cry'', would be released on October 19, 2018. On September 20, 2018, the band performed at WE Day in Toronto.

''Rally Cry'' (2018–2021)

The Arkells released their fifth studio album, '' Rally Cry'', on October 19, 2018, accompanied by a Canadian tour featuring Lord Huron as the opening act. The tour featured the Arkells' largest arena show at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on February 16, 2019. On February 25, 2020, the band released the new single and video "Years in the Making". On July 30, they released the single "Quitting You", and announced the release of ''Campfire Chords'', a full-length album featuring acoustic versions of earlier songs, on August 20. Each member recorded his part at home during the COVID-19 quarantine and sent it to Carone, who then edited, mixed and produced the pieces into complete songs.

''Blink Once'' (2021–present)

On March 25, 2021, the band released the new single and video "You Can Get It", featuring guest vocals by K.Flay The single “All Roads” was later released. Both of these singles were included on the band’s sixth studio album ''Blink Once'', which was released on September 22, 2021. On December 12, 2021, the band performed at halftime of the

at Tim Horton's Field in Hamilton. On June 23, 2022, the band announced that their studio album ''Blink Twice'' will be released on September 23. The album features collaborations with Cold War Kids, Aly and AJ, Tegan and Sara and

Beatrice Martin Beatrice may refer to: * Beatrice (given name) Places In the United States * Beatrice, Alabama, a town * Beatrice, Humboldt County, California, a locality * Beatrice, Georgia, an unincorporated community * Beatrice, Indiana, an unincorporated c ...

Song influences

Arkells prominently feature political motivations in their music. Examples include "Knocking at the Door," which was written about The Women's March on Washington; "The Ballad of Hugo Chavez" about the Venezuelan president as a political prisoner, "People's Champ" in protest of US president Donald Trump; and "Whistleblower" about journalists blowing the whistle and exposing truth behind closed doors. Another example would be “No Champagne Socialist” about a student in New York of the 1960s struggling with himself about trying to represent the working class as a member of the upper class. The band has also spoken about their diverse musical influences from Top 40 to Motown.

Band members

*Max Kerman – vocals, guitar (2006–present) *Mike DeAngelis – vocals, guitar (2006–present) *Nick Dika –

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

(2006–present) *Tim Oxford –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

, percussion (2006–present) *Anthony Carone – vocals, keyboard, guitar (2011–present)

Past members

*Dan Griffin – vocals, keyboard, guitar (2006–2011) Timeline

Discography

Albums

Extended plays

Singles

Notes

References

External links

Arkells Website
Official Band Website
Alt Sessions
Arkells on Aux.tv {{DEFAULTSORT:Arkells Musical groups established in 2006 Musical groups from Hamilton, Ontario Canadian alternative rock groups Dine Alone Records artists 2006 establishments in Ontario Juno Award for Rock Album of the Year winners Juno Award for Breakthrough Group of the Year winners Juno Award for Group of the Year winners