Contagion (Arena album)
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Arena are an English neo-progressive rock 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 keyboardist of Pendragon and Shadowland, and Mick Pointer, 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*) 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. 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 – keyboards, backing vocals (1995–present) * Mick Pointer – drums (1995–present) * John Mitchell – guitars, backing vocals (1997–present) * Kylan Amos – bass (2014–present) * Damian Wilson – 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'' (1995) * ''
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'' (1996) * ''The Visitor'' (1998) * ''Immortal?'' (2000) * ''Contagion'' (2003) * '' Pepper's Ghost'' (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 Room
Official 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