Arcane Roots

Arcane Roots are a three-piece alternative rock band from Kingston Upon Thames, England. Founded by guitarist & vocalist Andrew Groves and former drummer Daryl Atkins, the band are known for their energetic live shows,^[2] and incorporating progressive music, math rock and indie rock into a popular song format.^[3] Their debut mini-album Left Fire was released in February 2011 and received strong reviews from both the press and their peers alike. The band completed their first UK headline tour in June 2011 and ended the summer with slots at Sonisphere and Heavy Festival. Arcane Roots were asked to cover "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana for Kerrang! Magazine's Nevermind Forever Cover CD,^[4] in which they were the only unsigned band.^[5] Arcane Roots completed work on their first full-length debut album Blood & Chemistry in January 2013. The album was released on 6 May 2013.

History

Early bands and demos (2005–2007)

Andrew Groves and Daryl Atkins met at Reigate College in Surrey, while studying music technology.^[6] The pair were in numerous function/studio bands together until realising their similar opinions and approaches to music, which lead to them forming the band in 2006, with bassist Frank Tiramani. The band immediately set about recording a home studio demo of 5 songs ^[7] ("Factions", "Spark", "What You Call It", "What Becomes You" & "Peaches") and began to gig around South-East London giving the CD's away for free, this culminated in a support slot with the French-Canadian band Malajube at the 100 Club in London in September 2007.^[8] The band also added a demo of new song "Becoming Of Age" to the CD for the Malajube date.

Brave the Sea (2007–2008)

In late 2007, the band demoed 3 new songs ("Casualties", "An Easy Smile" & "Humanism is a Condition") plus reworkings of "What Becomes You" & "Becoming of Age" from the previous home demo, to be included on a new 5 track EP titled Brave the Sea. Brave the Sea was produced and recorded by Chris Coulter, who was then working at Stakeout Studios in Richmond, which the band chose as it was where Reuben had recorded Racecar is Racecar Backwards. Brave the Sea took over a whole year to record due to costs and Frank's traveling commitments which saw him away for 6 months, during this time Andrew & Daryl recorded home demos of new songs "Avalane" and "Long & Low", which were briefly available to hear on the Arcane Roots Myspace. Brave the Sea was released digitally by the band in August 2008.^[9]

Arcane Roots EP (2008–2009)

During Frank's time away from the band, Andrew & Daryl had set about writing material for a new EP which was unexpectedly started when the final Brave the Sea recording session with Chris Coulter finished early than previously thought. In the coming months, 3 new songs were recorded; "Nylon", "Rouen" and "Long & Low". Financial problems within the band caused the recording to be cut short and only "Nylon" and "Rouen" were completed and mixed. "An Easy Smile" was also taken from Brave the Sea and added to the EP. The self-titled EP was given away at shows, and was available to download from the band's Myspace. It received positive reviews from small press^[10][11] and secured management.^[12] in December that year, the band announced that Adam Burton would be replacing Frank.^[13]

Left Fire (2009–2012)

In Spring 2009, after Adam Burton joined the band to replace the previous bassist, the band began working on a mini-album with Brave the Sea producer Chris Coulter. This was self-released in April 2010 as Left Fire. The mini-album was originally released as digital only, as was subsequently re-released in February 2011 through Bandcamp, while a small number of self-released CDs were available to buy at live shows. However, in June 2012 the first mass-produced physical copies (CD) of the remastered Left Fire EP were rolled out (on label PIAS Recordings^[14][15]), which included two additional acoustic session tracks (You Are and Rouen, both of which featuring Emily Denton), and a "full", extended version of former interlude track "Habibty". The album received mainly positive reviews from both press & online review sites.^[16][17] Left Fire's singles included "In This Town of Such Weather" (digital only, June 2011), and "You Are" (digital/7" vinyl, December 2011), with the new, extended "Habibty" as its B-side. The band toured with Twin Atlantic in November 2011, and Dry The River in October 2012.

Blood & Chemistry (2012–present)

Their first full album Blood & Chemistry, was released on 6 May 2013 on both CD and double vinyl format. This was supported by a United Kingdom headline tour which started on 30 April (2013), with The JCQ, as well as a number of appearances on the 2013 festival circuit. Furthermore, during June 2013, the band supported English rock group Muse on the European leg of The 2nd Law World Tour, playing dates in Italy and Switzerland.^[18] The band also gained support slots on various dates of Biffy Clyro's European tour in December 2013. March/April 2014 saw the band head out on tour again in Europe and the UK, before playing a few more one-off support slots and festival appearances that summer. The made their debut at Download Festival, and supported The Used at an intimate London show. On 29 June 2015 the band announced that Atkins would no longer be touring.^[19]

Discography

Studio albums

EPs

Singles

References

External links

• Official website