Nearly eight years after headlining the Austin City Limits Festival, the Arcangels have reunited and released Arcangels: Living in a Dream, a DVD/CD featuring their Live at Stubbs performance along with three new studio tracks and a full length Documentary. Formed in the musical hotbed of Austin, Texas, the Arcangels consist of some of the finest musical talents to ever play an instrument.With a devoted fan base, the Arcangels are known as a tremendous band with an equally remarkable story that began in 1992, after the devastating loss of their friend and fellow musician Stevie Ray Vaughan.
The miracle that came from that loss was the unique sound of four musicians aptly named - the Arcangels: drummer Chris Layton and bassist Tommy Shannon (the veteran rhythm section of Stevie Ray Vaughan's Double Trouble) coupled with musical wonders Charlie Sexton and Doyle Bramhall II sharing lead vocal and lead guitar duties. The current band lineup consists of original members Bramhall, Sexton and Layton.
"Charlie and I started to write together again and decided that we should get the band back together. The chemistry that we all have together is one entity and it's something very real. It's fun," said Bramhall. 'We're trying to take advantage and savor the good things and one of the good things is the Arcangels,' added Charlie Sexton.
March 2009 marked the introduction of the band's new music and live tour launching at the South by Southwest Music Festival in Austin, TX. Next they opened for Eric Clapton on his European tour before embarking on their own U.S. tour during the summer. 'The stars kind of aligned once again. The band's back together and we're doing some new things," said Layton.
The past few months on the road have only reaffirmed the band's strong bond and collective passion for music. The Arcangels are back and here to stay. The release of their new DVD/CD gives fans an all access look at the long road of hardships and challenges that the band has overcome to become the heralded Arcangels.
The Arcangels were formed at the Austin Rehearsal Center (ARC) which so aptly gave them a name. There, Sexton had a writing room to work on his next solo album, Bramhall was working under a development deal with Geffen Records, and Layton had a drum room where he would often practice. The initial idea had been quite simple; create a band that can jam when people happened to be in town or not on tour with Stevie. But Vaughan's death changed everything. When the foursome came together, press were quick to dub them a 'Texas supergroup,' but the guys shunned that tag. The band was purely a musical outlet and inspiration to all of them.
Not intending to be a recording band, the guys played live and just for fun, opening for the likes of Robert Cray. But they soon found the excitement and challenges of being a band, worth the effort. Sexton and Bramhall tabled their solo projects and began creating music specifically for the Arcangels. The band's 1992 debut album release, Arc Angels, on Geffen Records met with much critical acclaim and managed to break onto the Billboard Top 200 chart. The sound was unique - raw and intense rock and roll steeped in the roots of Texas blues, but still radio-friendly and widely appealing. The group toured heavily after the album and on Tuesday, June 9, 1992, the Arcangels made their network television debut on the NBC show The Late Show with David Letterman where they performed "Living In A Dream." On Wednesday, January 6, 1993, they again performed on Letterman's show, this time playing "Too Many Ways to Fall." It seemed that this Texas quartet was poised to explode onto the national scene.
But their name proved a harbinger of things to come; the Arcangels fell as quickly as they rose. Creative differences, heavy touring, and Bramhall's admitted descent into a deep and nearly deadly heroin addiction caused the breakup of the band in 1994. The Arcangels came to an abrupt halt in October of that year with a series of farewell concerts at Austin's Backyard outdoor venue. They each followed their individual paths from there. Bramhall went on to solo projects as well as touring with Roger Waters and Eric Clapton's band. Sexton made two critically acclaimed solo albums, toured with Bob Dylan, and has produced numerous high profile artist projects. Meanwhile, Layton recorded three albums with the Texas soul quintet Storyville and has backed such artists as Buddy Guy and John Mayer.
Produced and designed by Mark Proct and Charlie Boswell, the DVD/CD was recorded using Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) cutting edge live-audio technology, designed to give users the highest quality experience.' We wanted to give our fans more than they would have expected in both content and quality of content' said Mark Proct ' From the Nuendo recording systems to the DVD rendering AMD played a major role in the production of the CD/DVD and the outcome exceeded all of our expectations.' Now, after almost 5 years in the making, the DVD/CD is finally available to fans and rock & roll lovers of all ages. For more info go here .
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