During the heyday of the Northwest
90's grunge scene, there evolved in a
Vancouver basement the synth-based
prog-rock/new wave band and theatrical
experience that became known as Arthur
Ellis. The name represents a bit of
Canadian history, being that of our
last official publicly employed
executioner, and inspired the live
performances.
After several eyebrow-raising shows
and a couple of minor recordings,
including a four song self-titled
demo and two songs on Faceplant
Productions' 1995 Vancouver compilation,
Maximum Rabbit, the group
achieved unstable critical mass in
the mid-nineties, and individual creative
projects emerged.
The new millennium dawned - songwriters
Peter Fisera (Fish) and Shannon
Hallett realized, with some
urging from long-time fan and friend Facepuller
drummer Brad Mitchell among
others, that the words and sounds of Arthur
Ellis needed to be brought back into
the light. Arthur Ellis 2000 was
formed, complete with new rhythm
section.
A 'Trilogy of Shows' in January,
February and March of 2000 launched the
project, at Vancouver venues the
Piccadilly Pub, Ms. T's Cabaret and the
Brickyard. Eight songs were
then recorded, mixed and mastered, and the band
performed at their CD release party
June 15, 2001 at the Anza Club,
Vancouver for the new full-length
Alphomega album. The line-up live is the
same as on the album:
Shannon Hallett, originally
from Ottawa, returns to center stage, weaving
vocal styles and moods, and shamelessly
acting out all over the stage in
various guises. She has performed
in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, sung and
played with Scottish space-rock band
Sponge
and Vancouver pop band
Daytona and currently sings
and drums with garage trio Shrimpmeat;
Synth-master Fish (Peter
Fisera), who hails from Edmonton, also records
techno and plays live ambient electronic,
solo as Koolatron, or jamming
with local D&B duo Inject.
Fish's Hammond M-3 (and many, many other
keyboards) is augmented by guitar
god Dave Shannon's excellent chops. Dave
is probably best known for his sizzling
axe-wielding in the 90's band
Highway Freak Ticket and currently
performs his own material. He rejoins
Fish and Shannon after the five year
'hiatus'.
On bass is the ever-fresh Richard
Fordham, who has been laying down grooves
with Fish for the last few years
in various fusion and electronica gigs and
happenings, including the improv
groove project Public Online Terminal.
Richard's theatrical and creative
background (includes Nelson's
renowned This
Thing, now a solo recording project), enhance the live
atmosphere kick-started by Shannon
and bass beats driven by the power of…
Brad Mitchell on drums, from
the mighty Alternative Tentacles recording
artists Facepuller,
(and various other pop/alt rock line-ups over the last
decade). Brad recorded the album
Alphomega
on 16-track ADAT, at Vancouver
studio FacePlant,
the band Arthur Ellis 2000's 'home'.
The CD release comprises eight songs
written from 1993 to 2000, and was
mixed by Fish, Richard and Brad,
both digitally and the good old-fashioned
way. Stylistically, the album travels
from progressive and 'classic' rock to
new wave pop to electro-funk. It
represents a rare period in musical
culture, infused with decades of
pop and rock influence, and augmented by
the most modern technology while
maintaining the true live experience. If a
single descriptive label need be
applied, it could well be 'New
Progressive'.
Alphomega is currently seeking
international distribution and promotion.
Contact Shannon at grrrabbit
productions
grrrabbit@hotmail.com