Arc Angels

A short-lived affair with ties to some of the biggest southern rock bands, one album of bluesy and gritty AOR was, until recently, all that would be left behind from the Arc Angels. The band formed in Austin, Texas around Charlie Sexton (vocals/ guitar), Doyle Bramhall II (vocals/guitar), Tommy Shannon (bass) and Chris Layton (drums). Previously Sexton had a mildly successful solo career that peaked in 1985 with the song "Beat's So Lonely" while Bramhall, the son of Lightning Hopkins drummer and Stevie Ray Vaughan collaborator Doyle Bramhall, was a seasoned musician himself working with bands such as the Fabulous Thunderbirds. Shannon and Layton were the rhythm section for Stevie Ray Vaughan's Double Trouble and a song on Arc Angels debut was dedicated to Vaughan, who died in a helicopter crash in 1990. Their one and only album to date garnered rave reviews, and even managed to hit #127 on the Billboard charts. After the tour the band went their separate ways (due in part to Bramhall's drug addiction) and Sexton and Bramhall resumed solo careers. Doyle Bramhall II recorded many outstanding solo albums, played for Roger Waters on the In The Flesh tour and most recently was Eric Clapton's guitarist. After playing together periodically since their breakup, the newly reformed band (sans Tommy Shannon) plans to release a DVD in 2009, tour extensively -- including two appearances at the 2009 Austin South By Southwest music festival and a short stint with Eric Clapton in England -- and start work in its first album in 17 years. Bramhall says the DVD, which includes concert footage shot in 2005 during concerts at Stubb's and Antone's in Austin as well as a documentary, will offer a frank look at Arc Angels rise, fall and rebirth. "It just sort of blew up very quickly," he explains. "We were having a lot of success rapidly, and there was a lot of stress created by that. And I was at the time very into self-sabotage, so it was sort of doomed from the beginning, unfortunately." "We're going to write as much as we can...over the next four, five months and see what we have at the end of the summer," Bramhall says. "We're all really happy. There's not that many opportunities in bands to get that kind of second chance to actually see it through, 'cause most people don't get along by this point. We've all become really great friends and just want to go out and tour and see where we can take this."