One of Canada’s most successful alt-rock bands, Arkells, will be making a pit stop at Arkell’s Brewery in Swindon next Friday April 27, half-way through their current UK tour, supporting Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls.
The five-member band from Hamilton, Ontario, have built a reputation as a high-energy, live-rock band. They plan to play a short acoustic set in the brewery’s new Grape & Grain store, at 1 pm.
Arkells recently embarked on the 16-date tour, which started in Manchester earlier this month and takes in cities including including Edinburgh, Liverpool, Bristol, Cambridge and Oxford. The tour completes in London with a sold-out headline date at Dingwalls May 12.
Arkell’s Brewery and Arkells (band) have been aware of each other via social media for years. Head Brewer Alex Arkell was delighted to be contacted by the band’s team and invited them to the brewery when he heard they had a day off between their Exeter and Cambridge gigs.
“With social media being a global phenomenon, we’ve been following Arkells at a distance for years,” says Alex. “Now it turns out that they’ve been following us too, and we’re thrilled to meet them in our special 175th anniversary year.”
Arkell’s Brewery does have historic links with Canada. The brewery’s founder, John Arkell, emigrated to Canada for a short time in 1830, travelling there with a group of friends, including his cousin Thomas. They settled in the Canadian wilderness and began building a new settlement there, but love proved too strong for John and he returned three years’ later to marry his true love, Elizabeth. In 1843 he began brewing in Swindon. There doesn’t appear to be any link between the band and the brewery, other than their shared name.
Arkells were named after “Arkell St.” a street in Westdale, Hamilton where the band practiced, while studying at McMaster University, in 2008.
Since the release of Arkells’ latest album, Morning Report, the 4x JUNO Award winners have made their debut at some of the biggest marquee festivals in the U.S., including Coachella, Lollapalooza and Bonnaroo. Their most recent hit single, “Knocking At The Door,” spent an unprecedented 14 weeks at #1 on the Canadian Alt/Rock charts, making it the most played alt/rock song of 2017, and Arkells the most played band of the year. This spring Arkells released “People’s Champ” – an upbeat, horn-infused, politically-charged anthem written to the current social climate. The new track is the first single from their forthcoming album, expected for release later this year and is a fan-favourite on their current UK tour.
Alex added: “We’re really looking forward to meeting the band and will swap them a tour of our historic brewery in return for an acoustic set in The Grape & Grain.”
