ArcAngels | en

Arc Angels are a blues rock band formed in Austin, Texas in the early 1990s. The band was composed of guitarist and singers Doyle Bramhall II and Charlie Sexton and two former members of Stevie Ray Vaughan's band Double Trouble, drummer Chris Layton and bassist Tommy Shannon. According to Bob Meredith of Allmusic the "ARC" in the band's name came from the Austin Rehearsal Complex where the band first started jamming before releasing their 1992 debut album. The album, Arc Angels, met with critical approval and managed to hit #127 on the Billboard charts. On Tuesday, June 9, 1992, the Arc Angels made their network television debut on the NBC show "Late Night 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".

Bramhall's heroin addiction and internal friction caused the breakup of the band in 1993. The Arc Angels broke up in October of that year, concluding their run with a series of farewell concerts at Austin's Backyard outdoor venue. Beginning in 2002, the Arc Angels have since reunited for occasional live performances.

In recent years, Bramhall has played guitar in Eric Clapton's band and toured with Roger Waters. Charlie Sexton has toured with Bob Dylan. Meanwhile, Layton and Shannon have recorded three albums with the Texas soul quintet Storyville. They have also backed such artists as Buddy Guy, Kenny Wayne Shepherd and John Mayer.

In March 2009 the members of Arc Angels, minus Tommy Shannon, announced that they would be reuniting, releasing a DVD of concert footage taken during 2005, touring extensively and beginning work on their second album. The DVD will also contain two new songs.

Nearly eight years after headlining the Austin City Limits Festival, the Arc Angels have decided to reunite and record new music, as well as release a Live DVD/CD. This time, the band consists of original members Bramhall, Sexton and Layton only.

"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 Arc Angels,” added Charlie Sexton.

The launch of their new music and live tour will be at Austin's annual South by Southwest Music Festival in March 2009. Following that, they will open for Eric Clapton on his European tour in May, and then embark on their own U.S. tour this summer. “The stars kind of aligned once again. The band's back together and we're doing some new things," said Layton. .