So, my relationship with the Arc Angels goes way back, to the early 90’s. After the tragic death of Stevie Ray Vaughan, everyone was wondering when Chris and Tommy, Double Trouble, would play again and with whom.
Word spread around town that they were jammin’ with Doyle Bramhall II and Charlie Sexton at the Austin Rehearsal Complex behind the old Austin Opera House. Their first gig was at the Austin Opera House, opening for Robert Cray and then they started playing the Continental Club frequently working on honing their set. I saw them many times, in those days, can’t remember how many, but was standing in front of the stage most of those nights.
I knew who Charlie was at the time, he had just come back from L.A. having taking a stab at the teen heart throb scene. I think his heart was in Texas and with his guitar, not so much as a teen idol, so I’m glad he found his way back home. I didn’t know a thing about Doyle, although, learned quickly who his dad was, Doyle Bramhall senior, who was SRV’s song writing partner on a number of tunes and a drummer and band leader himself. I saw Doyle Senior once at a local festival in downtown Austin. He had a great voice and played drums and sang at the same time, which is very tricky to do. So, Doyle II was, in fact, raised deep in the heart of the Texas music scene. SRV used to sleep on their couch I believe. Doyly II is a lefty and plays upside down on his left so the high string of the guitar is closest to him. This gives his playing a very unique style and sound and he quickly became one of my all time favorite guitar players. Charlie plays great as well and they compliment each other on stage playing back and forth.
I’ve run into the guys in the Arc Angels at various times over the years in various places. I saw Chris, once, at the airport picking up Doyle and have seen him driving around town a few times. I saw Charlie way back in the early 90’s at a place called MusicMakers, a large music store in Austin that was on the corner of Oltorf and Lamar. I’ll never forget he was watching a instructional video, that Eric Johnson had done, and was just standing there with his shades on checking it out.
I ran into him again 30’s years later, in 2019, at a gig I was playing with the band I’m in, Rival Waves, at Stubbs. His son was in the band that played after us so I chatted with him in the audience for a few minutes and even mentioned to him then, if the Arc Angels got together, I would appreciate the opportunity to audition for the bass position. I basically learned to play bass from listening to Tommy Shannon so I can really mimic Tommy’s style of play and picked up on all of his musical nuances as a bass player. He was really cool and just said there was nothing on the books at the time but he’d keep me in mind.
I emailed their manager as well, Mark Proct, in 2018, who managed The Fabulous T Birds for years and was the tour manager for SRV in the early 80’s as well and then Storyville later on. I heard Mark on a local podcast called “How’d I Get Here” with Johnny Goudie and decided to purchase the book he had put out, called, “Home Today, Gone Tomorrow”, about his travels over the years with various artists.
I decided to email him and just introduce myself and let him know I’d appreciate any opportunity to audition for the Arc Angels bass position if they were ever to get back together. At the time, Doyle was touring with Clapton I think, Charlie, with Bob Dylan and Chris with Kenny Wayne Shepherd. Tommy had retired from playing for the most part so I knew they would be looking for someone if the time ever came for them to play again.
Mark was very nice and emailed me back and just said there was nothing planned but he would keep me in mind and even said, “You never know” at the possibility. I had tried to appeal to the same work ethic and effort he had put in himself when he moved to Texas from New York back in the 70’s, by saying, nothing happens in this world unless you make it happen.
Fast forward 3 years and past the pandemic and sure enough, the Arc Angels got back together in early 2022. I quickly reached out to Mark again, reminding him of my email back in 2018, and he was kind enough to reply stating the band had already picked out their new bass player. So, the opportunity slipped through my fingers, can’t say I didn’t try though, I had emailed Mark a few times over the years to stay in touch but you really need to be on the inside track to get a shot at those spots when they open up.
So, I saw The Arc Angels, with their new bass player, Eric Holden, in February of 2022 at Antone’s, and they killed it of course and Eric is great, a perfect fit for the band. I saw them again on 7/7/2022 at Antone’s, celebrating Antone’s 47th year in business. I was standing out front when I noticed Eric walking out of the club with his bass gear heading for his car. I told him he played great and after he put his gear away, he came over and talked to me for a few minutes. He was so nice and told me how he got the gig and said he was having a blast. I could tell, while he was playing, that he was having the time of his life on the stage. He was smiling ear to ear all night.
Anyway, I told him I play bass around town with a variety of singer songwriters and with a few different bands and gave him my card. I mentioned to him that if he ever needed a sub for any reason to please reach out. I’ve been playing the Arc Angel catalog of songs for over 30 years, they only have the one record, and a few new songs they did in 2007 that was on the live Stubb’s CD, so I know the material already, even the tunes that aren’t on the record, that they play at most live shows, like Angel by Jimi Hendrix and Dimples by John Lee Hooker, etc. We’ll see if anything ever comes to pass there…you can’t blame a guy for trying.
In the meantime, I’ll keep going to the shows when they play in town. I think Doyle is touring with Eric Clapton in the early fall, and then a few more shows with the Arc Angels towards the end of the year. Who knows? Maybe they’ll release a new record one day….fingers crossed.