John Arch | |
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Background information | |
Birth name | John Maurice Archambault |
Born | Colorado Springs, Colorado, U.S. | May 15, 1959
Genres | Progressive metal, heavy metal |
Occupation | Singer |
Years active | 1982–present |
Labels | Metal Blade |
Member of | Arch/Matheos |
Formerly of | Fates Warning |
John Arch (born John Maurice Archambault; May 15, 1959) [1] is an American singer most well known for his work with the progressive metal band Fates Warning.
Arch co-wrote the majority of the band's songs with guitarist Jim Matheos, and was the band's sole lyricist. After their third album, Awaken the Guardian , was released, Arch was asked to quit his job or leave the band. Financial obligations made it impossible for Arch to quit his job, and he argued that he had shown 100% commitment to the band throughout the years. However, the band informed him that they had to let him go and started to look for another singer. In one interview with John Arch, he said that he would have quit his job if he were asked, but the rest of the band never asked him to.
Arch kept himself out of the metal scene for seventeen years (he currently works crafting custom furniture), with the exception of an audition for upcoming progressive metal band Dream Theater and a few others. He decided to get out of music and pursue other interests. He made his return in 2003, when his EP A Twist of Fate was released. The EP includes musicians Jim Matheos, Mike Portnoy and Joey Vera, all of whom Arch worked with at some point in the past. The EP shows that Arch's vocal ability had not decreased over the years, likely due to his long break from touring. The album contains only two songs, although these total nearly half an hour (one written solely by Arch, one co-written by Arch and Matheos – marking the first time the two wrote a song together since Awaken the Guardian ). [2]
Arch has a naturally high tenor range. He is very proficient at legato when singing.
On January 19, 2011, it was announced that Arch had reunited with Jim Matheos and the rest of the members in Fates Warning (minus Ray Alder) to record a full-length for a new band, simply titled Arch/Matheos. [3] The band's debut full-length album, Sympathetic Resonance , was released on September 9. [4]
OSI was an American progressive rock band, originally formed by Fates Warning guitarist Jim Matheos in 2002. Chroma Key keyboardist and vocalist Kevin Moore is the only other full-time member of the band. The collaboration may be considered a studio project, as its members and contributors write and track most of their material independently, sharing and developing tracks long-distance, only coming together at the end of the process for mixing and additional tracking. The band's name is a reference to the Office of Strategic Influence, a short-lived American government agency formed in 2001 to support the War on Terror through propaganda. The band has featured a number of guest musicians on its albums, including Sean Malone, Steven Wilson, Mikael Akerfeldt, Joey Vera and Gavin Harrison.
Office of Strategic Influence is the first studio album by American progressive rock band OSI, released by Inside Out Music on February 18, 2003. The album was recorded in June 2002 and mixed in August 2002 at the Carriage House Studios in Stamford, Connecticut.
Kevin Moore is an American keyboardist, composer and the founder of the Chroma Key music project. He is also a former member of the American progressive metal band Dream Theater, co-founder of the progressive rock supergroup O.S.I., and a composer of film soundtracks. Throughout his career, he has become known for his emotional music and lyrics, nomadic lifestyle and use of spoken word samples.
Fates Warning is an American progressive metal band, formed in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1982 by vocalist John Arch, guitarists Jim Matheos and Victor Arduini, bassist Joe DiBiase, and drummer Steve Zimmerman. There have been numerous lineup changes over the course of their 42-year career, and Matheos is the only constant member. As of 2020, the band consists of Matheos, vocalist Ray Alder, bassist Joey Vera, drummer Bobby Jarzombek and guitarist Michael Abdow. Fates Warning also had a revolving cast of drummers and guitarists by the time Jarzombek and Abdow joined the band in 2007 and 2020 respectively.
Jim Matheos is an American guitarist and the primary songwriter for the progressive metal band Fates Warning, in which he has been the only consistent member since the group's beginning. Matheos also plays in OSI alongside Kevin Moore, as well as making other appearances with many different bands and artists.
No Exit is the fourth studio album by progressive metal band Fates Warning, released in 1988 through Metal Blade Records. It is the first Fates Warning album to feature current singer Ray Alder, who replaced John Arch after the release of Awaken the Guardian (1986), as well as the last to feature drummer Steve Zimmerman, who left the band just prior to the recording of their subsequent album Perfect Symmetry (1989). The album's title was inspired by No Exit, a 1944 play written by French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre.
Bobby Jarzombek is an American musician of Polish and German ancestry who is currently the drummer for country music legend George Strait. Bobby also has been a drummer for Sebastian Bach, and progressive metal band Fates Warning. Guitarist Ron Jarzombek is his younger brother.
Free is the second studio album by American progressive rock band OSI, released by InsideOut Music on April 21, 2006.
Joey Vera is an American bassist who is known as a member of the heavy metal band Armored Saint and progressive metal band Fates Warning. During 2004 and early 2005, he toured with Anthrax as a fill-in for Frank Bello, who had taken a break from the band. He was also a member of Engine, recorded with Tribe After Tribe, and appears on the OSI album Free. His first solo album, A Thousand Faces, was released in 1994. His current solo project, A Chinese Firedrill, released an album titled Circles in 2007. In August 2019, Vera was announced as the touring bassist for a newly reunited Mercyful Fate filling in for Timi Hansen. He remained with the band until 2024.
The Spectre Within is the second studio album by progressive metal band Fates Warning, released in October 1985 through Metal Blade Records. It has been reissued three times: first as a double album together with Night on Bröcken (1984) in 1992, followed by a remastered edition in 1994, and again in 2002 with four bonus tracks as well as new cover art.
Awaken the Guardian is the third studio album by American progressive metal band Fates Warning, released in 1986 through Metal Blade Records. The album was the band and their label's first to enter the U.S. Billboard 200, reaching No. 191 and remaining on the chart for four weeks. It is also the first Fates Warning album to feature guitarist Frank Aresti and the last with original singer John Arch, who was replaced by Ray Alder on their subsequent 1988 album No Exit.
Perfect Symmetry is the fifth studio album by progressive metal band Fates Warning, released in 1989 through Metal Blade Records; a remastered edition was reissued on June 10, 2008 together with a bonus disc containing studio demos, as well as a DVD of live performances from the 1989–90 Perfect Symmetry world tour. It was with this album that the band's more modern, progressive direction was established.
Parallels is the sixth studio album by American progressive metal band Fates Warning, released on October 29, 1991, through Metal Blade Records. The album reached No. 20 on the U.S. Billboard Heatseekers chart.
Inside Out is the seventh studio album by progressive metal band Fates Warning, released on July 26, 1994 through Metal Blade Records. The album continues with the commercial sound that Parallels began. It was the last to feature long-time bassist Joe DiBiase, who left after its release, as well as the last to feature guitarist Frank Aresti until his return to band in 2005. Aresti later appeared on their 2013 album Darkness in a Different Light as a full-time member and on the 2016 album Theories of Flight as a guest. DiBiase would return in 2010 and 2016 for a number of shows, but did not officially rejoin.
A Twist of Fate is an EP by singer John Arch, released on June 17, 2003 through Metal Blade Records. At the time, the EP was Arch's first musical work in over seventeen years since leaving progressive metal band Fates Warning in 1987, with whom he recorded their first three albums; the last being Awaken the Guardian (1986). Consisting of two tracks, A Twist of Fate features Fates Warning founder and guitarist Jim Matheos, with whom Arch would later release a collaborative album in 2011, entitled Sympathetic Resonance, under the banner of Arch/Matheos. Also among the line-up are Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy and current Fates Warning bassist Joey Vera.
Sympathetic Resonance is a collaborative studio album by singer John Arch and guitarist Jim Matheos, released on September 9, 2011 through Metal Blade Records.
Frank Aresti is an American guitarist and composer and former member of progressive metal band Fates Warning.
Arch/Matheos is an American progressive metal project.
Darkness in a Different Light is the eleventh studio album by progressive metal band Fates Warning, released in 2013 through Inside Out Music. It is the band's first album since FWX (2004), marking the longest gap between two studio albums in their career, as well as being their first studio album with guitarist Frank Aresti since Inside Out (1994); although he appeared on the band's next album Theories of Flight (2016), as a guest, Darkness in a Different Light would be the last to feature Aresti as an official member. Drummer Bobby Jarzombek also makes his debut with Fates Warning on this album, and it is the band's first release through Inside Out Music.
Long Day Good Night is the thirteenth and final studio album by American progressive metal band Fates Warning, released on November 6, 2020. It is Fates Warning's first release on Metal Blade Records since 2004's FWX and also the first to feature guitarist Mike Abdow as a full time member, which he became in 2017 having previously been a touring only member and appearing as a guest on their previous album Theories of Flight in 2016.