Snapshot of arclife crew 2001

thomas bell, arclife coordinator

thomas joined arclife as our fulltime coordinator in april 2001. he is responsible for production, distribution, promotion and administration, as well as encouraging and fostering new talent. it would be no exageration to say that we owe everything to thomas, who has invested an enormous amount of time and energy to ensure the label’s success. on top of his relentless dedication to arclife, thomas finds time to play bass with david kilgour and the heavy eights and snapper, work as arc cafe’s in‐house sound engineer, and run the arclife studio, producing new compilation cds like arcbeats. thomas’s position is funded by the legendary community trust of otago.

tenzin mullin, arclife international promoter

as well as playing bass in suka, singing in the dunedin oneders and working as a barman at arc cafe, tenzin has been the arclife part time coordinator for much of the last three years. through his unfailing guidance, enthusiasm and commitment, tenzin has played a vital role in the development of arclife. while a trustee of the arc cafe trust, he is presently travelling the usa with a bus full of tibetan monks, calling into record stores and radio stations to promote arclife releases whenever he can. look out for him on the road.

stephen kilroy, arcangel

stephen kilroy plays guitar and sings in heka, ran the legendary fish
street studios in dunedin in the late 80s, and has been the primary force behind many important events and projects supporting dunedin music, including the “dunedin sound” series at sammys in the 2000 festival of the arts. stephen has been instrumental in arclife from the beginning, recording our first cd, music of dunedin, at arc cafe over christmas 1997 ‐ before we had any equipment or knew anything. stephen’s longstanding contribution to the label and the dunedin music scene in general is immense, and his support, advice and incredible microphones were key in many arclife projects going ahead at all. stephen is now a trustee of the arc cafe trust, where he has worked similar wonders

antony deaker, arcangel

antony deaker is a trustee of the arc cafe trust and is largely responsible for bringing the label to where it is today, having seen the importance of arclife in the community, clarified its role, and worked to achieve funding for its ongoing existance.

caroline mccaw, arcangel

caroline has been one of the main forces behind arclife for the past year. check our her design skills in our recent arcbeats release, which she designed and produced. caroline is the chair of the arc cafe trust and a longstanding contributor to the dunedin arts community, a teacher, publisher and visual artist.

elliott young, arcangel

for the first three years, elliott was the glue that held arclife together, recording bands, producing cds, organising release parties, distributing and promoting the releases, and sorting out finances to make it all possible. elliott looks back on it all, even carting the g3 and 02r to

arc every monday night for a year to record arcoustic, as one of the best periods in his life. elliott is a trustee of the arc cafe trust, designed this website, and currently lives in london.

the musicians

dunedin is blessed with a large number of outstanding musicians, and
it has been our pleasure to work with many of them. although the
musicians themselves are often under paid, under appreciated and under resourced, the music created in this small city is out of this world. those of us working or volunteering at arclife are fuelled by this music and feel priviledged to be involved in bringing it to a wider audience.

the public

although we are not guided too heavily by what we think people will like, it is great when people buy the cds and come to gigs, and go on to rave about them. as mainstream music steadily becomes more prescribed and normalised, it can be a shock for people to come across music that is genuine artistic endeavour. tastes long accustomed to commercial msg‐enhanced products can find our music challenging at first, but with repeated listening a whole universe begins to emerge, a universe way away from people making music to hold your attention while they rob you. good music sustains a vibrant life and affirms a life worth living for us all. to the thousands of people who have bought the cds and made them a part of their lives, we salute you!