Arkayla connect family history, local identity and fast-rising ticket demand on their new four-track EP, Back to Belle Vue.
The Manchester band’s latest release arrives as their grassroots audience begins translating into serious live numbers. After selling approximately 1,400 tickets across their previous eight-date headline run, Arkayla have already shifted nearly 5,000 tickets for a sold-out 12-date UK tour this autumn.
The EP kicks off with the punk-fueled Run Kid, before Vivian and My Number strip things back into softer acoustic textures pulled from ’90s and early-2000s guitar music. Doba—named for explorer Aleksander Doba—closes things out with a jolt of renewed energy.
Its visual and lyrical identity draws heavily from Manchester’s former Belle Vue Zoo. The artwork uses archive photographs taken by drummer Dylan’s great-grandfather, Matt Kelly, who served as the zoo’s head keeper from 1945 to 1975.
Vivian revisits the remarkable story of Kelly surviving a snake bite in 1946. With the required antidote located in London, an emergency operation was launched to transport it to Manchester. His newborn daughter was subsequently named Vivian in honour of the doctor who helped save him.
Arkayla’s sold-out tour includes Manchester’s O2 Ritz, where nearly 1,500 tickets have been sold, underlining the band’s rapid grassroots growth.
Back to Belle Vue ultimately feels less like a nostalgia exercise than a statement of scale: Arkayla are using Manchester’s past to build a significantly bigger future.
LIVE DATES:
27th AUGUST – LEEDS FESTIVAL
28th AUGUST – VICTORIOUS FESTIVAL
SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER UK HEADLINE TOUR
[SOLD OUT]
17th SEPTEMBER – SOCIAL, HULL
18th SEPTEMBER – ROCKIN CHAI, WREXHAM
19th SEPTEMBER – THE SUGAR MILL, STOKE ON TRENT
24th SEPTEMBER – KING TUT’S WAH WAH HUT, GLASGOW
25th SEPTEMBER – INDEPENDENT, SUNDERLAND
26th SEPTEMBER – O2 RITZ, MANCHESTER
1st OCTOBER – CASTLE AND FALCON, BIRMINGHAM
2nd OCTOBER – THE WATERFRONT STUDIO, NORWICH
3rd OCTOBER – BRUDENELL, LEEDS
6th OCTOBER – DINGWALLS, LONDON
9th OCTOBER – GREEN DOOR STORE, BRIGHTON
10th OCTOBER – CLWB IFOR BACH, CARDIFF