Arkells to play first full set at Rogers Arena

Canadian rock band Arkells are set to play at Rogers Arena on Tuesday in Vancouver as part of their “Blink Once” tour, marking the first time the band will play a full set at the venue in their decade-and-a-half-long tenure.

Lead vocalist, Max Kerman, says the band performed at the stadium during the 2019 JUNO awards and is looking forward to returning to the venue.

“It’s a big challenge. But we’re pumped about it,” he told CityNews. “We’ve just been getting texts from…pals of ours that live in Vancouver that are gonna roll through and we’re gonna get a chance to hang out.”

Nicest part of playing Vancouver is getting texts from @lights @danmanganmusic @saidthewhale @DearRouge @felixcartal telling us they will be rolling through. See y’all tomorrow!!!

— ARKELLS (@arkellsmusic) October 24, 2022

While it’s the first time the Ontario-founded band is bringing their extended band to Rogers Arena, Arkells has played in Vancouver a handful of times in the past. Kerman says they have played at various clubs and performance halls around the city over the years.

“First time ever played here was the Penthouse, which we found out was a strip club. We didn’t know it at the time,” he recalled.

Arkells are coming off the release of their latest album, “Blink Twice”. It is a sequel to their 2021 album, “Blink Once.” Kerman says the concept for the two-album set came when the band was writing music for the first one.

“We wrote ‘Reckoning’ which is off ‘Blink Twice’, early on. And we’re like, ‘oh, ‘Blink Twice’ is kind of an interesting name for an album. What if we call the first one ‘Blink Once’ and save ‘Reckoning’ for the sequel ‘Blink Twice’?’,” he explained. “We kind of came up with ‘Blink Twice’ before we even came up with ‘Blink Once’.”

Arkells will play their first full set at Rogers Arena on Oct. 25. (Courtesy, Arkells)

“We tried to be Taylor Swift-like in our music marketing. So that was a little Easter egg hinting that ‘Blink Twice’ would be coming,” Kerman said.

The song “Teenage Tears” off the latest album features fellow Canadian musicians, Tegan and Sara. The music video for the song was filmed in Kingsgate Mall in Vancouver’s Mount Pleasant neighbourhood.

Kerman says the band was looking to use a mall that captured the essence of the 1990s.

“It’s sort of about feeling nostalgic and sad about the end of a relationship,” he said. “We wanted something that kind of had like a 90s sad person feel to it. That’s why we chose it.”

Since starting the band as a group of friends attending university in Hamilton, Ontario, Arkells has won 16 JUNO awards, including six for “Best Rock Group” and five for “Best Rock Album.” “Blink Twice” is their eighth studio album.

Arkells will perform at Rogers Arena on Oct. 25.