Aaron West Arkeen (June 18, 1960 – May 30, 1997) was an American musician best known for co-writing several Guns N' Roses songs.
West Arkeen | |
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Background information | |
Birth name | Aaron West Arkeen |
Also known as | West Arkeen |
Born | Neuilly-sur-Seine, France | June 18, 1960
Origin | San Diego, California |
Died | May 30, 1997 Los Angeles, California | (aged 36)
Genres | Rock, hard rock, blues rock |
Occupation(s) | Musician, songwriter, record producer |
Instruments | Guitar, vocals |
Years active | 1978-1997 |
Labels | Reality Entertainment |
Early life edit
Aaron West Arkeen was born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France. He was the son Morris Arkeen, a retired U. S. Army Master Sergeant and single parent.[1] He grew up in San Diego, California with his older brother, Abe.[2]
Arkeen was born with craniosynostosis, a birth defect in which the skull grows irregularly, often constricting brain growth.[3] The condition required surgery, from which he fully recovered, but left an ear-to-ear scar over the crown of Arkeen's head.[4] Arkeen’s mother abandoned him after the surgery and was a non-factor in his life, contributing to his later substance abuse.[5]
Arkeen began playing guitar when he was 14 years old.[6] He took a single guitar lesson and was a self-taught musician.[7] He cited Elton John, John Lennon, Jimi Hendrix, Earth, Wind, and Fire, and Ted Nugent as musical influences from his youth.[8]
Arkeen worked briefly in the oil industry in East Texas and as a slot machine repairman in Las Vegas. In 1986 he relocated to Los Angeles, where he worked as a house painter for a day job while pursuing a music career.[9]
In a LA Weekly profile on Arkeen, his partner for nine years, Wendy Lou Gosse, described the couple “going to see bands at local clubs and bring friends back to jam and write, sometimes deep into the next day.[10]
Music career edit
After several years of struggling to find success as a musician, Arkeen befriended a group of musicians in Los Angeles which would soon rise to international fame as Guns N' Roses.
Arkeen lived in an apartment next to Guns N' Roses bassist Duff McKagan.[11] He and McKagan formed a friendship and began writing songs together.[4] Though he was never a member of the band, the group's vocalist Axl Rose considered adding him as a third guitarist, primarily for his prolific songwriting abilities.[4]
Arkeen collaborated with Guns N’ Roses members co-writing the songs: "It's So Easy," "Crash Diet,” “Bad Obsession,” "The Garden,” "Sentimental Movie,” and "Yesterdays.”[12]
Guns N’ Roses traditionally opens its live performances with “It’s So Easy, a song Arkeen co-wrote.[13]
Arkeen also wrote "Make Your Play" and "Pressure" for Birmingham, Alabama band Brother Cane, as well as co-writing "My Misery" for Phantom Blue.
After working on other songs with the band for their double set Use Your Illusion I and II, Arkeen started his own project in 1995, The Outpatience. Featuring vocalist Mike Shotton, bassist James Hunting, guitarist Joey Hunting, drummer Abe Laboriel Jr. and keyboardist Gregg Buchwalter, the band released their debut album, Anxious Disease in 1996 in Japan. Axl Rose, Slash and Duff McKagan appear as guest artists and Izzy Stradlin co-wrote one of the songs.[4]
Izzy Stradlin and Duff McKagan are most closely associated with Arkeen. The trio played in The Drunkfuxs' side project together, and Arkeen co-wrote two of the songs on McKagan's debut solo record, Believe in Me.
Death edit
On May 30, 1997, Arkeen was found dead in his Los Angeles home at 36 years old. [14] He officially died of an injection of heroin, morphine, and cocaine.[15]
Legacy and influence edit
Duff McKagan credits Arkeen with teaching him about alternate tuning on guitar.[16] Slash stated that Arkeen was "the only one that always came through when any of us needed anything. For a long time he literally was the only one we could trust."[17] Arkeen’s bluesy style affected Guns N’ Roses’ songwriting style.[18] The Guns N' Roses album Live Era: '87-'93 was dedicated, in part, to his memory.[19]
Discography edit
Year | Artist | Album | Title(s) |
---|---|---|---|
1987 | Guns N' Roses | Appetite For Destruction | "It's So Easy" |
1991 | Use Your Illusion I | "Bad Obsession", "The Garden" | |
Use Your Illusion II | "Yesterdays" | ||
Asphalt Ballet | Asphalt Ballet | "Wasted Time" | |
1993 | Asphalt Ballet | Pigs | "Crash Diet" |
Brother Cane | Brother Cane | "Pressure", "Make Your Play" | |
Duff McKagan | Believe in Me | ||
Phantom Blue | Built to Perform | "My Misery" | |
1996 | The Outpatience | Anxious Disease | |
2001 | Adam Bomb | New York Times | "Anxiety" |
2004 | Wildside | The Wasted Years | "Crash Diet" |
2015 | The Seekers | A World Of Our Own | "The Seekers" |
References edit
- ^ Wake, Matt (2017-07-19). "The Unsung Songwriters Who Helped Make Appetite for Destruction a Classic - LA Weekly". www.laweekly.com. Retrieved 2023-12-25.
- ^ Wake, Matt (2017-07-19). "The Unsung Songwriters Who Helped Make Appetite for Destruction a Classic - LA Weekly". www.laweekly.com. Retrieved 2023-12-25, Matt (July 19, 2017). "THE UNSUNG SONGWRITERS WHO HELPED MAKE APPETITE FOR DESTRUCTION A CLASSIC". LA Weekly.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Wake, Matt (2017-07-19). "The Unsung Songwriters Who Helped Make Appetite for Destruction a Classic - LA Weekly". www.laweekly.com. Retrieved 2023-12-25.
- ^ a b c d Wake, Matt (July 19, 2017). "The Unsung Songwriters Who Helped Make Appetite for Destruction a Classic". LA Weekly. Retrieved April 19, 2017.
- ^ Wake, Matt (July 19, 2017). "THE UNSUNG SONGWRITERS WHO HELPED MAKE APPETITE FOR DESTRUCTION A CLASSIC".
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Wake, Matt (2017-07-19). "The Unsung Songwriters Who Helped Make Appetite for Destruction a Classic - LA Weekly". www.laweekly.com. Retrieved 2023-12-25.
- ^ Wake, Matt (2017-07-19). "The Unsung Songwriters Who Helped Make Appetite for Destruction a Classic - LA Weekly". www.laweekly.com. Retrieved 2023-12-25.
- ^ Wake, Matt (2017-07-19). "The Unsung Songwriters Who Helped Make Appetite for Destruction a Classic - LA Weekly". www.laweekly.com. Retrieved 2023-12-25.
- ^ Wake, Matt (2017-07-19). "The Unsung Songwriters Who Helped Make Appetite for Destruction a Classic - LA Weekly". www.laweekly.com. Retrieved 2023-12-25.
- ^ Wake, Matt (July 19, 2017). "The Unsung Songwriters Who Helped Make Appetite For Destruction A Classic". L. A. Weekly. Retrieved July 19, 2017.
- ^ "West Arkeen: 14 Things You Might Not Know". iHeart. Retrieved 2023-12-25.
- ^ "Who wrote "Sentimental Movie" by Guns N' Roses?". Genius. Retrieved 2024-03-10.
- ^ "Guns N' Roses Boston Setlist – Fenway Park – Aug 21, 2023". JamBase. Retrieved 2023-12-25.
- ^ Ark Behavioral Health Editorial Team, Ark (August 15, 2023). "Ark Behavioral Health".
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Editorial Team, Dead Rock Kicking (2024). "West Arkeen Death".
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: date and year (link) CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ McKagan, Duff (2011). Stacy Creamer (ed.). It's so Easy (and other lies). Collaboration by Tim Mohr. Touchstone. p. 45. ISBN 978-1451606645.
- ^ Slash; Anthony Bozza (30 October 2007). Slash. HarperCollins. pp. unknown. ISBN 978-0-06-135142-6.
- ^ Wake, Matt (July 19, 2017). "The Unsung Songwriters That Made Appetite For Destruction A Classic". L. A. Weekly. Retrieved July 19, 2017.
- ^ Wake, Matt (2017-07-19). "The Unsung Songwriters Who Helped Make Appetite for Destruction a Classic - LA Weekly". www.laweekly.com. Retrieved 2023-12-25.