BACKSTAGE PASS ARTICLE MAY 1997
ARRA
"JOURNEY AND BEYOND'"
You know you are on to something good when it takes over 15 minutes just to find a parking place. Even with a relatively big lot, I still had to park two buildings away and make my way back to the front door, which had a line of people waiting to get in. A welcome sight in a time when it seems it is getting harder and harder for bands to draw large crowds. The attraction you may ask? Well first lets look at the crowd, yes I said crowd, assembled in Addison's Wantabee's night club. They are decidedly enthusiastic, and most definately part of the 30 something cast. Though there is a contingent of 21+ year olds throughout the club which is decent in size. Throughout the night they are singing along and mouthing the words to just about every song. Spontaneously dancing or just swaying to the music which is expertly interwoven together in mood and tone. There are some classic rock radio programmers that could take some tips from this presentation. As the night progresses, so too does the audience numbers. By the time the first set is rolled out there's not a empty seat in the house, and standing room is very limited.
What is it that has brought all these people together. The recipe is rather simple. Start with a base of Journey. Add a heaping spoonfull of Boston, a dash of Kansas, a smidgen of Queensryche, and top it off with some Styx, Bon Jovi, Toto, and Triumph. The mixture is extremely pallettable to anyone who enjoys strong vocals, dead on harmonies, and intence keyboard album oriented rock. The name of the entree? Ask club goers throughout the suburbs and they can tell you without skipping a beat. ARRA of course!
This six member group has been performing "the greatest hits of the 70's, 80's, and 90's" for sometime now. Six years to be exact. They've appeared at every major suburban club in that span, and have lost count on the number of performances they've made in that time. Working every weekend, they've also worked schools, headlined festivals, and opened for national acts Kansas, Steppenwolf, and Survivor. It was at Naperville's Ribfest that they played in front of over 10,000 people while playing with 38 Special. All along adding fans and admirers along the way. It is through the accumulation of all these shows that has made ARRA one of the best and most dependable drawing groups in the area. Of course anyone can try to play the music they play. It's another thing to pull it off so masterfully. It's the musicians that set this band apart from other imitators.
To say it starts of with Lead Vocalist and Villa Park resident Ron Platt is an understatement. The voice that delivers those Journey classics like "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'" night in and night out is a true frontman. A kinetic ball of energy, he still is bouncing around stage at an aerobic pace, while hitting the notes with vitual ease during the over 2 hour long performance. He's been on stage since, as he puts it, before the start of time. He's played with Lazy, Scraps, Chaser, and Drama who he still performs with now. Having grown up in Bellwood he also plays the drums, and keyboards. He shines when he's singing something by Kansas like "Carry On", and nails "Don't Look Back" by Boston. It is his shire mastery of being able to slide in and out of one groups sound to another that keeps the shows pace manageble. When asked why their frontman moves around so much, the answer was straight and to the point - It's harder to hit a moving target!
ARRA was formed in 1991 when 3 members of Drama left and joined with 2 members of Infinity. The meaning of the name? Well, they tell me that in greek mythology it means "great lover" although I wasn't able to confirm this and I think they may have been just yankin' my chain. Don't call them a tribute band either. They get testy. "We like and perform several different bands. Our show is much more diverse than just covering one groups music. One of the components of our show is the crowd partisipation. You can just see them having fun. That is why we try to be very approachable between sets and after the show," explains guitarist James C. "Blaze" Zahrobsky. One highlight of the show is a rendition he does of "Silent Lucidity" by Queensryche. This particular night he dedicated it to the memory of his late father. Having played in former bands Abstract and Infinity, he now lives in Brookfield and has been playing on stage since 1982. His backing vocals lay a strong foundation for the rest of the group when they have to hit the four part harmonies neccessary on some of the songs. "There is absolutely no feeling in the world quite like it when everyone hits their note together. It's one of the reasons I love playing in this band." using a Charvel guitar with Seymour Duncan pickups, Jim offers this short explanation to the groups popularity. "It's the demographics man. The people who are going out to live music clubs want to hear familiar music played well. I'm really hoping like hell that the popular music of today becomes more melodic. Not to the extreme or corny, but back to where singers sing."
Kevin Connor the lead guitarist from Cicero started playing out 12 years ago at the age of 20. He pulls off the lead duties with flair and frequently talks to the crowd between songs to give Ron a chance to catch his breath. Listing Synergy as his favorite club to play, you can probably find him at Lyons Brewing Co. on one of those rare nights that ARRA is not playing. Another former member of Infinity, he also played in Abstract. His amplifier of choice is a Mesa Boogie Mark IV and plays a Jackson guitar.
Kevin Kreis is the keyboardist who holds the whole thing together. He provides a solid background and a band of this type could never pull it off without a keyboardist of considerable talent. He utilizes a Korg and a Farfisa keyboard setup. The Midlothian native shows his technical prowess and abilities when he stands out while playing the Kansas song "Portrait".
The low end is supplied by Steve Latka on the only instrument they let him play, an '81 vintage bass, and Rob Wiseman who bangs away on his Pearl Drums. Steve comes from, well he says, Lug Nut Park, and Rob hails from Deerfield and he too is a former Infinity member. The sound system ARRA uses and whole-heartedly endorses was from SPL productions with Rob Dworak doing a supurb mixing job.
You may notice the superlatives that have been used to describe the band and it's members. Masterful, solid, etc. Do you think I was impressed with this group? Well, it sure was good to hear the classics played well and not butchered. While to the man each member seemed to long to play original material, and each of them mentioned it at some point during our discussion, the reality of playing to an appreciative crowd, making a little side money, and hangin' out with their five best friends each weekend seem to put being in a "cover" band in perspective. But then to the literal thousands of people who have enjoyed seeing ARRA over the years none of it makes much difference, as long they still pump out their new renditions of songs like Toto's "Hold The Line", or Styx's "Blue Collar Man" or "Lorelli", or even their newest Journey cover "Stay Awhile".
To find out about upcoming shows etc. call the ARRA Hotline at
708-863-8600.
