The Return of Joseph Arthur (on tour in Italy)

Today it’s a technique made famous by Ed Sheeran: using the guitar with a pedalboard and a loop station, sampling guitars and voices in real time, building sound layer upon sound layer.

This is how a single artist turns into a band: Joseph Arthur already used it 30 years ago. Thanks to this technique, and his writing ability, he was discovered by Peter Gabriel in the mid-1990s. The ex-Genesis signed him to Real World and released his first albums; he also reinterpreted his own “In the sun” (from the second album “Come to where I’m from”) for a tribute album to Princess Diana, involved him in the collective album “Big blue ball” with Karl Wallinger, the result of recording sessions at the legendary Real World Studios in Bath.
In 2006 “In the sun” appeared in “Grey’s Anatomy”, in a version re-recorded the year before by Michael Stipe with Chris Martin and Justin Timberlake, as a benefit single for the damage caused by Hurricane Kathrina. REM also took Arthur on tour in 2005, with Peter Buck often coming on stage to play with him.

In the following years Arthur set up supergroups such as RNDM with Jeff Ament of Pearl Jam and Fistful of Mercy with Ben Harper and Dhani Harrison, son of George. In 2014 he recorded a tribute album to Lou Reed, his friend of 20 years: he had attended his first audition for Peter Gabriel and had taken him under his wing. In 2018 an album was released with Peter Buck of REM: the two renamed themselves “Arthur Buck”

For 20 years Joseph Arthur was an esteemed name in American songwriting: then the pandemic arrived, and his musical world dissolved.

Mystic, health expert and yoga practitioner, shortly after the arrival of Covid, Arthur became radicalized, starting to post videos on social media with conspiracy theories.

He wasn’t the only musician to do so – think of Eric Clapton and Van Morrison – but not having the large following of other colleagues, he ended up at the center of controversies that alienated his fans and contacts. New Frontier rejected Arthur Buck’s second chapter, while Arthur released singles talking about “new fascism” or calling for “Stop the shot”, maintaining the false theory that vaccines contained graphene. In the summer of the same year the Los Angeles Times published a portrait telling his story (“He was a celebrated singer-songwriter with famous fans. Then he started posting about the vaccine”): Arthur sued the prestigious Californian newspaper for 25 million of dollars, followed by a lawyer known for representing Trump politicians in similar lawsuits against CNN and the Washington Post.
The American media covered the controversy, but stopped talking about his music: as a critical darling, Arthur was simply ignored.

Now Arthur is trying to start again: after a series of concerts in France he is currently on tour in Italy: last night he held the first of his Italian shows, at Germi – Manuel Agnelli’s venue in Milan. On his social networks he talks about more universal and mystical themes and shows his paintings. He has just re-recorded “In the sun” and released a new song, “One life”, which anticipates his first album in 5 years.
Even in concert, there was no mention of past controversies, but songs dedicated to his 3-year-old daughter and to gratitude with titles like “Thank you is my mantra”, leading the audience to sing in Italian in chorus “I love you I’m sorry please forgive me, thank you ” or “Coney island baby” by Lou Reed, as well as classics from the first records such as the aforementioned “In the sun”, playing masterfully with loop pedals and microphones. He could soon announce a new supergroup with famous friends – in the meantime, these are the next dates, starting tonight:

Wednesday 2 October – Castelvetro (Mo) – Ca’berti Vini & Spumanti

Thursday 3 October – Pisa – Caracol Pisa

Saturday 5 October – Marostica (Vi) Don Bosco Oratory Hall