(Arlene Kaytor / Facebook)

If you have yet to hear about Arlene Kaytor, you may remember the band it spawned from Lambsbreath. This band blends together indie pop, psychedelic rock, alt R&B, and modern alt-rock. As I was a big fan of the sound Lambsbreath was putting out, it was disappointing to hear that the band was dissolving due to internal differences. But the disappointment wouldn’t last long as Arlene Kaytor was blooming from the decay!

Named after the late and great mother of lead guitar and vocalist Mark Lingelbach, Arlene Kaytor brings rapturous nostalgia, lulling echoing lyrics, and wit. The members include Mark Lingelbach on guitars and vocals. Kevan (Tobacco Brown) Schell on guitar and vocals. Blu Belsher with the guitar and synth. Chris Johnson on bass, and Michael Wadham on drums.

(Fog Fotág / Facebook)

I had the pleasure of meeting Mark Lingelbach and Blu Belsher when I first started out at No Apologies Necessary radio. This was back in the COVID days when everything was juuuuust starting to become normal again. We invited the group to my cohost’s backyard studio “Post-Cool Studios” and had a rampant ‘ol time. They handled themselves well! I was just beginning to see the nature between performer and interviewee. Some musicians rocked the stage to then come into a recorded interview and shy right up. This wasn’t the case with Mark and Blu. They were a jovial pair that brought light and hilarity to the interview. It made me like them so much as humans that suddenly I liked their music even more.

Have you ever had that before? Where you love someones art, then you meet them and they are rude and arrogant and suddenly you can’t like their music anymore? Well I loved this feeling, in reverse. Where you meet the musician and suddenly it made you want to pull apart their lyrics and love their music even more.

Well these two came in tow with a producer and musician they’d been working with, T-Rav the Transformer. You but need a mere click on the interweb before you find Travis’ (T-Rav) amazing art. But today he was here as part of Lambsbreath. Having produced a couple of their songs and taken part in their music videos.

Here’s a taste of what Lambsbreath and T-Rav were creating at the time:

But even with all these fond memories, it was a pleasant turn of events to hear that Lambsbreath was evolving into Arlene Kaytor. This would allow the band to even further find what made them, and produce the kind of music we all needed to hear. Indie rock, folk, experimental. This journey from Lambsbreath to Arlene Kaytor is a testament to the power of reinvention and the enduring pursuit of musical excellence.

(Arlene Kaytor / Facebook)

Now as a final note, and ode to the creative passion behind everything Mark Lingelbach touches. Mark is actually an graphic novel illustrator! I first learnt this when I bought some of the epic merch Lambsbreath created, by the hands of Mark Lingelbach. One of my favourite sweatshirts titled SpaceBar was based off the well-known Vancouver graphic novel creator Simon Roy. Now if BCIT decides to give me a forum for all the amazing graphic novelists in Vancouver, I would explode with information. But I will keep this brief. Due to their on-going friendship, Mark eventually released his own comic “Good as New” and celebrated this launch with his own craft beer from ‘Off The Rail Brewing’. In fact Mark has now released a second graphic novel called “Better Now”. Hopefully with some imploring by his friend named ME he will sequester up a booth at VanCaf where we can all purchase this new addition. I wish I could write a whole article about VanCaf…

Not only this but he runs his own t-shirt printing company with OUT OF THIS WORLD designs by Mark. Mark allowed me one day to watch over his shoulder as he created an epic t-shirt that would be my nephew’s birthday gift – although I should’ve kept it for myself. If you’re a band looking for merch to blow your fans away, check out @futureinktraditions. If you’re just an average human looking for the worlds sickest t-shirt, then hit him up. Because I’m wearing all my purchases to death!

(Future Ink Traditions)

Find out more about Arlene Kaytor through the links below:

Keep your eyes locked on Evolution’s New Music podcast, as Mark will be featured in an upcoming episode!

For a taste of Arlene Kaytor’s insane tunes watch the video below:

Written by Volante Matheson, Radio Arts & Entertainment at BCIT

Contact: vmatheson1@my.bcit.ca