Bio

Who is Arsen Karalic? Just a dreamer? Yet another Salieri? Another master of the art of failure? Perhaps.

Idyllic childhood of an avid book reader with overactive imagination ended with the sound of Guns n’ Roses, which was all the guidance a young dreamer with predisposition for obsessive behaviour needed. Subsequent exploration and discovery of a dusty old Made in Japan LP and the Child in Time solo provided further inspiration for nights spent trying to understand and learn how to express himself through guitar.

In timely fashion, before the “bedroom god” syndrome took over, it became clear that a Fender Stratocaster plugged into a Marshall turned up to 11 is the only way to go. With this revelation and his evil plan in mind, Arsen formed a band Viscera in 2001 and spent the next few years performing in New Zealand. During that period few recordings were made with Neil Maddaver and Lee Prebble, which proved to be a great learning curve, if nothing else. The band migrated to Europe in early 2007.

Tired of the constant compromise of the ideas, incompatible level of ambition from others, and the rock n’ roll scene lacking any depth whatsoever, Arsen decided to retreat back to New Zealand, and without any other intentions, write a work purely to his own liking, reflecting his own thoughts and feelings.

Hence the “I can’t recall whether I slept, but I was surely dreaming” album. It was originally written as a classical concerto with multiple movements, however, once it was taken into the studio, it morphed into what it is now; a collection of songs, in no particular order, as a memory of a wound once obtained…