The other Reno Arch

Arch’s namesake is not actually the famous Reno Arch, but the Sparks Arch—as in Kyle Archuleta, the band’s lead singer.

With Archuleta firmly in place as the band’s keystone, the rest of the Arch begins to take shape. With Mike Bellione on bass, Scott Anderson playing lead guitar, Brian Thompson on rhythm guitar and Scott Thompson on drums, Arch has what seems to be a solid construction.

Founded in 1995, the band has since become a well-known alternative Reno landmark in its own right. Besides playing all over the Reno area, Arch is featured on Farmclub.com and has an impressive Web site of its own under construction at www.arch-music.com.

“We initially got together in 1995. Then we took some time off. But in the years before the break, we weren’t very instrumental in writing a large amount of songs anyway, so we did a lot of covers when we first started,” says Archuleta, who recently also tried his hand at stand-up comedy (See “Comedy Quest, page 10). “That was kind of hard, because people had a hard time taking us seriously as a band because of that.”

But after the cover song stage was outgrown, Arch began to stand on its own. Archuleta credits the timely arrival of a new support to the structure, Bellione, who was a transplant from Los Angeles.

“Then we met Mike, and when he came in, it was like a fucking time bomb went off,” Archuleta says. “All of us started having our creative juices flowing, and we started having group sex again. It was nice.”

He’s joking. I think. There’s some laughter, and then Archuleta points out the calendar on the wall, featuring various mullet hairstyle models as if it were a car calendar you would see in a garage. Then everyone starts laughing again.

Now the new guy, Bellione, takes the floor.

“I honestly think this is one of the better bands I’ve been in, more of the style I wanted to play—a lot harder—and I enjoy going out and having a lot of fun,” Bellione says.

Archuleta is grinning at his beer.

Bellione ignores him.

“I played bass for Keen for a year and a half, and I played in a band called Punch and Judy, and a band called Your Own Aroma,” Bellione says. “But this band gave me a sense that if we really push 100 percent, we can actually make it. It lit a fire under my ass.”

Arch’s music, for the most part, isn’t easy to label, which can be frustrating for some people. Not for these guys.

Farmclub.com throws them under the “alternative” heading, where you can hear them perform a song called “Eyesore.” Or you can see them this Friday night when they hit the Hard Hat with Red Cel and Livitz Livitz.

Kyle pours another round of beer and takes the opportunity to make what sounds like a toast, under the circumstances.

“If I have to say one thing about what this band is about, then everything else I’ve said might be construed as bullshit, because I fuck around a lot and joke around a lot, but the biggest thing that Arch means to me is about our friends and family … which in turn are our fans.”

I feel like saying “cheers,” but Archuleta isn’t finished.

“We’re not fucking dickheads,” he says. “We’re not trying to pull any rock star attitudes or anything like that. We’re just guys that love to play music, get fucked up and play rock ‘n’ roll and make everybody a part of Arch.”

The grin returns.

“That’s where the group sex comes in."