Greg Arnold


Gregory Charles "Greg" Arnold is a singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer and academic. Arnold won the APRA Songwriter of the Year award in 1993 and performs regularly as a solo artist and with his folk rock band, Things of Stone and Wood.

Biography

By 1986 Greg Arnold was lead vocalist with Melbourne indie rock band, 13 at Midnight, which released a cover version of "She Sells Sanctuary", on Cleopatra Records. The original line-up were Arnold, Russell Hall on bass guitar, Peter Pilley on drums, and Byron Smith on lead guitar. Hall was soon replaced by Michael Allen on bass guitar. The group followed with an album, Warring Tribes, in 1987 on Cleopatra Records.
By 1989 the group, 13 at Midnight, had disbanded, Arnold recalled in March 1993, "I wasn't particularly keen to get into a band after Thirteen at Midnight... but kind of talked me into it really, and I think from that we learnt a few things we didn't want to do again – and it's worked out". In 1989 after a break of a few months with Arnold on lead vocals, acoustic guitar, keyboards; and Allen on bass guitar, backing vocals, guitar, keyboards; they formed a folk rock group, Things of Stone and Wood, with Justin Brady on violin, mandolin, harmonica, guitar; and Tony Floyd on drums, percussion, recorder, backing vocals.
Arnold explained the group's name, " kind of organic and evocative, yeah, that's right. I'll have to remember that one". One of their earliest gigs was the 21st birthday party for Arnold's then-girlfriend, Helen Durham. Arnold wrote "Happy Birthday Helen", for Durham's 22nd birthday:
Durham recalled being told by fans that "she was not the subject of the song... People would say they knew the real Helen". Arnold and Durham were later married. "Happy Birthday Helen" was issued in December 1992, which peaked at No. 9 on the ARIA Singles Chart, the highest point for any of the band's singles. The group issued their debut album, The Yearning, in March the following year, which reached No.8 on the related ARIA Albums Chart. Arnold wrote most of the songs for the group. At the ARIA Music Awards of 1993 the group won 'Best New Talent'.
During late that year they were touring Europe, including a support gig for Midnight Oil in the United Kingdom. While there Arnold won 'Songwriter of the Year' at the 1993 APRA Awards.
The group released additional material until late 1998 when they went into hiatus including "Junk Theatre" and "Wildflowers" . During the hiatus Arnold formed the Greg Arnold Trio, which performed in Melbourne. He then formed Tricycle with Anita Hustas on double bass and Ian Kitney on drums. They released their debut album, Super, in September 1999. The lead single, "Oh No Not You Again", preceded it in August. They enjoyed extensive airplay on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Super was named album of the week by Coast FM in January 2001.
Things of Stone & Wood reconvened in 2001, releasing further albums. They disbanded by 2006. Arnold released a second album in November that year, Lost Marie, a collection of melodic short stories. Arnold said "I’ve been banging on about myself for about twenty years... I thought it was about time to make something up". His ballads are about a variety of social non-conformists. He was accompanied on acoustic instrumentation by Kitney on drums and Pete Haydon on brass, percussion and supporting vocals.
Arnold has continued to write songs, perform, and produce records for other artists including Melbourne indie-rock band Skipping Girl Vinegar, Carus Thompson, Stonefield and Georgia Fields acoustic group Junior's LP Sample and Restless, Merri-May Gill's Designated Driver. For Designated Driver Arnold also co-wrote four tracks with Gill, and supplied guitar and bass guitar.
From 2007 he was part of a trio, Greg Arnold and the Lost Marias. This act also has John Bedggood on fiddle, mando and piano and Ian Kitney on drums. His 2011 album with The Swamp Dandies received great reviews and gained international recognition when the "charming" and "hilarious" clip for "Olivia" was endorsed by Olivia Newton-John.

Personal life

Greg Arnold married Helen Durham, who is, as of June 2014, the Director of International Law and Policy for the International Committee of the Red Cross and was a fellow at Melbourne Law School. Arnold has a Bachelor of Arts from Melbourne University and a Masters of Education from RMIT. He has a PhD from University of Tasmania. He was a senior lecturer and the head of the Bachelor of Music Industry program at Melbourne Polytechnic from 2011-2014 when it was known as NMIT.
The couple have two children.
In 2006 Arnold wrote "Close My Eyes" for the Australian Red Cross and recorded it with former Midnight Oil drummer, Rob Hirst, and Paul Greene. The song received airplay across Asia. Arnold related " was inspired by the realisation that it is so easy to ignore all the terrible news in the world. The onslaught of images one sees and hears via various media outlets can make us emotionally immune".
Arnold currently plays as a key forward for the Geneva Jets in The AFL Switzerland football league. Due to his graceful elegance, and composure under pressure, Arnold is known by his teammates as "Dr Silk". Arnold's reliable set-shot and forward-line creativity has helped the Jets establish themselves as the dominant force in the Swiss Australian Football League. Arnold was a linchpin of the Jets 2019 Reserve and Senior twin premierships, booting three and two goals in the respective Grand Finals.

Discography

;13 at Midnight
Discography according to Australian Rock Database:
;Things of Stone and Wood
Discography according to Australian Rock Database:
;Solo