S7E11 - Sean Arkless
In this episode of 'More Than Work', Rabiah, an IT professional and stand-up comedian, talks to guest Sean Arkless about his journey from low self-confidence and working in retail to becoming the co-founder of Sjark Limited and vocalist of the London based band, 'Hello Amnesia'. Sean shares his experiences as a freelancer and his decision to start his own music production company. He also discusses his ongoing Master's degree in Musical Theater, the role of mentors in his career development, the value of being assertive and possessing a 'learn and seek' mindset. Sean's advice is to 'live fearlessly and choose your own adventures', encouraging others to pursue their dreams and never give up despite challenges. The podcast ends with Sean providing information on where listeners can find more about his work.
00:08 Introduction to the Podcast
00:37 Guest Introduction: Sean Arkless
01:04 Sean's Journey to London
01:45 Sean's Educational Background and Career Path
03:15 Sean's Passion for Musical Theater
04:49 The Art of Storytelling through Musical Theater
06:09 Sean's Journey into Sound Engineering
10:25 The Birth of Sjark Limited
13:08 Solving Industry Problems through Sjark Limited
20:12 The Story of Hello Amnesia
22:47 The Band's First Gig and the Impact
23:16 The Story Behind the Band's Name
25:36 Musical Influences and Discoveries
29:22 The Journey from New Zealand to England
30:01 Overcoming Challenges and Finding Inspiration
32:28 The Turning Point: A Concert Experience
33:55 The Power of Determination and Dreams
34:58 Fun Five: Getting to Know More About Sean
41:03 Where to Find Sean and His Music
42:17 Wrapping Up the Conversation
Note from Rabiah (Host):
So, I’ll be honest, this is the first time I’ve used AI to write the bulk of my show notes and I’m super impressed but this part is me, the HI (human intelligence entity, Rabiah). Sean and I met at a gig I was doing which was a variety show with super talented people he went to school with. He was cool and we went to a concert together (which we talk about here) and then another concert and I’ve seen him perform, and I’m so glad you get to hear him now.
There have been some gaps in me posting so if you’ve been waiting a while, I’m sorry. I needed a break, again. I’m trying to get the great interviews I have in the can out to you sooner than later though. Thanks for sticking with me! And if you’re new, don’t stop listening at this episode. There really many great ones to come and over a hundred from the past. Thanks for being here.
Host Rabiah (North London) spends time chatting with musician, grad student and business owner Sean Arkless (South London) .
Transcript
Rabiah Coon (host): [00:00:00] This is More Than Work, the podcast reminding you that your self worth is made up of more than your job title. Each week, I'll talk to a guest about how they discovered that for themselves. You'll hear about what they did, what they're doing, and who they are. I'm your host, Rabiah. I work in IT, perform stand up comedy, write, and of course, podcast.
Thank you for listening. Here we go.
All right, everyone. This week on More Than Work. I am really excited. I'm always really excited, actually, I don't put people on here that I'm not excited about, but I am really, really excited just because I haven't gotten to hang out with this guy in a while and we're getting to do that. So it's Sean Arkless, he's co-founder and director of Sjark Limited, and we'll get into what that is and even how it's spelled.
And also a vocalist at Hello Amnesia, which is a great band in London and super fun. So, thanks for being here, Sean.[00:01:00]
Sean Arkless: Thank you for having me. It's a real pleasure.
Rabiah Coon (host): Yeah, pleasure for me too. It's just good to see your face. So,
And we were just talking about seeing our each other's faces, but first of all, just where am I talking to you from?
Sean Arkless: I'm currently in my flat in London, Elephant and Castle, where I recently moved.
Yeah,
Rabiah Coon (host): cool. Yeah. So you moved south of the river 'cause you were living pretty far north actually before.
Sean Arkless: yeah, yeah. During my studies I was up north and I spent most of, most of my freelance time up in, up north as well. This is a very new development for me, and I have to say, I I like being really close to everything. It's kind of nice.
Rabiah Coon (host): I know. Same here. Like people say, oh, it costs so much, whatever. But it's like, yeah, but I also then can walk a lot of places, so
Sean Arkless: Yeah,
and I cycle everywhere now. Like I don't even use the tube.
Rabiah Coon (host): Oh, nice. Oh, that's really good.
So actually, so you mentioned, for your studies and you're currently studying, but also you did study and I, that's when I met you, was with some of your student mates basically. So where did you study and where are you studying now, I guess, too? And, and then what?
Sean Arkless: [00:02:00] Okay. Yeah, so I, I studied at a place called I C M P, which is the Institute for Contemporary Music Performance in North London in a, in a, in Kilburn. And I studied songwriting for three years for my undergrad. And that's when I, you know, I formed the company in second year. I, I formed the band just towards the end of first year. So that's a, a lot of my kind of life projects have sort of stemmed from that degree. It's also where I learned about audio, where I sort of became an audio engineer for live, for live sound. And yeah, so my whole career kind of came off the back of that. And then I was freelance for a year and a half when I graduated.
And then I, on a bit of a whim actually applied for a master's degree at some very, very prestigious performing arts schools. And I thought, well, it's never gonna happen for me. And then got into all of them and of, it kind of blew my mind. So I thought, shit, I better do it.
Rabiah Coon (host): Mm-hmm. .
Totally. Yeah.
Sean Arkless: I better do it.
So that's why I'm now studying musical theater [00:03:00] masters in musical theater at Mountview College, which is in Peckham. And they are, yeah, it's, it's incredible. I've just finished my first week and it's, oh, it's not just a step up baby. It's like, like 10 steps up.
Rabiah Coon (host): Wow. Yeah. That's cool. And did you, mean, did you always like musical theater? Like how'd you decide to pursue that study after what you've been doing?
Sean Arkless: I've, I've always loved musical theater. I think it's one of the reason I came to London, you know, like, checking out all of the like the West End. I, I always go and see a show at least once or twice a month, and I still feel like I know nothing about this,
this.
Rabiah Coon (host): Mm-hmm.
Sean Arkless: to be honest, like no matter how many plays or shows I see, I'm still I still feel like I haven't even scraped the surface. But yeah, I, I, I did musicals when I was in high school.
Rabiah Coon (host): Mm-hmm.
Sean Arkless: And I I don't know, like I've always been a singer and a performer and, and, and, and an actor like e even just, just throughout my whole life really, I think it's always been a bit of a calling for me. So musical theater combines all of my performative passions into, into [00:04:00] one very lovely box.
Uh, So, and it also enables me to write as well. 'cause as a songwriter and a writer. I, I, I like to combine those two things as well. So it, it really is like a, just a sort of full circle. This is everything that I do in one little, one little box kind of thing.
Rabiah Coon (host): Yeah, and it's such a unique way of storytelling, I think. I mean, some people I think will make fun of musical theater, and I've met a few people who don't like musicals and they go, I don't like when people just start singing, and that doesn't happen in real life. It's like, well, neither does a lot of things, like any science fiction.
Well, I won't say any science fiction, but a lot of them don't happen in real life. Some of them do as we've seen.
But I mean, a lot of things don't happen in real life that you're entertained by, you know, BoJack Horseman. There's not a horse walking around talking and doing things like this, but I really enjoyed it.
But are you already thinking about stories you'll be able to tell in a different way through through musical theater?
Sean Arkless: I think one of the [00:05:00] really big appeals for me, especially because I've really, I've always wanted to write a musical. It feels like a big, big thing that I need to do in my life. And. I think music is a really, really great way of getting people involved. You know, getting, getting 'em outside of their heads, getting them in their feelings.
Just sort of like, you know, and then I think when you add a storytelling element to that, especially when there's like, you know, a serious underlying message or even just a playful
message, whatever it is. You can kind of go beyond what you would be capable of with a typical song, and you can really expand on an idea you know, whether it's a political one or what, whatever it is, you can, you can really, 'cause you can, you're telling a, a story with that song and
it's like, it's going somewhere, with the musical theater style song, because you wouldn't really have dialogue per se in, in, in your average sort of pop song. Whereas in musical theater you can sort of break that. Like the medium's a bit different, the format's a bit different, and you can, I, I guess, I think you can say a lot more. A s, As you can already see, I, I talk [00:06:00] a lot, so I'm excited to put these thoughts into a yeah, into that format and see what, see what comes out of it basically.
Rabiah Coon (host): Yeah. Yeah, totally. And I know just kind of looking at, you said you've always performed and that's always been part of your life, but pursuing that and then also pursuing the sound engineering and, and all of that, like, did you have an interest in that too, or did that come during school? Like, or did you see that maybe as a, a thing that will enable you to do the music?
I mean, how's, how have you decided on that career path? Because some people fully commit just to music or fully commit to one. I'm, you know, that I'm doing comedy, but I've been very committed to it for 20 something years. So , you know, how's that for you?
it's, do you know I, I, I think that's a really, really good question. I. It, it fell in my lap. I think, you know, when I, when I was traveling around the world, when, or, or like even before then, when I was a teenager, like working in my first job, I. [00:07:00] I think I just ended up, I, when I started studying, I made a promise to myself that I would never work in a kind of, you know, unskilled like retail or, or bar job again.
And, and, and actually I, I have to say it's not, it's not out of disrespect for these positions because I think if not worked in retail or I had not worked bar, I would never be the person that I am today. And I think actually everyone should work retail bar, but, I think that, that it's, it's like a stepping stone for me in, into becoming like a professional because those jobs were incredible in terms of my personal and social development or communication development, but they didn't really fulfill me on a professional level or an, or an intellectual level.
So I, I sort of made that promise to myself that I would never go back to that. was scary for me because that, it's like, that was a safety net for me. And I could earn good money in retail. But so then I knew I had to find something. And I started this band and we, we were doing rehearsals and [00:08:00] my band couldn't really be bothered to operate the the mixing desk to run our monitors or our sound so that we could get the sound. So I just worked it out. I looked at the thing and I, I thought, this is very intimidating, but I guess it's not too difficult. And I just played with some buttons and then, you know, I guess a year and a half later, I'm getting paid to touch buttons.
Yeah. Yeah.
Sean Arkless: Kind of how it went.
Rabiah Coon (host): Yeah. Yeah, I, and I mean, just being able to figure it out, but also being curious enough to figure it out. I mean, even with the podcast, like I do all the editing and I figured out how to do that, and then it became important to transcribe for SEO, but also for accessibility.
So how do I do that? And now I'm on these tools that make it really easy. I mean, benefits of AI and that kind of thing.
But you know, . I think just being curious and knowing that you can possibly teach yourself and then start asking people. Have you had anybody kind of mentor you or help you or do any training since you started pressing buttons willy-nilly?
Sean Arkless: [00:09:00] Yeah, I, I, I think that's kind of, that's sort of how it happened. I started pressing buttons, didn't really think much of it. And we, like, I used to go to these, like, open mics or just social at music events and I'd perform and I eventually met a guy. He called himself Scotty Rockstar. I will never forget that man. Crazy, crazy guy. I was looking at his iPad and I was like, oh, are you controlling the sound from your iPad? And he said, yeah. And he showed me how it worked and he offered me my first ever professional job, which was like 50 pounds for eight hours, which was ridiculously underpaid.
But nevertheless, I learned a lot and I kept coming back and he sort of showed me how amplifiers worked and speakers and speaker cables, and were operating like the worst quality equipment as well. So like, I had to learn how to problem solve very, like, very early on. And it, it actually it, it totally changed everything.
And so it started with him and then, you know, I moved on to people who were doing more like corporate stuff. I basically just went and talked to people and I said, Hey, [00:10:00] I'm really excited about this now like, 'cause I've got a bit of experience, but I still have a lot to learn. Is there any chance I can shadow you. And before you know it, I'm, I'm, I'm engineering like a, like a, like a live streamed remembrance day service in, London Stadium for Westham United. And blagged the whole thing. Like, I dunno how I ended up there, but it was yeah. And it's sort of just one step by step just asking for help basically.
Rabiah Coon (host): Nice. . Nice. That's great. And then, then you decided to go with Sjark Limited and, and do your own music production company versus like, working for another one. And is that just really like an extension of you being a freelancer or are, did you put it together as a company that, you know, has people in it, that kind of thing?
Sean Arkless: Ah, so basically the, the whole sort of the whole thing behind Sjark I think was, by the time I hit second year, I sort of recognized that there was certain aspects of the creative industry in general, and especially being freelance within the creative industry that [00:11:00] I just didn't, I didn't quite understand I or agree with.
I, it just felt like it was all a bit too difficult, bit, bit complicated. Communication was really quite, quite poor in a lot of areas. And I, I guess I wanted to try and see whether or not my ideas about how that could be improved were of merit and I guess the only way to see whether or not they are of merit is, is to try and put them into practice.
So I, that, that's kind of how it came about. And we, I, I met my business partner Lasse. He was head of events at the university I was attending. And I watched him work for a year and I was like, this, this guy gets it. I called him and I was like, Hey, can you help me put a live stream on for my friend? And he was like, yeah, sure, no worries. And I was like, great, I'll pay you this. Like, it's not gonna be big budget, but if it works, then hopefully we can do more of this, yada, yada. And then we did the thing and in the taxi on the way back from this job, which was the most stressful, intense thing I've ever done [00:12:00] in my entire life, because I'd never really done anything ambitious like that before and I really was not ready.
But I guess we just jump in, give it a go. And it went so well that I said to him, listen, we're starting a business together. And he was like, what? He was like, are, are you joking?
I was like, no, we're gonna start a business. We're gonna change the industry. He was like, you're insane. Never forget this conversation. Yeah. And then two years later, here we are. I think we do a lot of, I still do a lot of freelance work. He still does a lot of freelance work. I'm performing, he's a drummer and we're slowly, slowly building. Our client base is building. Contracts are kind of, increasing and we don't have any employees yet, but we're sort of, I'm really excited for when that flips and we absolutely need one.
You know, it's kind of like, and then, and then we need another one and another one. 'cause
Rabiah Coon (host): Yeah. Yeah.
Sean Arkless: I can see the trajectory and it's really exciting. But currently it's all on a freelance basis and the majority of our work will be, will be freelance, I think [00:13:00] for the foreseeable future. But there will obviously be a certain infrastructure we require in place for the, the backend. Mm-hmm.
Rabiah Coon (host): Yeah. Yeah. And so what, I guess when you look at maybe pick one or two problems that you would like to solve and like kind of how maybe you're, you're trying to solve those, that'd be cool. And just so people can get an idea of what you're doing, but then also kind of your thinking, which I'm interested 'cause I've worked in process improvement for a long time, so
Sean Arkless: Sure. Oh yeah, no, I, I, it's one of my favorite, favorite topics. I think problem number one. I'd say support network for freelancers.
When I was coming up into the industry, and, you know, don't get me wrong, I'm still quite a baby, to be honest, but, when I was first starting out, it felt like the level of understanding for how to kind of encourage and inspire freelancers to do their best work was very limited.
Rabiah Coon (host): Mm-hmm.
Sean Arkless: It was very stressful for me. I, a lot of my peers you know, they, they sort of shied away from this freelance lifestyle or even [00:14:00] any of the, any of these freelance opportunities because they're very, it's very intimidating. It can be very intimidating because you're all alone.
Rabiah Coon (host): Yeah.
Sean Arkless: you know, you don't have anyone to tell you what to do. I think I want, as a company, like our sort of mission is to find a balance between independence and support. You know, it's like, we are not gonna tell you what to do, but we're gonna help you to figure that out for yourself. And I think if I had had that when I was coming up into this, this industry, I, I think I would've been a lot less afraid.
I would've, I would've been a much more confident. I probably wouldn't have suffered so much you know, in, in the wrong kind of circumstances or situations. I would've believed in my capabilities and my value at an earlier stage, and I probably would've spent less time worrying about how to market myself. How, like, you know, I'm not an accountant,
I'm not a graphic designer. I don't, I, I don't know what SEO is really, I mean,
I get it, but I'm not, you know, like it's, these are not my skills. My skills lie elsewhere. [00:15:00] So why? I guess in some ways I was almost kind of, saying, well, why the hell should I have to do this, you know?
And. want to provide that support for people who, like myself, really their skills are not in building a website or, you know, under understanding marketing. It's like, so we'll help them to, do that so they can do what they're best at basically.
Rabiah Coon (host): Mm-hmm.
Sean Arkless: So that's a huge, huge thing for, for us. We also, I guess to add to that we're very passionate about the next generation, I guess.
And that doesn't necessarily mean young people. It predominantly is, but there's a lot of career changes that we really, that we are supporting in our work as well. Like to give them opportunities to, you know, if they wanna become a photographer, we're gonna help them to do that. We are really, really passionate about career changes and the future generation because we want to help them to be well, the next best thing, you know, better
than us.
Right? An improvement on what we've, we've done.
And I suppose problem number two would be quality control. [00:16:00] You know, you have no idea what you're getting into. You know, you scroll Instagram. I want a photographer.
What do, like, how do I know if they're any good? How do I know what their values are?
The world is so oversaturated with information and, and, and there's so many different people and websites. Some people are very good at, at bluffing. Some people are
very humble. Some people like, some people are too humble. it's like, it's so hard to know at a glance unless that's your professional skillset. Like if you, unless you are like working in recruiting freelancers, it's really difficult to know if you're getting the right thing and you go on Fiverr. It's the same thing. Like, you go on there, you find people, you're like, ah, I dunno, I dunno.
Like, and, and there's so much trial and error and we want to put an end to that, you. If I book a video team for a conference, for example, every single person on that team is incredibly well briefed, but they've all been interviewed for an hour plus by myself or, or one of my colleagues, and they're all vetted, heavily
vetted, and, and, and we are certain that they are going to be perfect for this job.[00:17:00]
You know, that's, that's how we operate. And so I guess we are trying to build like a brand that people can trust in rather than an individual, and then they will trust the brand to match them with the correct individual.
That's because honestly, the, I mean, I'm sure you, you yourself, have been through this, this stress of trying to pay people to do a job that you don't feel comfortable doing yourself.
it's almost like you may as well have learned how to do it and then done the thing because of how much stress it is
in
Rabiah Coon (host): yeah, for sure. Well, yeah, working for like a tech consultancy. I mean, you, you know who your employees are, , but developers get placed on a project and a project manager does, and you know, then as a project manager, I would have a team of developers based on that system of assignment and you'd have to make sure the client knows, like this is who you're talking to. And some clients want to see your CV of the team and see a, you know, summary of what they've done and what they've worked on. And sometimes they don't 'cause, but [00:18:00] a company that has people either employed or as contractors to do work that represents them has to have that level of responsibility,
you know, and even people putting together comedy shows.
Like if I look at that part, and I know one person that's been on the podcast before has put together, puts together lineups and he will not put people on that he's not confident can do the job.
'cause if he's MCing or not, he's not gonna do that. Right. And so I think in any place, like then he might get a reputation as someone who can put together a good lineup, whether he's on it or not, which is great, versus some people, you know, will get a reputation of not being able to do that.
And it's important in any sense.
Sean Arkless: yeah. You've got to care. You have to care. You have to be seen to care, especially when you're not involved. You know that, that, that almost is more reflective of what you, what you really believe in. Because if you are curating a wonderful lineup or or if you are building a team that is just like working seamlessly for your client, like, the client's not gonna notice any issues. They're [00:19:00] gonna feel really good. And, and it's like, it's a ripple effect because the
whole thing, the atmosphere, the audience, the, the, the, the punters, everyone involved in the thing, it's just all much more positive. It feels good to be a part of, because someone happened to spend 20 minutes thinking a bit more than you know, perhaps the average promoter or project manager. And it's like, if you just think, stop and think for just a minute, how can we make this special? How can we care about this a little bit more? What characteristics can we put in place from these particular people to, to add to this specific context? And, you know, it doesn't take much, but people seem to not want to do it. And, and, and the only conclusion I can come to there is that they haven't learned the, the value of, of caring about that thing. They, they, they're too focused on the end result. Oh, I want, I'm putting on a show and I, and I'm focused on the show being finished and being a great success, but it's like, what about all of the in-between?
That's what actually matters. That's what we experience.
like,
Rabiah Coon (host): Are people reliable? Are [00:20:00] they gonna show up when they say they will?
You know? And if they're not, do you have a backup? That kind of thing. I mean, especially when doing events and you having to put people on site, you can't be at every single thing,
especially when you get really busy. Yeah. Well that's cool.
And then so yeah, and then one of my favorite subjects, and I'm sure yours is Hello, Amnesia.
Sean Arkless: Oh,
Rabiah Coon (host): Lest we not, lest we not forget them, that's a amnesia pun. But
Sean Arkless: I, I missed that.
Rabiah Coon (host): I can't forget amnesia. That's so weird. But yeah, so talk about the band.
Sean Arkless: Okay. Yeah, I do you know what, like, honestly, one of the coolest things I've, I've ever, I've ever been involved in. I, I made a joke to someone when I was in the Philippines. I had 400 pounds in my bank account and I was at my wit's end. I was 23 and I was like, I'm gonna go to London and I'm gonna busk for a living.
Obviously I ended up discovering this degree course and I ended up doing a degree and, you know, and everything. But it's like, I, I remember saying to someone [00:21:00] on the beach, I was like, do you know what? I'm gonna go to London and I'm gonna, I'm gonna start a band and it's gonna be bigger than, bigger than Queen. And they laughed at me and I laughed at myself for, for making a statement like that. While I was, you know, probably only half serious about, about that, it, it, it really inspired something within me. I thought, well, well, let's see what I can do. Like, let's actually follow that through. Let's, let's pretend that we, we are capable of making a band as big as, or bigger than Queen.
And, and, and just just try. What's the worst that can happen? We play a gig or something and we realize that we're just no good. Like, so i, I think, when I was in first year, I was just running around all these gigs and stuff. I was thinking, ah, I wanna start a band. I dunno how to start a band. I don't even know what a band looks like.
I went to jam sessions and I got up on stage and for the first time in my life, just started singing like rock music.
Um, and my, my now drummer, Sam, he came up to me and he said, you [00:22:00] sound like Robert Plant. And I was like, who is that? And, and and he was like, wow. And I was like, I, I don't really know rock music, you know, like I don't, I, I'm not really familiar with it. And. Then we, you know, we found a few other people. We got together, we started singing a couple of songs that I had written. They started arranging them and we realized that we actually had like quite a cool sound.
And we, we, we were like, we got along really, really well. And I basically forced all these guys into a room together. They were like, what are we doing here? Like, this is the morning. It's like, we finished jam session at 1:00 AM why are we here at 10:00 AM
This is gonna suck. And yeah, two hours later we literally, we had a bounce and then we
started rehearsing and writing songs. About three months later, yeah, four months later, we, we played our first ever gig and it was like, incredible. It was the most electrifying [00:23:00] experience I've ever had in my life.
Rabiah Coon (host): Yeah. Well, yeah, no, it's a cool band and I mean, I definitely . I got tinnitus one time at one of your gigs for sure.
Sean Arkless: oh, no.
Rabiah Coon (host): briefly, but I was like, okay, this is where I'm like, am I too old to do this? To go see these young guys on stage? But, but um, first of all, how'd you come up with the name? Hello,
Amnesia. How'd you guys do that?
Sean Arkless: I've always wondered whether or not I should try and make up a story that's cooler than this one, but I'll tell you the truth. I wrote a list of names. Well, I'll tell you the premise for the name actually, that that's probably more interesting. I wanted something that represented. Nostalgia like the
old school. Because I, I've, I really, we kind of found this, this classic rock kind of
influence and we wanted to maintain that, that energy, right? The energy from the seventies and eighties and we wanted to eventually, when we learned how, transform that into a more palatable kind of modern, contemporary sort of, music.
But, but it just keep the energy from that, but keep the production value [00:24:00] of something more contemporary so that it's like really nice to listen to, really fun, really engaging, but not, you know, not losing the kind of soul and the real, the heartbeat of, of, of rock
music from, from, you know, the seventies and eighties 'cause I think a lot of modern music, it, it can be a bit Should we say emotionally flat? I think.
Like it's not, it's not as, oh, like thrilling, I suppose.
And we wanted to keep that. So I thought, right. Nostalgia. That's amnesia. That's the amnesia.
Component. Component. And the more contemporary side was like, oh, hello. 'cause it's more like present, present moment, right?
And so that, I wrote down many, many names like that. And then on, on a list of paper, and I turned to my flatmate Kim Nanninga, who actually, she's, she's, she wrote one of our one of our big songs
Rabiah Coon (host): Oh, nice.
Sean Arkless: called Stranger, which is on Spotify you can listen to.
She, she wrote, she co-wrote that with me.
But one day I turned around to her in the kitchen. And I showed her this list. And I said, Kim what do you think for band names? And she looked at the list and she was like, these all suck, but this one's good. And I, and, and, and that, [00:25:00] so Hello, Amnesia was the one that, was it
Rabiah Coon (host): Nice. Nice. That's kind of, can you imagine like baby names,
these all suck. This one's good. And you're like,
Sean Arkless: that was it. It was like immediate
Rabiah Coon (host): like, well, that's my grandparents' name. Like what
Sean Arkless: I know, I know. She was so like blunt about it.
Like I, I just sort of looked at her like, do you know, I actually put real thought into these
Rabiah Coon (host): Yeah.
Sean Arkless: She's like, no, sack these off. This is the only good one.
Rabiah Coon (host): Very good. Well, that's, you need someone like that though. I think we all need, I tend to be the person people have like that just, I think they call it being American, but I just call it being honest, you know?
But
Sean Arkless: I like it. Yeah. Yeah.
Rabiah Coon (host): That's cool. And so you, you've always performed, but like really getting into rock at this kind of rock was different.
So have you as a result of being in the band started to discover music even though it's from the past, like discover music that is now influencing? I mean, like, I didn't listen to The Smiths.
You know, I'm in my forties. I didn't listen to The Smiths until that 500 Days of Summer came out. And then I was like, whoa, what is this? And then, you know, right before [00:26:00] Morrisey became a total dbag, but still like, you know, and it's just interesting when you like discover old things. And so have you discovered any music now that you're like, oh yeah, this is great and this is kind of what I feel and, and what I wanna evoke?
Sean Arkless: Definitely, you know, like I, I, I remember in 2006 I think it was 2006, oh God, think so I listened to, a friend of mine had a CD of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and they, And the Stadium Arcadium, and we just I, I just sat in his car and we listened to it for like, like two hours. And or however long.
It's a long album. And that was probably the closest thing I ever came to the kind of music that we make as a band. And I, when I was a teenager, And at least on a kind of regular basis. And then, you know, when I eventually got my little mp3 player, I put all of
these songs on there. And you know, there was a bit of Green Day on there.
I had some of these like, you know, emo punk rock bands. There was a little bit of that. Mostly just very commercial, like generic stuff. And then I did [00:27:00] start listening to a lot of like heavy metal when I was a teenager. 'cause I, you know, obviously I was told that I was supposed to be depressed and angry.
So what did I do? I became depressed and angry. Like, that's that, you know, So I did a lot of that, like Lamb of God and Opeth and, and, and all of the like Slayer. So I guess I did listen to a lot of that stuff when I was younger, but what I really discovered since I guess since forming the band is, is like Led Zeppelin, for example.
Oh my God. I, I adore their music. Like, I mean, it's, the songs are incredible, especially from the time, the time that they were made. You know, they, Deep Purple, huge influence of ours. Like, I mean also on a more kind of con, contemporary kind of level like Foo Fighters. Absolutely fantastic.
I think Dave Grohl is a genius. And like, just even that first album, I'm just like, it blows my mind that he did the whole thing by himself, and then found a band like I did Wow. You know, I guess, and Imagine Dragons as well, quite a, quite a big influence for us. Yeah, I, I, I [00:28:00] honestly, my bass player, he's a lecturer in, in, in university and he, he, at the start of the year, he always says to his students, you came here because you think you like music. 90% of you don't even know what music is.
And he told me this, like he gave, he gave me like a mock lecture of this one day. And in, in, when we were on tour and I was like, oh my God, that's me. I don't even like music. I don't even know what it is. And he, you know, he sort of was talking about the fact that everyone's like, oh, they've listened to like One album and they think that that's what, like, they love music. But actually, it turns out most people who go to study music or the arts they, they're not lovers of the, of, of the art itself.
They're lovers of the idea of what that art can give them in terms of attention or like, a boost to their ego, or, or, and, and, and he kind of picked that apart for me. And I realized that I, yes, I am in love with music as I am now, and I, I am, I, I love being [00:29:00] an artist and I love creating it, and I really understand what that means to me.
But when I first started university, I, I, I didn't even know what it was. So I've fallen in love with music and therefore researched and studied and found all of this amazing art from all over the world. Since then, 'cause realistically, I, I, I barely knew anything. You know,
when when it all started.
Rabiah Coon (host): Huh. . So one thing you mentioned, and then we just kind of went past, was that you were in the Philippines on a beach talking about what you wanted to do. So you grew up over in New Zealand,
right? And then now you're basically, I guess this is the other side of the world.
I'm really bad at geography, but and just that decision you made to move over to England and kind of figure things out. And what, and at that time, I guess you were just kind of working in the retail or the pub or that kind of thing. So do you think that was like the big turning point for you though, just making that decision?
Or how did that all happen for you, where you're doing what you're [00:30:00] doing now?
Sean Arkless: Yeah, that's a really, really, really good question. Ooh, I think, I lacked a lot of self-confidence growing up. I think I, I, you know, I was always told in school that I would never really amount to much because I, I was always very, I never really found it easy to pay attention to what my teachers were saying. And I, obviously, I left school when I was 16. So I, I did, I sort of started working quite young and I didn't really know what I liked, what I wanted to do. Like I played a lot of video games. I was really into my World of, World of Warcraft at the time. And it kept me alive, you know, like that, that, that gave me a sense of community and a sense of you know, belonging I think that I needed at that time in my life. I, I, I dunno, like I was so, I spent my whole life so. closed off, so insecure. Like there was always this part of me that was like a, you know, a big performer, a showman, like a, like someone that had something to say, but I'd spent so much of my life being told that everything that I have to say is, is, is inappropriate or, or [00:31:00] too much, or, or you should be sitting in a corner and listening or, you know, you're never gonna do well.
Like, like very uninspiring was my, was my education or formative years I suppose.
Rabiah Coon (host): Yeah.
Sean Arkless: I think, you know, and, and as a result of that, I ended up in a relationship that kind of went up in flames in that sense when I began to find something that I cared about. Which
was songwriting, I started to write my own songs and the relationships started to go downhill at the same time that I started to go uphill on the inside, which, I guess in a lot of ways that makes sense. And it was nothing on the relationship. Like it was a really happy three years that for, for me as I was. But as I began to transform and found, find this kind of Inner confidence, I think we ended up drifting apart. And that was, you know, it all went up in flames just before I, the flight that we both had booked like it was supposed to be a romantic holiday in the Philippines on the, on the way home before we started our lives in, in England. And we[00:32:00] studied and did whatever, you know, built our careers. And I was, I went to a gig just after the breakup. We went together to this gig actually because it was a lot of money. And we thought, well, we're still friends. We can, we can, we can make this work. And it was for an artist called Passenger
Rabiah Coon (host): Oh yeah.
Well, which who we've seen together.
Sean Arkless: Oh my God, we have, that
was amazing. Yeah.
that was like the first, like one of the first London gigs and you just texted me and you're like, Sean, come see Passenger. I'm like, yes.
I, I love Passenger. And I'll tell you because, so I've probably already told you this actually, because in 2018 I went to see this gig and I saw him performing on stage.
I was singing his songs at him. And, and Mike, if you ever see this, I, I, I just want you to know. you, you are the reason that I'm more, you, you were the initial reason that I started on this journey because
Rabiah Coon (host): Yeah.
Sean Arkless: I, I looked at him and he looked at me while I was singing his songs and he just nodded at me like, and smiled and encouraged me to keep going. And in that [00:33:00] moment I just thought, oh my God, maybe, maybe I can do what he does,
Rabiah Coon (host): Hmm. Yeah.
Sean Arkless: and that's when, and, and I that, I dunno, I dunno what happened. It was like everything changed that day.
I woke up the next day and I was on a mission, and I didn't know what that mission was yet, but that moment, it was just this confidence. It just came
Rabiah Coon (host): Yeah.
Sean Arkless: it, it was like a seed was planted that day and yeah. And so I had to, I, that was, I, I had to move to London. I had to become an artist. I had to do all this stuff. Suddenly I, I, I found a, a reason to live, I guess.
Rabiah Coon (host): Amazing. Nice. That's . No, that's great. Yeah. And, and Passenger's great. And I'm, yeah, I mean, we've seen a few shows together now and it's, it's always fun. So,
Well, I think one thing I like to ask everybody on the podcast is just like, do you have any advice or do you have like a mantra you wanna share or something like that?
Sean Arkless: Yeah. I guess my advice to people [00:34:00] based on the last four years of my life and where it's led me would probably be trust your instincts, hesitate less, feel more, you know? Pay attention to how you respond to things, and don't judge yourself too harshly on those responses. Learn from your observations. Find peace in your newfound understanding of yourself and how you interact with the world. Live fearlessly and choose your own adventures.
Rabiah Coon (host): Hmm.
Yeah.
Sean Arkless: that would be my advice,
Rabiah Coon (host): Remember those "Choose Your Own Adventure" books? Did you guys have those?
Sean Arkless: That's why I, that's why I said that. It's like, you know, you choose a page, you just go to the next one, the next one, and you don't have full control, but you, you know
that.
Rabiah Coon (host): and you can always flip it back.
And so I guess that's like decision making, right? You like weigh the options.
So cool.
Rabiah Coon (host): Okay, so now we're gonna do [00:35:00] the Fun Five. These are five questions I ask everybody
Sean Arkless: got it.
Rabiah Coon (host): So we'll start with the first one. What's the oldest T-shirt you have and still wear?
Sean Arkless: I was given this t-shirt. I think I got it when I was yeah, 23. It was 2018. it was, when I recorded my first solo album, I did a, I did a gig by myself singing my song, my, my own original songs. And a record label from Hawaii came and picked me up. And it was the most mind blowing experience in my life.
'cause it was like, it's my first original gig. What are you doing? I'm useless. And they were like, no, we believe in you. We wanna record an album, . And so we did. And um, they gave me a t-shirt for their record label. And, uh, it's called Rock the Rock Records in Hawaii. Steve and Lauren. Really the just two most amazing awe-inspiring people, who kind of set me on this path, really.
I find myself putting that t-shirt on when I'm feeling, I don't know, nostalgic, I guess. Like, it's like if I've got a day at home by myself,
Rabiah Coon (host): Yeah.
Sean Arkless: I'll put that t-shirt on and I'll look in the mirror and I'll be like, "Man, look [00:36:00] how far you've come, like the last five years."
It's a, so it's, yeah. The t-shirt's not that old. It's five years old, but I, I still wear it, um, every now and again and it's, yeah, it's, it's, it's just one of the most precious t-shirts I could, I could ever imagine earning and I will never, ever get rid of it.
Rabiah Coon (host): Yeah, that's great. That's really cool too. The second one is if every day was really like Groundhog's Day, like in the film where, you know, the same day is lived over and over, what song would you have your alarm clock set to play every morning?
Sean Arkless: There's a, there's a band I really like called, um, Alter Bridge, who I've been a fan, a huge fan of since I was a teenager. Um, and I went to see them at the O2 recently in London and, they recently brought out an album called Pawns and Kings.
Rabiah Coon (host): Mm-hmm.
Sean Arkless: and there's a song, the, the title track Pawns and Kings is a really long cool, like alt rock, like banger. But the message behind it is, you know, well, I, I guess [00:37:00] the chorus, it's like, it, well, it basically just says though we are pawns, we could be kings. You know, and I think the message behind it is that it doesn't matter where you come from. It doesn't matter that you've grown up in an environment where you've been controlled or told what to do, or you, you know, you've been, you know, manipulated to believe that this is all your life is, is an ever will amount to.
You know, if you, if you want to, if you want more, if you, if you want to seek more, then, then it's, it's attainable. It's there. You, you just have to take steps to, to reach out and grab it. And I think, yeah, Pawns and Kings by Altar Bridge, that, that, that, that song gives me life when I need it most.
Rabiah Coon (host): Nice. That's perfect. Okay. This one's easier, I think. Coffee or tea or neither?
Sean Arkless: So my answer is coffee, but I know it should be tea. Because I, I get very overstimulated and I love coffee, but I'm just like, Sean, what are you doing? Stop drinking. It's not good for you.
Rabiah Coon (host): I [00:38:00] know. It's not, even though I can say, I mean, you've, I know, seen me. I'm trying not to yawn But I've done that now. Um, I've had coffee 'cause we're doing this in the morning. I have had coffee today too much. And I think I've done something where I've, it's now having the reverse effect. So maybe, yeah.
Two would've been better. I don't know. Easier. Right. Easier. Um. So can you think of something that makes you laugh, like so hard? You cry or just crack up and you know, I don't know, just if you think of it or see it or someone says something to you.
Sean Arkless: it probably sounds a bit cheesy, but the things that make me laugh and cry till I can't stop are kind of the things that I don't expect to see. Um, usually little pockets of joy in the world. Like,
Rabiah Coon (host): Hmm.
Sean Arkless: I don't know, like, like seeing children run around and just en enjoying themselves and this totally kind of unfiltered, sort of like joy is sort of [00:39:00] emanating from them.
Like stuff like that. Like, and you just don't expect to see that on your, on your way to work and, or, or you know, like a couple that are, that are not just, they're not just like attacking each other, uh, aggressively in the street. Like, uh, like, like, it's like there's a real love, there's a real romance and or passion to their interaction. Basically just anything real, you know, like anything really, really deeply real that you, you can't, you couldn't mistake that, you know?
And when I see moments like that in the world, this world we live in, that is so, I think it's very shallow at times. You know, it's very like, yeah,
Rabiah Coon (host): Mm-hmm.
Sean Arkless: there's not it, I mean, this is reality, but there just doesn't seem to be a lot of reality within it. Realness? I guess so. So when I see that, it just, uh, yeah, I, I get teary or I, I, I smile uncontrollably and I just walk down the street a happier person, I guess. That's, yeah.
Rabiah Coon (host): yeah. Cool. Alright, and the last one is, who inspires you right now?
Sean Arkless: Every single [00:40:00] person that I meet who, who has a dream or a goal and is, isn't giving up on it, is, is determined despite the challenges. you know, like we're all, every, we're all building stuff. Everyone's working towards something and, and I guess the people who inspire me the most are the ones that have developed an understanding of the fact that this is gonna be tough. This is gonna be hard. This is so much harder than I ever expected it to be when I first started. I want to give up, but you know what? I'm not going to. I meet these people every now and again, and you know, they, yeah, I, I, I, there's just not one person I guess. It's, it's so hard to put that into one person, but anyone that kind of follows that, kind of mindset. Of determination despite the odds, they, they, they inspire me every day. And, and there's more of them out there. There's more of us out there, I think, than, than we realize. And, you know, you just have to look and be open and we'll find each other.[00:41:00]
Rabiah Coon (host): Yeah, no, a hundred percent. Cool. So Sean, this has been a lot of fun and I wanna make sure you get a chance to say where someone can find you. Where do you want them to look for you? Learn about you? Learn about what you're doing?
Sean Arkless: Well, uh, if you want to find my company, uh, Sjark Limited, um, that's. www dot S-J-A-R-K dot co dot uk (www.sjark.co.uk). Um, please do check that out and see it. We've got a brand new promotional video on there, which we, uh, put a lot of work into, which I, um, we're very proud of. I'd love for you to see what we're doing on the website, um, and if you want to ever work with us, you know where to find us.
My personal, like my, my personal Instagram is at sean S-E-A-N arkless A-R-K-L-E-S-S Music, (@seanarklessmusic) and the my band is at Hello underscore Amnesia (@Hello_Amnesia) on Instagram, and you can find us on Spotify or Apple Music or whatever music platform you'd prefer to listen to. Uh, and that's probably the best way to, to get [00:42:00] a, get an idea of the sort of three avenues that, that I'm, I'm pursuing in life.
Rabiah Coon (host): Yeah. Cool. Yeah. And if you're in England, especially in London, look out for where you guys are playing too, so
Sean Arkless: Yeah. It's a fun show. It's a fun show.
Rabiah Coon (host): I need to get to another one soon. Um, but yeah, it's great. Well, Sean, this has been awesome. Thank you so much for joining me, and, and I'm glad we got to catch up a bit. But also, uh, I'm glad to get to talk to you about, about you and what you do and, and how you inspire me.
So thank you.
Sean Arkless: Well, Rabiah thank you so much for having me. It's, it's, it's honestly a real, real privilege, uh, to be here and just to, just to chat and, and, you know, it's been such a while since I've seen you, so it like, uh, it's, it's also just nice to, to see your face.
Rabiah Coon (host): Oh, thank you.
You can learn more about the guest and what was talked about in the show notes. Joe Maffia created the music you're listening to. You can find him on Spotify at Joe M A F F I A. Rob Metke does all the design, for which I am so grateful. You can find him online by searching for Searching Rob [00:43:00] M-E-T-K-E.
Please leave a review if you like the show and get in touch if you have feedback or guest ideas. The pod is on all the social channels at at More Than Work Pod (@morethanworkpod) or at Rabiah Comedy (@rabiahcomedy) on TikTok. And the website is more than work pod dot com (morethanworkpod.com). While being kind to others, don't forget to be kind to yourself...
