Arkayla are one of the most exciting bands in the North-West area, and they will support Paul Weller at the Waterfront festival in Liverpool this summer.
The four-man group have amassed more than 1.5 million streams on Spotify, and have toured the UK and Europe in the last few years.
On the Waterfront festival:
On Thursday 18th June, Arkayla will support Miles Kane and Paul Weller, on the Pier Head.
Frontman, Cal Blakebrough, said: “It’s completely surreal. I told my family straight away and they were all very excited. Paul Weller is a legend of music, and it’s great that he’s supporting up and coming bands like ourselves.”
“It will be the biggest crowd we’ve ever played to, so it should be amazing, especially outside and in the sunshine.”
Liverpool Influence:
Whilst the band originate from Manchester, they have a strong relationship with Liverpool.
“We’ve got an affinity with Liverpool- our manager is from there, and we record all our music there so we spend a lot of time in the city.”
“Not only do we love the city, but we take a lot of inspiration from Liverpool bands. My favourite band of all time is the Beatles and we take a lot of inspiration from the La’s.
“One thing I love about Liverpool is that wherever you are on a Saturday night, you can always hear an acoustic guitar playing.”
Copyright: Megan Thomas
The North-West Music Scene:
In the last few years, there has been a rise in attraction for Indie Music. Indie labels commanded 29.2% of total UK music consumption in 2023, and there has been no looking back.
Cal Blakebrough said: “One thing that has changed now, is that all the local bands are collectively creating the music scene together, rather than it being localised to one specific city.”
The rise of social media has certainly helped with the rise of Indie music, through applications like TikTok and Instagram. Arkayla have over 20,000 followers on TikTok with more than 400,000 likes.
The frontman said: “I’ve never been particularly good with that sort of thing (social media), but I have to give credit for Finn, our guitarist, for all that stuff and creating content.”
“It’s very important and it has done us a lot of favours.”
Looking Ahead:
After supporting Blossoms on a European tour earlier this year, the future looks bright for the band.
They supported Blossoms, playing 10 gigs in 12 days, across Europe’s major venues.
“A dream come true is an understatement, I’d do that again in a heartbeat. Even as the support act, every time we went on stage the crowd was packed.”
“Now we are focused on the summer with the release of our new single, and it’s all very exciting.”
Tickets are available for the Waterfront Festival below:
On The Waterfront presents Paul Weller 2026 | Tickets & Line Up | Skiddle
(All images used with the permission of Cal Blakebrough)
