Aaron West Arkeen (June 18, 1960 – May 30, 1997) was an American musician best known for co-writing several Guns N' Roses songs.
Early life
Aaron West Arkeen was born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France. He was the son of Morris Arkeen, a retired U. S. Army Master Sergeant.[1] He grew up in San Diego, California, with his older brother, Abe.[1]
Arkeen suffered from craniosynostosis, a birth defect in which the skull grows irregularly, often constricting brain growth.[1] The condition required surgery, from which he fully recovered, but left an ear-to-ear scar over the crown of Arkeen's head.[1]
Arkeen's mother abandoned him after the surgery and was a non-factor in his life, contributing to his later substance abuse.[1]
Arkeen began playing guitar when he was 14 years old.[2] He took a single guitar lesson and was a self-taught musician.[2] He cited Elton John, John Lennon, Jimi Hendrix, Earth, Wind, and Fire, and Ted Nugent as musical influences from his youth.[2]
Arkeen worked briefly in the oil industry in East Texas and as a slot machine repairman in Las Vegas. In 1986, he relocated to Los Angeles, where he worked as a house painter for a day job while pursuing a music career.[2]
In an LA Weekly profile on Arkeen, Wendy Lou Gosse - his partner for nine years - described the couple "going to see bands at local clubs and bring friends back to jam and write, sometimes deep into the next day."[3]
Music career
Arkeen befriended a group of musicians in Los Angeles, who would soon rise to international fame as Guns N' Roses.
Arkeen lived in an apartment next to Guns N' Roses bassist Duff McKagan.[4] He and McKagan formed a friendship and began writing songs together.[5] Though he was never a member of the band, the group's vocalist Axl Rose considered adding him as a third guitarist, primarily for his prolific songwriting abilities.[5]
Arkeen collaborated with Guns N' Roses members to co-write "It's So Easy," "Crash Diet," "Bad Obsession," "The Garden," "Sentimental Movie," and "Yesterdays."[6] Guns N' Roses traditionally opens its live performances with "It's So Easy."[7]
After working on other songs with the band for their double set Use Your Illusion I and II, Arkeen started his own project in 1995, The Outpatience. Featuring vocalist Mike Shotton, bassist James Hunting, guitarist Joey Hunting, drummer Abe Laboriel Jr. and keyboardist Gregg Buchwalter, the band released their debut album, Anxious Disease, in Japan in 1996. Axl Rose, Slash and Duff McKagan appear as guest artists and Izzy Stradlin co-wrote one of the songs.[5]
Izzy Stradlin and Duff McKagan are most closely associated with Arkeen. The trio played in The Drunkfuxs' side project together, and Arkeen co-wrote two of the songs on McKagan's debut solo record, Believe in Me.
Death
On May 30, 1997 Arkeen was found dead in his Los Angeles home from a drug overdose with heroin, morphine, and cocaine in his system.[8]
Legacy and influence
Duff McKagan credits Arkeen with teaching him about alternate tuning on guitar.[9]Slash stated that Arkeen was "the only one that always came through when any of us needed anything. For a long time, he literally was the only one we could trust."[10] Arkeen's bluesy style affected Guns N' Roses' songwriting style.[11] The Guns N' Roses album Live Era: '87-'93 was dedicated, in part, to his memory.[12]
