With a new singer and a new album, the future looks bright for Arena. Prog catches up with co-founder member Clive Nolan and new vocalist Damian Wilson to hear more about their 10th record, The Theory Of Molecular Inheritance, and how they’re finding a new lease of life nearly 30 years in.

Words: Chris Cope Images: Kylan Amos

Arena: always evolving.

During Prog’s chat with Arena about their latest album, The Theory Of Molecular Inheritance, new vocalist Damian Wilson veers the conversation towards the time he got pulled over by police for speeding at more than 100mph en route to sing at a Rick Wakeman gig. But there’s a deeper meaning behind the slightly alarming anecdote: his experience at the subsequent court appearance reflects what he believes is the “secret to life”, and also how feels about the future of Arena.

“I thought: Okay, it’s going to cost me a lot of money, I’m going to lose my licence, it’s going to be a disaster, so I’m going to go and enjoy it,” Wilson says. “The judge, we had him laughing; we had fun, the whole court had fun. And when the judge came out at the end, he said, ‘I don’t believe the police’, and that was it.

“That, to me, is the secret to life. You have got to enjoy every moment – even the bad moments, because they’re not always going to be that bad. Being with Arena is the same thing. We should enjoy every second that we have.”

With Wilson in tow, it’s a new era in the long and celebrated history of the prog rock heavyweights and the injection of fresh blood only looks set to bolster the English quintet further.