Fort Worth rock band Arenda Light founders Nick Tittle and Rowdy Carter have known each other since kindergarten, meeting at Silver Creek Elementary in Azle where they grew up. They’ve both moved to Fort Worth and have been playing together for 7 years now. Drummer Matt Mabe and bassist Kris Luther joined the band in April 2021.
All current members except Carter played in the now-disbanded group Polydogs, while Mabe and Tittle were also part of the band Vodeo. Altogether the members of Arenda Light have been playing music with each other for over 20 years collectively.
This familiarity can be felt in their tightness in playing together, all of their talents and experience culminating to bring forth this current project.
In the video above we get to hear their unreleased song, “Rest in Peter,” named after a man whose life was saved by Tittle one day in Galveston when the band was hanging out during the Summer of 2021.
“There was this old man fishing out on the jetty,” Mabe said. “He had a shark on his line he’d been wrestling for an hour. He asked Rowdy to hold his fishing pole so he could rest, and that’s when he slipped and fell. Nick saved him from falling into the water and got cut up on the rocks.”
That man’s name was Peter, and they decided to name the already-written song after him. Luckily everyone managed to get out of the situation okay, though the line broke and no shark was caught that day.
When asked what the song is actually about, Tittle says, “In a nutshell, a failed relationship.”
The band released three singles in 2021: “Ewww,” “Hangnail,” and “Away From Dead,” all reminiscent of 90’s rock reborn.
Catch the band playing this Friday January 21st in Fort Worth at Lola’s Saloon alongside Austin band Dead Heirs and Fort Worth songwriter Levi Ray. The band will also be playing Double Wide in Dallas on March 19th.
Jessica Waffles is a freelance photographer/videographer and regular contributor to KXT.
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