- West Arkeen
Aaron West Arkeen (
June 18 ,1960 -May 30 ,1997 ), better known as West Arkeen, was an Americanmusician best-known for co-writing severalGuns N' Roses songs. He died onMay 30 ,1997 inLos Angeles of adrug overdose .Biography
Arkeen was born in
Neuilly-sur-Seine ,France and grew up inSan Diego , and started playing guitar at the age of 14. He was self-taught after having only a single guitar lesson. He spent hundreds of hours practicing with a metronome and moved to Los Angeles at the age of 21 to pursue a career in the music industry.After several years of struggling, he had befriended a group of fellow musicians, later to be known as Guns N' Roses. Arkeen co-wrote "
It's So Easy ," "Crash Diet [http://www.gnrsource.com/songinfo/other/other/crashd.htm] ," "Bad Obsession ," "The Garden " and "Yesterdays " for Guns N' Roses and also penned "Make Your Play" and "Pressure" forBrother Cane .After working on other songs with the band for their double set '
Use Your Illusion I & II', Arkeen started his own project in 1995,The Outpatience , with vocalistMike Shotton , bassist James Hunting, guitaristJoey Hunting , drummerAbe Laboriel Jr . and keyboardistGregg Buchwalter . The band released their debut album,Anxious Disease (1996), in Japan and were shopping the record to labels in the States. The album boast strong GN'R connections:Axl Rose , Slash andDuff McKagan appear as guests (Rose sings backup on the title track), and former GN'R memberIzzy Stradlin co-wrote one of the songs.Izzy Stradlin and Duff McKagan are most closely associated with Arkeen. The trio played in the
The Drunkfuxs side project together; and Arkeen co-wrote two of the songs on McKagan's solo record, Believe In Me as well as playing bass on Stradlin'sJu Ju Hounds CD, "Izzy Stradlin and the Ju Ju Hounds".Death
On
May 30 ,1997 , West was found dead in his Los Angeles home. His management company said that Arkeen had been at home recovering from severe burns, and that his death was the result of an "accidental opiate overdose." West had returned to his home from a hospital intensive care unit where he was being treated for burns over much of his body after his indoor barbecue exploded 11 days before his death.The Guns N' Roses record "" was dedicated, in part, to his memory.
External links
* [http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1429815/19970602/guns_n_roses.jhtml MTV.com Article About Death]
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