Page "Asia (band)" Paragraph 16

Over New Year's Eve 1996, a broken pipe inundated the control room in Downes ' and Payne's recording studio, Electric Palace, in London.

Amid the lost equipment, a vault containing unreleased material was found intact.

The band decided to release the double-disc Archiva, a collection of unreleased tracks recorded during the first three Downes / Payne albums.

Next, Arena, released in February 1996, featured Downes, Payne, Sturgis, Ibrahim and guest guitarist Elliott Randall ( ex-Steely Dan, and Randy Crawford ).

The album featured Asia's longest track ever in " The Day Before the War ".

The album was released on Resurgence Records but there was no tour because of lack of interest.

The group's lone promotional performance in conjunction with the album occurred on 19 April 1996, when Downes and Payne appeared with guitarist Elliott Randall on the Virgin FM radio programme Alive in London to play the song " Never ".