Band Line Up 2012
Founded by old school friends Matt Drake and Ben Carter
then after playing with different guitarists and bass players for a year or so,
Matt's brother Ol was asked to join as lead guitarist. After a short search for
a bass player, Mike Alexander contacted the trio via an ad in a local guitar
shop, and so Evile was formed.
With every member contributing to every aspect of the
band they have a uniqueness and strength which gives them a cutting edge,
influenced by bands such as Sepultura, Exodus, Metallica, Annihilator and
Slayer to name but a few, Evile have created something that the metal world is
crying out for. Despite being un-signed at the time, Evile were handpicked to
headline the second stage of Bloodstock Open Air ‘06, and also to open the main
stage of Damnation Festival in Manchester.
In October of 2006 Evile signed to the legendary Earache
Records, label home of such metal legends as Morbid Angel, Napalm Death,
Municipal Waste and Carcass.
Evile went on to record their debut "Enter the
Grave" in Copenhagen's Sweet Silence Studios with Flemming Rasmussen of
Metallica fame at the helm.
Heralded as the UK’s new thrash heroes, Kerrang! dubbed
Evile to be "Carrying the genre's whole 'revival' on their
shoulders", with other positive reviews from press such as Metal Hammer,
Terrorizer, Zero Tolerance and Classic Rock Magazine. Metal Hammer also
included Evile in their second "Get in the Ring" competition, which
saw 4 bands battle it out in a boxing ring. Evile would go on to win the
competition aired on Rockworld TV.
As well as supporting and touring with bands such as
Machine Head, Sabbat and Sanctity, the band went on to be main support to
Megadeth on their European "Tour of Duty" in Feb/Mar of 2008, being
warmly greeted by the crowd. The band then supported legendary Thrashers Exodus
on their 2008 European Tour in April, which in the same month saw Evile's
"Thrasher" included on Xbox360/PS3 videogame Rock Band.
A 2008 tour with Satyricon was cut drastically short when
Ol, due to health problems, collapsed breaking his jaw and cutting open his
chin. His beard is said to have saved him.
Picking themselves up and headlining a tour across the
UK, including several European Festivals in 2009 marked the end of touring for
"Enter the Grave".
The second chapter in Evile's history comes by the name
"Infected Nations", produced by Russ Russell (Napalm Death, Dimmu
Borgir), original artwork by Michael Whelan (Sepultura, Obituary, Stephen King)
and released via Earache Records worldwide. "Infected Nations" is Evile's
modern take on Thrash Metal, and finds the band coming into a sound of their
own.
"Infected Nations” went into the top 100 album chart
in the UK after its release on Sept 21 2009. Evile played a release show on
25th Sept ‘09 at Islington’s Bar Academy and then embarked on a 2 month long
European tour supporting Amon Amarth with Entombed. After playing 2 headline
shows in Germany they reached Scandinavia and disaster struck when Mike
Alexander (1977-2009) bassist of Evile collapsed in Lulea, Sweden and
tragically died on his way to hospital from a pulmonary embolism. He was 32
years old.
Evile organised a special tribute shows in London and
Leeds for Mike Alexander, and many bands including Metallica and Iron Maiden
donated to a raffle in Mike's name, with all proceeds raised going to his
family.
www.mikealexander.co.uk
The band later announced they intended to continue as
Evile. Auditions were held and after a time they welcomed new member Joel
Graham into the fold to permanently take on the bass duties.
2010 saw the Yorkshire band starting off with a European
tour in Jan '10 - Feb '10 with Warbringer and The Fading. The first show on the
tour marking Joel's first live show with the band, and also the day he became a
father for the first time.
The year continued at full on speed - leaving for the
states at the beginning of March for a tour that lasted to the beginning of May
that saw them playing on the Hoardes of Chaos tour II with Kreator, Voivod,
Nachtmystium, Lazarus A.D. And then join the Killfest USA tour with Overkill,
Vader, God Dethroned, Warbringer and Woe of Tyrants.
Upon Evile's return to the UK, they were greeted with the
nomination for a Metal Hammer Golden God award for "Best UK band".
The band played Rock Hard festival Germany and Download
festival 2010 paid tribute to Mike Alexander on the main stage, along with
other fallen musicians including Ronnie James Dio and Paul Gray.
Evile played at the 2010 Metal Hammer Golden Gods awards
alongside Steel Panther, Airbourne, Five Finger Death Punch and Skindred. Evile
were awarded the prestigious 'Metal as Fuck' award marking another triumphant
milestone in the band's short history, and they still show no sign of slowing
down.
Evile then continued their Summer festival run by playing
Hellfest France, then coming back to the UK for a triumphant set at Sonisphere festival,
with a crowd ten-deep outside of the tent watching the band. Guitarist Ol Drake
made an appearance on stage with Tim Minchin during his show at Sonisphere
later the same day.
Evile's festival appearances continued playing Wacken
Germany, Alcatraz Belgium, Bloodstock in the UK and Hole in the Sky in Norway.
In September, in memory of Mike Alexander, together with
Metal Hammer editor Alexander Milas, Ol Drake (lead guitar) bungee jumped from
Tower Bridge raising money for the British Lung Foundation, before heading off
on another US tour.
2010 was also the year that Evile became the cover stars
for the first time. UK magazine Terorrizer visited the band on their second
mammoth stint across the USA, this time with Bonded by Blood and Early Man, followed
by another with Gama Bomb, Forbidden and then Overkill & D.R.I.
Over the span of less than 5 months spent in the U.S.A.
during 2010, Evile played over 130 shows with only 6 days off; an amazing show
of strength and tenacity, proving that it's not only Europe now that have bowed
down to the Thrasher!
We couldn't talk about Evile in 2010 without talking
about their huge number of downloads for tracks from Infected Nations on Rock
Band network, and the success of the album worldwide - being covered and critically acclaimed
throughout Europe and the US, and leading to coverage in The Guardian hailing
the band as one of the "New Big Four".
Early in 2011 Evile were named "artist of the
month" on Rock Band and Ol Drake was a runner up in Guitarist of the year
in the Terrorizer poll. 2011 saw Evile continue their rise as "the
country's best underground metal band" - (Kerrang Feb 2011).
After completing a small run of UK dates in Feb 2011 and
then playing Hammerfest the band entered the studio in March to start work on
their third album for Earache Records. The band will again record with Russ
Russell producing at Parlour Studio, Northampton.
Another summer of shows alongside the likes of Chthonic
and Mutant, plus storming sets at festivals such as Download 2011, saw the band
fired up for the autumn release of “Five Serpent’s Teeth”. The album received
glowing reviews globally with Terrorizer describing it as a “watershed album”
and Q magazine saying “This is thrash of
real poise: precise, inventive and recklessly fast when necessary”.
The album release was supported by a fifteen date UK tour
with label mates Savage Messiah, including a stop off on true home soil when
they played the Holmfirth Picturedrome, close to their native Huddersfield.
2012 saw Evile tour the album around Europe to rapturous reviews and reactions.
With yet more festivals lined up for the rest of the year, Evile’s reign as
kings of UK thrash looks set to continue.
