Band Line Up 2015

Kev was “basically a rhythm guitarist” (his words not mine) with a knack for writing great riffs, and always been a great admirer of Mike’s style of playing – which included his ability to come up with brilliant solos that had great hooks to them that suited the songs perfectly. This led to a great friendship and song writing connection – now with Mike and Kev, together the band was stronger with the addition of Mark on drums and John on bass.

They started to write some songs together – the first two they wrote were Follow the Masses and Push the button. These two were on the first and only demo tape they did. Mike and Kev were looking for a bass player and a drummer, and they asked Mark Dennis (Mitchel) who they had known for a few years to drum on a demo tape. The idea was to ask other musicians if they would drum and play Bass and sing for free in a studio recording of the two songs.

When Mark (drums) and John Wilson (bass) heard the tracks they were knocked back and excited as they were free to add their bits, and be let loose with their own arrangements. Tony Calvert (vocals) agreed to do the Vocals but declined to join the band full-time as he was involved in another band at the time.

Mark brought energy and professionalism to the band, which allowed them to write songs without restrictions as they knew he could more than handle any drumming that was needed (Mark lived up above a local sex shop at that point in time). Mark’s ability to write socially relevant lyrics for the time as well, with a hint of humour, also added greatly to the band.

John’s addition to the band brought a sense of order and organisation – on top of a natural ability to arrange and tighten the songs, he could always figure out a way to get the best out of riffs that were brought to the rehearsal. This, along with his patience and ability to break the songs down to make sure everyone was on point at every part of the song, made him a valuable cog in the machine.

They went in to Animal Tracks Recording Studio in Hull in March 1998, and recorded the demo Push the button and Follow the masses. The demo was recorded in two days and was sent out to venues to get support slots at gigs. One gig was at the Frog Toad (Bradford) with Acid Reign – both the bands hit it off, and Acid Reign asked for a demo tape. The tape found its way to MFN (Music For Nations), and they were impressed with the song writing ability - they later contacted the band and asked them to come down to London and talk about contracts.

Re-animator signed a record contract for 3 albums. The record label asked the group if they had plenty of other songs, and the group stated “yes loads we are ready to go” – in fact it was quite the opposite, they had just a few other riffs kicking about. So in the car on the way home, they started writing the other tracks – that was to become the mini LP (Deny Reality) with Mark doing the drumming on the parcel shelf of the car. Incidentally, the car broke down three times on the way back.

Deny Reality (Mini Lp) 1988 Under one Flag MFN

(Producer Colin Richardson) Slaughter House studios Driffield)

Condemned to Eternity 1989 Under one Flag MFN (+japan release on sony)

(Producer John Cornfield) Sawmills Studios Cornwall)

Laughing 1990 Under one Flag MFN (japan release on sony)

(Producer Colin Richardson) Slaughter House studios Driffield)

That Was Then This Is Now 1992 Under one Flag MFN

(Producer Colin Richardson) The Windings Studios Wales)

Other releases / Compilations

Speed Kills 3 (Re-Animator) 1988

Speed Kills 4 (Deny Reality) 1989

Metal Hammers Best of British Steel (Deny Reality) 1989

Tours / Gigs / Bands

Nuclear Assault, Exodus, Candlemass, Dark Angel, Demolition Hammer, Slammer, Xentrix, Lawnmower Deth , Acid Reign, DAM, Toranaga, Saxon, Crazyhead, Extreme Noise, Metal Messiah, Metal Duck, Bomb Disneyland, Mekong Delta, Angelwitch, Concrete Sox, Pandemia