Vardis

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Vardis
Steve Zodiac
Steve Zodiac
General information
origin Wakefield , England
Genre (s) New Wave of British Heavy Metal , Rock
founding 1973 as Quo Vardis, 2014
resolution 1986
Website http://www.vardisrocks.com/
Current occupation
Stephen John Hepworth aka Steve Zodiac
Martin Connolly
Joe Clancy
former members
Electric bass
 Tony Boulton
Drums
 Phil Medley
Electric bass
 Alan Selway
Drums
 Gary Pearson
Electric bass
 Terry Horbury († 2015)
Drums
 Steve Kingsley

Vardis is an English new wave of British heavy metal and rock band from Wakefield , which was founded in 1973 under the name Quo Vardis , dissolved in 1986 and has been active again since 2014.

history

The band was formed in 1973 by 16-year-old Steve Zodiac under the name Quo Vardis, a misspelling of the film of the same name . The name Steve Zodiac is a stage name that was borrowed from the 1960s science fiction series Fireball XL5 . In 1977 he shortened the band name to Vardis. The original bassist Tony Boulton was replaced by Alan Selway, after which the first real Vardis line-up besides Selway consisted of the guitarist and singer Zodiac and the drummer Phil Medley. This was followed by the first local appearances and in September 1979 the EP 100 MPH on Redball Records . The sound carrier sold almost 2,000 times within a very short time. In April 1980 the single If I Were King appeared with the song Out of the Way as B-side on Castle Records . Gary Pearson can then be heard as the new drummer. A short time later the band contributed a slightly modified version of If I Were King to the sampler New Electric Warriors by Logo Records in the same year . Convinced by the contribution, the label signed the band, whereupon the debut album 100 MPH was released in October of that year . This was a live album that consists of various recordings from previous years. The album was number 52 on the UK charts . Shortly after that, the two studio singles Let's Go and Too Many People were released in the same year . The former reached number 59 in the UK charts. The group was able to increase its profile thanks to the good sales figures. After the release, the group accompanied Hawkwind on their tour before going on their own tour in January 1981. As a result, the first studio album was released in April 1981 under the name The World's Insane . Then are Andy Bown as keyboardist Jools Holland to hear. In addition, the band could be heard on May 29, 1981 in the Friday Rock Show with the songs Let's Go , Love Is Dead , Steamin 'Along and Power under Foot . In the same year, the Hawkwind cover Silver Machine was released from the album as a single with the song Come On as the B-side. Next came the EP All You'll Ever Need , which contains two other songs and a cover version of the Rolling Stones song Jumpin 'Jack Flash . However, the sound carrier sold only sparsely. After a short break, appearances followed, so that the band could be seen in July at the Heavy Metal Barn Dance in Stafford , in August at the Heavy Metal Holocaust in Stoke-on-Trent and the Reading Festival . A live video was also recorded. Towards the end of 1981 Logo Records released Metal Power , a compilation of previously released singles and B-sides. A second studio album called Quo Vardis was released in March 1982. Some editions of this included the live EP Guaranteed No Overdubs as a bonus, which contains three other songs and a cover version of the song Jeepster , originally by T. Rex . To Be With You was released as a single , which also contains the song Gary Glitter Part One on the A-side . This was followed by other appearances, among others together with Slade and in June at the Monmore Festival .

Due to management and business problems after the end of 1982, the band was prevented from recording new material, so in 1983 only the compilation The Lion's Share was released. So a bonus are also included alternative and previously unreleased versions of already known songs. Towards the end of the year, bassist Alan Selway left the line-up and was replaced by Terry Horbury. After some rehearsals together, further concerts were held in 1984. The single Standing in the Road , originally by Blackfoot Sue , was released on Big Beat Records in the same year . Another song is Freezing History . The third song on the 12 ″ version is Who Loves Ya Baby . In 1985 the band took on new demo recordings , whereupon Raw Power Records became aware of them, about which the studio album Vigilante was released in 1986 . Steve Kingsley can be heard as the drummer. However, since the album did not sell well, it was dissolved in the same year. The compilation The Best of Vardis was released via British Steel Records in 1997 and The World's Gone Mad: The Best of Vardis 2-CD Anthology via Castle Records in 2001 .

In 2014 the band came together again and initially consisted of Zodiac, Pearson and Horbury. About Hoplite Records was Vigilante re-released after Zodiac had re-mastered the album. In March the band could be seen at the Brofest . In April, Vardis could be seen at another festival, the Keep It True . Pearson left the line-up towards the end of the year and was replaced by drummer Joe Clancy in January 2015. In June 2015 the EP 200 MPH was released. In November the band signed a contract with SPV / Steamhammer. On December 15, at the age of 65, Horbury died of cancer. The album Red Eye was released in early 2016 . The sound carrier was recorded in the band's own studio on the Greek island of Kalymnos . Martin Connolly was involved as the new bass player who joined the line-up in February 2016. This was followed by other appearances, including in the same month in Athens at Up the Hammers and in July at the German Headbangers Open Air .

style

Malc Macmillan wrote in The NWOBHM Encyclopedia that according to Zodiac, initial influences were T. Rex, Jeff Beck, and The Rolling Stones . In Macmillan's opinion, The Sweet , Mud and Status Quo could also have counted as early influences. On the live album, the band doesn't quite achieve the boogie of Spider , Rokka and 100% Proof and is lyrically not quite as banal and doesn't have such a silly image as Silverwing . The band can best be compared to Masai . He also described the music as glam metal- influenced 1970s boogie. The song Police Patrol from the album The World's Insane use a bagpipe intro. The cover version of Silver Machine sounds more like Let's Do the Timewarp Again from The Rocky Horror Picture Show . On the album Quo Vardis the band is trying some new ideas and they are more variable than on all previously released records. The single Standing in the Road is more commercially oriented. On Vigilante who had Blues -Influence increased and also influences from the Southern Boogie are occasionally heard.

According to Matthias Mader in NWoBHM New Wave of British Heavy Metal The glory Days , the band combines the positive qualities of Status Quo with their own ideas. Another trademark of Zodiac is that he always appeared barefoot. Glam rock can hardly be heard in the early works , instead they rely on guitar-oriented, rough heavy metal with boogie and punk influences. At Quo Vardis, the band relies heavily on the use of saxophone and piano sounds.

Martin Popoff wrote in his book The Collector's Guide of Heavy Metal Volume 2: The Eighties about the live album 100 MPH that the band sounds like a 1950s version of Motörhead , but it sounds rougher, cheaper. He also drew a comparison to Status Quo, whereby Vardis was "heavier", but less talented. Status Quo initially played a similar mixture of boogie-woogie and heavy metal. Occasionally, similarities to the Ramones can also be heard. The World's Insane can't come close to its predecessor. On the album, the band play with melodic variations that are typical of rock 'n' roll . Boogie and status quo influences can also be heard on Quo Vardis . Zodia's talented singing is particularly noticeable in the songs. It looks similar with The Lion's Share . Similarities to the Ramones and Status Quo can also be seen on Vigilante .

The International Encyclopedia of Hard Rock and Heavy Metal wrote that the band draws its influences from guitar-driven pop music and boogie-influenced heavy metal. Neil Jeffries also noted in Kerrang! The Direktory of Heavy Metal has a boogie influence.

Allmusic's Eduardo Rivadavia described the band's music as boogie with origins in 1970s glam rock and an unusual kind of humor. If I Were King mix “Boogie Metal” and music in the style of Motörhead and Slade.

According to Matthias Mader from Rock Hard , Red Eye picks up where Vigilante left off. The band then merges glam rock, hard rock , blues , metal , punk and boogie. In an interview with Mader, Zodiac named Jimi Hendrix and Rory Gallagher as influences. Thomas Kupfer reviewed the album in the same issue. Then the band play while still boogie-heavy rock 'n' roll , rich but not to the earlier works approach and remember now instead of "Drögen pub rock ".

Discography

  • 1979: 100 MPH (EP, Redball Records )
  • 1980: 100 MPH (live album, Logo Records )
  • 1980: Blue Rock (I Miss You) (Single, Logo Records)
  • 1980: Let's Go (Single, Logo Records)
  • 1980: Too Many People (Single, Logo Records)
  • 1980: If I Were King (Single, Castle Records )
  • 1981: All You'll Ever Need (Single, Logo Records)
  • 1981: Silver Machine (Single, Logo Records)
  • 1981: Promo EP (EP, Logo Records)
  • 1981: Metal Power (Compilation, Logo Records)
  • 1981: The World's Insane (Album, Logo Records)
  • 1982: Quo Vardis (Album, Logo Records)
  • 1982: Gary Glitter pt. 1 (single, Logo Records)
  • 1982: Power Under Foot (Poder Bajo El Pie) (Single, Logo Records)
  • 1982: Vardis Live (EP, Logo Records)
  • 1983: The Lion's Share (Compilation, Logo Records)
  • 1984: Standing in the Road (Single, Big Beat Records )
  • 1986: Vigilante (album, Raw Power Records )
  • 1986: Vigilante (EP, Raw Power Records)
  • 1997: The Best of Vardis (compilation, British Steel Records )
  • 2001: The World's Gone Mad: The Best of Vardis 2-CD Anthology (Compilation, Castle Records)
  • 2015: 200 MPH (EP, Hoplite Records )
  • 2016: Red Eye (Album, SPV / Steamhammer)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k BIOGRAPHY. vardisrocks.com, accessed July 17, 2016 .
  2. ↑ a b Biography. (No longer available online.) Rockdetector.com, archived from the original on July 23, 2016 ; Retrieved July 17, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.rockdetector.com
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k Malc Macmillan: The NWOBHM Encyclopedia . IP Verlag Jeske / Mader GbR, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-931624-16-3 , p. 680 ff .
  4. ^ A b c d e Matthias Mader, Otger Jeske, Manfred Kerschke: NWoBHM New Wave of British Heavy Metal The glory Days . Iron Pages, Berlin 1995, p. 66 ff .
  5. ↑ a b c d e f Eduardo Rivadavia: Vardis. Allmusic , accessed July 17, 2016 .
  6. ↑ a b VARDIS. officialcharts.com, accessed July 18, 2016 .
  7. ^ Colin Larkin: The Guinness Who's Who of Heavy Metal Second Edition . Guinness Publishing, Enfield, Middlesex, England 1995, ISBN 0-85112-656-1 , pp. 377 .
  8. ↑ a b Götz Kühnemund : Motörhead . In: Metal Hammer . October 1986, p. 80 .
  9. ↑ a b Martin Kielty: Vardis name new drummer. Joe Clancy replaces Gary Pearson as NWOBHM veterans commit to avoiding nostalgia trip. teamrock.com, accessed July 17, 2016 .
  10. ^ Vardis - The Best Of. Discogs , accessed July 18, 2016 .
  11. ^ Andy: Vardis reform to appear at Brofest 2014. newwaveofbritishheavymetal.com, accessed July 17, 2016 .
  12. ↑ Toine van Poorten: KEEP IT TRUE XVII - 2014. * April 25-26, 2014 *. truemetalfan.org, accessed on July 18, 2016 .
  13. ^ Scott Munro: Vardis man Horbury dead at 65. Bassist Terry passes away after short battle with cancer. teamrock.com, accessed July 17, 2016 .
  14. ↑ a b Matthias Mader: To an ouzo with Steve Zodiac . Vardis. In: Rock Hard . No. 349 , June 2016, p. 57 .
  15. ↑ VARDIS Introduce New Bassist MARTIN CONNOLLY. bravewords.com, accessed July 17, 2016 .
  16. ↑ Martin Popoff : The Collector's Guide of Heavy Metal Volume 2: The Eighties . Collectors Guide Ltd, Burlington, Ontario, Canada 2005, ISBN 978-1-894959-31-5 , pp. 386 .
  17. ↑ Tony Jasper, Derek Oliver: The International Encyclopedia of Hard Rock and Heavy Metal . Facts on File Inc., New York 1983, ISBN 0-8160-1100-1 , pp. 375 .
  18. ↑ Neil Jeffries: Kerrang! The Directory of Heavy Metal . Virgin Books, London 1993, ISBN 0-86369-761-5 , pp. 236 .
  19. ↑ Thomas Kupfer: Vardis . Red eye. In: Rock Hard . No. 349 , June 2016, p. 94 .