Balaam and the Angel

Career

As children in Motherwell, the Morris brothers worked in the entertainment industry as part of a cabaret act. They moved south to England to Cannock, Staffordshire, where they formed Balaam and the Angel.

Initially the band self-released a series of EP's and an album entitled Sun Family via their own Chapter 22 label and played some tour dates opening for The Cult. This caught the attention of Virgin Records, who signed them and released their debut album, The Greatest Story Ever Told. It peaked at No. 67 in the UK Albums Chart in August 1986. They toured in the United States with The Mission, Kiss and label mate Iggy Pop.

A second guitarist and the first non-sibling, Ian McKean of Twenty Flight Rockers, was added to the band in 1988. The band began to move away from gothic rock music styles into a sound that had more in common with hard rock. With their new-found style, they recorded the album Live Free or Die with producer Steve Brown. This was soon followed up in similar style when they recorded Days of Madness, before being dropped by Virgin Records. Their song "I'll Show You Something Special" appeared on the soundtrack for the film, Planes, Trains and Automobiles.

Since 1994, Balaam have used keyboard player Chris Williams (also known as Chris P. Notes and Crispy Notes) in their live shows. Chris also plays keyboards on Jason Bonham's first band Airrace's second album, Back to the Start, released in 2011.

Members