Re Animator (band)

Early years (1988)

Re-animator was formed in 1987. Heavy metal performers of the time included Accept, Judas Priest, Raven and Anvil. Mike Abel (Lead Guitar) had been in a few other bands in the East Yorkshire town of Hull, and was looking to start a new band which was more in the thrash metal style. Mike had known Kev Ingleson (Lead Guitar) though the pubs and clubs in Hull – Kev was into Iron Maiden, AC/DC and Black Sabbath, but also was discovering the new heavier bands such as Metallica, Anthrax and Slayer which led the direction to the style of guitar playing he wanted to take. Kev knew Mike from the local scene, which at that time was dominated with bands that cared more about hair spray than the music they played.

Kev was "basically a rhythm guitarist" (his words) 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 1988, 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.

Gigging & touring (1988-1992)

After the release of the 1st album Re-animator gigged regularly, either supporting American bands such as Dark Angel, Exodus, Nuclear Assault playing across Europe where they were popular. On the UK Front they headlined many shows, supported Swedish band Candlemass on their Tales of Creation tour and were popular on the University circuit festivals such as the Sheffield Summer Hoe Down and the Nottingham Polytechnic Hoe Down. During this time they used record producer (Colin Richardson – Fear Factory, Machine Head, Slipknot) to produce the bulk of their albums apart from the album Condemned To Eternity (John Cornfield – Swans, Wet Wet Wet, The Almighty, Stone Roses). A highlight of the tours was playing the Astoria in London, and a mad night in Budapest Hungary. Mike played guitar on stage with Dark Angel on the Fear Song I Don’t Care About You in Paris, France.

Line-up change (1992-1993)

Kev decided to leave the band, the music scene was changing and the boom of grunge was happening and the demise of thrash metal – the rest of the band decided to carry on for one more album and released a more mainstream metal album after the funky style of laughing. Out went Kev and in come Graham Dixon (Lead, Rhythm Guitar, Backing Vocals) and Lee Robinson (Vocals). Re-animator already knew these guys as they were friends. As Kev was one of the main songwriters (all four used to chip in), the rest of the group had to come up with all the material for the "That Was Then This is Now" album After the album was finished Mike decided to call it a day, he helped the new guitarist (Adam Clark, lead guitar) to fit in and the group had photo sessions to promote the final LP. A tour never emerged, and the band all decided to call it a day.

Reforming (2013)

After getting contacted to appear in a new movie about the Thrash scene in the UK in the 80’s, the original band members have been rehearsing and putting together the set for a few gigs to come out in the end of 2013. They hope that when the movie A history of a time to come, comes out they will get asked to do some festivals to promote the film.

Their first gig in 25 years was in support of Lawnmower Deth at the Rescue Rooms in Nottingham on 20 December 2013.

Releases

Deny Reality (Mini LP) 1988 – Under one Flag MFN

(Producer Colin Richardson) Slaughter House studios, Driffield

Condemned to Eternity 1989 – Under one Flag MFN

(Producer John Cornfield) Sawmills Studios Cornwall)

Laughing 1990 Under one Flag MFN

(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 4 (Deny Reality) 1989

Metal Hammer’s Best of British Steel (Deny Reality) 1989

Tours / Gigs / Bands

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

Movies "A History of a time to come" (To Be Released 2014-15)

TV appearances

Granada TV, UK - Other Side of Midnight 12:30 18/04/89 Presenter Tony H Wilson

Mosh TV, Bochum, Germany 1991 – With Exodus / Nuclear Assault

Radio (Many European / Scandinavian/ worldwide radio stations)

Band members