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After the near catastrophe of the Leeds event, there seemed to be some disillusionment in the Virus ranks & the atmosphere turned rather sour when we met up in the band room. Granted we were severely hungover from the massive drinking fest we endured the night before with the Cro-Mags, who didn't last the night with us & we ended up drinking the bar dry of Newky Brown.
Life in the Virus camp didn't feel the same after that performance & me & John had no idea what the other 2 were plotting so it came as a severe body blow when we found out that Henry had decided to call it a day.
I wanted to carry on & volunteered to do all the singing, but the rest of them had lost heart & decided it was the end of Virus, you see they had other irons in the fire, I didn't!!! I took it very badly indeed. Virus was my life, my passion, my " raison d'etre " I had poured my heart & soul into this project & was watching it crumble around me...I hit a particularly slippery path & was drinking heavily & doing a lot of drugs with friends just, you see around this time my marriage also collapsed, so 2 extremely devastating catastrophe's which started off a domino effect in my life which lead to my breakdown!!!!!!!!
Henry gave no reason for the break up, no apology, no explanation, which was annoying to say the least, coz I had a feeling they were plotting something him & Tez & I thought it was maybe us going to The States, it was going to The States alright , it just didn't included John or me in their plans.
20 years have passed & I'm doing again what I loved doing all those years ago, this time I'm a lot wiser to whats going on & not so naive as to believe anything I hear or read. Yes I've become more cynical, yes I'm the rock that can never be moved, the sword in the stone, it was past experiences that moulded me into what I've become. The passion is still there, the energy is still there & my ability to write good thrash is still there....lookout world here I come....again!!!lol
We have 2 gigs in December one on the 13th & the other on the 20th. I hope I can make a substantial impression on the media for this gig, if it works out right for us I plan to do the festival circuit in 2009. I have already contacted 2 festival organizers but the response has been poor, I think we have to get a few gigs under our belt before we can put this plan of action in motion. I plan to do a few showcase gigs in Scotland as we never ventured further north than Newcastle back in the 80's, so I owe it to our Scottish fans! There is a possibility of doing a few gigs in Germany & Denmark as I know a really nice but fuckin crazy dude who organizes gigs over there whose English so I expect we'll be playing there at some point
I'm gonna wrap this up by saying a big thanx to everyone who said to me to go for this & the help & dedication people have shown who have been behind me in this project to make it possible (you know who you are)
Coke
The band formed in late 1986. Henry Heston [vocals / Guitar] and Tez Kaylor [Drums] had played together in various punk bands from the age of fourteen but had decided to move into hardcore / metal. They were joined by John Hess [Bass] and in early 1987 they recorded and produced their debut album, 'Pray For War.'
In 1987 they added Coke McFinlay [Lead Guitar] to the line up. In October 1987 MetalWorks Records release 'Pray For War.'
The October tour with Celtic Frost and Kreator took the band to Birmingham, Nottingham, Newcastle, Cardiff and finally to the London Hammersmith Odeon.
The new tracks they had been playing formed the basis for their next album, 'Force Recon.' Over the next couple of months they wrote more material, rehearsed, recorded and came out to play two more gigs. The first was supporting the Cro-Mags at Hammersmith Clarendon and was followed by the fabled Christmas On Earth gig at Queens Hall, Leeds two days later. Virus were to be the first band on stage Laaz Rockitt, the Cro-Mags, Kreator, Overkill, Nuclear Assault, and Megadeth,. Apart from Megadeth no-one got a sound check and the Virus set was effectively used to get the sound system up and running.
That gig did not do the band a great deal of good with the press. Certain journalists, despite many years in the business, apparently failed to notice the equipment problems and simply slagged the band off. Fortunately the audience turned out to be rather more aware and praised the band for attempting to continue in the face of overwhelming odds.
The band's second album, 'Force Recon,' appeared in April 1988 and this time the press opened their ears and the general consensus of opinion was that the band had improved by a massive degree. The band themselves regarded that album as their true debut as it was the first album to include the talents of Coke McFinlay and was also recorded in a decent studio.
In July 1988 the band took the support slot on the Death Angel UK tour. This took in Brighton, Nottingham, Newcastle, Liverpool and Newport. At the end of the tour Virus headed back to London to record for the Friday Night Rock Show at the BBC's very own studio in Maida Vale. After finding out how cheap the beer and food was they were never invited back again.
In the meantime Combat Records had released 'Force Recon' in America and with minimal advertising the album sold in serious quantities. Combat were also setting up a US tour with the band supporting Death and DBC. The tour, scheduled for October 1988 eventually fell apart and the band never made it to the US in that year.
Despite this disappointment, or perhaps because of it, the band returned to their rehearsal rooms and started to write material for a new album. The album, 'Lunacy', was recorded on SSL at Raezor Studios, London in May 1989 and was scheduled for release worldwide via MetalWorks / AVM in July. Unfortunately, due to distribution problems, the release was delayed until September causing the cancellation of the short tour that had been scheduled for July.
Towards the Summer of 1990 Virus lost two members John Hess and Coke McFinlay due to personal differences within the band. Henry and Tez left England for the East Coast of America settling in New York, then Philadelphia, and proceeded to audition musicians there. Eventually Virus USA took shape with musicians Benny herb [Vocals], Mark Baronowski [Bass], and Sid Sholly [Guitar]. Demos were recorded and attracted considerable interest from the American press and various major labels. Unfortunately the world recession hit and the funding supporting Henry and Tez in the US dried up.
Leaving the US Virus made it back to England but the American members were refused entry by immigration and red tape so the band decided to hang up their boots and concentrate on other projects. Thrash metal was now at Death's door in England, most of the UK thrash bands were being systematically dropped by their record labels, who had made their money riding the Thrash tidal wave, it was time for the corporate machine to find the next trend.