Blood Island Raiders

It all began a decade ago when Reverend Al (guitar) stumbled over the prostrate form of Seamus O'Hooligan (bass), who was a little tired and emotional after an Overkill gig. A bond was formed and they started playing together in various bands. A few years later and a welder named Paul "Suthy" Sutherland (drums) was salvaged from a scrap yard, where he had been playing with an arc welder, and recruited to the cause. Warren (vocals) in the mean time had left the SA Tank Corp, travelled the world and discovered that in fact, there isn't more to life than "HEAVY METAL" and had thus moved to London to be close the birth place of Uriah Heep. Between the four of them they had amassed a wealth of experience playing in bands such as Mourn, Evil Knievel, TBAC, Doom Flight, Blind and Big Syph. Taking their name from a '60s horror film (via an obscure English thrash band) and taking their cues from the likes of Sabbath, Maiden, Trouble, Danzig, Celtic Frost, Grand Funk and ZZ Top, the band started taking the cause to people. Debuting in November 2002 supporting Cathedral and Electric Wizard, after being together for a mere two months, the band soon made a name for themselves playing with the cream of heavy bands; including Mastodon, Brant Bjork, High on Fire, Grand Magus, Bongzilla, Orange Goblin, Firebird, Alabama Thunderpussy; and Conquest of Steel. The Demo they released at the time of their debut gig (16-17) received rave reviews, the best of which was the coveted "Demo of the Month" in the February 2003 edition of Metal Hammer. Toward the end of 2003 they released a self financed EP "For the Sake of Clarity", which received warm reviews around the world. While 2004 saw a slow start due to an unfortunate combination of Seamus' hand and the tarmac, the year has seen the band writing and road-testing more and more material which they hoped to use for a debut album in 2005.