Vardis
Encyclopedia
Vardis were an influential three-piece heavy metal
band
from Wakefield, West Yorkshire, who enjoyed hits between 1978 and 1986.
They formed a prominent part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal
scene, then prevalent in the United Kingdom. They consisted of frontman Steve Zodiac
on guitar
and lead vocals
, Alan Selway on bass guitar
and Gary Pearson on drum
s. Alan Selway was later replaced by Terry Horbury (previously of Dirty Tricks) on bass guitar.
The band were originally formed under the name 'Quo Vardis' (latin for wither goest thou) because they did not know which direction they were going. This was later abbreviated to Vardis. Their first recordings were made at Holyground Studios in Cass Yard, Kirgate, Wakefied. The first ever track laid down on vinyl was titled 'Jiving All Night Long' with the B side titled 'Stay With Me', both penned by Zodiac. This was followed up with a second record, both cover versions, those being 'Roll Over Beethoven' (Chuck Berry) and 'Don't Waste My Time' (Status Quo).
Vardis quickly gained notoriety for high energy live performances, the unique approach of incorporating elements of 70's glam rock and heavy metal music and frontman Steve Zodiac's searing Fender Telecaster sound. Zodiac was reputable for playing Vardis concerts barefoot and bare chested, his look completed by long, naturally ice-blonde hair.
They took the unorthodox approach of comprising their debut album, '100MPH' (1980), of entirely live recordings. This is largely considered to be their finest hour and gained the band a large following early on in their career. They were invited to play the Heavy Metal Holocaust
music festival
in August 198l alongside Motorhead, Ozzy Osbourne and Triumph. Around 30,000 heavy metal fans were estimated to have attended with the PA reportedly reaching new heights of amplification at over 100,000 watts.
Their second album, released in April 1981 and called 'The World's Insane', featured a cover version
of Hawkwind
's "Silver Machine
", and featured bagpipes
played by Judd Lander, making it one of the few heavy metal albums to ever feature bagpipes. The album also featured a guest appearances from Status Quo's Andy Bown
on keyboards. In 1982, Steve Zodiac was voted in the top 15 rock guitarists by Sounds Magazine readers.
Vardis dissolved in the mid 1980s amid lengthy legal disputes with former management.
Two compilation albums, 'The Best of Vardis' (1997) and 'The World's Gone Mad: Best of Vardis' (2002) have been released since their premature split, but no new material. Original Vardis records are rare and are valued in most record collector's books and guides. An original copy of "100mph" including the enclosed tour guide and poster has an estimated value of approximately £500 ($940).
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
band
Musical ensemble
A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...
from Wakefield, West Yorkshire, who enjoyed hits between 1978 and 1986.
They formed a prominent part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal
New Wave of British Heavy Metal
The New Wave of British Heavy Metal was a heavy metal movement that started in the late 1970s, in Britain, and achieved international attention by the early 1980s. The movement developed as a reaction in part to the decline of early heavy metal bands such as Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and Black...
scene, then prevalent in the United Kingdom. They consisted of frontman Steve Zodiac
Steve Zodiac
Steve Zodiac is a rock guitarist and prolific songwriter, who gained recognition in the early 1980s as frontman of New Wave Of British Heavy Metal band Vardis....
on guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
and lead vocals
Human voice
The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal folds for talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, etc. Its frequency ranges from about 60 to 7000 Hz. The human voice is specifically that part of human sound production in which the vocal folds are the primary...
, Alan Selway on bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
and Gary Pearson on drum
Drum
The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...
s. Alan Selway was later replaced by Terry Horbury (previously of Dirty Tricks) on bass guitar.
The band were originally formed under the name 'Quo Vardis' (latin for wither goest thou) because they did not know which direction they were going. This was later abbreviated to Vardis. Their first recordings were made at Holyground Studios in Cass Yard, Kirgate, Wakefied. The first ever track laid down on vinyl was titled 'Jiving All Night Long' with the B side titled 'Stay With Me', both penned by Zodiac. This was followed up with a second record, both cover versions, those being 'Roll Over Beethoven' (Chuck Berry) and 'Don't Waste My Time' (Status Quo).
Vardis quickly gained notoriety for high energy live performances, the unique approach of incorporating elements of 70's glam rock and heavy metal music and frontman Steve Zodiac's searing Fender Telecaster sound. Zodiac was reputable for playing Vardis concerts barefoot and bare chested, his look completed by long, naturally ice-blonde hair.
They took the unorthodox approach of comprising their debut album, '100MPH' (1980), of entirely live recordings. This is largely considered to be their finest hour and gained the band a large following early on in their career. They were invited to play the Heavy Metal Holocaust
Vale Park
Vale Park is a football stadium in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England. It is the home ground of Port Vale F.C., who have played at the ground since 1950....
music festival
Music festival
A music festival is a festival oriented towards music that is sometimes presented with a theme such as musical genre, nationality or locality of musicians, or holiday. They are commonly held outdoors, and are often inclusive of other attractions such as food and merchandise vending machines,...
in August 198l alongside Motorhead, Ozzy Osbourne and Triumph. Around 30,000 heavy metal fans were estimated to have attended with the PA reportedly reaching new heights of amplification at over 100,000 watts.
Their second album, released in April 1981 and called 'The World's Insane', featured a cover version
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
of Hawkwind
Hawkwind
Hawkwind are an English rock band, one of the earliest space rock groups. Their lyrics favour urban and science fiction themes. They are also a noted precursor to punk rock and now are considered a link between the hippie and punk cultures....
's "Silver Machine
Silver Machine
Silver Machine is a 1972 song by the UK rock group Hawkwind. It was originally released as a single on 9 June 1972, reaching #3 on the UK singles chart. The single was re-issued in 1976, 1978 reaching #34 on the UK singles charts, and in 1983 reaching #67 on the UK singles charts...
", and featured bagpipes
Bagpipes
Bagpipes are a class of musical instrument, aerophones, using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. Though the Scottish Great Highland Bagpipe and Irish uilleann pipes have the greatest international visibility, bagpipes of many different types come from...
played by Judd Lander, making it one of the few heavy metal albums to ever feature bagpipes. The album also featured a guest appearances from Status Quo's Andy Bown
Andy Bown
Andy Bown is an English musician, who has specialised in keyboards and bass guitar. He is a member of the rock band Status Quo.-Career:...
on keyboards. In 1982, Steve Zodiac was voted in the top 15 rock guitarists by Sounds Magazine readers.
Vardis dissolved in the mid 1980s amid lengthy legal disputes with former management.
Two compilation albums, 'The Best of Vardis' (1997) and 'The World's Gone Mad: Best of Vardis' (2002) have been released since their premature split, but no new material. Original Vardis records are rare and are valued in most record collector's books and guides. An original copy of "100mph" including the enclosed tour guide and poster has an estimated value of approximately £500 ($940).
Singles and EPs
- "Jiving All Night Long" (Holyground Enterprises, circa 1975)
- "Roll Over Beethoven" (Holyground Enterprises, circa 1975)
- "100 M.P.H. EP" (Redball, 1979)
- "If I Were King" (Castle, 1980)
- "Let's Go" (LogoLogo RecordsLogo Records was a British record company formed in the mid-1970s by British record executives Geoff Hannington and Olav Wyper. It was originally funded and part-owned by UK publishing company Marshall Cavendish. In 1977, the company purchased Transatlantic Records which was at that time owned...
, 1980) - UKUK Singles ChartThe UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
#59 - "Too Many People" (Logo, 1980)
- "Silver Machine" (Logo, 1981)
- "All You'll Ever Need" (Logo, 1981)
- "Gary Glitter Part One" / "To Be With You" (Logo, 1982) - (double A-sideA-side and B-sideA-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...
single) - "Standing In The Road" (Big BeatBig Beat RecordsBig Beat Records is an East Coast hip hop and dance-music record label that operates as a subsidiary of Atlantic Records.-History:Founded as an indie label in 1987 by 22-year-old New York deejay Craig Kallman, the company initially operated out of Kallman's parents' apartment...
, 1984)
Albums
- 100 M.P.H. (Logo, 1980) - UKUK Albums ChartThe UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
#52 - The World's Insane (Logo, 1981)
- Quo Vardis (Logo, 1982)
- The Lion's Share (Razor, 1983)
- Vigilante (Raw Power, LP022, 1986) featuring Terry Horbury
- The World's Gone Mad (EssentialEssential Records (London)Essential Records is a subsidiary of London Records and is an offshoot of Pete Tong's Essential Selection programme on Radio 1.The US label, run by London-Sire Records from 2000-2001, released dance music compilations from well known DJs and artists including Paul Oakenfold, Fatboy Slim, Carl Cox,...
, 2000) - compilation albumCompilation albumA compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
Compilations
- 1980 New Electric Warriors (Logo)
- 1981 Metal Power (Logo)
- 1990 NWOBHM (PhonogramPhonogram RecordsPhonogram Records was started in 1962 as a joint venture between Philips Records and Deutsche Grammophon. In 1972, Phonogram was merged with Polydor Records into PolyGram....
) - 1997 New Electric Warriors (British Steel)
- 2000 NWOBHM Rarities (British Steel)
- 2001 Metal (SanctuarySanctuary RecordsSanctuary Records Group Limited was a record label based in the United Kingdom and a subsidiary of Universal Music Group. Until June 2007, it was the largest independent record label in the UK and the largest independent music management company in the world...
) - 2002 Rock of Ages (Sanctuary)
External links
- Vardis on Last.fm
- http://published.massivelinks.com/articles/_/entertainment/music/vardis-the-greatest-rock-band-ever-r22579
- Musicmight
- Photos and links
- NWOBHM archive
- http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/stores/artist/glance/-/163642/CDs on Amazon.comAmazon.comAmazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
] - European Tour Book 1981
- Heavy metal charts archive and links