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VARDIS
new releasedate of their live album
‘100 M.P.H. @ 100 Club’
will be the 17th of december 2021
Double Vinyl LP release delayed to 17th December due to post covid global lockdown causing a vinyl manufacturing backlog.
In the 1970s Vardis‘ relentless touring of the working mens clubs of Northern England took them to support slots with Hawkwind, Slade, Motörhead and Saxon, emerging with a reputation for a unique heavy rock attack and high energy technical brilliance.
On November 1st 1980 Vardis’ live debut LP ‘100 M.P.H.’ entered UK Album Charts and instantly became a foundational record of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal.
The power trio’s fusion of fast punk rhythms, relentless heavy riffs and blistering blues rock solos echoes through Metallica’s 1983 Kill ‘‘Em All’ and Megadeth’s 1985 ‘Killing Is My Business … and Business Is Good!’, and became an old school Heavy Metal classic.
Four studio albums, three compilations and seven singles later, SPV/Steamhammer present to you the Vardis live experience on record for the first time since 1980: ‘100 M.P.H.@100 Club’.
A double live album recorded on March 13th 2020, the 40th anniversary of 100 M.P.H., this blistering two hour set includes every track from an album that led the way for Thrash, performed up close and personal by Steve Zodiac (Guitar, Vocals), Joe Clancy (Drums) and Roly Bailey (Bass) in London’s legendary 100 Club.
VARDIS
will releaze on the 26th of November 2021
their live-album ‘100 M.P.H. @ 100 Club’
track-list:
CD1
Out Of The Way
Steaming Along
Paranoia Strikes
Situation Negative (Boogie Blitz)
Red Eye
Dirty Money
Mods & Rockers
Don’t Mess
Shoot Straight
Move Along
CD2
Destiny
The Lion’s Share
Radio Rockers
The Loser
Head Of The Nail
Jolly Roger
Let’s Go Again
100mph (I won’t Go To Hell)
If I Were King
Living Out Of Touch (encore)
VARDIS were forged out of Glam, Punk, Heavy Metal, Blues and Rock´nRoll in the crucible of 1970s northern England.
They are a product of Rock music across three generations:
inspired by the great Rock´n Rollers and electric bluesmen of the 50s and 60s, learning their craft on the Hard Rock and Punk circuits in the 70s, before signing with Logo/RCA in 1979 and achieving prominence in the 80s as part of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal.
Their ferocious musical attack directly influenced the development of thrash and speed metal across North America and Europe, cited by metal giants such as Metallica and Megadeth.
Never losing sight of the melodic sensibilities of their earliest influences, Vardis’ unique heavy groove has endured as truly original.
In 1980 they released the entirely live, classic debut album ‚100 M.P.H.’ that famously ‘GUARANTEED NO OVERDUBS’, before hitting the road in a brutal touring schedule.
Kicking off with the infamous Heavy Metal Barn Dance alongside Motörhead and Saxon at Stafford’s Bingley Hall in July, Vardis then joined Hawkwind on the 33 date Levitation Tour before embarking on their own 100 M.P.H. tour.
1981 saw no let up, with Vardis recording a BBC Session for Tommy Vance and releasing their first studio album, ‘The World’s Insane’, accompanied by a tour culminating with the legendary Heavy Metal Holocaust in Port Vale, alongside Ozzy Osbourne and Motörhead.
Ignoring label pressure to be ‘more like Van Halen’, 1982 saw Zodiac placed in the world’s top 15 guitarists by Sounds Magazine, as Vardis embarked on a UK Tour with Slade and a headline European Tour supporting third album ‘Quo Vardis’.
‘Quo Vardis’ pushed the boundaries of heavy music, with saxophone, bagpipes and mandolins alongside collaborations with Squeeze pianist Jools Holland and Status Quo’s Andy Brown.
This led to mixed reviews from the conservative Metal press, while open minded journalists and DJs led by John Peel on BBC Radio 1 championed the band’s sense of fun and experimentation.
1983 – 1985 was an enforced hiatus for Vardis, as a two year legal battle with management precipitated lineup changes and missed opportunities.
Emerging from court victorious but disillusioned, Vardis released the stripped down album ‘Vigilante’ in 1986 on indie label Raw Power, an indictment of industry use and abuse, before Steve Zodiac walked out on the music business for good.
Nothing was heard from the band for nearly three decades, despite the release of two compilation albums: ‘The Best Of Vardis’ (1997) and the double CD ‘The World`s Gone Mad: The Best Of Vardis’ (2002).
In 2014, Zodiac was coaxed out of retirement on social media by the old hardcore and new fans who’d discovered the Vardis legacy.
Vardis toured Europe and released fifth album ‘Red Eye’ in 2016 through SPV/Steamhammer, cementing one of rock’s most unlikely comebacks.
Vardis have lost none of their unpredictable edge, and 2019 witnessed a triumphant appearance at Leicester´s ‘O2 Academy’ alongside English grindcore legends Napalm Death that surprised many, proving yet again that their special brand of Rock’n’Roll transcends both genre and time.
Friday 13th March 2020:
the true enormity of Covid19 was not apparent, but an uncanny atmosphere was palpable everywhere.
With live venues still open in England, and rockers from all over Europe assembled on Oxford Street London, Vardis would play.
For two hours, ‘100 Club’ escaped a troubled World, and the energy forged that night by Steve Zodiac (Guitar) Joe Clancy (Drums) and Roly Bailey (Bass) with a brilliant crowd was captured for a 2021 double live album release on SPV/Steamhammer.
We present to you the Vardis live experience on record for the first time since 1980:
‘100 M.P.H.@100 Club’, ‘GUARANTEED NO OVERDUBS’!