Dr Phibes & the House of Wax Equations

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Dr Phibes and the House of Wax Equations is the name of a psychedelic rock band based in the north west of England in the early to mid 1990s.

The line-up consisted of Howard King Jr on guitar and vocals, Lee Belsham on bass and Keith York on drums.

The fact that Howard was black and played guitar in a very free-form style - feedback and effects featured in most songs - meant that the band was often compared with the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Their first record, Sugarblast, also featured an exceedingly raucous version of The Doors' LA Woman.

They recorded an album, Whirlpool, which was released in 1991 and followed it up the same year with a second EP, called Hazy Lazy Hologram.

The minor level of success continued with appearances at the Glastonbury Festival in 1992 and they also recorded a Peel Session for the legendary Radio One DJ John Peel in 1993^[1].

Later the same year they released their second album, Hypnotwister.

However, the band drifted apart and performed one of their last gigs - an extended jam really - in Manchester in 1995.

The Sunday Mirror newspaper reported on February 16, 1997^[2]that Howard King Jr had been charged with murdering his mother, Avril Fiona King, two days earlier at the home that they shared in Connah's Quay, near Chester in north Wales The outcome of the case was not reported in the national press. Locally it was reported that King had been convicted for his mother's murder.

The name was inspired by the fictional character of Dr Phibes who appeared in several horror films starring horror actor Vincent Price.