Ten Masked Men

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Ten Masked Men
Ten Masked Men, backstage at the Ash XFM competition concert
Background information
Origin	United Kingdom
Genre(s)	Death metal
Years active	1996 - present
Website	tenmaskedmen.com
Members
Mark "The Mauler" Hutson Dave "The Chef" Hutson The Mysterious Horn Pablo "The Snoot" Ross Well "The Incident" Billy Bub "The Janitor" Gary "The Gimp" Hearns Neil "Numbnut" Matthews Ricard Vladmir aka "Apocalypse Al" Charlie "The Knife"

Ten Masked Men is a British death metal cover band who specialize in 'destroying' pop classics. The band was formed in 1996 when The Mauler and The Chef did a cover of Oasis' "Wonderwall" as a joke. It was recorded on a 4-track in a bedroom and was soon followed by "Stayin' Alive", "Into the Groove" and "Beat It". These simple recordings were played to friends and in some clubs, and became increasingly popular. There was still no band name at that time but all would change when overhearing a news broadcast about masked terrorists. The masked appearance fitted in well with the idea of doing a covers band and so the name Ten Masked Men was created. In 1999 the first CD, Ten Masked Men was recorded and was given out free in their local club. It was evident that the music was becoming notorious and so the CD started circulating in top London clubs. A five-track EP was recorded later that year and the obvious Star Wars influence came into play with the name "The Ten Masked Men Strike Back", which was swiftly followed up with the second full-length CD Return Of The Ten Masked Men in 2000. It was then a few years until the next CD was recorded, entitled The PhanTen Masked Menace.

The band appeared on Channel 4 television in the UK on the late night show Born Sloppy, where special guest Jack Osborne had to guess the name of the tune that Ten Masked Men had just played. Unfortunately due to legal issues the band were only allowed to play 30 seconds of each song, which were "Livin' La Vida Loca", "...Baby One More Time" and "Push It".

The band also played live on the XFM breakfast show after winning a competition to appear on the B-side of UK Indie band Ash's rare "I’m On Drugs" vinyl. TMM cover everything from Frank Sinatra to 80's hits (such as Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer") and modern hits like Jamiroquai's "Deeper Underground", and each album features a James Bond cover from one of the movies.

[edit] Members

Mark "The Mauler" Hutson
Dave "The Chef" Hutson
The Mysterious Horn
Pablo "The Snoot"
Ross Well "The Incident"
Billy Bub "The Janitor"
Gary "The Gimp" Hearns
Neil "Numbnut" Matthews
Ricard Vladmir aka "Apocalypse Al"
Charlie "The Knife"

Each member wears a mask to hide their identity, and it is hard to tell which members play guitar/bass/drums as they all look the same, except for The Mysterious Horn and Ricard Vladmir, who have horns on their heads. The band have had several different guitar players and drummers, with only Mark The Mauler, Dave The Chef and The Mysterious Horn being long-time members.