Drill (UK Band)

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Drill
Si Malarkey of Drill
Background information
Origin	Newcastle upon Tyne, England
Genre(s)	Industrial rock Noise rock Alternative rock
Years active	1989 – 1994 2005 onwards
Label(s)	Abstract Retribution Muza Muza
Associated acts	The Shotgun Brides Big Road Breaker Kennedy Betsy Kohler Under the Doctor The Coyotemen Hug Lorenzo
Website	drill official site
Members
Kev Wilkinson Si Malarkey Antony Bircham Simon Moore
Former members
Tony O'Brien Chris Clarke Drew Gallon Dave Craig Andy Hunns Rob Meek Steve Chahley Mark Lough Dave Francis

Drill are a band from North East England. They were formed in early 1989 and released albums on the Abstract Sounds, Retribution Records and Muza Muza labels. After splitting in 1994 they reformed in 2005 and have been writing and recording new material for a new album due for release in 2008.

Drill are notable for not using a drummer and for writing industrial rock music with time signature and tempo changes within each song and for writing songs that do not follow the typical verse, chorus, bridge etc song structures.

1 History
- 1.1 1989 - 1994
- 1.2 2005 onwards
2 Current Line Up
3 Discography
4 External links

[edit] History

[edit] 1989 - 1994

Unhappy with the musical direction their former band (The Shotgun Brides) was taking Kev Wilkinson and Tony O'Brien started Drill in 1989. They were joined very briefly by Antony Bircham, however being unable to recruit a bass player or drummer the band disbanded shortly after.

In 1990 Kev Wilkinson and Tony O'Brien, were joined by Si Malarkey and Chris Clarke to record a demo containing the tracks I ... Love and House fire. Unable, however, to find a drummer to play the complicated rhythms required by the band they used a drum machine to record the drum parts. The line up at this time was:

Kev Wilkinson - Vocals, Guitar, Programming
Tony O'Brien - Guitar
Si Malarkey - Bass Guitar
Chris Clarke - Guitar

Shortly after recording the demo was recorded, Si Malarkey and Chris Clarke left the band and were replaced by Simon Moore and Dave Craig, with Drew Gallon helping out in between times.

The demo along with support slots with Bomb Disneyland (later to be known as Bomb Everything) and Ride led to the band recording and releasing the album Skin Down in 1991 on Abstract Sounds. The album was well received by the music press, with Melody Maker describing it as "a musical white knuckle ride". The line up at the this time was:

Kev Wilkinson - Vocals, Guitar, Programming
Tony O'Brien - Guitar
Simon Moore - Bass Guitar
Dave Craig - Guitar

To promote the album the band was booked to tour the UK with the band Pitchshifter, however on the eve of the tour the tour bus was involved in a serious road crash during which the tour bus overturned injuring several members of the band.

Dave Craig was replaced by Andy Hunns before the band recorded and released the album White Finger in 1992 again on Abstract Sounds. For one track on the album The sound of rock, they were joined by guest drummer Gary Binns and Chris McCormack from the band Forgodsake. Chris McCormack later went on to form 3 Colours Red.

The White Finger album saw the band use sampling and move towards a more electronic sound. Again favorably received, it was described by The Guardian as sounding like "Freddy Kruger stalking around Tyneside in a thick fog".

The band released the album Paroxysm on Retribution Records in 1993 and the live album Snuffed on Muza Muza in 1994. The line up of the band for these albums was:

Kev Wilkinson - Vocals, Guitar, Programming
Tony O'Brien - Guitar
Simon Moore - Bass Guitar
Rob Meek - Samples
Steve Chahley - Samples/FX

In 1994 the band ceased. Kev Wilkinson and Tony O'Brien went on to form Big Road Breaker, Simon Moore played in The Coyotemen and Hug Lorenzo. Antony Bircham played in Kennedy and Betsy Kohler and Si Malarkey played in Under the Doctor.

[edit] 2005 onwards

In 2005 the band reformed with original members:

Kev Wilkinson - Vocals, Guitar, Programming
Tony O'Brien - Guitar
Si Malarkey - Bass Guitar
Simon Moore - Bass Guitar
Antony Bircham - Guitar

They were joined briefly on drums by Mark Lough from Hug Lorenzo, however due to conflicting commitments he left and the band went back to using sequenced drum patterns.

In 2007 Tony O'Brien left the band to be replaced briefly by Dave Francis.