Lawnmower Deth

Lawnmower Deth
Background information
Origin Ravenshead, Nottinghamshire, England
Genres Thrash metal
Crossover thrash
Comedy rock
Years active 1987–1993, 2008–present
Labels Earache
Members Pete Lee
Steve Nesfield
Gavin 'Paddy' O'Malley
Chris Parkes
Chris Flint
Past members Kevin Papworth
Dave Lee
Dogg Bower
Dudd Hallam
Rich Brady

Lawnmower Deth are an English thrash metal band who parodied the genre and recorded three-and-a-half albums. Initially active in the late 1980s and early 1990s, they reformed in 2008.

Biography

Main career (1987-1993)

Lawnmower Deth were formed in Ravenshead, Nottinghamshire, England in 1987 by Chris Flint and Joseph Whitaker School mates Pete Lee, Steve Nesfield and Chris Parkes, along with Gavin ‘Paddy’ O’Malley from Colwick, Nottingham (The rumoured brother of Dominic Brunt, who plays Paddy Kirk in Emmerdale) [1]

Their first official release was a split album with Metal Duck. Lawnmower Deth’s side of the record was entitled Mower Liberation Front and positive responses led to their debut studio album, Ooh Crikey, It’s… Lawnmower Deth. Lawnmower Deth’s second studio album, Return of the Fabulous Metal Bozo Clowns, was released in 1992. For this release Paddy was replaced by Kev Papworth.[2]

The band covered several famous songs in their time, including Fleetwood Mac's "The Chain",[3] Motörhead's self-titled song,[4] Squeeze's "Up the Junction",[5] The Osmonds' "Crazy Horses",[6] and Kim Wilde's "Kids in America"[5] which was released as the band's only single in 1991.[7]

Return of the Fabulous Metal Bozo Clowns was released in 1992. The band's sense of humour extended into their cheap but enjoyable music videos. Both "Kids in America" and "Lawnmowers for Heroes, Comics for Zeros", the latter from Metal Bozo Clowns, were recorded on home video cameras and edited in an amateur fashion.

The band's third and to date latest studio album, Billy, was released in 1993. The band tried to take a slightly different direction on the album, verging towards the kind of pop punk feel pioneered by the likes of Green Day at the time, with most of the band's thrash metal roots left behind. Poor sales and less popular live dates[3] led the band to break up later on that year.

Reunion (2008-present)

Lawnmower Deth announced that they would be reuniting to support Welsh metalcore band Bullet for My Valentine for a one off gig on 15 November 2008 at the Alexandra Palace in London.[8]

The band played at the 2009 Download Festival at Donington Park, which was their first appearance at Donington. They played a Download warm up gig at The Pitz In Milton keynes on 5 June 2009 with support from Gama Bomb, Virus and Metal Messiah.

The band were subsequently announced again for the 2010 Download Festival which was their second Donington Park appearance. They played on the Pepsi Max third stage on the Friday.

Lawnmower Deth then went on to play a main stage slot at Damnation Festival 2010 in Leeds and announced a further date at Redemption at Derby on 28 May 2011 where they'd be supported by ska band Addictive pHilosopHy and the thrash band Incinery amongst others.

On Friday 12 August 2011, Lawnmower Deth played Bloodstock Open Air festival at Catton Hall in Derbyshire. They played on the Sophie Lancaster Stage. They again appeared on the same stage on Sunday 9 August 2015.

Lawnmower Deth played to a full and enthusiastic crowd at Hammerfest 4, Prestatyn, Wales on 16 March 2012, during which requests were made to Earache to re-release the full back catalogue.

Their first half-album, Mower Liberation Front was re-released on vinyl and CD in April 2012. It came with the associated Metal Duck half-album Quack Em All and a selection of bonus tracks including the 1988 demo Mowdeer. Early purchasers received a DVD of a concert at Nottingham Rock City from 26 November 1990.

On 20 December 2013, the band played a headline set at the Rescue Rooms in Nottingham. Also on the bill were Line of Fire (featuring Deth member Paddy on guitars), reformed thrash outfit Re-Animator playing their first gig in 25 years, and the also recently reformed Xentrix. The concert and associated raffles, etc. raised money for the hate awareness charity S.O.P.H.I.E. and in excess of £4,500 was collected.

On 2 December 2015, they exploded back onto the UK music scene when they were mentioned by a contributor to the BBC Radio 2 Simon Mayo Drivetime shows' 'Drivetime Confessions'. The contributor was mistakenly identified at a Lawnmower Deth concert by Kerrang magazine and the contributor was seeking forgiveness by the Confessional for misleadingly depriving the real individual at the concert from claiming goods released by Kerrang. When this was mentioned on the Drivetime Confessional, Simon Mayo managed to locate a track from Lawnmower Deth and played the cover track of 'Kids in America' on air. As a result the BBC stated that they were flooded with calls regarding the band wanting to know more. As a follow up, on the 3rd December 2015, Simon Mayo called Peter Lee and discovered that Peter had been washing up at the time on the 2nd and, immediately after the airing of 'Kids In America', his telephone didn't stop ringing.[9]

Members

Line-up before band break-up

Former members (as Lawnmower Deth)

SCRAWM line-up upon formation

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

Demos

Other releases

References

  1. ↑ http://www.lawnmowerdeth.co.uk/
  2. ↑ http://www.lawnmowerdeth.co.uk
  3. 1 2 "Lawnmower Deth". MusicMight. Retrieved 2008-08-15.
  4. ↑ "Ooh Crikey! It's Lawnmower Deth!". Earache Records. Retrieved 2008-08-15.
  5. 1 2 "Billy". Earache Records. Retrieved 2008-08-15.
  6. ↑ "Return Of The Fabulous Metal Bozo Clowns". Earache Records. Retrieved 2008-08-15.
  7. ↑ "Kids in America". Earache Records. Retrieved 2008-08-15.
  8. ↑ "Interview:Lawnmower Deth". Rock Sound. Retrieved 2008-08-15.
  9. ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00p2dfq
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