BIOGRAPHY
Dropping the "Quo" in late 1977, the power trio of Zodiac, Alan Selway (Bass) and Phil Medley (Drums) turned professional as Vardis. Zodiac's original songs and searing Fender Telecaster sonics won them a growing live following. Their self-funded debut, the 7” EP 100 M.P.H. (Redball, 1979), quickly sold out. Gary Pearson replaced Phil Medley on drums for follow-up single If I Were King/Out Of The Way (Castle, 1980), which propelled the band up the Independent Singles Charts and into the sights of record labels. Vardis played a UK tour as guests of Budgie before moving to London and penning a worldwide deal with Logo Records.
Vardis’ first release on Logo Let’s Go (1980) spent four weeks in the UK Singles Chart before full length debut 100 M.P.H. (Logo, 1980) broke the UK Album Chart in November. The entirely live recording ”GUARANTEED NO OVERDUBS” and captured a relentless barrage of energy, groove, and distortion of the Vardis live show on Mickie Most’s RAK mobile studio. If I Were King, Destiny, and the blistering title track roar with punk urgency but swing with the rhythm and feel of vintage rock 'n' roll. Zodiac’s Telecaster screams feedback-drenched leads and melodic hooks in equal measure, pounding along with a locomotive rhythm section. Marrying together technical mastery and free form expression with intense speed and aggression, Vardis produced an explosive rock classic and foundational album of the NWOBHM era. Hell-bent on burning down every stage they touched, Vardis hit the road in a brutal touring schedule. Supporting Motörhead at the infamous Heavy Metal Barn Dance at Bingley Hall alongside Saxon and their Ace Up Your Sleeve Tour with Girlschool, then joining Hawkwind and Ginger Baker as special guests on the 33 date Levitation Tour before launching straight into their own 100 M.P.H. headline tour until January ‘81. Vardis made a backroom switch leaving Out To Lunch Ltd. and signing terms with Motörhead’s management Greybrey Ltd.
The band’s first studio album, The World’s Insane (1981), recorded Jan-Feb 1981 at Rock City Studios, Surrey preserved that road intensity while expanding the band’s musical vocabulary. Tracks like Love is Dead and Power Underfoot retained the explosive heavy riffs and snarling leads of 100 MPH, but new themes and layered textures crept in. Police Patrol’s infamous melding of Judd Lander’s bagpipes and heavy rock remains a powerful, paranoid tale of urban tension with crushing guitars and a massive natural drum sound achieved by producer Nick Raymonde. Blue Rock (featuring Status Quo’s Andy Bown on keys), Steamin’ Along and the title track saw the band confidently expand into chugging blues rock and smouldering electric blues. The album was championed by John Peel and Tommy Vance on BBC Radio 1, with the band recording three TWI numbers and Let’s Go at a BBC Maida Vale Studios session for Vance’s Friday Rock Show broadcast 29th May ’81. August saw Vardis open the biggest and loudest metal festival yet staged, the legendary Heavy Metal Holocaust at Port Vale alongside Motörhead and Ozzy Osbourne. Vardis closed out the year headlining the launch of Radio Aire at Wakefield Unity Hall, shot three recently rediscovered music videos for Keefco Productions at Ewart/CapitalTV Studios, and recorded the “Live at Shepperton Studios” TV special for LWT, one of the most electrifying concert films of the 1980s. Metal Power (Logom 1981), a compilation of singles and B-Sides, was released in time for Christmas.
1982 opened with Zodiac placed in the world’s top 15 guitarists by SOUNDS Magazine, as Vardis embarked on a UK Tour with Slade, co-headlined the Monmore Rock Festival and embarked on their own European tour in support of their third album. Quo Vardis, recorded at Rock City with TWI engineer Nick Smith this time co-Producing with the band was major evolution. At once the heaviest and most polished Vardis studio album, the band went back to their foundational influences and produced their most fearlessly innovative record. A distinctively British glam / heavy rock’n’roll bounce augmented by Jools Holland’s piano was blended the fresh dynamics of Back Door jazz fusion saxophonist Ron Aspery. Zodiac layered acoustic guitars and mandolin with string arrangements by Beatles studio engineer and Pink Floyd producer Norman ‘Hurricane’ Smith on ‘To Be With You’, while unleashing punk freneticism on ‘Do I Stand Accused?’ and some of the hardest hitting riffs on his career on ‘Where There’s Mods There’s Rockers’ and ‘Boogie Blitz’.
On returning from European tour that year, Vardis’ management and publishing accounts revealed the band had been defrauded of earnings and Zodiac the rights to his songs. The compilation Metal Power (Razor, 1983) was the band’s only output during a bitter and protracted two year legal battle. The courts finally awarded Zodiac victory in 1984 but at the cost of an eighteen month live hiatus, delay in broadcast of ‘Live at Shepperton Studios’, and the departure of Alan Selway. Vardis recruited Terry Horbury, previously of Dirty Tricks and Blizzard of Oz and cut Standing in the Road (Big Beat, 1984) in 7” and 12” versions before embarking on European tour. ‘Live at Shepperton Studios’ was finally be broadcast in the UK on ITV Oct 12th 1984.
ork began on a fourth album in 1985 at The Yard Studios in Southall, with Zodiac’s growing disillusionment evident in the new songs. This only deepened when recording contract with Mausoleum fell apart at the last moment after label’s attempt to ambush the band into signing over publishing rights as part of the deal, delaying the album and leading to Pearson’s departure. Zodiac made his mind up to disband Vardis and walk away, but was determined to see the album through as the final statement to cap off Vardis’ catalogue — an album that didn’t aim to please, but to expose and endure. Finally released the following year, Vigilante (Raw Power, 1986) stripped away the experimentation of Quo Vardis in favour of a leaner, meaner, confrontational sound. It was a scorched-earth response to the exploitation Zodiac had faced - Running (beyond the threshold of pain) and Bad Company stand as some of his most bluntly autobiographical lyrics and rawest vocal work. Even the love song I Must Be Mad threatens to be overwhelmed by the unrelenting sense of doom. Rogue Male’s Steve Kingsley took over on drums for a UK tour in support of the album, before Zodiac wound Vardis up for good in December 1986.
Nothing was heard from Vardis for 28 years, despite Zodiac's songs featuring on many rock and metal compilations, most notably Lars Ulrich’s NWOBHM: ’79 Revisited (Vertigo, 1990), and the release of two anthologies: The Best of Vardis (British Steel, 1997) and double album The World's Gone Mad: The Best of Vardis (Sanctuary, 2002). Zodiac refused all offers to reform the band until he began remastering Vigilante in 2013, having long been dissatisfied with the 1986 version. To coincide with the release of the reworked and expanded Vigilante (Nemo Me Impune Lacessit) (Hoplite Records, 2014), Vardis reunited with the Zodiac/Horbury/Person lineup to perform at festivals in England and Germany before an emotional homecoming show at Unity Hall, Wakefield, where it all began.
After their warm reception at the reunion shows, Zodiac and Horbury felt they had more gears to hit and decided to continue. Recruiting the dynamic powerhouse Joe Clancy who'd spent ten years on drums with the Adrian Smith (Iron Maiden) Blues Band, Vardis set to work on their first new material in nearly three decades. The band marked the start of a new era launching comeback EP 200 M.P.H. (Hoplite, 2015) at a live show at London's Bush Hall with Diamond Head. In November 2015 Vardis penned a worldwide deal with SPV/Steamhammer, who announced the band’s fifth major album scheduled for 2016. Recording sessions at Zervos Sound Studios, Greece saw the lineup reach new levels of chemistry and performance, despite Horbury complaining of increasing physical discomfort. In a matter of days after finishing his bass parts, Terry Horbury was admitted Chelsea & Westminster Hospital for tests, was diagnosed with cancer and died on December 15th 2015. After this tragic loss, Zodiac and Clancy put everything into completing the album in tribute to their friend and bandmate. Red Eye (SPV/Steamhammer, 2016) is an emotionally charged testament to friendship, perseverance, and the joy of making music together. The frenetic proto-thrash riffs of Paranoia Strikes, the doom heavy title track, and the knockabout rock n' roll of Back To School all cohere around the signature Vardis energy. Emotional rockers The Head of the Nail and I Need You Now resonate with Zodiac finding new dimensions in his deeper, older voice and delivering some of the most resonant vocals of his career. Bassist Martin Connolly (ex-Rick Wakeman, The Ruts) stepped in and helped the band rebuild their high-energy live show to honour Vardis' 2016/17 tour dates across Europe, before Zodiac set to work on expanded 2017 reissues of 100 MPH, The World's Insane and Quo Vardis for Cherry Red imprint Dissonance. Zodiac considers these and the 2014 reimagining of Vigilante the definitive versions.
Vardis regrouped in 2018 and emerged in 2019 with new recruit Roly Bailey a permanent member on bass. A multi instrumentalist with funk metal outfit Sack Trick, a chance jam with Steve and Joe brought out a special chemistry between the trio. With Roly’s energy bringing a fresh dynamic to the sound, the revitalised Vardis played a series of club shows and festivals culminating in a special recording of a new live album at the 100 Club on 13th March 2020. A week before Covid brought the world to a standstill, Vardis recorded the double length follow up to 100 MPH - 100 MPH @ 100 CLUB (SPV/Steamhammer, 2021) live in one take. The album was met with widespread acclaim for the quality of the performances and production, staying true to the band’s roots with a “GUARANTEED NO OVERDUBS” promise while showcasing songs from all eras and the contemporary dynamic of the new lineup. Due to Covid restrictions Vardis were unable to tour in support of the album until late 2022, when a short UK tour culminated with a mainstage performance alongside Black Star Riders at Planet Rockstock in Wales that December.
Across every era, lineup, and release, Vardis have stood defiantly apart - uncompromising in their vision, fearless in experimentation, and relentless in their live delivery. From the unbridled energy of 100 M.P.H. to the ambitious twists of The World’s Insane and Quo Vardis, the bare-knuckle grit of Vigilante, and the triumphant return of Red Eye and 100 M.P.H. @ 100 CLUB, theirs is a legacy forged not just in riffs and solos, but in songwriting and free form expression. While trends rose and fell around them, Vardis stayed true to the raw hybrid of glam, punk, blues, and metal they helped pioneer - directly influencing the birth of thrash while never losing the groove that made them unique. Vardis continue to look forward and evolve musically without forgetting where they came from. For those who love their rock 'n' roll loud, fast, and real - Vardis are working on a new studio album.
Record Collector Live review Vardis 100 Club London 13/3/20
MMH Vardis Live review 100 Club London 13/3/2020
Total Rock - Vardis 100 Club London Review 13/3/2020
