The Virus

The Virus was a street punk band from Philadelphia, United States. Now defunct, their former singer Mike Virus went on to perform in the band Cheap Sex.

The Virus formed in February 1998, with Mike Virus on vocals, Chris on lead guitar, Fat Dave on guitar, Jarrod on drums, and Geoff on bass. The band played their first concert a month later. During the band's first six months, they performed several concerts, including one in Philadelphia with the band Special Duties, and a another at the now-closed Coney Island High in New York City.

In July 1998, they recorded two songs for a split CD with New York band The Manix (with members of Devotchkas and The Casualties). Only 130 copies of the CD were made, and they sold out quickly. Shortly thereafter, original bass player Geoff was asked to leave the band. After trying out several bass players, it was decided that Fat Dave’s longtime friend Paul would join.

In February 1999, the band recorded five songs for their first 7", called Global Crisis, and for the Punx Unite 2 compilation on Charged Records. The 7" sold out fairly quickly, and they started getting a lot more gig offers. In May, lead guitar player Chris and the band had a falling out, with Chris leaving the band. The band continued to perform regularly all over the east coast United States as a quartet.

In September, the band added a new member, Mike Authority of local Philadelphia band, No Authority. In March 2000, the band recorded 12 songs for their first full-length CD/LP, Still Fighting For A Future, on Charged Records. After the album was recorded, singer Mike Virus left the band and Paul took over vocals. The band then recruited Tim from the Jersey band the Oi Scouts.

In June, the band left for a six-week USA tour with The Casualties, Endless Struggle, Antidote and Funeral Dress. After returning from the tour, Tim informed the band that the road life wasn’t for him, but he agreed to help out until the band replaced him. In December the band brought in Josh, who was a fan of the band. In March 2001, the band recorded four new songs for a limited picture disc 7" to be released on Charged Records. Punk Core Records bought the rights to release the picture disc from Charged Records, and released the 7" in October 2001, along with a Singles & Rarities CD .

In June 2000, the band played the Promote Chaos festival in Atlanta, Georgia alongside bands like: Anti-Nowhere League, The Crack, and Peter and the Test Tube Babies. A month later they went to to Morecambe, England to play at the Holidays In The Sun festival alongside bands like The Exploited, The Partisans, GBH, UK Subs, Resistance 77, Threats and Cock Sparrer.

Late August saw the band on a short East Coast US tour with Antidote from Holland. After the tour, the band took five months off to write and record their second 12-song CD/LP titled Nowhere To Hide on Punk Core Records. During those five months, Fat Dave left the band. In February 2002, the band recorded their second full-length album. Drew joined the band on bass, and Josh moved to guitar On February 15, the band played in Philadelphia with Slaughter and The Dogs.

After that, they were back to playing regular weekend gigs all over the American east coast. In April, the Nowhere To Hide CD & LP was released. In July, the band again played at the Holidays In The Sun festival in England. They then went on a short west coast US tour with The Riffs from Portland. Then the band played the HITS fest in Asbury Park, New Jersey in early September. A highlight of the festival for the band was having Wattie Buchan of the Exploited join the band onstage to sing The Exploited song I Believe In Anarchy. The band returned to California at the end of the year to play three concerts in Hollywood, Pomona and San Diego with The Riffs & The Voids. Shortly thereafter, however, the band split up entirely.