Virus were one of the pioneers of British Thrash Metal Formed in 1986 by H Heston & Tez Kaylor, members of the punk/oi! band Criminal Damage. They brought in John D Hess in their forming year & called on the services of Coke Finlay in 1987.
Their first recording (PRAY FOR WAR) was completely funded by the Band itself, it wasn’t till their 2nd album (FORCE RECON) in 1987 that people really started to take notice of the true potential of the band. The Press dogged them,probably because of their strong punk roots, but were favoured more by the skateboarding culture of the late 80′s
Labelled the bad boys of Thrash metal because most of their gigs ending up in fights, drunken brawls & roadie punch ups.
Virus hit the stage for the very first time supporting Suicidal Tendencies & punk outfit Chelsea at the Clarendon in London, they gigged & toured with some of the most influential outfits of the late eighties; Megadeth, DeathAngel, Nuclear Assault, Lazz Rocket, Cro-Mags, Kreator,Celtic Frost, Voi-Vod, Sabbat, Acid Reign, Overkill, Lawnmower Deth, Deathwish, Nalpalm Death, Sacrilege BC, Carcass etc.
Virus split up in 1990 & Heston & kaylor made a failed attempt to reform the band in the USA of that year….Moving on to 2008 & after much deliberation Coke Finlay decided to reform the band to do a one off show..unfortunately the other members of Virus declined his offer, so he was forced to find “new blood” that came in the form of Dave Sherwood(Amulet), Matt Cooper (Cellbound) & Sam Brandon (Matron) this ensemble was later changed to Matt Cooper going on rhythm guitar & bringing in Steve Taylor on bass…after a short time Steve Taylor was replaced by Max Edwards..The band played several shows that year namely with Lawnmower Death, Gama Bomb, Savage Messiah & Discharge & in 2009 released their first recording in over 25 years entitled “Raped by Mutants”
This was very well received by the press namely “Terrorizer ” & was the shape of things to come!!
In 2012 the band started touring outside UK after more than two decades (Malaga, Spain Oslo, Norway Sofia, Bulgaria) & a third slot on
the 2nd stage at Hammerfest 2012, The Bulldog Bash 2012, & 2 shows supporting D.R.I ...
In 2013 the band was chosen to open for Suicidal Tendencies only UK date that year at the Electric Ballroom in London, also sharing the
Stage with Evile ...
In 2013 we saw the band stablize there line up with Lukasz Kozlowski on Drums , Adrian Serrano "Litro" ( Itself, Cypher16, Chaosanct ...)
on Bass and Tommy Jacobsen on guitar(Konsortium)
The current line-up shows the band to be a very integral part of the thrash genre today..”a force to be reckoned with ” “Metal Hammer
Sept 2012″
With the release of their latest e.p ("A new strain of an old disease ") in 2014 the band is ready to contaminate the planet with a new
strain of Thermo Nuclear Nuclear Thrash Metal!!!!