Amebix were an English

crust punk Crust punk (also known as crust or stenchcore) is a form of music influenced by English punk rock and extreme metal. The style, which evolved in the early 1980s in England, often has songs with dark and pessimistic lyrics that linger on politic ...

band. Formed as the Band with No Name, the band's original run was from 1978 to 1987, during which time they released two EPs and three albums. The group reunited in 2008, released another full-length album in 2011, and disbanded again in November 2012. By being one of the first bands to blend

anarcho-punk Anarcho-punk (also known as anarchist punk or peace punk) is ideological subgenre of punk rock that promotes anarchism. Some use the term broadly to refer to any punk music with anarchist lyrical content, which may figure in crust punk, hardcor ...

and

heavy metal music Heavy metal (or simply metal) is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom and United States. With roots in blues rock, psychedelic rock and acid rock, heavy metal bands developed a ...

, Amebix are often cited as one of the key bands that helped to create the

genre, and as being influential to many extreme meta l bands, especially

black metal Black metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include Tempo#Beats per minute, fast tempos, a Screaming (music)#Black metal, shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted Electric guitar, guitars played with t ...

bands.Peter Jandreus, ''The Encyclopedia of Swedish Punk 1977-1987'', Stockholm: Premium Publishing, 2008, p. 11.

History

Amebix were initially formed by Rob Miller (a.k.a. "The Baron") along with his brother "Stig" Chris Miller, Andy "Billy Jug", (Andy Hoare) and Clive Barnes whilst at school in

Tavistock Tavistock ( ) is an ancient stannary and market town within West Devon, England. It is situated on the River Tavy from which its name derives. At the 2011 census the three electoral wards (North, South and South West) had a population of 13,028 ...

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

in 1978. Initially referring to themselves as "The Band with No Name" the band played extensively around the local area, during which time they recorded a four track demo tape. Using his role as part-time columnist in a local paper Rob Miller gave a tape to Crass when they played in

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

. The track "University Challenged" from this demo was then featured on the first

Crass Records Crass Records was an independent record label that was set up by the anarchist Punk rock, punk band Crass. Overview and history Prior to the formation of Crass, Penny Rimbaud and Gee Vaucher had published their creative works via their own D ...

Bullshit Detector ''Bullshit Detector'' was the name of a series of compilation LPs put together by the anarcho-punk band Crass and released on their Crass Records label. Three editions were released between 1980 and 1984, consisting of demo tapes, rough recordin ...

'' compilation LP. Clive B and drummer Andy "Billy Jug" left the band and Martin Baker became Amebix' new drummer. Baker's parents' manor house in

Dartmoor Dartmoor is an upland area in southern Devon, England. The moorland and surrounding land has been protected by National Park status since 1951. Dartmoor National Park covers . The granite which forms the uplands dates from the Carboniferous ...

was then used to practice in. It was around this time that the band began to refer to themselves as 'Amebix'. According to an interview with lead singer and bassist Rob Miller, Amebix refers to the

amoeba An amoeba (; less commonly spelled ameba or amœba; plural ''am(o)ebas'' or ''am(o)ebae'' ), often called an amoeboid, is a type of Cell (biology), cell or unicellular organism with the ability to alter its shape, primarily by extending and ret ...

. However, Baker was removed by his parents from the band and relocated to London where he had a breakdown and was diagnosed with

paranoid schizophrenica Paranoia is an instinct or thought process that is believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety or fear, often to the point of delusion and irrationality. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of conspiracy concer ...

. The song "Largactyl" was written about his experience.Ian Glasper, ''The day the country died: A History of Anarcho Punk 1980 to 1984'', London, Cherry Red Books, 2006 (), p. 200. The band then recruited Norm (Screaming Heads, Phantasmagoria, NormYard) as a synth player and relocated to

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

, living in a number of squats. They recruited

Disorder Disorder may refer to randomness, non-order, or no intelligible pattern. Disorder may also refer to: Healthcare * Disorder (medicine), a functional abnormality or disturbance * Mental disorder or psychological disorder, a psychological pattern a ...

drummer Neil "Virus" Worthington (from Nailsea in Somerset) to play drums and finally had a semi-stable line-up.MusicMight
/ref> This line-up would record the first two 7"s (''

Who's the Enemy ''Who's the Enemy'' is an extended play and the first studio release overall by the British crust punk band Amebix. It was released on Spiderleg Records on 28 August 1982. The EP was re-released as part of the compilation ''No Sanctuary: The Sp ...

'' and ''

Winter Winter is the coldest season of the year in polar and temperate climates. It occurs after autumn and before spring. The tilt of Earth's axis causes seasons; winter occurs when a hemisphere is oriented away from the Sun. Different cultures ...

'') and their first album '' No Sanctuary''. A fill-in synth player would appear on ''No Sanctuary'', and in 1984 they would acquire a new synth player, George. While recording ''No Sanctuary'' at

Southern Studios Southern Studios is a recording studio in the Wood Green area of London. It was founded in 1974 by John Loder, and came to be the recording studio of choice for Crass and their record label Crass Records. Southern Studios Ltd. continues to gro ...

they met

Jello Biafra Eric Reed Boucher (born June 17, 1958), known professionally as Jello Biafra, is an American singer, spoken word artist and politician. He is the former lead singer and songwriter for the San Francisco punk rock band Dead Kennedys. Initially ac ...

of American punk band

Dead Kennedys Dead Kennedys are an American punk rock band that formed in San Francisco, California, in 1978. The band was one of the defining punk rock, punk bands during its initial eight-year run. Dead Kennedys' lyrics were usually political in nature, sa ...

and owner of the punk record label

Alternative Tentacles Alternative Tentacles is an independent record label established in 1979 in San Francisco, California. It was used by Dead Kennedys for the self-produced single " California Über Alles". After realizing the potential for an independent label, t ...

. As a result, they became the label's first UK signing, and subsequently released the '' Arise!'' album in 1985. The final line-up would come together in 1985 with the addition of Spider on drums. They signed to Heavy Metal Records for the release of 1987's ''Monolith'', whose release/distribution difficulties led to the band eventually splitting, although they were to continue touring, their final tour ending in

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its a ...

before the collapse of

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

. Spider, George, and Stig went on to perform in Zygote. Vocalist Rob Miller now lives on the

Isle of Skye The Isle of Skye, or simply Skye (; gd, An t-Eilean Sgitheanach or ; sco, Isle o Skye), is the largest and northernmost of the major islands in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The island's peninsulas radiate from a mountainous hub dominated ...

where he works as a self-taught swordsmith. According to The Baron's Myspace page, Amebix have reformed as of February 2008. On 9 March 2008, Amebix reissued their last album ''

Monolith A monolith is a geological feature consisting of a single massive rock (geology), stone or rock, such as some mountains. For instance, Savandurga, Savandurga mountain is a monolith mountain in India. Erosion usually exposes the geological for ...

'' as a sliding scale download through

Moshpit Tragedy Records Moshpit Tragedy Records was a Canadian independent record label founded in Windsor, Ontario in 2006. The label specializes releases punk, metal and some of their subgenres ( crust, sludge, etc.). In 2007, they became the first record label to ...

. Since reforming, the band have released the '' Redux'' EP, which consists of three rerecorded songs from the band's original incarnation, plus a fourth live track on the downloadable version. A new

maxi-single A maxi single or maxi-single (sometimes abbreviated to MCD or CDM) is a music single release with more than the usual two tracks of an A-side song and a B-side song. The first maxi singles Mungo Jerry's first single, "In the Summertime" was the ...

entitled ''Knights of the Black Sun'' was released on 3 June 2011 which also featured the band's first ever music video. ''

Sonic Mass ''Sonic Mass'' is the fourth and final studio album by the British crust punk band Amebix, released on 23 September 2011 via the band's own label, Amebix Records. It was also their first full-length album since 1987's ''Monolith''. An animated ...

'', the band's third album and first full-length in 24 years, was released on 23 September 2011 through the band's own label (Amebix Records) and Easy Action Records. They disbanded on 28 November 2012. In 2014, Rob "The Baron" Miller joined forces with Jon Misery (Misery), Andy Lefton (War//Plague) and Michel "Away" Langevin of Voivod to form

Tau Cross The tau cross is a T-shaped cross, sometimes with all three ends of the cross expanded. It is called a “tau cross” because it is shaped like the Greek letter tau, which in its upper-case form has the same appearance as Latin letter T. Anothe ...

Influences

Amebix took inspiration from

Motörhead Motörhead () were an English rock band formed in London in 1975 by Lemmy (lead vocals, bass), Larry Wallis (guitar) and Lucas Fox (drums). Lemmy was also the primary songwriter and only constant member. The band are often considered a precu ...

(and to a lesser extent

Lemmy Ian Fraser Kilmister (24 December 1945 – 28 December 2015), better known as Lemmy Kilmister or simply Lemmy, was an English musician. He was the founder, lead singer, bassist and primary songwriter of the rock band Motörhead, of which he wa ...

-era

Hawkwind Hawkwind are an English rock band known as one of the earliest space rock groups. Since their formation in November 1969, Hawkwind have gone through many incarnations and have incorporated many different styles into their music, including hard ...

Black Sabbath Black Sabbath were an English rock music, rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. They are often cited as pioneers of heavy met ...

, and combined with an ethos and worldview akin to

Crass Crass were an English art collective and punk rock band formed in Epping, Essex in 1977, who promoted anarchism as a political ideology, a way of life, and a resistance movement. Crass popularised the anarcho-punk movement of the punk s ...

. They were also influenced by various

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-roc ...

and

gothic rock Gothic rock (also called goth rock or simply goth) is a style of rock music that emerged from post-punk in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The first post-punk bands which shifted toward dark music with gothic overtones include Siouxsie a ...

bands, including

Public Image Ltd Public Image Ltd (abbreviated and stylized as PiL) are an English post-punk band (and incorporated limited company) formed by singer John Lydon (previously known as the singer of Sex Pistols), guitarist Keith Levene, bassist Jah Wobble, and dr ...

Bauhaus The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the Bauhaus (), was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., 200 ...

Joy Division Joy Division were an English rock band formed in Salford in 1976. The group consisted of vocalist Ian Curtis, guitarist/keyboardist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris. Sumner and Hook formed the band after attend ...

and especially

Killing Joke Killing Joke are an English rock music, rock band from Notting Hill, London, England, formed in 1979 by Jaz Coleman (vocals, keyboards), Paul Ferguson (drums), Geordie Walker (guitar) and Youth (musician), Youth (bass). Their first album, ''Ki ...

. Many have claimed that Amebix were influenced by proto-black metal band

Venom Venom or zootoxin is a type of toxin produced by an animal that is actively delivered through a wound by means of a bite, sting, or similar action. The toxin is delivered through a specially evolved ''venom apparatus'', such as fangs or a sti ...

; however, Rob Miller has denied this on numerous occasions.

Hellhammer Hellhammer was a Swiss metal band from Nürensdorf, active from 1982 to 1984. Although the band's sound and style were heavily criticized and poorly reviewed during their active years, they have been widely praised in retrospect and are often re ...

, Bathory and

Darkthrone Darkthrone is a Norwegian extreme metal band from Kolbotn, Akershus. Formed in 1986 as a death metal band named Black Death, in 1991 Darkthrone embraced a black metal style influenced by Bathory and Celtic Frost and became one of the leadin ...

have stated that they were hugely influenced by Amebix. Such notable bands as

Sepultura Sepultura (, "grave")Barcinski & Gomes 1999, page 17. is a Brazilian heavy metal band from Belo Horizonte. Formed in 1984 by brothers Max and Igor Cavalera,Barcinski & Gomes 1999, page 16. the band was a major force in the groove metal, thra ...

Neurosis Neurosis is a class of functional mental disorders involving chronic distress, but neither delusions nor hallucinations. The term is no longer used by the professional psychiatric community in the United States, having been eliminated from th ...

and

Deviated Instinct Deviated Instinct are an English extreme metal band formed in Norwich in 1984. They are considered pioneers of both crust punk and death metal. Their first EP, ''Welcome to the Orgy'', was released by Peaceville Records, which released the maj ...

have paid homage to the band.

Amebix biography at AllMusic Amebix were an English crust punk band. Formed as the Band with No Name, the band's original run was from 1978 to 1987, during which time they released two EPs and three albums. The group reunited in 2008, released another full-length album ...

/ref>

Members

Final line-up

*Rob "The Baron" Miller – vocals (1978–1987; 2008–2012), bass (1979–1987; 2008–2012) *Chris "Stig" Miller – guitar, backing vocals (1978–1987; 2008–2012), keyboards (1978–1979) *

Roy Mayorga Roy Mayorga (born April 6, 1970) is an American musician, best known as the drummer of heavy metal bands Hellyeah and Stone Sour and is currently the drummer for the industrial metal band Ministry. Early life Mayorga was born in Forest Hill ...

– drums, percussion, keyboards (2008–2012)

Past members

*Clive Barnes – bass (1978–1979) *Andy "Billy Jug" Hoare – drums (1978–1981) *Ric Gadsby – bass (1979) *Martin Baker – drums (1981) *Norman Butler – keyboards (1981–1984) *Virus – drums (1981–1985; died 2015) *Jenghiz – keyboards (1984) *George Fletcher – keyboards (1984–1986) *Robert "Spider" Richards – drums (1985–1987)

Timeline

Discography

Studio albums

*'' No Sanctuary'' (1983, 12", Spiderleg Records) *'' Arise!'' (1985, LP/CD,

) *''

'' (1987, LP/CD, Heavy Metal Records) *''

'' (2011, LP/CD, Easy Action & Amebix Records)

EPs

*''

'' (1982, 7",

Spiderleg Records Spiderleg Records was an independent record label founded by UK anarcho-punk band Flux of Pink Indians in 1981. The band set up the label after releasing their first EP on the Crass Records label, which taught them the skills necessary to run s ...

) *'' Redux'' (2010, 12", CD, DD, Profane Existence)

Live albums

*''V živo'' (1986)

Compilation albums

*''The Power Remains'' (1993, LP, Skuld Releases) *''No Sanctuary: The Spiderleg Recordings'' (2008, LP+7"/CD,

) *''Bullshit Detector Vol 1: University Challenged'' (1980, LP,

)

Singles

" (1983, 7", Spiderleg Records) *"Knights of the Black Sun" (2011)

Demos

*''Amebix'' (1979, self-released) *''Right to Ride'' (1987, self-released)

References

External links

Archived version of their websiteAmebix on bandcampNightgaunt Graphics- Amebix official merch
* Amebix page on AllMusicbr>Christian Miller Interview from DIY Conspiracy, 2021 - EnglishChristian Miller Interview from Ooer Fanzine 1988 - English
* ttp://www.metalfan.ro/en/interviuri/soundcheck-5-with-rob-the-baron-miller-amebix-5788.html Soundcheck 5 2011 interview - Rob "The Baron" Miller favorite albumsbr>Rob "The Baron" Miller 2008 interview @ Metalfan.ro - English
{{DEFAULTSORT:Amebix Alternative Tentacles artists English heavy metal musical groups British crust and d-beat groups Political music groups Musical groups established in 1978 Musical groups disestablished in 1987 Musical groups reestablished in 2008 Musical groups disestablished in 2012 1978 establishments in England