Spear of Destiny is a British

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band, formed in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

in 1982 by lead vocalist, guitarist and principal songwriter

Kirk Brandon Kirk Brandon (born 3 August 1956) is an English musician best known as the leader of the bands Theatre of Hate and Spear of Destiny and a former lover of Boy George. Musical career Brandon's music career started in 1978, in Clapham, south Lo ...

and bassist Stan Stammers. It has had an ever-changing line-up through the years. They have had 10

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

entries. Four reached the Top 50 but only one made the Top 20 – "

Never Take Me Alive "Never Take Me Alive" is a song by English rock band Spear of Destiny A spear is a pole weapon consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head. The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with f ...

" (1987).

History

Formed in 1982, the band's original line-up consisted of

, Stan Stammers, Chris Bell and Lascelles James. In late 1983, this line-up was superseded by

Dolphin Taylor Brian "Dolphin" Taylor (born 10 November 1958) is a British former drummer. Tom Robinson Band Taylor's first band was Dragon's Playground, which earlier had had Annie Lennox as a vocalist. In 1976 Dragon's Playground appeared on ATV's ''New Fa ...

on drums, Alan St. Clair on guitar, John Lennard on saxophone and Neil Pyzer on keyboards and additional saxophone. In 1984, John Lennard was replaced by Mickey Donnelly on saxophone. Spear of Destiny recorded one session for

John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly fr ...

(recorded 22 November 1982, transmitted on

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

on 29 November 1982). "The band played a

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

-influenced form of power rock, which often had an anthemic feel." Their second studio album, '' One Eyed Jacks'' was released in 1984. It reached No. 22 in the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...

Spear of Destiny’s reputation in the mid-1980s depended to a greater extent on their live performances. In 1985, their third studio album, ''

World Service The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...

'' reached the UK Top 20. On 22 June 1985 they were one of five bands supporting U2 at the Longest Day concert at the

Milton Keynes Bowl The National Bowl (originally the Milton Keynes Bowl) is an entertainment venue located in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The site was a former clay pit (for brick-making), filled in and raised to form an amphitheatre using sub-soil ex ...

. The other acts were the Faith Brothers,

Billy Bragg Stephen William Bragg (born 20 December 1957) is an English singer-songwriter and left-wing activist. His music blends elements of folk music, punk rock and protest songs, with lyrics that mostly span political or romantic themes. His music is ...

the Ramones The Ramones were an American punk rock band that formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, in 1974. They are often cited as the first true punk rock group. Despite achieving a limited commercial appeal in the United ...

and

R.E.M. R.E.M. was an American rock band from Athens, Georgia, formed in 1980 by drummer Bill Berry, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills, and lead vocalist Michael Stipe, who were students at the University of Georgia. One of the first alternati ...

Founding member Stan Stammers left the band in 1986. In the wake of the release of the fourth studio album, '' Outland'' (1987) and its Top 15 hit "

", the band began achieving some

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...

success and staging sell-out

concert A concert is a live music performance in front of an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, choir, or band. Concerts are held in a wide variety a ...

s, including a support slot to U2 at Wembley Stadium. However, ill fortune struck on the eve of the band's appearance at the

Reading Festival The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend. The Reading Festiv ...

, as Brandon developed

reactive arthritis Reactive arthritis, also known as Reiter's syndrome, is a form of inflammatory arthritis that develops in response to an infection in another part of the body (cross-reactivity). Coming into contact with bacteria and developing an infection can ...

which obliged the band to put all their plans on hold for nearly a year. In addition to Brandon and Stammers, past members of the band in the 1980s included former Gillan drummer

Pete Barnacle Pete Barnacle is an English rock drummer who has played for various bands including Gillan,Thompson, Dave (2004) ''Smoke on the Water: The Deep Purple Story'', ECW Press, , p. 214 Girl,Jasper, Tony & Oliver, Derek (1985) ''The international En ...

, former

JoBoxers JoBoxers are a British new wave group formed in 1982, when former Subway Sect members Rob Marche (guitarist), Dave Collard (keyboardist), Chris Bostock (bassist), and Sean McLusky (drummer), teamed up with England-based American singer Dig Wa ...

bassist

Chris Bostock Chris Bostock is an English musician, songwriter and music producer, known for his work with JoBoxers, Subway Sect, Dave Stewart and the Spiritual Cowboys, The Style Council, Spear of Destiny, The X-Certs and The Stingrays. Bostock has a ...

, former

Adam and the Ants Adam and the Ants were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. The group existed in two incarnations, both fronted by Adam Ant, over the period 1977 to 1982. The first, founded in May 1977 and known simply as The Ants until November of t ...

guitarist

Marco Pirroni Marco Francesco Andrea Pirroni (born 27 April 1959, London, England) frequently credited simply as Marco, is a British guitarist, songwriter and record producer. He has worked with Adam Ant, Sinéad O'Connor, Siouxsie and the Banshees and many ...

, and former

Tom Robinson Band Tom Robinson Band (TRB) are a British rock band, established in 1976 by singer, songwriter and bassist Tom Robinson. The band's debut single "2-4-6-8 Motorway" was a top five hit on the UK Singles Chart in 1977, and their third single, "Up Ag ...

and

Stiff Little Fingers Stiff Little Fingers are a punk rock band from Belfast, Northern Ireland. They formed in 1977 at the height of the Troubles, which informed much of their songwriting. They started out as a schoolboy band called Highway Star (named after the De ...

drummer

.Strong, M.C. (2003) ''The Great Indie Discography'', Canongate, Edinburgh, p. 519 - 520; Brandon was also a member of the

supergroup Supergroup or super group may refer to: * Supergroup (music), a music group formed by artists who are already notable or respected in their fields * Supergroup (physics), a generalization of groups, used in the study of supersymmetry * Supergroup ...

Dead Men Walking Dead Men Walking are a British based rock supergroup with a multi national line-up, who have toured the UK, Ireland and the United States. From 2001 to 2006 they were led by Mike Peters of the Alarm and Kirk Brandon, of Spear of Destiny, with a ...

Discography

*'' Grapes of Wrath'' (1983) – UK No. 62 *'' One Eyed Jacks'' (1984) – UK No. 22 *''

'' (1985) – UK No. 11 *'' Outland'' (1987) – UK No. 16 *''

The Price You Pay ''The Price You Pay'' is the fifth studio album by Spear of Destiny, released by Virgin Records in 1988 (see 1988 in music). Track listing All songs written by Kirk Brandon # "So In Love With You" - 4:22 # "Tinseltown" - 5:15 # "The Price" - ...

'' (1988) – UK No. 37 *''

Sod's Law Sod's law, a British culture axiom, states that "if something ''can'' go wrong, it will". The law sometimes has a corollary: that the misfortune will happen at "the worst possible time" ( Finagle's law). The term is commonly used in the United K ...

'' (1991) *''

Religion Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...

'' (1997) *''

Volunteers Volunteering is a voluntary act of an individual or group freely giving time and labor for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergency rescue. Others serve ...

'' (2000) *'' Morning Star'' (2003) *''

Loadestone ''Loadestone'' is the tenth studio album by Spear Of Destiny. The album was the first release on Brandon's own record label Eastersnow. The album features a cover of " Transmission" originally by Joy Division, one of Brandon's favourite bands. ...

'' (2005) *''

Imperial Prototype ''Imperial Prototype'' is the eleventh studio album by Spear Of Destiny. The album was released on Brandon's own record label Eastersnow and all the songs were written just prior to recording. A blog on the official Spear of Destiny Myspace sai ...

'' (2007) *'' Omega Point'' (2010) *''31'' (2014) *''Tontine'' (2018) *''Ghost Population'' (2022)

References

External links

* * *
Kirkbrandon.com (official website)

Stanstammers.com (official website)

The Engine Room (the Spear of Destiny rhythm section)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spear Of Destiny (Band) English rock music groups English new wave musical groups English alternative rock groups Musical groups established in 1983 Virgin Records artists English post-punk music groups Musical groups from London

History

Discography

See also

References

External links