HYDRA VEIN
DAMON MADDISON, NATHAN MADDISON, PAUL BATE AND STEPHEN DAVIS
We can begin with a small presentation of Hydra Vein.
Damon: English thrash band, formed in 1986, folded in 1990. We released our first album, “Rather Death than False of Faith” in 1988 and our second one, “After The Dream” the year after. Then it was all gone in a shower of sparks.
Rather Death Than False of Faith, what do you think of it in retrospect?
Nathan: As an album, I think it still stands up rather well to contemporaneous stuff, certainly from the UK. Obviously, that the original pressing/mastering was abysmal and the fact it was released a full nine months after it was recorded were huge setbacks. The remastered stuff sounds immeasurably better, of course.
Damon: I’m still proud of it. It nails a particular time and place for me, warts and all. The recording sessions were great fun, the vibe was terrific and we’re still talking about it some 25 years on, so we must have done something right.
Stephen: Personally, I think it’s an awesome album and should have accomplished much more. Hideous album cover and abysmal sound quality aside, it’s up there with the best of them.
Rather Death Than False of Faith (1988)
Damon: Mostly stuff with some serious riffage: Lots of Sabbath; Priest; Diamond Head; Holocaust; Mercyful Fate; the Bay Area stuff, especially Exodus; the thrash Big Four; early Loudness; Speranza-era Riot; Venom; Manowar; Coroner and plenty, plenty more: Metal, mostly and a fair amount of UFO and Thin Lizzy, as well. Not a particularly broad palette but that’s where I was at back then.
Nathan: All sorts, really. All the classics; Sabbath, Purple, Zeppelin and what have you, the NWOBHM and the continental and American stuff that followed in its wake, some AOR, Prog, Punk, Ska and, of course, the early Thrash stuff: Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, Exodus, Metal Church, Anthrax, Testament and all that.
Paul: I was really involved in the crossover scene back then. I came from a punk background listening to bands like Conflict, Oi Polloi, Extreme Noise Terror, then I was introduced to bands like Slayer, Exodus, Megadeth, that changed things a bit, a real mix of styles.
Stephen: Megadeth, Metallica and Anthrax featured high on my list.
Nathan: Damon wanted to move on to more complex musical ideas, whilst still retaining a Thrash base. That we had two new guitarists on board who were really enthusiastic about the sessions helped keep things fresh.
Paul: I sent a tape to the Maddison brothers, who then wrote to me and invited me down to Brighton for a rehearsal. We went to the pub for a couple of pints, then went to Grapevine Studios for an audition, then went to the pub for a lot more pints (it was then I realised I had the gig.). It was fucking great, it sounded awesome. I was on cloud nine for ages, rehearsing, recording the album and pints, lots of pints.
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Paul: That’s correct, Jon sadly passed away in June 1992.
Damon: I’d lost contact with Mike a couple of years before he died. We shared a flat in Amsterdam for a while in the mid-90s when we were in a band together here but he was struggling with his demons and returned to the UK to try and sort himself out. Unfortunately, he wasn’t ultimately able to. I don’t really think it’s entirely accurate, fair or tells the whole story to state he took his own life. Technically, perhaps that’s true but I don’t believe the intent was really there. It remains tragic and very sad and he is still missed.
Nathan: No, sadly I lost contact with Mike after he moved on from Amsterdam. It's a regret but there's fuck all I can do about it now.
Nathan: Highly unlikely, although me, Paul and Damon did work together on Damon's Silvaticus project.
Damon: You should never say “never” but it would be a surprise. As Nat mentions, he and Paul played on the sessions for the Silvaticus album and, when that finally sees the light of day, that’s probably going to be about as close to a reunion as we’re going to get.
Paul: Maybe.
Stephen: Unlikely as we are distributed all over the place. For my part, hanging up the electric guitar for the flamenco probably would result in a musical taste clash.
Damon: No, there’s was no big break up and my split from Deathwish was entirely amicable. It was always Dave’s band and they were always going to be playing Dave’s songs. I’m a song writer and wanted to do my songs. At the time, too, I had some personal stuff behind the scenes to sort out and it was unfair on the rest of the band to ask them to wait until that was behind me. It just seemed right to move on. We were still on good enough terms that Dave came down to record the rhythm guitars for the first Hydra Vein demo. We also saw all the Deathwish boys turn up at the studio during the “Rather Death” sessions: I’m fairly certain the backing vocal on “Rabid” has one or two (or all) of them featured on it, as it goes.
Nathan: I'd long since left Deathwish by the time Hydra Vein started. I only ever rehearsed with them a couple of times and wasn't really into the music. They weren't Thrash at all back then, with the exception of the number 'Swords of Justice'. It was more like a cross between Motorhead and Manowar.
Damon: I’ve still got some contact with Dave and he’s due a copy of the anniversary release of “Rather Death than False of Faith”. He’s on the demo tracks, after all. I was in touch with Brad as well, for a while but haven’t spoken to him for a long time, now. In addition, Dan (Ranger)’s brother Stuart replaced me in the band when I left and I think it’s safe to assume those two are still in touch!
Nathan: No. We didn't fall out or anything like that, but we were never especially close. The last time I saw Dave Brunt was about six years ago at a Twilight Singers gig. He was working as venue security.
Nathan: No. We did hang out with them a fair bit though, back in the day.
Damon: We especially knew Keith, a.k.a. Henry, quite well, though I don’t think he’s got anything to do with the reunion, which seems to be Coke’s gig, mostly. Very good luck to them, though: I have a lot of time and respect for anyone who still wants to be doing it.
Paul: We didn’t.
Nathan: I'd had enough of it all. I'd grown tired of playing Thrash Metal.
Damon: At the end, it was really just Paul and I who were properly interested in keeping it going, with Mike and Jon often missing rehearsals and the new drummer struggling to get his chops together. It had run its course and it was time to move on.
Nathan: No. I played in a few bands after Hydra Vein, including Union with Paul Bate.
Paul: Hydra Vein was the start of a great band playing period for me. I was in Union with Nat for a while and then played and toured with Plan A.
Damon: Ha! I don’t know if I would ever say I was ever really “in” the business. But when Hydra Vein folded, I emigrated to Holland and joined a band called Nostradamus, which then evolved into a band called Power Pact. We did that for a few years, including a short stint with Mike singing. We eventually came a cropper to grunge, though, when it happened. Between then and quite recently, most of the things I’ve done have been non-serious, weekend warrior-type gigs just to keep my hand in.
The itch never leaves you, though, and last year I wrote up a new album’s worth of material which got recorded this May. The studio band’s called Silvaticus and has both Nat and Paul in it, plus Jef Streatfield from Plan A and James Manley-Bird on vocals. Right now, we’re having a few issues with the final mix but I should hope it will eventually see the light of day somewhere in the not too distant future. It’s not a Hydra Vein record, by any means but there are certainly flashes of the old stuff in there.
Dan too, is intermittently working on a project called Forgotten Fear, I think. Out of all of us, I think it’s only Stephen who’s not currently busy with something.
Nathan: Again, no. I've never met them. I did have some correspondence with Andy Sneap, once he'd found out that Mike had died. He's a good guy.
Damon: Other than seeing them headline when I was humping cabs for my old buds from Necrosanct, I haven’t ever had the opportunity to speak to them.
Nathan: We played twice with Sodom (and Toranaga). The first gig was at the Locarno in Sheffield, the second was at the Greyhound in Fulham. Logistically, it was an absolute bloody shambles from the word go and the night we played Sheffield was the same night that Iron Maiden played the City Hall there. Dan had just quit a week or so before, so Stephen was really under pressure to deliver in a four-piece format and he did a great, great job. The gigs went really well and I have great memories of them both. And not for wholly musical reasons!
We didn't hang out with Sodom; they just did their gigs and then spent the rest of their time in the dressing room, chugging beer. Toranaga were good fellers.
Damon: We made it to the venue both times and (just about) on time, which was a result.
Nathan: Other than having a number or two on it, I've no idea about it, I'm afraid.
Damon: I think it was an offer put to Metalother Records to have us on there and the label thought it would be decent exposure. The versions of the two songs of ours that are on there are exactly the album versions, so nobody should rush out and pick up a copy just for those. It is probably worthwhile, though, picking up a copy if you can find it cheap to get the two tracks from Wardance, which are pretty good.
Nathan: With Hydra Vein? There's a few, really: putting the records out, the amazing press support, particularly Bernard Doe at Metal Forces, appearing on Tommy Vance's Rock Show, the Sodom gigs... and the fact that we're all still in touch with each other.
Damon: I’m not convinced a two-album lifespan can properly be termed a “career” but … It sounds like nothing, really, but hearing “Rabid” on national radio the very first time gave me goose bumps. That’ll do me.
Damon: Getting that Silvaticus album released is my main priority at the moment.
Nathan: The Silvaticus release and some recording with Paul early next year.
Nathan: There are lots really, but I'm not prepared to divulge anything. The innocents need to be protected.
Damon: There are lots of things we’ll recount among ourselves until the day we die but it’s pretty-much in the nature of these things that they don’t always translate very well to anyone who wasn’t there. I’ve considered and rejected a couple we could tell where no-one was innocent but they would be long, involved and I’m not sure they’d be worth the telling: Not unless we were all comfortably on the outside of a bunch of drinks somewhere and maybe not even then. Sorry.
Nathan: Just a huge, huge thank you for your continued support. I still find it pretty mind-blowing that people are still digging this shit a quarter of a century later.
Paul: Thanks for taking the time to read this and to any fans out there, you’re the best. Cheers.
Damon: Yes, Cheers.
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