Bodybug

Bodybug
AKA	Bug (-2000)
Active Years	1998 - 2002
Origin	Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England
Related Bands	Hiram, Poontang

Biography

Biography 1:

Well,... It All Began A Few Years Ago... Luke Morton, Insomnya Drummer And Closet Bon Jovi Fan Had A Double Kick Pedal Long Before They Were Common Place Amongst Rotherham Metal Drummers. Not That He Had Much Use for It In His Band At The Time, But His Interest In Metal Had Long Since Persuaded Him To Invest In One. Along With Greg Turner, Then Guitarist In Insomnya, A Mutual Interest In Metal Grew, For Which They Had No Place To Fully Express That Interest In Their Current Band. Their Interest In Music Overall, However, Kept Them Satisfied.
Chris Bingham (Bing) Had Had An Interest In Metal For As Long As He Could Remember, And That Led To His Desire To Want To Emulate His Idols. Having Never Found Like-minded Musicians, In Particular Drummers, He Played With Several Bands, Nothing Serious, Until He Happened Upon Luke Morton And His Magnificent Double Kick Pedal.
Luke, Always The First To Start Side Band, Offered To Start A Band With Bing. The Sole Aim Of The Band Being Straight Metal. The First Practice Consisted Of Just The Two Trying To Cover Some Songs By Their Favourite Bands; 'Ten Ton Hammer' And 'Take My Scars' By Machine Head, 'Bodyhammer' And 'H/K Hunter-Killer' By Fear Factory Amongst Others. Messy, Untight But Played With Big Smiles And Much Enjoyment Simply Because Of The Chance To Play Songs That Their Real Bands Would Not Allow. A Second Practice Was Agreed On, But Maybe A Couple Of Other Musicians Could Join In And Maybe A Full Side Band Could Formed.
To The Next Practice, Luke Brought Greg To Do Second Guitars, But A Bass Player Was Not As Obvious. Bing Suggested Matt Westley Of Rising Hip-Hop Metal Band Marsha Wray (Now With Gerl) But His Commitments Meant That His Involvement Could Never Have Been A Serious Possibility.
Along With Marsha Wray, Hangman's Joke (Later Hood')Were A Band With Great Potential And A Bass Player With A Healthy Appetite For Metal. Sam Woodcock Had Known Bing For A Few Years Through Sams Cousin, And As Matt Westley Had Been Eliminated From Consideration, Sam Seemed Like A More Than Likely Candidate Especially As Sams Taste In Music Was Of A More Traditional Slant Liking Bands Such As Machine Head, Fear Factory And Pantera As Opposed to 'Nu-Metal' Bands Like Deftones or Limp Bizkit.
With A Full Band Line Up, A Name Was Required; At The Time When The Band First Started To Practice Soulfly's Album Had Just Been Released and By Way Of A Joke Bing Translated The Name From Soulfly ('Soul','Fly') To Bodybug ('Body','Bug'). This Was What The Side Band Was Referred To For A Short While. It Was Then Suggested, By Luke, That Maybe A Serious Name Should Be Considered...Maybe Just Bug, Plain And Simple. (Little Did They Know That They Would Later Revert Back To Being Called 'Bodybug')
It Quickly Became Clear To Luke That Insomnya Was Not What He Wanted To Do As It Did Not Cater To His Musical Needs Which Were Ultimately Metal Orientated. Suddenly Bug Was No Longer A Side Band But A Serious Band Which Required Serious Members. Greg Followed Luke's Lead Shortly After.
After Five Practices, In Which Four Covers Were Learned and One Original (An Early Version Of FEO) Was Written, Bug Decided That They Should Play Their First Show; On Wednesday 22nd July 1998, Along With Inlecerub and Comatose. The Band Would Be The First To Admit That They Didn't Go Down To Well With The Sixty Or So People Who Turned Up To See The Other Bands, But In Fairness Bug Were The First Band To Be That Heavy, Certainly Hangmans Joke And Marsha Wray Were Heavy Bands, But They Had Moments Of Sublety, A Concept Lost On Bug.
A Year And Numerous Gigs, Plenty Of Practices And A Spat Dummy Or Two Later, Bug Released Their First Demo;"Why Is Cunt Censored". Featuring The First Three Songs The Band Had Written (FEO, SUM and TOTUS ANCTUS) Plus A Spoken Thanks List, It Was Released on Halloween '99, Was Initially Available For 50p And, From An Original Batch Of 250 Tapes, Over 200 Tapes Were Sold.
Following The Demo Were Bigger And More Prestigious Gigs, Supporting Earthtone 9 And Playing At Venues Like The Leopard In Doncater, Being The Highlights. New Gigs In New Towns And Meeting New Bands Along The Way, Including Barnsley Based Purple Sticky Punch, Heroes For Sale And Doncaster's Pushog Being Just A Few.
And As For The Present; Things Got A Bit 'Silly' During The Recording Of The Second Demo "Form To A Scab", Which Resulted In Bug Pretending That Greg Had Left Bug, The Hole Left By Greg Was Quickly Plugged By David White Of Poontang. And On A Momentous Night At The Wellington Boot, The Hoax Was Revealed And Greg Was Back.
Seriously, After The Release Of "Form To A Scab", Luke Morton (Drummer and Father) Decided To Hang Up His Drumsticks And Call It A Day. After Much Deliberation The Drumming Job Was Taken By John Of Poontang.
Now Upon The Release Of The New 2-Track CD "DIY", The Band, Now Called Bodybug Go From Strength To Strength... We Wonder... Is There Any Stopping Them Now They've Come So Far? Its Been One Hell Of A Ride, Thanks For Joining Us - Keep It Metal!

Biography 2:

Originally called Bug, Bodybug name is a derivation of Soulfly (Max Cavalera post-Sepultura band). The original objective was to be a metal band – straight, heavy, horrible. The band was founded by Chris Bing Garcia and Luke Morton after meeting at the Get Sorted practice rooms. At the time, Luke was drumming for Insomnya, for whom Greg Turner played guitar. Sam Woodcock, who was at that time playing bass for Hangman’s Joke was looking to play in a heavier band than the Nu-Metal based that his band was doing.
The first demo in ’98 (...Why is cunt c**sored? – 3 tracks) was recorded by Steve Ellis (who would record all Bodybug’s material throughout) and appeared only in tape format.
The second demo “Form to a Scab” was the last recording as Bug. It was this demo which established contact with many underground ‘zines and promoters as well as bands, including Reuben Gotto then of Subvert and Blank Canvas Records.
It was at this point that Luke left Bug, the name changed and John Wells (of Poontang) joined.
The next 2 demos(DIY – 2 tracks/Universes and Civilisations on my belly – 4 tracks*) are when Bodybug really defined themselves and with their sound developing a growing relationship developed with Reuben Gotto and Blank Canvas.
Though never embarking on formal touring, they played extensively in England with high points being several shows at The Crown in Worcester (run by Lockjaw Records/Tribute to Nothing crew) and several appearances in some of London’s most prominent metal venues (Barfly/Garage).
“Because this is all there is...” (released 27th May 2002) was the culmination of Bodybug’s efforts. In the late summer of 2002 - a mere few months after the release of the album – Bodybug ceased to be as an entity. Contributing factors to the dissipation were a lack of money, inconsistent work ethic and a lack of confidence in general amongst the members.

After Bodybug, some if not all of its members came together under the moniker "Hiram" which remained active until 2013.