Biography

At the time of their 1986 debut album, The Son of Odin, London's Elixir were given the dubious distinction of being one of the last bands to be broadly associated, tagged if you will, with the already mostly in disuse New Wave of British Heavy Metal categorization. Obviously due in part to the musical characteristics on display, this was also the result of their having been formed as far back as 1983, when the movement was still peaking, and guitarist Phil Denton and the Dobbs brothers, Kevin (bass) and Nigel (drums), first started working together under such short-lived monikers as Purgatory and Hellfire. By the end of the following year, vocalist Paul Taylor (ex-Midas) and Irish guitarist Norman Gordon had also joined the team, and the officially renamed Elixir could be found actively storming the stages of London's pubs and clubs alongside fellow N.W.O.B.H.M. latecomers like Tokyo Blade and Chariot. But Elixir's demos failed to impress prospective record labels, and when certain members of the metal press rashly prejudged them mere Iron Maiden clones, the boys took matters into their own hands by self-releasing their first single, "Treachery" (b/w "Winds of Time"), in mid-1985. Drawing comparisons to epic metal legends like Rainbow and, naturally, Maiden, the single earned the approval of influential DJ Tommy Vance, who offered Elixir a session on his popular Friday Rock Show in February 1986. And yet there was still no recording contract to be had, so the ambitious group once again borrowed money to record the aforementioned The Son of Odin LP, which they sold on consignment to independent record shops and via mail order. The album received a fair bit of praise, too, but not even Elixir's resourcefulness and willpower could sustain them forever; after struggling for the next few years, they wound up parting ways with the Dobbs brothers before completing their proposed second album, in mid-1988. The only bit of good news was that, as well as replacement bassist Mark White, the new opus (tentatively entitled Sovereign Remedy) featured none other than former Iron Maiden drummer Clive Burr behind the kit. Only problem was there was still no major-label interest for what they were offering, and by the time the album was finally released by independent Sonic Records two years later, its contents were terribly dated, and the only sign of Burr (he'd already been replaced by one Stevie Hughes) was a sticker on the cover. Spent at last, Elixir finally called it a day, although the complete first album lineup did eventually re-form in 2003 in order to capitalize on the N.W.O.B.H.M.'s latest popularity resurgence, recording a belated third album called The Idol. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia, Rovi