In the beginning ...
This is DENIGH
Formed in 1978, DENIGH is a British Rock band from Folkestone, Kent, South East England.
From the outset, we enjoyed a loyal following at our live shows and made many support appearances with Budgie, Girlschool, Saxon, Samson, Torme and others. However, by the mid 1980's, DENIGH disbanded.
Later, new interest in Rock Bands from the late 1970's - now established as the 'New Wave of British Heavy Metal' - prompted the reissue of DENIGH's 1984 album 'Fire Form The Sky', in collaboration with the German Label Iron Pages. This label also re-released the bands 'Double A' 7" single (No Way / Running) on a British Steel compilation CD.
A new band is emerging
Folkestone, Kent, England. Early rehearsals for the new band began early 1978 with John Regan (Drums), Ian Devlin (Keyboards & Guitar), Jon Everett (Bass Guitar) and Phil Allchin (Lead Guitar) and initially were keen to recruit a lead singer, but this proved extremely difficult. We auditioned three but none were suitable and the delay led to Phil being offered a position elsewhere.
We quite quickly found Steve Maddock to replace Phil , and our early difficulties in finding a singer for the band, led to Jon stepping up as lead vocalist - this defined a key element of the bands sound, as Jon discovered his powerful and distinctive voice. But we still didn't have a name.
However, in 'The Chequers' pub one night after rehearsals, the landlord set us a riddle “there's one four letter word in the dictionary ending ENY, what is it?” None of us could guess it, so he told us – DENY.
We changed the spelling and DENIGH was ready to Rock!
Jon and Ian wanted to write and perform at least some of their own songs and had penned six between them plus a further two, co-written with Steve. These were ready for the first gig in August the same year.
The Musicians
Steve's Lead Guitar style and sound was reminiscent of Deep Purple's Richie Blackmore. There are very few pictures of Steve because he usually hid behind the PA speakers.
Johnny on Drums had probably been in more bands than the rest of us put together.
Ian's Keyboards, Guitar and song-writing skills were crucial for his & Jons early aspirations.
Combining Bass and Lead Vocals didn't come easy for Jon and the 'setlists' for early gigs were planned carefully for the benefit of his voice.