One of the heaviest, if not THE heaviest of heavy metal
bands in Hull, England in the early to mid 1990s was Chapel of Rest. How
do I know this? I co-formed the band!
In 1991 I was playing guitar in 'Idiot Savant' (formerly 'Infanticide')
wih my good friend Adam Clarke. By mid 1992 Adam had left the band to join
'Re-animator' and I was getting tired of our crappy vocalist, egotistical
bass player and somewhat funk direction the music was taking - I thought
we were a thrash band!
During this period we played a gig supported by a local band named 'Convulsion.'
The music was pretty basic but I remember being impressed with the guitar/vocalist
- a certain Mr. Phil Hutchinson. Soon after, I left the 'funk' band and joined
Convulsion as the lead guitarist. The Convulsion thing didn't work out. The
drummer and bass player were brothers and wanted to play a more bouncy type
of music; then there was just Phil and I.
The death metal scene was well entrenched, underground at the time; both
Phil and I knew that death metal was what we wanted play. I guess we had
the monopoly on death metal in Hull!
We re-wrote a few of the old Convulsion songs, added a couple new tunes
then recruited Mike Dearing on bass. Phil coaxed Mike into the band by touting
our desire to play heavy music. Mike wanted in, 'I have a bass and an amp,
even a pick!' Yep, Mike wanted in alright!
Now we needed a decent drummer who could play double bass drum. Well, we
couldn't find a decent drummer so Jason Brown got the job! Jase was the author
of the metal zine 'Friday the 13th' and had played in several local metal
bands. After naming ourselves 'Chapel of Rest' (Jase wanted 'Chapel of Ghouls'
errrr) we were ready to roll.
We played a few gigs and recorded our first demo 'Memorium Grief' for free
at the 'Warren' in Hull, in late 1992. We sold hundreds of copies of that
first demo, worlwide. Of course we only charged a measley quid for it!
The demo was, well, ok - I guess. The vocals caught most people's attention,
very few people in the mainstream had heard such 'singing.' In an interview
with the local paper 'Hull Daily Mail,' Phil's vocals were described as,
'Gargling with a gob full of gravel.' Such high praise!
Soon after the demo we parted with Jase. He was a nice enough guy, I suppose,
he never really gelled with the rest of 'Chapel.' Musically he was weak and his personality
was kind of strange. I remember a set list at a gig were Jase wrote one song as 'Soul Man Image'
instead of 'Solemn Image,' we're a death metal band, not a soul band, remember?
With Jason (not Newstead) gone, Phil purchased a drum machine and we now had the classic
'Chapel' line up:
Vocals, Rhythm and 2nd Lead Guitar - Phil Hutchinson.
Lead Guitar - Andy Farrington.
Bass - Mike Dearing.
Drums - Drum Machine.
With our new bio-mechanical line up 'Chapel' really began to flourish.
Phil and I would write the music, Mike had a knack for lyrics and Phil programmed the
drum machine.
I really respected Phil and Mike. Phil had a talent for taking a riff and making it workable.
Mike would write some quite thought provoking lyrics. The best song we ever wrote together was,
'A Twilight Serenade.' This song had all the elements of death metal: accoustic intro, plodding verse,
growling vocals, a cool running bass line and an excellent speed outro riff that Phil dreamed up.
Mike penned the classic 'Twilight' line,
'Twilight has shown me, that life holds more than ... than misery.'
With a collection of newly written songs we were able to gig with other bands and feel
quite confident. Between mid 1992 and 1994 we gigged with: 'Cradle of Filth,' 'Gomorrah,'
'Malediction,' 'Incarcerated' and 'Cancer,' amongst others. I saw 'Cradle' on MTV2 the other night!
In Spring of 1994 we recorded our 2nd demo, 'A Twilight Serenade' at Fairview, outside of Hull.
We recruited 16 year old Ben Powell on drums and he quickly learned the songs for recording; that kid was an impressive, talented drummer.
For me, this was 'Chapel' at its musical peak. I am still, almost 10 years on, really proud
of this demo.
I thank Phil for sacrificing so much that I could have my best guitar playing
recorded and saved for posterity.
I quit the band and the death metal scene in Summer 1994 after I married my American girl, Krista.
This is where the story ends for me, I often think of Phil and Mike and wonder what they are up to
these days.
A friend named Nick took on my role in the band and soon after 'Chapel' did a month tour of England
and Scotland.
Maybe Phil could finalise the 'Chapel' story for me. Are you out there Phil?
CHAPEL OF REST - THE FINAL CHAPTER
Well, here goes the anti-climactic final chapter of the Chapel story.
Seems the last time Chapel played was on the England/Scotland Tour of 1995. The tour lasted
about a month and Chapel were accompanied by Winter of Torment and Salem Justice.
After the tour finished, the band had a short resting period of several weeks, that turned
into several months that, well, I guess they're still resting! Consequently the band just
fizzled out, quite the conspicuous ending eh?
So we can't cite musical differences or band in-fighting as a typical cause for the band's
demise. That accolade goes to our old friend, laziness. Yep, I remember Phil and I writing
a total of about eight songs; in two years! Phil and Nick managed to pen another whole
song; I guess productivity was never the band's strong point.
Maybe I'm being a little harsh here; Phil put a lot of time and resources into the band
and y'know, I had to get out of bed and stuff!
From what I can deduce, the band had run its course and died of natural causes in old age.
But let's not mourn for Chapel for all the guys are alive and well. And there are a bunch of
happy memories to recount, like: setting fire to an angry Scotsman's garage, laughing at Pig's
RED guitar, taping our true feelings for Jason and on it goes.
So let's have two minutes of reflective silence, crank up Twilight then recall how much better
than Jamie Fowler we all were!
