Former ONSLAUGHT Members To Perform Entire 'In Search Of Sanity' Album

Steve Grice, former drummer and founding member of the British thrash pioneers ONSLAUGHT, has launched a brand new project called THE SANITY DAYS.

In addition to Grice (who played on all ONSLAUGHT albums thus far),THE SANITY DAYS features former ONSLAUGHT guitarist Alan Jordan (2007's "Killing Peace"),bassist Jase Stallard (1985's "Power From Hell" and 1986's "The Force"),and ex-GRIM REAPER singer Steve Grimmett, who fronted ONSLAUGHT for the 1989 album "In Search Of Sanity".

Commented Grice: "What is great about this lineup is it not only features two original members but the vocalist from the ONSLAUGHT's biggest-selling album.

"Alan completes the lineup with his excellent guitarist skills, superb stage presence and instant likeability factor."

Regarding how the idea for THE SANITY DAYS came about, Grice said in a statement released to BLABBERMOUTH.NET, "Al Jordan contacted me shortly after my departure with ONSLAUGHT and expressed his feelings towards playing together again. This was bolstered with the fact I have been approached so many times over the last six years to play tracks from the 'Sanity' album, plus many recent requests to play festivals, it seemed the obvious thing to do."

He added, "We wanted to put a band together of real people. These are people who I have a lot of time for, [who] great attitudes and [are] really down-to-earth honest people. That's important to me integrity and trust need to be the key ingredient to hold a band together, and if the band doesn't have that, it will fail."

He continued, "We always wanted to play one or two tracks from the 'Sanity' album with ONSLAUGHT, but we never really had the right tools in the bag to make them sound right.

For this band, the first track down on the set is list 'Welcome To Dying'!

"This band has not been set up in competition in any way with ONSLAUGHT official; they are doing something completely separate to us.

"Our intention is to play as many shows as we can in an 18-month-or-so window and take it from there.

"We are currently working on the final plans to play several well-known festivals along with what will be the biggest and most exciting show I have ever played on.

"THE SANITY DAYS will be together for a limited period only we don't intend on playing for the sake of it; no clubs or pubs, just the real deal so keep your eyes open and grab a piece of old-school thrash metal near you soon!"

Added Grimmett: "You know, I've done a lot of touring over the last few years as STEVE GRIMMETT BAND and also GRIM REAPER. One thing was true from every show I've done is that I've always been asked to do ONSLAUGHT songs. Fair enough, you might think, but the reason I didn't do them was that ONSLAUGHT was still out there gigging, and to my mind, that wasn't right, but Steve Grice called, me laid the cards on the table, and after a small amount of discussion, we decided to do it.

"THE SANITY DAYS, I have no problem with that. As Steve says, ONSLAUGHT didn't do those songs and that's tragic.

"So here we are. Watch out for dates, only at your local festivals."

Grice released a statement to BLABBERMOUTH.NET in March in which he blamed his decision to quit ONSLAUGHT on "a series of events that, in [his] opinion, have seen the recurrence of old patterns of behavior that fuelled the band's original demise in 1991." He added, "This culmination of occurrences came to a head when I learned through a third party that the band had booked a series of shows without my knowledge, and with the intention of using another drummer, during a period of time reserved for family commitments. Be very clear the temporary use of another drummer does not present me with a problem. My issue is with the fact that at no point did anyone from the band let me know that these decisions had been made." He continued, "Again in my opinion, there is a considerable gap between certain parties' view of ONSLAUGHT and the truth in terms of album sales and concert attendances. My reality, that of a father of two approaching 50, was simply incompatible with this alternate world view."