Breed 77 was formed in late april of 1996 in london, originally called "breed" , the band came together in the form of danny felice , paul isola , stuart cavilla and lawrence bautista . Danny and stuart were formerly of the thrash metal band,"winter of torment".
Disillusioned with the state of the scene , they set about forming a band composed entirely of members from their native gibraltar. From the very first day , playing live , was a priority ; that is why breed set about playing their first gig only a month after forming , there's been no looking back since .
In the next year they took it upon themselves to conquer the london underground , playing numerous support slots with the likes of one minute silence ( then called near-death experience ) . Little after that they began to headline their own gigs and attract some press attention.
The year is 1997 , breed is barely a year old , new drummer in the ranks ( in the form of nick beefly ) and already breed are snapping up support slots with pist.on and napalm death and to round of the year they are voted to headline kerrang's " x-fest " christmas bash at the shepherds bush empire . The night goes off a storm and breed perform their first big show to two thousand frenzied fans.
1998 marked a step up , with their first tours in the u.k. , portugal , italy and spain . Remember all these stints are self-financed and breed 77 begin to make waves as the unsigned band playing everywhere . Soon the band are on tours with bands like tribute to nothing and misery loves co. The year ends with the departure of nick " the curtain " beefly ......enter pete " de beat " chichone .
In 1999 breed 77 rose further , lost a bass player and gained charlie gomez ( a catalan ) , voted in the viewers poll in both metal hammer and kerrang! For the third consecutive year , nominated for a kerrang! Award and playing on major tours throughout the u.k. With the likes of o.m.s , my ruin , kill ii this and headlining their own shows .....things were o.k. But to top it all off , breed 77 are selected by black sabbath to be the sole support act at the legendary godfathers of metal's farewell london show at the charing cross astoria theatre . The 2000 tickets sell out in six minutes , then on december 5th breed 77 take the stage supporting their heroes , and , through adversity ,pull off a storming show to the acclaim of the die-hard sabbath fans that night . This dream come true becomes breed 77's last show of the millennium ....and what a way to go !!
The new year starts off slow , but breed 77 don't go about things in a small way . The debut album pre-production takes almost a year and during that year the band and charlie gomez have parted company , the split was amicable and charlie is involved in various projects . Dan wilkinson handled bass duties for a while ,but was later replaced by original bassist stuart cavilla who returned to the fold to complete the all smokin' , all spitting , all gibraltarian lineup that exists today.
