Raging Speedhorn were forged in 1998, in the steel town of Corby, Northamptonshire. The band brought together members of Box and Soulcellar. The music they wrote was influenced by Iron Monkey, Black Sabbath and bands that ranged from the heavy rock of the 70s through to the metal, punk and grunge scenes of the 90s. Two original bands resulted in two vocalists, and the growling bass-notes of John Loughlin contrasted with the angry lyrical style of Frank Regan. The band also included Gareth Smith and Tony Loughlin on guitars, Darren Smith on bass and Gordon Morison on pounding drums.
They soon gained a reputation for their uncompromising live performances, aurally assaulting their audience and getting the crowd going with their aggressive banter. They toured relentlessly, supporting bands such as earthtone9, Will Haven, Amen, Biohazard, Rammstein and Slipknot. They toured across the UK and Europe, Japan and USA and they also appeared at many festivals over the years, playing Main Stage at Ozzfest, Reading, the first Damnation Festival in 2004 and Download on three occasions.
Their first album, ‘Raging Speedhorn’, was released in 2000, with ‘We Will be Dead Tomorrow’ following up in 2002, with single ‘The Gush’ reaching the UK Charts.
After the release of their 3rd Album, ‘How the Great Have Fallen’ in 2005, Frank left the band and was replaced by Bloody Kev, previously of Hard to Swallow. Jamie Thompson, friend of drummer Gordon and member of Defenestration, had joined to play guitar in 2004 after Tony’s departure.
His brother, Dave Thompson, also joined the band late in 2006 when Darren decided to leave.
The band called it a day in 2008, after releasing their fourth album, ‘Before the Sea was Built’ and doing a farewell tour of the UK, and a final visit to Japan with Palm.
In February 2014, they announced that the band would reform to play at Damnation festival, with Frank Regan returning to join John on vocals. Jamie and Dave Thompson reprised their roles on guitar and bass, with founder member Gordon Morison back behind the drums. The second guitarist would be Jim Palmer, former axe-man from Charger / Murder One.
In July that year, the band headlined the Jagermeister Stage at Sonisphere 2014 to a packed-out audience. They then played Damnation Festival, as well as hitting the road on their first headline tour in 6 years. In 2015 Raging Speedhorn returned to business playing sold out shows and playing Hard Rock Hell and Blood Stock festival.
They went on to release a new single and video in May 2015 – ‘Halfway to Hell’ which was a true return to form for the band with their trademark heavy riffage and pounding rhythm section. This led to writing then recording sessions which culminated in the release of their first album in 8 years, 2016’s (Russ Russell produced) ‘Lost Ritual’. The album completed the bands return to form and received critical acclaim from the press and fans alike and quickly sold out initial pressings. Subsequent headline tours of the UK and Ireland, appearances at Download, Bloodstock, Damnation, 2000 trees and tours with bands such as Will Haven, CKY and Skindred aswell as hundreds of one off shows really cemented the bands place back and at the top of their game. The band would continue to tour relentlessly for the following 4 years while working on new material.
In early 2020 the band returned to the studio with Russ Russell to record their next album ‘Hard to Kill’. With this album came a lineup change. Jamie Thompson was replaced with a friend of the band, Dave Leese. Dave Thompson would be replaced on bass by Andy Gilmour of Hundred Reasons / Freeze the Atlantic. John Loughlin was replaced by former RSJ singer Dan Cook. Gordon, Frank and Jim completed the lineup.
That year, as the covid pandemic hit the World, it looked as though plans would be halted but the band decided to go ahead with the release of Hard to Kill in October 2020. 3 video releases for Snakebite, Hard to Kill and Doom machine (all filmed with social distancing and lockdowns in place) came quickly and the album was off to a flying start. The band even arranged one of the very first socially distanced gigs with Hotel Radio at the Underworld Camden. The album was a huge success despite Covid and went on to sell well above expectations aswell as over 1 million streams on Spotify. As lockdowns eased and the pandemic subsided tours with Phil Anselmo, Skindred, Wildhearts, Sepultura, Napalm Death aswell as headline tours / gigs and appearances once again at Bloodstock, Night of Salvation (Damnation pre night), and finally a return to Europe in Ibiza, Poland and Germany. There would be no let up in the push and this would lead to Hard to Kill being massively successful with the press and fans alike. The bands climb to the top seemed complete.
In 2022 the band began writing towards their next studio album. In Dec that year they signed a publishing deal with AMF Music Publishing. They hit the studio with Russ Russell in January 2023 and are currently recording their latest, as yet untitled, album.