{"id":541723,"date":"2026-04-20T21:32:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T21:32:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/541723\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T21:32:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T21:32:08","slug":"the-mysterious-disappearance-of-the-uks-answer-to-korn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/541723\/","title":{"rendered":"The mysterious disappearance of the UK’s answer to Korn"},"content":{"rendered":"

British metal was in fine form in the early 90s. While it might not have had the commercial clout of grunge<\/a>, thanks to the efforts of Paradise Lost, Carcass, Napalm Death, Cradle of Filth and many others, the little island nation that could showed that it was capable of going toe-to-toe with whatever the US was putting out, creatively at least. Then nu metal<\/a> happened.<\/p>\n

The rise of metal\u2019s most divisive movement changed the focus of genre solely to what was happening Stateside. British bands wouldn’t claw their way to any parity with their US peers until the success of Bring Me the Horizon and Bullet For My Valentine over a decade after nu metal’s year-zero. For a few years, being a UK-based metal band was tough going.<\/p>\n

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For those that can recall those years in the trenches, there was one band that many Brit-metal fans truly believed could take the fight to Korn and Limp Bizkit. They had the look, the charisma and a sound that connected to the metal zeitgeist.<\/p>\n

Article continues below <\/p>\n

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\u201cThe band from our scene that we really looked up to was Pulkas,\u201d recalled Karl Middleton, vocalist of fellow beloved British band Earthtone9, to Metal Hammer in 2017. \u201cThey had this very British, almost Killing Joke, kinda vibe.\u201d<\/p>\n

London quartet Pulkas arrived seemingly fully formed in the late 90s. Their 1998 debut album Greed had fans and critics heaping praise on them and then, abruptly, they were just gone. Never to return. What happened to Pulkas has been an enduring mystery. Isn\u2019t it about time someone found out?<\/p>\n

\u201cGood luck with that!\u201d Chortled former Murder One and Medulla Nocte vocalist Paul Catten to Hammer in 2017 when asked of Pulkas\u2019 whereabouts. \u201cI don\u2019t think anyone really knows where they\u2019ve gone. Shame. Great band.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what we do know. Pulkas formed in 1995, consisting of vocalist Luke Lloyd, guitarist Martin Bourne, bassist Jules McBride and drummer Rob Lewis. They were signed by Earache Records on the strength of their first demo tape and played just 10 gigs before they got signed. Earache Records founder Digby Pearson recalled on his blog in 2007, \u201cIt was obvious that the band could easily go onto great things.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe never hassled Earache for a deal,\u201d McBride told Kerrang! In 1997. \u201cThey just called us up straight off and told us they wanted us. Next thing we\u2019re in this huge old church, recording our album!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had offers from other places,\u201d continued Lewis. \u201cIt\u2019s always a temptation when someone waves large amounts of cash under your nose. But your integrity just gets fucked somewhere down the line, we\u2019re not into that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even prior to releasing any material Earache pushed the band hard. Pulkas shared bills with the likes of Godflesh, Bruce Dickinson, Napalm Death and were added to an Earache tour with labelmates Dub War and Misery Loves Company. They instantly began to win fans; frontman Lloyd was a fearsome and enigmatic presence onstage, often performing with his windbreaker jacket zipped up to his chin, even in the sweatiest venues. Their groove and \u201cquiet-quiet-loud” dynamics saw them gain favourable comparisons with the cream of US metal at the turn of the millennium. Not that they cared much.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIf there\u2019s one thing that we hate,\u201d Sniffed McBride to Kerrang! In 1998. \u201cIt\u2019s being compared to Korn or Tool, we\u2019re far better than that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lewis would describe their association with nu metal as \u201cLazy\u201d, adding: \u201cNu metal… it\u2019s just an American thing to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Debut album Greed, recorded with Machine Head and Fear Factory producer Colin Richardson, was released on April 27, 1998. In their 4-star review, Kerrang! called it, \u201cA slice of urban decay that could easily start a revolution.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a 9\/10review, Metal Hammer opined, \u201cRemember the first time you played Reign In Blood or Burn My Eyes? Well there\u2019s a new record to add to that hallowed list.\u201d Their critics placed it fourth on the best albums of 1998 beneath then-cover star acts Pitchshifter, Marilyn Manson and Monster Magnet.<\/p>\n

Listening back to Greed today, it\u2019s remarkable how brilliantly it still stands up. Lloyd\u2019s quiet, sneering vocals that build to a scream beautifully compliment his band’s throbbing grooves and dark atmospherics. Songs like Rubber Room, Loaded, Hippy Fascist and This is It could come out now and metalheads would be slathering praise all over them.<\/p>\n

Pulkas toured Greed, playing with the likes of The Jesus Lizard and Will Haven. But within a year of Greed\u2019s release Pulkas vanished. No official announcement, no clues as to where they were; they just ceased to be.<\/p>\n

In 2002, three-quarters of the band – Lloyd, Bourne and McBride – returned, renamed as I:Am:I and announced a show at The Garage in London. That show never took place and I:Am:I vanished even quicker than Pulkas.<\/p>\n

Since then, UK metal fans of a certain vintage will often bring the fate of band up as a matter of curiosity. Earache\u2019s Digby Pearson was asked what happened to them on his blog in 2007.<\/p>\n

\u201cSensing their greatness deserved better than the indie label they had just signed to, the band wasted no time in recruiting a manager who proceeded to shop them to major labels,\u201d he replied. \u201cEven though they were contracted to us for 3 more albums. They broke off all contact with Earache, so we were forced to spend 2 years wrangling via lawyers, defending our quite legitimate legal and moral position.\u201d<\/p>\n

For some time, that was the sum total of information regarding Pulkas\u2019 demise. Until now.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were promised a lot of support for a UK headlining tour and a US tour supporting Biohazard,\u201d drummer Rob Lewis tells us. \u201cBut Earache let us down. We got a big publishing deal and had a really big label telling us, \u2018You get out of your contract and we\u2019ll take you on.’ It was very exciting, but Earache dug their heels in. We did everything to get out of it but nothing was good enough. We legally couldn\u2019t be in that band anymore, so we just gave it up. It all fell apart and we were angry… even at each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lewis goes on to explain that Pulkas had even recorded a second album’s worth of material, once again with Colin Richardson, that was just left to rot.<\/p>\n

\u201cWeird\u201d is the way Lewis describes it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt sounded really good, but no one is ever going to hear it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lewis wasn\u2019t part of I:AM:I, admitting he had lost the passion at that point. He says that everyone else immediately realised that \u201cthe spark just wasn\u2019t there anymore.\u201d After the split, the members of Pulkas went around a decade without speaking or seeing each other.<\/p>\n

It was chance that saw a reformation of sorts for two of the members. Lewis moved to Hastings and found out through a mutual friend that McBride had recently moved to the town as well. The pair reconnected and founded their current band, sludge metal crew Rustorm, in the late 2010s, \u201cjust for a bit of fun: no label, no pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n

One man that Lewis has been unable to contact since is elusive vocalist Lloyd, who went completely off grid post I:AM:I. Although McBride did bump into him in London recently.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe just saw him crossing the street and called out,” says Lewis. \u201cHe just vanished after the band, so it was a bit random. But at least one of us has made contact with him.\u201d<\/p>\n

So… could one of British metal\u2019s great lost bands be primed for a comeback?<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think so,\u201d Lewis ruefully replies. \u201cI mean, no one has actually ever asked. If we got a reason to try and get the band back together then maybe we could, but we\u2019ve never had a reason to try.\u201d<\/p>\n

Everything is crossed that they do, but even if it never happens, Pulkas will always be remembered for giving British fans a moment, no matter how brief, where we believed metal\u2019s next superstars were right here on our shores.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did our thing, had our moment and no one can ever take that away from us,\u201d Lewis says with a smile. \u201cI can be thankful that we\u2019ve still got people who randomly pop up and want to know where we went, I guess we were remembered. I feel good about that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"British metal was in fine form in the early 90s. While it might not have had the commercial…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":541724,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[96,128,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-541723","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-music","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=541723"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541723\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/541724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=541723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=541723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=541723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}