Wardance were initially known as The Kill (the name taken from the Joy Division song of the same name) formed in late 1982 with the nucleus of Gary Robinson on guitar, Mark Watson on bass and Jim Johnston on vocals and guitar. The band later drafted in John Stanley on drums. When John's mum sadly passed away he was unable to attend rehearsals for a while but he graciously lent the band his kit. Jim had a bash on them and quickly found that he was a better drummer than John! It was then agreed that Jim should play drums but this meant that the band now needed to find a new lead singer. Roy, or Wally as he was known then, was recruited along with Mark Baker as co-vocalist. With this new line up the band began to practice seriously and soon had accumulated a full set-list of songs which included the odd cover like Warhead by the UK Subs and Knife Edge by GBH. The band’s influences were varied and ranged from Slaughter And The Dogs to the Birthday Party.

November 1983 saw their debut gig at the Palm Grove night club supporting the Outcasts. A change of name from The Kill to Wardance soon followed along with a slew of gigs with venues as diverse as the Rathcoole Youth Centre to The Venue in Derry. Baker left and moved to London and Roy became the sole vocalist. Along the way we played the Rathcoole Community Workshop festival supporting Conflict and from that gig they secured a spot on the "We Don't Want Your Fucking War" compilation album released on Mortarhate Records, for which they recorded "Stand The Proud" an anti-war/military song and "Taken To The Grave", an anti-paramilitary number. Baker had returned briefly for this recording session and can be heard on the album.

In August 1984 the band were invited to play at the "Stop The City" demo in London. The band’s guitarist Gary was on holiday at the time with his girlfriend and, while he was away, Mark told Jim that he was unable to go to the gig. Mark was still at school at the time, studying for his A-Levels and his dad had refused to finance his sons’ place on the trip. A band meeting of just Roy and Jim decided to recruited a new bass player for the gig but the vibe just wasn't there. Jim told Roy that he wouldn't do the gig in London unless the original band went and Roy decided to simply go by himself! When Gary eventually arrived back from holiday he found that not only had the band fragmented but the rhythm section weren't speaking to each other! The band did have one final attempt at getting things back on track but too much animosity had built up between band members and they called it quits. Roy went on to front Belfast Anarcho punk band Toxic Waste.

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