Black Spiders: Sheffield's Riff Merchants Who Wouldn't Stay Dead
Photo: Frank Schwichtenberg / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/). Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Black_Spiders_%E2%80%93_Wacken_Open_Air_2015_03.jpg
Black Spiders play rock 'n' roll the old way: fast, loud and riff-first. According to Wikipedia, the Sheffield band draws on Black Sabbath, Motörhead, AC/DC, Turbonegro, Led Zeppelin, The Stooges and Aerosmith. They broke up in 2017, said goodbye in their own crude style, and came back three years later. Black Spiders have 7,644 plays on U-Rock®.
Straight onto the road
Wikipedia says the band formed in early 2008 and played a few early shows as "The Black Spiders." Their first release was a three-track single, St. Peter, in December 2008, timed for a short run of European dates with Airbourne, their first-ever tour. The four-track EP Cinco Hombres, Diez Cojones followed in June 2009, just after their first Download Festival appearance. It was the first release on their own label, Dark Riders. A second EP, No Goats in the Omen, arrived in May 2010 with their first UK headline tour.
The rock press noticed early. Wikipedia notes that Kerrang! and Classic Rock featured them in their new-band sections, and Rock Sound and Classic Rock named them ones to watch. Support slots piled up: Airbourne, Black Stone Cherry, The Datsuns, Stone Gods, Danko Jones, The Wildhearts and The Answer.
Golden Gods and a debut
2010 was a big year. Wikipedia records that the band won a MySpace and iTunes competition with more than 500 entries for unsigned UK bands, and the prize was a slot at the iTunes Festival with Ozzy Osbourne. They played High Voltage in London's Victoria Park on a bill with ZZ Top, Heaven & Hell and Down. They also played Sonisphere at Knebworth and the main stage at Bloodstock, and Metal Hammer's Golden Gods named them Best Underground Band.
The debut album Sons of the North came out on 7 February 2011 to good reviews in the UK and Europe, Wikipedia says. It was followed by sold-out UK headline tours, six shows over three days in Beijing, and festival dates at Rock am Ring, Rock im Park and Graspop. Back home they headlined the Jägermeister Stage at Sonisphere, then toured Europe with Monster Magnet.
Thin Lizzy, Guns N' Roses and a fan-funded album
In 2012, according to Wikipedia, Black Spiders supported Thin Lizzy and played selected dates with Guns N' Roses. They also covered Metallica's "The God That Failed" for a Kerrang! tribute album. The second album, This Savage Land, was funded by fan pledges and released in 2013, reaching No. 59 in the UK.
Goodbye, and hello again
Louder and Kerrang! both confirm the split and the return. In 2016 the band announced their split with a farewell tour titled, in typical style, "F** Off Black Spiders." Wikipedia says the last show was at the Corporation in Sheffield on 16 June 2017. It didn't last. In September 2020 they announced a reunion with new drummer Wyatt Wendels, and in November 2020 they released "Fly in the Soup," their first new music in six years, according to Louder. "The sentiment of it is we're back and here to annoy you, so deal with it!" frontman Pete Spiby told Kerrang!. Guitarist Andy "Ozzy" Lister added: "We were blown away with the love we were shown at our final shows, but we needed a break." They wrote a new album during lockdown, and the self-titled Black Spiders came out in March 2021, reaching No. 7 on the UK Independent Albums Chart. Can't Die, Won't Die followed in 2023, and Wikipedia lists Cvrses* in 2025.
Why it matters on U-Rock®
Black Spiders built a career on their own label, their own fans' pledges and a lot of nights in support slots, and they came back when they could have walked away for good. With 7,644 plays, they're a U-Rock® rotation regular.
U-Rock® play data: 7,644 plays logged across the BROADCAST and CORE histories (2026-07-02 to 2026-10-12), using the higher of the two logs.
Sources 1. Wikipedia, "Black Spiders" — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Spiders 2. U-Rock® BROADCAST (AzuraCast) and CORE (airplay_spins) play logs 3. Louder, "Black Spiders are back!" (5 Nov 2020) — https://www.loudersound.com/news/black-spiders-are-back-the-kings-of-the-north-return-with-fly-in-the-soup 4. Kerrang!, "Black Spiders return and announce new album" (Nick Ruskell, 5 Nov 2020) — https://www.kerrang.com/black-spiders-return-and-announce-new-album
