Nightmare Bio

NIGHTMARE is created in 1979, but the band has to wait until March 1983 to take its flight, thanks to their opening of the Grenoble show of DEF LEPPARD (Pyromania Tour), in front of over 4000 fans and this opens to them the doors of record companies... A four track demo-tape is recorded, and their efforts are rewarded from the British Isles, as the band is signed by Ebony Records in 1984, for the recording of their debut, Waiting For The Twilight... The magazines give enthusiastic responses (the readers of Enfer Magazine going so far as to label the band as " one of the most promising French acts "...).
NIGHTMARE is propelled into the Japanese charts, and the album is released in Greece by Virgin Records. Thanks to this successful debut, the combo from Grenoble hires a new singer, Jean-Marie Boix (ex-BRONX), who brings a new breath to the band with his unbelievable voice... Jean Strippoli (guitar), Nicolas De Dominicis (guitar), Yves Campion (bass), Jo Amore (drums) and Jean-Marie Boix (vocals) are then ready to go back to Hull (North of England) to record their second opus, Power Of The Universe. Everything goes well for NIGHTMARE which raids the concert halls and festivals with PRESENCE (also from Grenoble), TOKYO BLADE, ADX, H BOMB, ATTENTAT ROCK... NIGHTMARE becomes one of the first French bands to achieve success in the U.K., appearing in the reknown Dingwalls, along with THE DOGS D'AMOUR, and this will enable the band to sign with a British management company, Spectrum LTD...
From then on, things progress at a higher speed : NIGHTMARE leaves Ebony Records, the Power Of The Universe album is licensed in France by Dream Records, and the band prepares their third L.P. ... But the album, due to be released by Dream Records, will never come out : the collapse of the company and contractual difficulties put an end to their hopes. Morever, their singer, Jean-Marie Boix, suffering from a bad health, leaves his friends and... everything has to be done again...


We are now in 1987 : Spectrum Management insist on their hiring an English-speaking replacing singer, who eventually turns out to be the Scottish Tom Jackson (ex-PRAYING MANTIS, BERNIE MARSDEN'S S.O.S., ZENITH...), and proves to be the perfect fit...
A new band comes to life, with only Yves Campion and Nicolas De Dominicis remaining from the original line up... The band records a two track demo-tape and plays a few shows in France. It also gains a little success in Britain, with an unforgettable show at London's Royal Standard, along with FINE and HEADMASTER...
Unfortunately, musical differences arise among the members of the band, and NIGHTMARE has to leave the foreground of the French musical scene, in which it had gained a leading role, and of which it was bound to become the leader...


1999 : more than twelve years after, the energy builds up again... Jo Amore, who has successfully left his drumkit for a microphone, Nicolas De Dominicis (guitar), Jeannot Strippoli (guitar), Yves Campion (bass), David Amore (drums) (Jo's brother) and Stéphane Rabilloud (keyboards), feeling nostalgic about the past, have decided to give birth once again to NIGHTMARE, on the occasion of a successful reunion show, which took place in Grenoble (France) at Le Summum on October the 30th. 1999... The first two albums, Waiting For The Twilight and Power Of The Universe have also been re-released with lots of bonus tracks and previously unrealeased material...
NIGHTMARE has even returned to a studio in July 1999, in order to record an E.P : Astral Deliverance, adding also avery special thought for Jean-Marie Boix, who tragically departed this life on the 19 April 1999 at the age of 36...
2000 : NIGHTMARE is the first band in the whole French metal scene's history to release a " double live " CD... This album entitled Live Deliverance, even features a CD-Rom video track that displays quite a few memorable moments taken from this event! This is the springboard of a new start for the band and after a killer show in Lyon (F) as " special guest " of SAXON, NIGHTMARE appears during the same year, in different major European summer festivals like The Artefacts in Strasburg (F) with STRATOVARIUS, EDGUY and IRON MAIDEN and at the famous Wacken Open Air in Germany, where they impress a lot on stage and get excellent reviews from the international press...


Several labels have shown interest in NIGHTMARE and the band signed naturally with Napalm Records... Then the band recorded a cover song of French legends TRUST released for a " Tribute album " In April 2001. In June of this same year, they were now ready to enter the Soundsuite studio with Norwegian producer Terje Refsnes on the helm for the recording of their third album, Cosmovision that is released internationally in October 2001... The rebirth was complete...
Then, in November 2001 and to promote this album, the band supported SAXON in France and Italy and played also with Grave Digger... This was the first leg of the Roads To Nazca... Cosmovison Tour... In April 2002, NIGHTMARE was on the billing of the famous New Jersey Metal Meltdown IV Festival in Asbury Park - New Jersey (U.S.A) with bands like VIRGIN STEELE, MANOWAR, DIAMOND HEAD, ARCH ENEMY, NUCLEAR ASSAULT... They becomed then the first French heavy metal band to play North America since a decade...
Back in France, NIGHTMARE opened for BLIND GUARDIAN... and also appeared in cult summer festivals like the Rock Machina in Spain, Skeleton Bash in Austria and of course Wacken, and this, for the second time... The reviews in magazines were great! (Check out Rock Hard Germany!)... It's now time to think about the next album! A concept in 5 chapters, entitled Silent Room, scheduled to be released worldwide October 14th 2003 (Nov. 4th in America)... Then, to promote the album, the band have embarked in January of 2004, on a very successful tour in France, Belgium and Spain, together with AFTER FOREVER, DARK MOOR and AMARAN culminating to a memorable concert in Paris (La Locomotive) on January 26th... In spring of the same year, NIGHTMARE also appeared at the famous Rotonde festival in northern France together with STRATOVARIUS, SAMAEL, EPICA among others...
Then another big step in the band's career was about to happen... End of 2004, NIGHTMARE parted ways with Napalm Records and started shopping for a new label... 2005... A third rebirth is about to begin with major changes: the departure of co-founding member, Nicolas De Dominicis and the signing to a new label...