Originally formed in 1991 as a 4-piece with Steve Counsell on Vocals/Guitar, Steve Henshall on Bass, Rich Kimberley on Guitar and Andy Scott on Drums. The band rehearsed for over a year before gigging, putting together 20 or so songs in a set consisting half of covers and half of original material. First gig was at the much lamented Brewery Tap in Lowesmoor, Worcester. The band progressed slowly at first with bursts of activity followed by lengthy periods of inactivity.

The band dissolved completely in early 1993 when other commitments among members prevailed but after a year Counsell, Henshall and Kimberley got back together as a 3-piece with Rich Kimberley on drums. No gigs were played as a 3-piece and ultimately it was decided that Rich should return to playing guitar and a new drummer be recruited. Andy Ford joined the band on drums.

Now, more accomplished than previously, many more gigs were undertaken and the band ventured into the recording studio in Spring 1995 to record 4 original tracks to appear on the Storm Warning EP. Soon after the recording of Storm Warning Steve Counsell left the band. Andy Ford continued for a short time but with future gigging a distant prospect left to join a working band.

Henshall and Kimberley were now left with a choice of giving up or rebuilding the band virtually from scratch. Thankfully the latter path was chosen and rebuilding began with the recruitment of drummer Blane Dodkin in October 1995, Dodkin suggested Steve Wood as a potential guitarist who duly joined the band. The new foursome spent 4 months regenerating the set without a vocalist until in January 1996 Mark Freeman was recruited on vocals. A month later the band were gigging and now, considerably more accomplished, the gigs started to come thick and fast.

The summer of 1996 saw Steve Wood replaced by Mark Roberts on guitar but there was no let up in the gig schedule as Roberts played his first gig 3 days after first meeting the other members of the band.

In July 1997, keen to spread their wings, the band went back into the studio to record a 4 track demo of covers.These recordings appeared as the Cover This EP.

In August 1997 Mark Roberts was replaced by Steve Bennett whose heavily blues influenced style never really suited the band. Steve left in December 1997 to concentrate on playing in his own blues band.

The band decided to remain as a four piece and spent 6 months gigging with Rich Kimberley as the lone guitarist.

June 1998 proved eventful. Having been frustrated for some time by the inflexibility of the single guitar approach the band decided to return to a twin guitar line up and recruited guitarist Ian Saunders. A headline slot at an all day outdoor event at Wichenford was booked and Rich Kimberley was going to be out of the country, Ian Saunders hadn't fully joined the band yet and was committed elsewhere so another guitarist was urgently required to cover for Kimberley. Gary Harper, 16 year old guitar sensation with the band New Blood, stepped in and after only two brief rehearsals produced a great performance. The Wichenford event also proved to be frontman Mark Freeman's last, after which he left the band to concentrate on other material.

With gigs booked and without a vocalist the band had a race against time to find a replacement for Freeman, Sean Shephardson was interested but not immediately available and none of the other auditioned vocalists fitted the bill so the bands sound engineer Vince Ballard switched from his role behind the mixing desk to fronting the band. Ballard, who had often been referred to as the 6th member of the band, was himself a vocalist with blues band Wolf At The Door and had been 'doing the sound' for the band for years. The set took on a more bluesey feel for two memorable gigs with Vince at the helm. Shortly afterwards Sean Shephardson became available to fill the vocalist role on a permanent basis.

After many months upheaval the band had once again stabalised with a five-piece line-up and a fresh input of ideas. Saunders and Kimberley immediately struck up a guitarists rapport and now with Shephardson's vocal range the door was open for a host of new songs. The first gig with the new line up was at Drummonds club in Worcester and was a night to remember. The venue was packed to capacity and an impromptu guest appearance by the aforementioned Gary Harper made it a night to remember.

Unfortunately the stability lasted less than a year as Shephardson's early commitment to the band waned and his unhappiness with some of the material surfaced leading to his replacement by Tony O'Hora, a true professional rock vocalist in every sense. Tony's primary commitment was to established HM band Praying Mantis, who still regularly toured Japan and the Far East at the time and recorded on the Pony Canyon International label. However, assisted by his recent residency in the local area and his love of performing live Tony was more than happy to front Before The Storm in between his other touring and recording commitments. With the addition of awesomely powerful rock vocals the band again were able to revisit and revise the set introducing songs never before available.

October 1999 marked drummer Blane Dodkin's 4th anniversary with the band and also the point at which he decided to move on. The parting was amicable and through mutual contacts Mark Smith was approached to temporarily fill the void. Smith's jazz influenced precision drumming held everything together for several gigs whereupon he handed over temporary drumming duties to Rick Jones while the search for a permanent drummer continued. Meanwhile Ian Saunders chose to work with Shephardson on another project and left rather than commit to playing with the band.

In Spring 2000 the search for a permanent drummer came to fruition when Tim Batkin joined the band. Tim had been known to Steve Henshall and Rich Kimberley for years and they had all played together many times for prospective incarnations of several bands over the years. However, differing musical priorities and Tim's commitment to bands such as Cynic and Tom Sawyer had mean't that they had never gigged together. Tim suggested the addition to the band of ex-Tom Sawyer keyboard / bass player Neil Orgee and upon hearing the added dimension keyboards provided to the set the band was complete. Neil's ability to also play rhythm guitar provided an excellent platform for the band to attempt a host of new material.

The new band was unveiled at Drummonds Club, Worcester in September 2000. It was the first time the band had played in Worcester for over a year and the club was so packed that latecomers were unfortunately turned away at the door. Everyone seemed to play well on the night and the new material was well received. Tony was on top form working the audience and slipping easily into Ali G and Beavis & Butthead mode between songs. Altogether a superb night for all.

The band gigged regularly throughout the remainder of 2000 and into 2001 and with with stability restored to the line-up produced many confident and powerful shows playing previously untouchable material. On 7th September 2001 a gig at The Marr's Bar in Worcester was recorded for a live album that, as yet, has never seen the light of day.

Being a professional musician throughout his time with the band, Tony had varying degrees of commitment with Praying Mantis, Caprice and several other projects he had been involved in. After two and a half years the amount of time Tony needed to devote to these other commitments made it impossible for him to continue. The band had had a great couple of years but it was time to move on and Tony's final gig was at Don Pedros Club on 3rd February 2002. Shortly after his departure press announcements confirmed that Tony had joined The Sweet. He was working with original guitarist Andy Scott and would be filling the role of the late, great Brian Connolly. Tony's role with The Sweet is a dual one as in addition to providing lead vocals he is also playing Steve Priest's licks on bass. More recently, Tony's bass playing talents have resulted in him joining Statetrooper who are fronted by former Michael Schenker Group vocalist Gary Barden. Tony will work with Statetrooper in between his commitments with The Sweet.

The band now had the daunting task of trying to replace Tony and it was more than another two years before that search finally came to fruition. In the meantime the band ticked over playing only a handful of gigs fronted by stand-in vocalists and former Cynic frontman John Ridsdale. John had a decent voice but it lacked the power and range that the band desired to play their preferred material. Several unfamiliar musical paths were trodden with varying degrees of success and interest. Some of the Cynic material that John had worked on many years before with Tim and Neil was also explored. Tim had made contact with a Californian based record company, O.P.M. Records (www.opmrecords.com), who were interested in releasing Cynic material and it was considered that the band may re-record an album of Cynic numbers for release by O.P.M. However, as neither John, Tim or Neil had been the principal songwriters in Cynic the issue surrounding ownership rights of the songs was considered too great to enable the project to get off the ground.

Ultimately, Tim, Steve, Rich and Neil collectively decided that they wanted to return to playing the harder edged rock classics that had made their name and unfortunately John just didn't have the vocals they required.

After John's departure the search was back on for a frontman with the required power and range. A chance conversation in late Summer 2004 between Steve and an old drinking buddy, Mark Gibbs, ended the search. Mark was no stranger to flexing his vocal chords at parties and in pubs when the mood took him (and he was suitably refreshed!) but he had never actually fronted a band before. Steve had heard such impromptu performances several times and knew the potential was there. Mark was invited along to a rehearsal and immediately impressed the band, not only with his vocal ability but also his enthusiasm and great potential to be an accomplished frontman. Gibbo made a brave move by organising his first gig himself, to an audience made up largely of his own work colleagues at The Welsh Harp in Gloucester. Naturally, such circumstances made for a potentially difficult gig but Gibbo handled the situation well and performed superbly to cement his position in the band

Throughout the remainder of 2005 gigs were hard to come by as venues and more specifically, venue managers, had considerably changed their attitude to booking rock bands. However, persistence appears to have paid off as the band now approach autumn 2006 with a pretty full schedule. They do so with James E. Williams filling the drum stool after Tim took his leave to depart to pursue other interests. James has made a hugely positive impact on the band's sound and it is hoped he will remain for some time to come.

At the time of writing (August 2006) the band are preparing for their first gig as post match entertainment at Worcester Rugby Club. The stadium capacity is 10,000+ and the expectation is for the post match gig audience to be well into 4 figures. Should be a good one..............