Melaena was the band which evolved from The Midnight Choir and then Berserker Joe, based in Sheffield and active between 1990 - 1993.

Ziggy Senkans - vocals, Matt Silcox - drums, and Simon Gilman - bass, were joined by Ian Wood (Woody RIP) on guitar and Andy Hartley (having left AC Temple) on second bass. Simon's bass was lead/fuzz bass and Andy's was driving low-end sub-bass. Ziggy experimented with pitch shifter on vocals (it was rumoured that smurf -like backing vocals on a few tracks were actually vocals by Matt and Simon in their natural voices - the mystery lives on however).

Initially a tentative name was Kill Buddha, then Perineum, before Melaena was settled upon. Obtaining accurate history of this band from the now very old ex band members has proved difficult. Some had no recollection of the band name Perineum but I have a copy of the first demo labelled with that name. Ziggy recalled that Nick Taylor (guitarist of The Midnight Choir and Berserker Joe) joined in some early rehearsals and has photographic of this. Nick has no such recollection however. At some late point in the band's life-span, Matt left and was replaced on drums by Brett (who possibly features on the final demo). Unfortunately Woody is no longer with us to see the release of these recordings which are mainly from his tape collection, diligently labelled with dates and personnel line-up (except the final demo - Ziggy recalls this being recorded with overdubs and vocals added over a protracted period, during which the band were no longer gigging). Master for this session lost apart from a cassette copy of Ziggy's.

Demo #1 circa 1990
Bliss- Stomper- Cattle ME - B.E.M.
Demo#2 Adrenaline Studio, 16-18 Sept 1991
Melaena - Wavy Gravy - Lid-M - Amoeba
Demo#3 John Street Studio, 11 April 1992
Protect Me - Seasons - Henry - Horse with No name
Demo #4 ( master lost - circa 1993 - cassette 8-track)
Green Fuse - Creatures - Dendrophilia - Sunhoney

Live tracks recorded at The Ecclesall Non-Political Club, Sheffield on 4 July 1991 and Henry Goodfellows, Nottingham on 19 July 1992.