Personal
biographies and History of the Lizard Kings
 Otmar
Mark Verdenik born 1968ozzy@thelizardkingsband.com
Born
in the year that Stanley Kubrick released ‘Space
Odyssey 2001’ and Jimi Hendrix rocked the world
with hits such as ‘Purple Haze’, ‘Ozzy
Mark’, as he would later be known, was destined
to be an entertainer. In 1970 Otmar and Katica, His
Slovenian father and Croatian Mother, decided to leave
Ozzy’s birthplace of Goppingen, Germany and sail
to the sandy shores of Australia.
After settling in Melbourne, Victoria,
the Verdenik family gradually integrated into the cultural
mixed bag of a then developing Australia. Having a musical
father was an early influence on Oz, who attended guitar
tuition from the age of 5.
His passion for music continued throughout
his school years along with a love for sport. There
was talk of him pursuing a career in Aussie rules football,
but that soon got pushed aside. University didn’t
last long either once Ozzy joined his first rock band
‘Loves Labours Lost’. Playing rhythm guitar,
Ozzy lost all interest in anything other than music
and soon dropped out of uni.
Before leaving Australia, Oz had many
jobs including concreting with his Dad, pizza delivering,
sign writing and landscape gardening. But as he left
for Middlesborough in 1987, his heart still lay in music.
Staying with the family of friend, Gary
Talbot, Ozzy and Gary’s Uncle, Steve Carney, soon
became partners in crime, quite literally as they tried
many ways to make a quick buck in the U.K. These dodgy
dealings faded and were replaced with bartending in
‘Busters’. It was here that Oz began covering
the resident DJ’s night off and on realizing DJing
was more glamorous than pulling pints he moved on to
another local club, ‘Cinzano’s’. Club
resident DJ, Funky Nigel and club owner Ish, educated
him until Djing became another of Ozzy’s musical
talents.
At 21, Oz and Steve went overseas and
spent the summer in Corfu. He made a living by Djing
in Valentinos rave club and continued to jam with local
bands to fuel his love for rock music. It was here he
met Dave Dean who gave the pair the original idea of
starting a duo and moving to Tenerife to get paid while
learning your trade.
This remained in Ozzy’s mind and
at the end of the summer, the pair returned to Middlesborough
and started work on a 40 song set. They flew to Tenerife
and began looking for work as a duo. After just 2 weeks
they landed their first residency in Marina Primavera.
The pool bar was owned by Kenny who gave them their
first break and regular wage. From here they then played
briefly in the Caledonian. This was followed by a long
stint in the Sunset Bar, Veronicas.
Prima Dona pressures soon took their
toll and after a number of cat fights Oz and Steve parted
company.
1992 was a landmark year for Oz as it
saw the arrival of the Lizard Kings. He first formed
the band with good friend, Lee Lewis a talented keyboard
player who also sang backing vocals. Initially they
were employed by ‘Big Steve’ in his bar
Images. On leaving here they acquired another member,
Billy Mccracken and together they rocked the Kangaroo
Pub, followed by the America bar and then O’Neills.
Billy made way for David Hodgkinson
A.K.A Didi didi@thelizardkingsband.com
, a rhythm guitarist with a killer singing
voice. Oz and Didi immediately hit it off and a lifelong
friendship was formed. Throughout the 90’s Veronicas
was a no holds barred party zone and the clubs were
constantly battling to out do each other. Andy and Greg,
owners of O’Neills, pushed the boundaries by allowing
the Lizard Kings to play 3000K of ‘balls out’
rock music from their open air terrace. If 3000K means
nothing to you, it’s fucking loud. Loud enough
to cause the closure of over 100 bars in the surrounding
area. Having no work was soon resolved as the band found
new residency at neighbouring bar ‘Raw Rock’.
Realising the potential of the band,
the owners of Raw Rock completely revamped the venue
to accommodate their arrival. After a short period Oz
gave the bands’ drum machine the sack and replaced
it with Ivan Bargas an outstanding drummer who he poached
from Alabamas bar. Ironically Ivan had always harboured
a desire to play with the band and thus a musical bond
was formed. It was now that the Lizard Kings really
began to shine.
Brane Beslin began by filling in for
Didi who was on holiday. He immediately became an invaluable
member and remains loyal to the band to this day. Oz
classes the Lizard Kings’ bassist as his closest
friend and musical ally. As Brane came, Lee Lewis left
due to personal reasons but he too remains a friend.
After about a year Raw Rock changed its musical policy
so the band moved onto The Concrete Bar as a three piece
with Didi taking time out to form a duo with an extremely
talented keyboard player named Sid.
The musical capabilities of the Lizard
Kings were really put to the test when Tenerife hosted
the Battle of the Bands competition. Sponsored by Polygram
it promised a four track recording contract for the
winning band. Unfortunately the Lizard Kings came second,
losing out to a band brought over by Polygram Records.
However, the crowd disagreed with the decision and voiced
their discontent by chanting ‘Lizard Kings, Lizard
Kings’ over and over. C’est La Vie….
Returning to The Concrete Bar the bands’
morale was at an all time low, but every cloud has a
silver lining. The Soul Cellar, potentially Tenerife’s
number one nightspot was looking for a resident act.
The Lizard Kings had come to the attention of Managing
Director Derek Fullbrook and in 1996 with Didi and Sid
rejoining, the band began to rock the Soul Cellar. They
shared the bill with BWB a well known R’n’B
act. Shortly after the management decided their was
only one act that could continue lining their pockets
and the Lizard Kings were bringing in the crowds and
so their five year reign began.
Too many memorable events occurred during
this period but in a nutshell, Derek saw his dream become
a reality as the Lizard Kings turned the Soul Cellar
from a quiet beach bar into a musical goldmine. Overlooking
the beach they played open air to a 600 strong crowd
nightly, so you can understand why the band considers
this gig to have been their most enjoyable. It was here
that the Lizard Kings became infamous to Tenerife residents
and tourists alike. Their popularity was confirmed when
they won the David Alexander Award for Best Group 97/98
and were asked to play the First Choice 20’s reunion
in Skegness two years running.
Another opportunity arose in the form
of a reality TV show ‘Tenerife Uncovered’.
Having been asked to star in the mini series, Oz’s
dreams were again shattered when the Soul Cellar management
refused entry to the film crew meaning the Lizard Kings
were not featured in the show. This was the beginning
of the end and relations became strained between the
band and the Soul Cellar management. Two more years
passed and the Soul Cellar continued to reap the profits
of the bands success reaching a financial high in the
summer of 2000. Also at this time, Ivan quit to pursue
his own projects so Oz was again on the lookout for
a new drummer. After auditioning a host of drummers,
including the bands present drummer Wim Maertens, the
position was eventually filled by Lionel Villahermosa.
This Puerto Rican is in the Guinness Book of World Records
for his 25 hour non stop drumming solo, so seeing was
believing!
In 2001 the Soul Cellar had a new staff
member. This new business partner enjoyed his newfound
finances and eventually became too greedy. With an inflated
bank balance came an inflated ego and when he began
trying to control the bands musical decisions, the Lizard
Kings decided it was time to move on. That’s all
we have to say about that…..
They returned to O’Neills for
a short period before taking up residency in Shakers.
Again they were filling the bar and were soon headhunted
for a new venue, O’Flannerys. After a few short
months the hugely successful bar was closed by local
police indefinitely, so once again luck was not on their
side. Adding to this disappointment, it was at this
time that Didi left to form his own band Grand Theft
Audio, but they parted best of friends and remain so.
Without a regular gig the Lizard Kings
slummed it in Shooters bar, playing underground for
under age kids who prefered Boyszone and Britney Spears.
Oz soon negotiated a more suitable position in the newly
opened Moonlight Irish Corner Bar in Torviscas overlooking
Fanabe Beach which was being run by one of Oz’s
oldest friends ‘Spanish Paul’.
Sadly, in 2004 Lionel was forced to
return to Puerto Rico for personal reasons and was replaced
by James. Playing with James was a lot of fun and vocally
the Lizard Kings peaked during this period. After one
year, James left to pursue his own projects making way
for drumming prodigy Wim Maertens.
Oz,
Brane and Wim are looking forward to writing their own
compositions and continue to rock nightly in Tenerife,
watch this space…..
TO
BE CONTINUED
Brane's
Biography
Wim's
Biography
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