However, when it was decided to lay down the guitar parts in England, the name of the guitarist Vinny Burns was brought up. The name was quite familiar to Hughes, since they both knew each other from quite a few years back. Given the fact that Mike Stone was assigned to mix the albums, the project quickly evolved into a band situation, thus marking the first official incarnation of Ten. During the first year of the band's existence, another ex-Dare member joined the band when Greg Morgan was brought in to fill in for the drummer position.

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The band's first album 'X' was released in May 1996 and was warmly acclaimed by the fans and the press, especially in the UK and Japan, where they were outselling huge rock bands, reaching sales of 100,000 records only during the first week of release so, in order to support the album for the tour that came soon after, the band recruited bassist Martin "Shelley" Shelton, keyboard player Ged Rylands and guitarist John Halliwell. With the songs already written, the band returned to the studio in order to finish their second album. 'The Name Of The Rose' was released in September of the same year (1996) and was even more successful than 'X', gaining enthusiastic reviews from the critics.

The title track was also voted "Song Of The Year" by the readers of BURRN! magazine in Japan and the band was voted as the "Brightest Hope".

With the success of the first two albums and the growing popularity of the band, the first full-blown tour was arranged for the end of 1996. Before the tour, bassist Martin "Shelley" Shelton left the band and was replaced by Andrew "Drew" Webb. After a successful tour, Ten (minus bassist Andrew "Drew" Webb) returned to the studio in order to record their next studio album. The mixing duties again were appointed to Mike Stone and 'The Robe' was released in September 1997. 'The Robe' marked a change in the overall sound of Ten, combining elements of the instantly recognisable melodic hard rock sound of the two previous albums and of powerful/epic atmospheres and influences.

With the addition of bassist Steve Mckenna, the band toured heavily for a year, in support of their newly released album, while in 1998 the band's Japanese label ZERO Records and the European label Frontiers Records released a double live album named 'Never Say Goodbye'.

In 1999, the band returned to the studio in order to begin the recordings of  what was to be their fifth studio album. 'Babylon', which was released in August 2000 and featured keyboard player Don Airey, was a concept album which was set in the future and was based around the story of a computer programmer and his tragic love affair. Babylon, once again, proved to be another successful release for Ten and Gary Hughes, even entering the German Rock Album Charts.

Later years (2002-2007)
The band held auditions for the position of the lead guitarist, and in January 2002 announced Chris Francis as Burns’ replacement. During 2002 and 2003, the band took a break since Gary Hughes and the rest of the band had been working on Hughes' two-part rock opera project named 'Once and Future King', so Ten returned in the forefront again with the release of 'Return To Evermore' in 2004, initially through Gary Hughes' own record label Intensity Records, while in 2005 the band announced that they would release a double disk Best Of collection, aptly named 'The Essential Collection', in order to celebrate the band's tenth anniversary. 'The Essential Collection 1995-2005' featured newly recorded versions of the band’s songs, which were divided into two disks – one containing the ballads and one the heavier material.

Re-emergence and "Isla De Muerta" (2010-2015)

Following a four year hiatus, the band returned back to the fold with a new album, their ninth one, in early 2011, entitled "Stormwarning". The album featured members Hughes, John Halliwell, Paul Hodson and session musicians Neil Fraser on lead guitar, Mark Sumner on bass and Mark Zonder (Fates Warning) on drums and was produced by Dennis Ward. A month later, an unreleased song from the Babylon sessions named "Dawn Star" appeared, as part of the AhORa Rock podcast of the Rocktopia music site. Originally, "Dawn Star" was meant to be included on the Babylon album, but was removed from it just three weeks prior to its final release. In January 2011, it was announced that the band would also be filming a video for the new album, with Devin Dehaven as the director. "Endless Symphony" was the highest budget video to date for the band and it was released just a month after. "Stormwarning" on the other hand, was released a month later, in February 2011.

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In September 2011, Paul Hodson announced his departure from the band on a Ten group on Facebook. In 5 November 2011, on their Fleetwoodstock charity gig, their very first live appearance since the band's reemergence, the band featured for the first time in a live setting, the new (at the time) lead guitarist Dan Mitchell and keyboard player Darrel Treece-Birch, alongside bassist Steve Mckenna, who, since August of the same year, had returned to the band. In May 2012, the band did a UK tour, supported by the bands Serpentine and White Widdow. The band also appeared for the first time, on Firefest on the 19th of October of the same year alongside bands Tyketto, Dante Fox and Lionville.

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The band's tenth studio album entitled "Heresy And Creed", was released on 26 September 2012 in Japan, the 19th of October in Europe and the 22nd of the same month in North America. The leading single off the album was the track "Gunrunning", the video clip of which was again directed by Devin Dehaven. The album's success culminated into its entry to the UK rock album charts on the 30th position for October 2012. Some months later, in March 2013, the band performed in Athens, Greece, for the first time, while in August of the same year, a day after the band's appearance on Vasby Rock Festival (on which Serpentine lead guitarist Chris Gould filled in for him), the band announced that lead guitarist Dan Mitchell left the band due to health problems related to his wrist and arm.

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A few weeks before the release of their eleventh studio album "Albion", , the band unveiled their new lineup on Firefest 2014 - The Final Fling, featuring the band's current two lead guitarists, Dann Rosingana and Steve Grocott. The band appeared for the second time in their history in Athens, Greece on 9 May 2015, before they released their 12th studio album, entitled "Isla De Muerta" on the 20th of the same month via Rocktopia Records. About a month later, the band headlined the second night at Wildfire Festival in Scotland. In September of the same year, the band also released their first EP in 16 years entitled "The Dragon And Saint George", which included three brand new tracks, alongside "Albion Born" and the European exclusive track "We Can Be As One", the last two originally present on the band's latest two full-length studio albums "Albion" and "Isla De Muerta".

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Return To Frontiers Records (2016-Present)

In March 2016, the band announced their return to Frontiers Records, for a multi-album deal, starting with the release of their thirteenth studio album Gothica in July 2017 and the re-issue of their entire back catalogue in both physical (box set) and digital format under the title "Opera Omnia". As with the band's last four releases, both the band's thirteenth album "Gothica" and their fourteenth entitled "Illuminati", were mixed and mastered by Dennis Ward. In November 2018, the band released their fourteenth studio album entitled "Illuminati", while in April 2019, the band released their long awaited career-wide compilation box-set entitled "Opera Omnia". The box-set included every album released by the band since its inception back in 1995, up until their latest release "Illuminati".

The band's fifteenth studio album entitled "Here Be Monsters was released on the 18th of February 2022 and once again, charted on the 14th position of the BBC Rock Charts.

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The band's sixteenth studio album "Something Wicked This Way Comes", was released on the 20th of January, 2023 through Frontiers Music, finding itself into the 3rd position of the amazon.co.uk Rock and Hard Rock Charts. In Spring 2024, the band embarked on their "Wicked" UK Tour while currently working on their 17th studio release, due for release in early 2025.

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Setting The Scene 

If you walked into any rock venue in the 80’s there was one band that you couldn’t miss... Rhabstallion who rode the wave of ‘Heavy Metal’ glory, with TV appearances and national media features, alongside sharing the stage with bands such as, Hanoi Rocks, Diamond Head, Stampede, French band Trust and Saxon. These guy’s dominated the scene by pumping out their rock  - honest, hard and fast... 

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Back to the 80's

Rhabstallion originally formed in Halifax, West Yorkshire during the emergence of the NWOBHM movement and consisted of Stuart Toddington, Dave Thompson, Andy Wood on guitars, Graham Hooper bass, Jack Himsworth drums with Steve Ancliffe on vocals.

In 1980 the band were working hard the

length and breadth of the country, having

featured on the NWOBHM album,

‘New Electric Warriors’. 1981 saw the

release of their first vinyl single, Day to Day

/ Breadline. The exposure attracted a large

following and delivered outstanding

reviews in local and national music press,

culminating in a near sell out appearance

at St Georges Hall in Bradford. 

Soon after, Rhabstallion featured on the BBC’s ground breaking music show, ‘Bubbling Under’, a showcase for exciting and original performers on the edge of national and international success. The TV show saw recorded ‘live’ performance in front of a mass of fans – the ‘perfect format’ for a band who were used to delivering a power packed performance to satisfy their dedicated following. 

Taken from the show ‘Stranger Stranger’ and ‘You’re to Blame’ are classic examples of the on-stage power and energy of Rhabstallion.​

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Despite the band receiving a considerable amount of record company and media attention in the early eighties, offers fell short, and this talented New Wave Of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) band decided, reluctantly to go separate ways. A great shame for the fans who lost a band that effortlessly encapsulated the excitement and sound of the NWOBHM.

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Rhabstallions’ style of music is ROCK, HONEST, HARD AND FAST.

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Reuniting the Rhabs? (1994)

In 1994 Vinyl Tap Records approached the band to produce an album covering the complete chronology of Rhabstallion. The album was simply named, ‘Day to Day’, and contains a variety of recordings, including demo tapes, and releases. A feature track on the album is the classic version of ‘Chain Reaction’ recorded at Cargo Studios for the ‘New Electric Warriors’ compilation album and released by Logo Records. 

Two live tracks, ‘Stranger Stranger’, ‘You’re to Blame’  were also included, taken from the BBC’s ‘Bubbling Under’ Show, and a further two tracks not previously available were recorded for inclusion on the album. ‘Sioux Child’, with its superb twin guitars and a band and fans favourite, ‘DayGlo Disco’.

The brief return to the studio in 1994 led to rumours of a reformation, but in the intervening years the band members had ventured off in different directions involving themselves with various other independent musical projects, the best deal now was to agree... ‘Never Say Never’. 

(That agreement forms the title of a Rhabstallion anthem from Back in the Saddle...read on!!)

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Two more appearances on compilation albums followed... ‘Shock & Roll’ featured on Hallmark Records ‘Noise Level Critical’ 

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‘Chain Reaction’ was included on the ‘Noise from the Valleys’ quadruple CD set, released by Bradford Noise Records 

www.bradfordnoise.com

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The Reformation of the Rhabs (2017)

This new era began when the band realised it had unfinished business. So on a cold January morning in 2018 in the corner of a dark satanic mill in Halifax the band were pieced back together.

Original members Dave Thompson and Stuart Toddington (Gtr’s), Jack Himsworth (Skins) Graham Hooper (Bass) and Andy Wood (Vocals & Gtr) started to piece back together the foundations of this exciting band from Yorkshire. Promising to be a bigger, harder and more unforgiving sound, Rhabstallion prepared their return to the stage with a new format that features three guitars. 

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Back In The Saddle (2021)

The release of their first  full album in March 2021 (appropriately named “Back In The Saddle”) saw many  great reviews and awards, not bad when considering the recording and production was carried out in the midst of  the Covid lockdown. The line up was almost unchanged with Andy Wood emerging as a strong vocalist (replacing original vocalist Steve Ancliffe, and Stuart Toddington then retired early 2023). Making the band a compact 4 piece. 

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Bat Shit Crazy (2024)

The second full album from  Rhabstallion was released in  2024 to critical acclaim gaining a number of 5 star reviews.​

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The Future (2025-????)- to be continued!!!!

The band are still in rehearsals and live shows are being planned for 2025 and beyond, and a buzz of anticipation surrounds the bands future as word get’s out. 

They are faithfully rekindling the atmosphere of the original experience by reproducing the awesome fury of their back catalogue, plus a wealth of fresh material. 

This is a "Not to be missed" experience to witness one of the original NWOBHM bands live! 

Catch them on the road, if you get chance, to witness for yourselves the raw northern energy, soaring guitars, strong vocals, backed by a thunderous rhythm section, but don’t be surprised at some of the tracks!!  Rhabstallion produce  old style rock in a fresh way.