The Varukers formed way back in 1979. The line up was Rat on vocals, Bruce Riddell on guitar, Tom Lowe on Bass and Garry Maloney on drums.

The band played local gigs for some time, and then in 1981 they attracted the attention of a local record label, Inferno. They released the Varukers EP, also known as "Protest and Survive", in November of that year. Shortly after this first record was released, Gary left the band to join Discharge, and he was replaced on drums by Brian Roe. The Varukers recorded one more record on the Inferno label, a 3-track EP called "I Don't Wanna Be A Victim", released in June 1982. Tom Lowe then left the band, being replaced by a new bass player called George, and the band went on to sign a deal with Riot City Records from Bristol. The next single to be released was "Die For Your Government", and following the success of this, the debut album "Bloodsuckers" was recorded.

Next came a period in which there were major upheavals in the band personnel, with the bass player, the drummer and the guitarist all going their separate ways, leaving only Rat. New members were recruited - Andy Baker and Damien Thompson (both ex Warwound) on drums and guitar respectively, and Broken Brick on bass. With this new line up the band went into the studio to record the "Led To The Slaughter" EP (released 1983). And then two months later they released their much acclaimed mini album "Another Religion Another War".

In August 1984, after touring Holland and Germany, the band signed a new record deal with Rot Records from Mansfield. Further lineup problems followed, and Damien and Brick left the band to be replaced by Paul Miles on guitar, and Graham Kerr on bass. The first release on Rot was a 12" EP called "Massacred Millions". This was followed by a live album, which had been recorded at the Dutch dates played earlier in the year. A few months later, Andy Baker left the band to join Damien Thompson in his new band Sacrilege. New drummer Warren was then drafted in, and the band returned to the studio to record another LP, "One Struggle One Fight". This was released on the band's own label, Liberate Records.

Also during these early years, the Varukers recorded several tracks for various compilation albums, which were mainly for European labels, and they also released a 7" single on Conflict's label called "No Hope Of A Future". In 1985, the band disbanded. Each member pursued other interests until Rat decided to reform the Varukers in late 1993.

The new lineup featured Rat as ever on vocals, Biff on guitar, Kevin Frost on drums and Brian on bass guitar. A 7" single, called "Nothing's Changed", was released in 1994 on Nottingham's Weird label. 1994 also saw the band's first ever tour of the USA. Later in the year the band signed a record deal with We Bite records in Germany, and released an album "Still Bollox But Still Here". This featured re-recordings of a number of songs from their earlier material. Rat wanted to do this as original copies of these records are hard to find, and can be expensive.

In April 1995, the band returned to the USA and did a joint tour with the Casualties. After this, a few shows around Europe, including a tour with Boltthrower, kept them busy until the end of the year. In July 1996, the band went on their first tour of Japan. A special 7", "Humanity", was pressed specifically for this tour, which featured a number of brand new songs. After the Japanese tour, Brian left the band to be replaced on bass by Kieran, from the Restarts. In late spring of 97, to coincide with another American tour, the band finally put out an album of all new material, called "Murder". The album was released in the US through Asylum records, and in Europe through We Bite.

In early 1998, Kieran was replaced on bass by Marvin (ex Chaos UK). The band returned to Japan in March 98 and also managed to make it out to Australia and New Zealand (the Varukers boldly go where not many bands have gone before!) Upon their return to the UK, they teamed up with Brazilian punks RDP for a short British tour. During this tour there was a lot of talk about the possibility of the Varukers going out to Brazil. RDP duly returned home, and sure enough, Boka (their bassist) arranged the tour. So, in May 1998 the Varukers toured Brazil (cheers Boka, what a geezer!)

In July 99, the band were approached to play the Social Chaos tour in the USA, with Vice Squad, the Business, and many other great bands, but unfortunately that just didn't work out. So instead, the Varukers have spent most of 1999 working on new material for their next album (hopefully out early 2000), and playing occasional UK gigs (including this summer's Holidays In The Sun festival in Morecambe, UK).

The band just got back from a full US tour that lasted a almost two months, but are ready again to go on a a four week European outing, starting in Holland's Den Haag on Thursday 22nd June 2000. See the tour dates for more info! Just before going to America Kevin was replaced behind the drums by Kenko, also in the Swedish band Meanwhile. The band would also like to return to Australia and Japan one day, and generally keep themselves busy playing to a load of ugly, smelly freaks of society - yes, that means you!