Red Blaze was the first band Danny played in, and was the first metal band from Rijnsburg (Leiden area, the Netherlands) and the direct predecessor of Chimaera.
The band started in January 1984 as Chainsaw, but by February had changed their name to Red Blaze. Around this time the line-up consisted of Ard (bass) and Willem (guitar), and they played instrumental covers of a few songs, such as Metallica's Phantom Lord. March 16, 1984, Danny joined the two on rhythm guitar and one week later their first rehearsal with drummer Jan took place. Bassist Ard took on the vocals. After writing and rehearsing some speed metal songs of their own and covering For Whom The Bell Tolls by Metallica during 1984, in January 1985 Martin became the singer for Red Blaze.
Some more songs were made and Slayer's Tormentor was added to the setlist, while Crucifixion from Hellhammer and No Class from Motörhead were briefly done as well. The first and only gig by Red Blaze took place on Tuesday April 30, 1985, at Scum in Katwijk, opening for local hard rock (mostly) cover band Atomic Steel and the Dutch melodic hard rock band Helloise (who also played quite some songs of Highway Chile's first album). In October 1985 singer Nico replaced Martin, and the bandname changed to Chimaera. For this band some Red Blaze songs were rewritten. Red Blaze never recorded a studio demo.