| Head like a Hole | |
|---|---|
Booga Beazley in character at the vieo shoot for Glory Glory. |
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| Background information | |
| Origin | Wellington, New Zealand |
| Genres | Rock Metal Stench Rock |
| Years active |
1992–2000, 2009–present |
| Labels | Wildside Records |
| Associated acts | Shihad |
| Members | |
| Booga Beazley Nigel Regan Andrew Durno Michael Franklin-Browne Andrew Ashton |
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HLAH (Head Like a Hole) is a rock band from Wellington, New Zealand.
Contents |
HLAH formed in Wellington, originally consisting of Nigel Regan, Mark Hamill, Nigel Beazley and Andrew Durno. Previous to HLAH forming Nigel Regan and Mark Hamill were playing in a covers band playing songs by artists such as early Masters of Reality, Black Sabbath, Tad, Faith No More, Nirvana, Butthole Surfers, Mudhoney and Fugazi among others. It wasn't a cover band as such that we played gigs and got paid, more an excuse to get together jam and bash out songs we could play says Regan.
At the end of 1990 Nigel Beazley returned to Wellington from art school in Auckland and was roped in as singer (even though he had never sung or been in a band in his life), as Nigel and Mark's latest singer and bass player had fallen by the wayside and they wished to form an original band. The three of them went to their practice space at the 'Hopper Street Warehouse' in Wellington (the old Empire Spice Warehouse complete with dripping water and stairs that would cause a heart attack) and after blasting though a rendition of 'War Pigs' by 'Black Sabbath' to see if Beazley could actually sing the decision was made and the band was born, minus a name and a bass player which was soon rectified by the addition of Andrew 'Tall' Durno who Mark had met at a party and invited along to a practice.
Not long after the band was fully formed, for a bottle of Whiskey and $100, they recorded their first self-penned songs on an 8 track at (now defunct) Tongue studios in Wellington above the pool hall on Manners Street. this became their first self released cassette titled 'Shitnoise'. Only 100 copies of this were made and these are now rare sought after items.
Around this time Head Like a Hole shared a run down practice room at the old Empire Spice Warehose on Hopper Street with local act Shihad. After an off the cuff remark from Jon Toogood that HLAH should support Shihad on their up and coming 'Devolve' tour Regan rang Gerald Dwyer (Shihad's then manager)and said "Hi, I'm Nigel from Head Like a Hole and we're coming on tour with Shihad" to which Dwyer replied "Is that right?". Toogood had neglected to actually inform Gerald of this great idea. However, seeing the benefits in it, Dwyer stopped in to see HLAH playing upstairs at the Empire Warehouse (above the practice room occasional gigs were put on even though the place was an OSH nightmare and fire hazard with the dodgiest staircase in history) and the idea was put into play and it was on this tour that Regan for lack of a suitable 'rock wardrobe' hit upon the idea of playing naked.
They started off playing small gigs at the Hopper Street warehouse, The Carpark, and Rocky's pub and soon started touring the university circuit. Having taken the name Head Like a Hole the band gained a following with outrageous gigs, performing naked and caked with mud, or with complete face and body paint. With a strong and dedicated following, HLAH got signed to Wildside Records, who at around the same time signed another Wellington act, Shihad.
In 1992, they recorded their first album, '13', at Writhe Studio. The band produced it themselves with the assistance of Brent McLaughlin. One of the singles off the album, 'Fish Across Face' made the New Zealand Top 10, however the video was pulled off air because of a scene where orange juice streamed from Nigel's mouth into Booga's mouth (there happened to be a meningitis outbreak at the time). 13 remains a fan favorite to this day while the band look at it as a learning curve as they were not really ready to record a full length album and their only previous recording experience was the 4 track cassette 'Shitnoise'. It is a good representation of the band at the time who wore their influences on their sleeve's loudly and proudly.
HLAH continued touring the university orientation circuit and in 1993 returned to the studio to record material for a new album. The new album was recorded and given the title, 'Flik Y'Self Off Y'Self'. It was released in 1994 with two singles. 'Faster Hooves' was released, along with a video which featured Mark and Booga having a western style shoot out with finger guns. The other single was 'Spanish Goat Dancer'.
HLAH continued touring the country (including playing at the Big Day Out festival) and tragically in early 1996 their manager, Gerald Barry Dwyer (who also managed Shihad) died suddenly. They returned to the studio later in the year, this time at Sing Sing Studios in Australia with producer Robbie Rowlands to record their third album, 'Double Your Strength, Improve Your Health, & Lengthen Your Life'. Crying Shame (otherwise know as 'The trumpet Song') while not having any chart success became a popular song in the bands set which they still perform, often using ring in Trumpeters and/or other brass as Tom Watson who originally played the trumpet is no longer a member of the band.
The first single off the album, 'Cornbag' was released in November 1996, and received some limited chart success. This was followed by the release of the album and more singles including 'A Crying Shame', 'Keith' and 'Hootnanny'. HLAH performed at the 1997 Big Day Out as the final act after the headliners Soundgarden, and had a huge crowd in The Supertop. HLAH also released a video for their cover of 'I'm on Fire', a Bruce Springsteen song.
Around this time (1997–98) some confusion over the bands name was created by a record company rep accidentally releasing a statement saying the band had changed their name to HLAH. This was not actually the case as Head Like a Hole had been using the abbreviation HLAH for many years. In November 1998, the band released its final original album, 'HLAH:IV - Are You Gonna Kiss It Or Shoot It?', along with accompanying singles, 'Wet Rubber' and 'Juicy Lucy'.
Sometime in 2000, the band disbanded. A 'Best of' album was released in November, entitled 'Blood On the Honky Tonk Floor'. 'Blood On the Honkey Tonk Floor' featured two discs, the first covering the band's best and most recognised songs, while the second included all of the cover songs the band had recorded over their career.
In late 2008, HLAH were asked if they would consider reforming for the Vodafone Homegrown music festival in March 2009.[1] As they had previously discussed reforming a couple of years earlier (which never came to fruition) they decided that before making any decisions that they would get together to have a jam and run over some of the old material. After a few hours of playing together they decided immediately that they would play Homegrown and the decision was made to play a couple of low key gigs in small venues to warm up before playing Homegrown. Afterwards as the experience had been enjoyable hlah decided to embark on a winter tour over June July. Although playing to packed venues (including the largest crowd at the Powerstation since re-opening)up and down the country the tour was not successful financially, however after seeing the crowd reaction and realizing that they actually got on better than when they were together in the nineties the decision was made to head back to the rehearsal rooms and start working on an album for 2011. Although asked if he would like to be a part of the band again Tom Watson declined to participate and Mike Franklin-Browne who took over the drums from Mark Hamill continued as the bands drummer.[2]
IN 2010 Head Like A Hole started working on new material for their first album in a decade. After deciding to work with Andrew Buckton (Midnight youth, The D4) the drum tracks were laid down at York Street Studios with the rest of the tracking done at 203.The first digital download release from the album 'Swagger of Thieves' went to no.1 on the BFM charts in December 2010 and has received good airplay on other stations such as the Rock and has been welcomed by fans old and new with the band showing they can still craft highly energetic rock songs except now with an added level of maturity. The Second single 'Glory, Glory (Hallelujah)' being released in June 2011 with the Album and nationwide tour to follow in August 2011. Blood Will Out the new album containing 11 brand new tracks released July 4, 2011.
| Date of Release | Title | Label | Chart | Certification | Catalog Number | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Albums | ||||||
| August 1991 | Shitnoise | Self Released Cassette | - | - | - | |
| July 1993 | 13 | Wildside Records | - | - | - | |
| August 1994 | Spanish Goat Dancer | Wildside Records | - | - | - | |
| November 1994 | Flik Y'Self Off Y'Self | Wildside Records | - | - | - | |
| August 1996 | The Berlin Stench | Self Released Cassette | - | - | - | |
| September 1996 | Double Your Strength, Improve Your Health, & Lengthen Your Life | Wildside Records | - | - | - | |
| November 1998 | Are You Gonna Kiss It Or Shoot It? | Wildside Records | - | - | - | |
| November 2000 | Blood On the Honky Tonk Floor | Wildside Records | - | - | - | |
| July 2009 | The Devil Makes Work For Idle Hands | Wildside Records[3] | - | - | - | |
| EPs | ||||||
| 1995 | Happy Families Tour | Noise Records | - | - | - | |
| 1995 | The Not Nicomjool EP | Wildside Records | - | - | - | |
The group have appeared on many compilations and soundtracks in New Zealand. The following is a list of these albums that have featured tracks by the Head Like A Hole.
| Year | Single | Album | NZ Singles Chart | Certification |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | "Fish Across Face" | - | - | |
| 1992 | "Beelzebeats" | - | - | |
| 1994 | "Faster Hooves" | - | - | |
| 1994 | "Spanish Goat Dancer" | - | - | |
| 1995 | "HEMI" (Nigel Regan solo) |
- | - | |
| 1996 | "Cornbag" | - | - | |
| 1997 | "A Crying Shame" | - | - | |
| 1997 | "Hootenanny" | - | - | |
| 1998 | "Wet Rubber" | - | - | |
| 1999 | "Juicy Lucy" | - | - |