Ain't nothin' better than motherfuckin' rock 'n' roll
fiercynn had a "rec your small fandom" party last weekend, and I pulled something together at the last minute for the Headstones, and it reminded me that I have been meaning for quite some time to do a post like this--since we're in a whole new era of Headstones, since it's something I would have enjoyed having when I first got into the fandom, and since I should probably do something with all the random Headstones knowledge that has stuck in my brain over the past six-plus years. :) So, in that spirit:
The Headstones: A Primer/Love Letter
The Music
The Headstones are, along with My Chemical Romance, my favorite band. Their music is often characterized as dark, and subject matter definitely can be, including ruminations on addiction (a LOT of ruminations on addiction), suicide, and depression. (It also gets mentioned a lot that they have a song about necrophilia, and that is also true, but it's a TONGUE-IN-CHEEK song about necrophilia. TOTALLY DIFFERENT.) Despite that, though, my primary association with their music is of energy and drive, of laughing at the darkness when you can, of taking responsibility for your own shit, owning up to your mistakes, and doing everything you can to be a better person. And it is SO FUCKING REFRESHING, because I love rock music, but there is a lot of rock music that is misogynist, inane, humorless, and/or ridiculously self-pitying, and the Headstones are NONE of those things. The Headstones are smart, self-aware, funny, compassionate, sharp without being cruel, angry without being blinded by it; they're respectful and irreverent and if you've fucked up or if your life isn't what you want it to be, they want you to get off your ass and do something about it, because they expect the same of themselves. For me, their music is therapeutic in the best sense of the word--it buys you a drink and tells you that you're not alone, then claps you on the back and shoves you out the door to try again, try harder, don't just sit around feeling sorry for yourself.
Also? A lot of their music is loud. The kind of loud where you get in the car and crank the stereo until your brain shuts off and your skull and sternum are vibrating with pure sound, pure energy. Hugh Dillon's voice is the eighth sexy wonder of the world. Trent Carr's riffs are undeniable. Tim White wrote one of the best basslines in rock music. Dale Harrison is a badass drummer (and he has GREAT hair). They're brilliant in the studio, and unforgettable live. I want everyone to love them.
Headstones History
The Headstones formed in Toronto in 1989(ish), with lead singer/front-man Hugh Dillon, guitarist Trent Carr, and a varying cast of characters including bassist Frank Lippai and drummer Mark Gibson. On their first major label album, Lippai was replaced by Trent's long-time friend Tim White; by the second album, Gibson had quit and they'd settled in with Dale Harrison as their drummer, and those four--Hugh, Trent, Tim, and Dale--have been "the four of us, just the core of us" ever since. Over the course of the next ten years, they released five awesome albums (plus a greatest hits album with two awesome singles), played a kajillion shows, made completely ridiculous music videos involving marionette versions of the band and South Park versions of the band and Hugh shouting through a megaphone into a microphone, and became kind of a big deal in the Canada rock scene. Their fans tended to have a LOT OF FEELINGS, particularly of the "this band saved my life/got me through a dark time/understands me when no one else does" variety, and the band was (and is) unfailingly respectful of that, as long as their fans were respectful of each other.
They broke up in 2003, for reasons that appear to be some combination of disillusionment with the commercial music machine, Hugh's inability to stay clean while on tour, burnout from touring too much, and generally not having much fun anymore. There wasn't open animosity or blood feuds or anything, but there was definitely a very distinct break--as far as I can tell, Tim and Trent stayed in touch, but that was about it for several years.
In December of 2010, seemingly out of nowhere, the band announced that they were reuniting for a four-show mini-tour in Ontario. (It later turned out that the reunion was inspired by the desire to raise money for the family of Randy Kwan, a co-founder and long-time friend of the band who had terminal cancer.) I--and some of my very favorite people in the world--went to the Toronto show, in which 3000 adoring, grateful fans were treated to a lightning-in-a-bottle performance by an adoring, grateful, better-than-ever band, and the crackling feedback loop of badass glee and rediscovery and inspiration and reunion and the awareness of just how long the journey had been to get to that place, in that moment, could have powered the whole fucking continent for a month. It was, I am pretty sure, the greatest concert experience I am ever going to have.
Riding that wave, the band went back and wrote their first song together in 8 years, titled "binthiswayforyears" (the band has also apparently decided they don't like spaces in their song titles anymore, because… reasons? I guess?). They released the song for free on Facebook, with the message: "The above was written only hours after our last show at the sound academy. Make no mistake you've kickstarted the machine. The next record is a direct result of that wave of interaction. You made us remember what the fuck it is we do. Here's the first single." They went on to announce a PledgeMusic project, which was funded in a little over 24 hours, and which led to a) a lot of the band being RIDICULOUSLY adorable on the internet and b) a new album, Love+Fury, which is way, way better than a record released after a 10-year hiatus has any right to be.
So here we are, in 2013, and the Headstones are a thing: new album, new shows, new footage, new TWITTER ACCOUNTS, better and happier and healthier than ever. It is an improbably, transcendently happy ending(/beginning) that I NEVER expected when I first discovered this amazing, then-defunct band, and I am still overwhelmed by it. Who knows what the future holds, but whatever happens, this fandom has given me everything I could possibly have asked for,* and I will always be grateful for it.
*except for hearing "Marigold" live--but having things still to hope for is good!
Now, LET'S MEET THE PLAYERS.
NOTE: The banners below are all by the stupendously talented troyswann. Feel free to click to embiggen, they just get prettier!
Hugh Dillon (lead vocals/front-man)
Oh man. Hugh Dillon. WHERE DO I EVEN BEGIN. Hugh Dillon is maybe my favorite person in the world whom I do not personally know, and there is also much more readily-available information on him than on anyone else in the band, so BUCKLE UP.
A bio: he grew up in Kingston, Ontario, the son of a middle-class family, started running with a bad crowd, and was shipped off to England by his parents to try to help get him back on track. While he was there, he busked on the street, and fell (more) in love with punk music. (Sidenote: the Headstones are often characterized as a punk band, but I personally would call them more of a straight-up rock band, though there is definitely a punk influence. YMMV.) Back in Ontario, he helped form the Headstones in 1991; he gave a mesmerizing performance as the lead singer of a punk band in Hard Core Logo in 1996; he struggled with drug and alcohol addiction (including multiple trips to rehab and multiple brain surgeries) for years before the band finally broke up. During that time, he'd also continued acting, but nothing as major or as well-received as Hard Core Logo.
In a last-ditch effort to get clean and stay that way, he became a lumberjack in northern Ontario for a while. ("It wasn't romantic or cool. It was $4.10 an hour and I was 40." Heh.) Finally clean and sober, and staring down the barrel of turning 40, he decided to give acting one last shot, and moved to L.A. (thanks to a car given to him by his Hard Core Logo co-star, Callum Keith Rennie). He was cast opposite Vera Farmiga in Down To the Bone, which led him to Canadian TV series Durham County (an extremely dark series where he plays a detective hunting a serial killer) and Flashpoint (a significantly less dark series where he plays a sniper who fights crime in a SWAT team led by Keith Mars). Flashpoint was picked up by CBS and aired in the US for a few seasons, which meant I had the incredibly weird, incredibly awesome experience of non-fannish people actually knowing who Hugh Dillon was. !!!!
Pre-Durham County, Hugh had also started a band called the Hugh Dillon Redemption Choir, and they had some fun and released a couple of albums and played some shows and they were all super-nice, super-talented dudes, but the magic wasn't quite there, and everyone eventually drifted off to other projects. BUT THEN the Headstones reunited, meaning that Hugh had, as far as I can tell, ALL THE THINGS. Band! Acting career! Wife (long-time love Midori Fujiwara, about whom I know almost nothing except that she stuck with Hugh through some incredibly difficult years, and therefore must be awesome)! Jetskiing! Even the bassist from the HDRC is still in the family, producing for the Headstones. Hugh has been stupendously lucky, and he has worked extremely hard, and he is unfailingly grateful--for every opportunity, for every second chance, for every person who's supported him in any way--and it is a pretty damn lethal combination.
So that's Hugh's redemption story, which is compelling enough. Added to that, there are a few other things, such as the fact that he's incredibly smart, a voracious reader, an adorably execrable speller; he's thoughtful, introspective, and always willing to laugh at himself. He subscribes to that particular brand of exceptionalism where everything that he's ever done or worked on has been the best thing ever, and not because of him, but because of the people he's worked with. He has enormous, outspoken respect for women, which began with his love of his mom and his two older sisters. He worked as an orderly in a hospital for sick children. He's fiercely loyal. He's a clever, honest lyricist. He makes a lot of overly-literal hand gestures. He swears a LOT (he has claimed to be "fluent in two languages: English and profanity," HEE), and forgets lyrics, and seamlessly improvises lyrics to replace the ones he forgot, and comes up with delightful expressions like "let's pull one out of the ol' rock ‘n' roll fuck-wallet." He relishes a good verbal sparring match. He's very hard on mic stands, but he loves mics, and has a tendency to collect them all to himself, in the manner of a mic-stealing goblin (™ varlandgear). He loves comic books and daytime TV and watching 60 Minutes with his wife, and pecan pie with ice cream. His favorite thing about the turn his career has taken is that his parents are proud of him.
And then there's his charisma, which could level a small town; hell, it could level a LARGE town. And it's not just the star quality, which he has in spades, but the fact that he genuinely likes people, and wants to understand them and find points of connection with them, and tell them how great they are, SINCERELY. I mean, Hugh is quite confident that he is awesome, but he is also VERY confident that everyone ELSE is awesome until proven otherwise. To interact with him is to be welcomed into an exclusive club of iconoclasts and visionaries consisting of him, you, and most of the other people he's ever met. As a result, pretty much everybody who's exposed to him seems to fall in love with him--I have seen this happen in interviews SO MANY TIMES, where the interviewer goes in expecting Cliche Rock Star (or Cliche TV Star) and comes away all "piercing blue eyes" and "expressive hands" and "infectious enthusiasm" and "genuine warmth." It's pretty fantastic.
I have also never seen a front man who is so concerned that you--YOU, SPECIFICALLY, THIRD PERSON FROM THE LEFT IN THE FIFTH ROW--are having a great time at the show. He will make ALL THE EYE CONTACT with you, he will sing with you, he will high-five you, he will take your requests (as long as they're what he was planning to play anyway <3), he will graciously accept your upraised middle finger (because at a Headstones show, shouting "fuck you!" during the song of that name is the greatest possible expression of joy, goodwill, and camaraderie), he will wade into the crowd with gleeful disregard for the mic cord and emerge sweaty, slightly battered, and supremely pleased at how many people he's gotten to make one-on-one contact with. The same principle applies on Facebook, and Twitter, and PledgeMusic; he's understandably haphazard about it, because he's an extremely busy (and somewhat easily distracted) dude, but he tries REALLY HARD to respond to anything with any meat to it, and he CLEARLY enjoys the interactions, and tries to turn every social media platform into a book club (SERIOUSLY, IT'S SO GOOD), and makes the whole thing feel personal and valuable and like we're all in this together, and it's amazing. He's amazing.
I have a bracelet (courtesy of
belmanoir) that says WWHDD? ("What Would Hugh Dillon Do?") and it is seriously one of my guiding principles, because Hugh would: reach out, take the risk, make a stupid joke, fuck up, keep trying. Nothing changes if nothing changes. As life mottos go, I think I could do a lot worse.
Trent Carr (lead guitar)
TRENT. I have a lot of feelings about Trent, though--don't worry!--I have a lot fewer facts about him. Trent was born in Kentucky, spent at least part of his youth somewhere in Ontario, and also lived in Portland, OR for a while circa the grunge era, which is EXTREMELY evident in his sartorial choices in the 90s. ♥ He is a HIGHLY skilled guitarist (he's left-handed, but he learned to play right-handed so he could be like Ace Frehley), loves classic rock, loves sci-fi, is your typical lead-guitarist general music nerd (and he apparently has a soft spot for musicals, WHUT), loves video games, and--by his own admission--watches too much TV. I get the impression he is/was kind of a technology guy, too, based on the fact that he used to be the webmaster for the Headstones' website/forums. (Much like Hugh and Gerard Way would have a lot to talk about, I'm pretty sure Trent and Ray Toro would have a lot to talk about. IT IS POSSIBLE I HAVE SOME MUSICAL TYPES.)
During the Headstones' first go-round, he spent most of their shows issuing forth a towering onslaught of rock from beneath a curtain of shiny red hair, making only occasional eye contact with the audience. Today he's still kind of a stare-into-the-middle distance sort of performer, but he has a) cut his hair, to SPECTACULAR effect (all the better to see his neck when he tips his head back during a particularly intense guitargasm, a;sldfjka;s ldfaj;sdl fk), and b) relaxed and grown into a sort of quiet, easygoing confidence that looks GREAT on him. He has kids, but he's not (currently) married. (I just realized that typing about Trent's hotness apparently led me to the thought that he is unwed. I CANNOT IMAGINE HOW THAT HAPPENED.) He's primarily responsible for the guitar godliness side of things, but he's got a husky singing voice that I find to be GOOD TIMES--he used to do a solo cover of "Ace of Spades" sometimes at their shows, and I live in the hope that this will happen again somewhere where I can see it--and, along with Tim, does some pretty quality harmonies… at least when Hugh hasn't stolen their mics. Heeee. He is also, apparently, responsible for the name of the band (a piggy-back off the original name, "Tombstones")!
Trent also now has a Twitter account (on which pretty much the first thing he did was follow the entire Community cast, BTW), which is basically the greatest thing in my life, because after the Headstones broke up, he kind of disappeared off the face of the internets and didn't call me EVEN ONCE even though I was worried about him, and it was upsetting. (Apparently he was a bartender for a while, though. I may have had some fantasies about bartender!Trent. Ahem. He and Tim also founded a production company.) He's also spent quite a bit of time on their PledgeMusic page, which the band used as a kind of forum before they got busy with other things, and no wait, forget about the Twitter thing, THAT has actually been the greatest thing in my life. Because Trent is funny and snarky and smart and loves his band and basically all of these things that I knew, but seeing him actually DEMONSTRATE them is SO GOOD. I never get tired of it!
Like, when asked about a typical day in the band: Hugh sounds the alarm at 6 bells sharp at Headstonious HQ. Singing songs and telling stories about the olden times he whips up a delicious gourmet breakfast for everyone. Then, the fun is over and it's straight to the Headstones music laboratory. HEEEE.
And when asked about his favorite song to play live: mine would be Oh my God. we always add elements of surprise. that level of communication between musicians is one of the best things in life. communicating with just a look, or a brutal kick to the shins - inspiring. haha
COMMUNICATING WITH JUST A LOOK. AAAAAAAAAAGH IT'S LIKE HE KNOWS ALL MY KINKS. He also draws, apparently? Plus have I mentioned he's a fucking fantastic guitarist? ALL. MY. KINKS. TRENT. CALL ME.
And then there was this exchange, courtesy of PledgeMusic:
(TRENT) hugh plays adequate guitar, enough to play chords and make shit up. the rest of us play the usual variety of keyboard, stringed and percussive instruments
(HUGH) fuck you- adequate - mimick voice -stringed and percussive intruments -really wow - lead guitar player of the headstones - stringed and percussive intruments -huh did you learn them while u studdied madderam in egypt smarty xo
(TRENT) ad-e-quate [ad-i-kwit]
adjective
1. From ancient Madderam.
Ade - "to kick it"
Quate "like that"
<3333333333333333333333333333333 (Also, see? I was not kidding about Hugh's spelling! <3)
And finally, since for some reason there is a picture of bb!Trent in the bath that found its way into the world onto my hard drive, I feel I would be remiss if I did not share it with you (Trent on the right, I am told, and I'm assuming that's his brother Steve on the left):
Yep.
Tim White (bass)
I also know less about Tim than I would like to--basically Hugh does 98% of the interviews, and a lot of their early career was pre-internets (at least on their current scale), and "Tim White" is an even more difficult Google search than "Trent Carr," so. My canon about him is disproportionate to my love of him!
What I do know about Tim is that he is the grinningest grasshopper bass god in the world, and he is INCREDIBLY animated when he plays--like, no mellow strumming for Tim, he ATTACKS every note with the epitome of badass glee, and bounces around the stage like he's on springs. He seems extremely friendly and easygoing--in my head!canon, he was kind of the peacemaker back when one was needed, though I don't know for sure if that's true--and hilarious, too. He also grew up with Trent and Trent's brother Steve (the Headstones' once and future road manager; in fact, they seem to have re-employed a significant portion of their old road crew), which is AWWWW. His description of how he ended up playing bass: [Trent and Steve] were getting guitars for xmas. "I'm going to get a guitar too!" i said". "No!" they retorted. "YOU get a bass!" So, uh, I did. HEE. He's got a kid of his own who's in his 20s--which is a story I would be interested in hearing, but I've only heard him mention it in passing--and he is married (within the past few years I think, though I'm not 100% sure).
Tim spent the Headstones' early years suffering from a severe shirt allergy, which occasionally extended to a general clothing allergy (see NSFW evidence here). Unfortunately, he seems to have overcome that condition in his later years, but hope springs eternal! He did some producing and gigging and roadie-ing during the Headstones' hiatus, which he seems to have enjoyed. I think he may actually have been the first Headstone to have a Twitter account. He is also apparently colorblind! I'm trying to connect this to the shirt allergy, but I'm not quite there yet.
If you would like to fall in love with Tim, I would direct you to this radio interview with him and Trent, wherein he is funny, thoughtful, and devastatingly articulate about a wide variety of topics, including putting his finger on the fact that good-live-performance fandom is a thing, which I had never thought about before, but which I ABSOLUTELY agree with and subscribe to. (Also, in the shallow end, Tim's voice is SUPER hot. Apparently he's done some voiceover work, and I would be very happy to buy whatever he is selling, in my pants. Kthx.)
He has also started doing the occasional YouTube bass lesson, which you can appreciate either for its educational value, its musical value, or for Tim's fingers stroking things. Or all three! YOUR CHOICE. (Also I'm not sure who's filming the second one--I want it to be Trent, since I'm pretty sure he filmed the first one, but it doesn't quite sound like him; maybe it's Steve?--but the banter between him and Tim is adorable.)
Basically I just find Tim incredibly delightful, and dreamy, and warm, and wicked, and cheerful, and I love him.
Dale Harrison (drums)
Oh Dale. Even in this day and age of The Headstones Discover Social Media, Dale as a person is a little hard to track down--he rarely posts on Twitter or their PledgeMusic page, and while he uses Facebook pretty regularly (and his MySpace page was one of the only Headstones-related things I could find online when I was looking, a few years back), it's mostly to promote his gigs with various different bands, including a band called Big Crush that I just discovered in the course of Googling and who actually sound pretty damn awesome (female vocalist, rock/blues thing, YES PLEASE). I think he's not really a verbal-communication guy? But he seems to have just... kept working after the band broke up, which is a pretty awesomely healthy thing to do.
Other things I know about Dale: he's married and has three kids, he teaches drum lessons, he's done a guest spot on DeGrassi High, he joined the band on VERY short notice after their previous drummer quit, and a guy in Ontario with whom I chatted for 8 hours in the pursuit of Headstones bootlegs (WORTH IT) described him as "the coolest Headstone," so there you go. Hugh refers to him as "DW" or "DW Harrison" a lot, which is adorable. He is, of course, a badass drummer, and as I have mentioned, his hair is EXCELLENT. He just generally seems like an extremely nice, hard-working, low-drama kind of a guy, and I dig it. DW Harrison, everybody!
And now, a segment I like to call: LET ME SHIP THAT FOR YOU.
Hugh/Trent
Full disclosure: I don't think I ship anybody in the world harder than I ship Hugh/Trent. They just love each other SO MUCH, and they are--especially these days--SO OBVIOUS about it, and it's SO GREAT. A couple of quotes sum up quite a bit of their dynamic, first from Hugh (when asked what the other guys in the band do when they're not with the band):
tim and dw harrison work in music and trent does whatever he wants hahaha - he always has an thats why i admire his fuckeveryone philosophy ha ha
And then--perhaps concerned that he had not fully represented Trent's awesomeness--he elaborated a minute later: and to be clear trent was kinda like kurt cobain before i ever heard of him - he was into anti establishment art and books and he got me into kurt vonegut and he never had any interest in keeping up with the jones or matterial possession he also had an interested in computers before they were everywhere i know that kinda dates lol - but i liked the way he approached life - still do
D'AWWWWWWWWWWWWW. Trent, for his part:
when i first met hugh we had a funny dynamic. he was always looking for reactions from people - i never reacted. i'd act like "hey man, chill out" but really i'd be laughing my head off and totally encouraging the next act of hilarity. i was always a bit of an enabler when it came to hugh. haha
I just. I CANNOT TELL YOU HOW HARD I FLAILED WHEN I READ THAT, because that was absolutely my headcanon for them, and I was OVERJOYED to find out it was actual canon. Like, basically EVERYONE is flattened by the steamroller of Hugh's charisma, but Trent primarily thinks he's HILARIOUS, and wouldn't react because he wanted to fuel Hugh's shenanigans. Which obviously led to things like this (sorry for the crappy quality; this is bootleg footage from 1994, so):
TRENT. YOUR EVIL PLAN TO COMMAND HUGH'S ATTENTION IS SO GOOD. In fact, we have figured out that Trent-side is the place to be during a Headstones show, because TRENT, for one thing, but also? Hugh is drawn to him like a compass swinging around to true north. *dreamy sigh* And even when he's not physically nearby, he checks in with Trent CONSTANTLY, like, did you see what I did there? Did you think it was funny? Wasn't that awesome? It's ADORABLE. And I have also learned to watch Trent when Hugh is doing something ridiculous, because Trent doesn't try to hide his reactions anymore, and instead just enjoys it SO MUCH, and it's SO FUCKING CUTE. I mean, REALLY not trying to hide it anymore:
(real talk: I cannot stop watching that GIF, it may be my proudest achievement)
And yet Hugh's interest seems to be maintained nonetheless:
YES. It really just seems like Trent is Hugh's primary audience, and Trent is an incredibly appreciative audience, and they're pretty much each other's favorite people and they've been through so much together… and after the Headstones broke up, Hugh and Trent did not talk for years. And I shipped them so hard, posthumously, and it broke my heart that this beautiful friendship had ended, just fucking BROKE MY HEART every time I thought about it, and cast this shadow over my joy in the band and the music. And then they got back together and they are SO SO HAPPY and bright and shining and adorkable and transparently, incandescently fond of each other and hyper-aware of what they have together and it just makes my LIFE, truly. It is like the best reunion fic ever, happening right in front of my face. Like this happened right in front of my face:
THOSE ARE ACTUALLY THE LYRICS THAT THEY WERE SINGING. ACTUALLY. FOR REAL. WITH THEIR FACES. IN FRONT OF MY FACE. (Yes, the Headstones do an ABBA cover. Yes, it's awesome. Also yes, Trent came out for that encore wearing a shirt that said "Who the fuck is Hugh Dillon?")
So, yeah. Best. Reunion fic. EVER. BEST.
Trent/Tim
Trent and Tim have known each other since they were 8 and 5 years old, respectively, so they are very, very close, and that is very, very obvious. One of my favorite things about the Headstones shows I've seen is watching Trent and Tim do the mental telepathy thing from either side of the whirling dervish that is Hugh. It's adorable, and they are adorable, and they love each other, and it's awesome.
Hugh/Tim
Tim and Hugh are both guys who are very free with their affection, and as a result, sometimes stuff like this happens:
I don't really know WHY Tim is gnawing Hugh's cheekbone, there, but… carry on, sir. CARRY ON.
Sorry Dale
Look, I WOULD READ IT, okay. I am all for--to quote _unhurt_--"intraband sexing, Headstones-wise," and on some level, the more the merrier. I just don't have enough energy around it for a manifesto. But I would read it! I love you too, Dale!
And finally, I will (mostly) shut the fuck up and give you some things to watch/listen to:
Media!
MP3s
First and foremost, a little Headstones sampler pack so you can try before you buy, so to speak (it can be a challenge to find the Headstones' earlier albums in the US at this point, and they were never released digitally--and thus if you want them, just ask me--but you can buy their new one, Love+Fury, and it is badass!):
14 songs from 6 albums
YMMV, but I adore about 50% of Headstones songs, love another 30%, like 15%, and am meh on 5%. Not a bad breakdown!
And as a bonus, here is a fantastic, excellent-quality radio interview and acoustic performance, full of voice porn and Hugh being amazing and acoustic versions of songs that should really, really not work as acoustic songs, but they do. One of my favorite Headstones things ever.
Official Videos
So the Headstones' official videos are almost all ridiculous in one way or another. I find a large percentage of them delightful (except for the video to "And," which haunts me, because of reasons). My top pick for an introduction is "Smile and Wave," which is (in addition to being a great song) goofy, tongue-in-cheek, includes some nice live-ish footage, and involves Hugh sneering while shaking maracas:
Click to view
After that, I would recommend When Something Stands For Nothing (eaaaaarly days video--that's Mark Gibson drumming--I like the story of it, and Hugh is SMOKING HOT in it) and Tiny Teddy, for reasons of (again) hotness and ridiculousness. Honestly, all the Headstones' videos are worth watching at least once, but those are the ones I'd start with. :)
Live Performances
Dear Headstones, thank you for reuniting in a golden age of portable media capturing. This is some of the best live Headstones footage I've ever seen, featuring "Oh My God!" and including detours into "Sympathy For the Devil" and "Straight Outta Compton":
a;sldfjka;sljkdf ;alskjdf ;alskjf If you want some beautiful Headstones footage, searching for "Headstones Sound Academy" (or "Toronto") on YT is a good way to go.
This is my favorite song, "Three Angels," from the first show on that mini-tour:
I have an enormous amount of feelings about this song, and could go on all day, but I will stick to two things: 1) Hugh dedicates this to Randy Kwan, who inspired the reunion in the first place, and 2) this was the Headstones song I always wanted most to hear live, just to be in that room and sing along on "a real nice service for us when we die," and I've been able to do that twice now and it still makes me cry, thinking about it. <3
And, for a sample of the new stuff, "longwaytoneverland" at a recent show:
That one has better video and bonus Trent (and Trent/Tim)-o-vision, but the beginning of this angle is also worth watching, for reasons of Hugh's banter. <3333333
Interviews
Hugh: Hugh has been interviewed MANY MANY TIMES, and he is basically always a great interview, so it's hard to go wrong. For an introduction, I would try this interview with him and everyone's boyfriend George Stroumboulopoulos:
(that's part 1; part 2 is here)
Strombo, in addition to being a generally spectacular interviewer, is also a long-time fan of Hugh and the band, so that makes him extra-spectacular at interviewing Hugh. If you like that one, you can also see the sequel here and here, where Hugh comes back a couple of years later and (among other things) credits Strombo for getting him the gig on Flashpoint, since the producers saw a new side of him during that interview. And Strombo is just totally blindsided by the compliment, and Hugh gives him crap about it, and it's SO CUTE. AWWWWWWWW. AWWWWWWWWWWW. Hugh also talks a LOT about Enrico Colantoni in this one, which is ALSO adorable.
And then, for contrast (and yet total continuity), here's a very early-Headstones-days interview with Hugh that I just love:
He and the band really cultivated this hardass image and yet in basically every interview I see with him, even then, he's so thoughtful and earnest and genuine, I can't deal with it. Also this video is one of several examples of Hugh being nearby a kitten, but never being in the same frame with the kitten, hence our theory that Hugh Dillon is kittens. QED. Also there is mostly-naked Trent in this video, who has very possibly been sharing a bed with Hugh, so. I DIG IT.
As for print interviews, there's this excellent recent one, which made me draw hearts all over my monitor (Hugh is REALLY AMUSED by how he's ordering salad and enjoying it), and this one where he talks about how a TV set is like a symphony (♥!), and this ADORABLE Q&A that meresy helpfully transcribed that is still one of my favorite Hugh things ever. He wants to have dinner with Jim Morrison and serve him a book of 16th-century poetry! WHAAAAAAT.
Everyone else:
My favorite Tim and Trent thing is still this radio interview, which is about 30 minutes long but it's SO GOOD. And if you're not ready to make that commitment, I transcribed some relevant bits in that entry, so you can try those! Tim and Trent also recently did a fun (if lamentably brief) track-by-track commentary on the new album. Trent calls "Longwaytoneverland" "a four-act play in three minutes." UNF. (Of course, I think he might mean a five-act play, but whatever. I AM STILL INTO IT.)
In that vein, there's also the liner notes from their greatest hits album, featuring commentary from all four of the guys (plus some of their crew), and they are both hilarious and educational! They made up a song called "Dale has a hand for a penis." I mean.
Speaking of Dale, this is the only Dale interview I have come across so far (the clip is 15 minutes long, but Dale's phone call is only the first six minutes or so), and he is a sweetheart.
Random PledgeMusic quotes:
This is a bit specific for a primer, but the PledgeMusic page has yielded SO much great stuff from the band (especially Hugh and Trent, who have posted the most, though Tim has also been super-sweet about genuinely answering questions, and Dale drops by from time to time) that I wanted to share. So:
Trent, as recording dawned: Everyone is in the same city. Smoke signals have been sent and received, torches have been lit. Scientists have gathered for the singularity. Instruments have been harmonically converged. The cadences have been opened and closed. Enjoy the lemon and chocolate.
Hugh, when Trent started posting: GOOD TO SEE YOU OUT AMOUNGST THE RABBLE BROTHER CARR
Trent: We all loved Teenage Head. I saw them in 1982 at the Coronet theatre in Toronto. Ended up doing a little tour of northern Ontario with them in our early days. hung out in hotel rooms jamming on the guitar that's on the cover of Frantic City. peed my pants a wee bit.
Hugh: im pretty happy go lucky about it i find trent tim and dale spend way to much time trying to "work things out" or be "professional" - hhahahaha -no really we want to play the tunes we want and are fun to play live - i never will go and play a tune cause we have to -sometimes i wont play a tune cause i dont feel like learning it after we recorded it hahahaha - in the past we really get out their and see what everybody -you - want to hear - thats what we base it on - then if its rocking we can throw in binthiswayforyears or some obscure stuff we rarely play - sometimes as a favour to certain individuals who love certain songs we will do something simply cause someone has bin so passionate about it and its a challenge like an old tune or a cover - sometimes we just throw in something we like in omg - but i will tell you this - if a song fucking rocks new or not its exciting live - like binthiswayforyears - new song - fit perfectly you guys loved it - because its a natural no bullshit tune - sometimes if its new and we throw it in -its not fair cause it take everybody off guard changes the vibe and nobody gets it or knows what the fucks going on -so its a combination and of feel and intelect actually - hughdilloncbcnews knowitalltown
Trent: here really are too many to sit and pick one favorite story, Tho, one moment we all laugh about to this day happened on our first tour. We played a tiny club in Saskatoon called Amigo's. Up wasting time exploring the dressing room, we find a door that when opened led nowhere - a wall. Written on the wall was "How's your career going?"
Trent: Million Days in May was a musical piece i had 90% done. written on the guitar, but i played it for hugh on the piano and we sat there and he came up with most of the lyrics right there. bringing it to rehearsal tim and dale added ideas for the bridge and dale came up with that cool drum beat at the end. one of my favorites.
And then, a minute later: by 90% obviously i mean 70%. lol
Tim: so like basically half finished
Trent: ....I've got this chord. I'll call it an "A". run with it.
Hugh on his favorite song to play live: wow- depends on the night this last tour i loved doing pinned u down - loved it -so fast so many lyrics so much depends on all of us in the pocket together ...total focus total trust total committment and excitement ......no fucking net
Trent: it's funny how lots of our songs came from jokes. sitting around singing a song (usually making fun of one of us) then we realize it's a cool melody then we make it fucking serious! haha
Followed by: just remembered.....we never did anything with the song "Hugh Dillon is Fucking Bugging me" - note to self.
And finally, Hugh on what his typical day looks like: lets see - 5 to seven - run with sissors -check -seven to 9 - coffee bad mouth other bands-check 9 to 11 look for anyone to actually help find shit at canadian tire -check - 11 to 1 call trent about firing dale -1 to 3 call tim about firing trent -3to5 call dale about how arraogant the stringed instrument people are 5 to 7 complain about lobster and steak 7 to 10 speak ill of the dead -10 till 5am back in the coffin shaped croyegenic oxygen chamber -check
YOU GUYS. I LOVE HIM.
And that's about enough, I think! If anybody reading this wants to know more about any of this, I am VERY happy to help. :D And Headstones fans, please feel free add your favorite Headstones things in the comments!
This post is also at Dreamwidth! http://brynnmck.dreamwidth.org/297917.html Comments at Dreamwidth: