For my own records really ...
.. I always wondered what happened to my favourite Australian band of all time .. Andy McLean - oh my *dreamy swoon*
WHERE ARE THEY NOW? - HORSEHEAD
I really enjoyed putting together this week's Where Are They Now? on one of my favourite bands of their period. Tremendous thanks to Scott Kingman for his time and info. This story is one of the good ones, no egos or sensational break-up stories. Before we get to it Scott has asked me to thank all the people that came out to the shows and made being in Horsehead such a great time for the whole band. And to our home state people of Adelaide, Scott dearly thanks you all for rocking hard with the band every time they came to town.
Now on with the story of Horsehead.
Photo: Gavin Simms Horsehead came together around 1991 when two members from Melbourne band 21 Guns, singer Andy McLean and guitarist Cameron McKenzie, hooked up with Uncanny X-Men drummer Max Waugh, Cattletruck guitarist Scott Kingman and experienced bassist Mick Vallance. Vallance was an old hand at the game having spent many years already touring with Serious Young Insects and Boom Crash Opera among other groups. Kingman was the youngster, at only 22 Kingman was plugging away selling guitars at Allans in Bourke Street after leaving school a few years earlier. Max War was coming off the success of Uncanny X-Men and McKenzie and McLean had been at it for a short while in their group 21 Guns.
Horsehead's music was strong and energetic metal-edged heavy rock, drawn from a love of the classic rock tradition, then injected with subtle melody and blended with a sublime commercial sensibility. Their combined experience and professionalism gave instant results from their first release, 1993's Horsehead, released ATI. Soon the major labels were looking closely at Horsehead. In the meantime the band were touring nationally and scoring excellent support slots with national acts such as the Screaming Jets and Midnight Oil.
The first single from their self-titled debut, Oil and Water, had become the stand out hard rock release for the year and Horsehead were gaining new fans across the country. A second single from the album, Sun, was released before the majors stepped in. The band was signed to Mushroom when, as the support tour for the debut continued, singer Andy McLean suffered a neck injury which forced the band into hibernation. (Such a short dude swingin' so much hair around every night had to take its toll - Ed.)
During this hiatus the band began work on their sophomore effort, their sound changing more toward a modern heavy rock sound reminiscent of US acts such as Alice In Chains, whilst retaining their obvious classic rock influences. In 1996 Onism was released on the Mushroom label and the album spawned three singles in that year, Strange, Ever and Shine.
Then came the big name supports. Horsehead toured the country with the biggest internationals of the day, Live, followed by Alice Cooper, then Metallica only a few months later. Scott recalls those tours as producing some of the best shows Horsehead have ever played. Personally, I can attest to that and many fellow fans I have spoken with rate the Horsehead support slots on the Metallica tour as having blown away the headline act.
A year after the release the band released the Golden Cow Collection EP on Shock Records imprint label Stubble after parting company with Mushroom Records. This was Horsehead's last release before they headed in to record their next full length. That next release turned out to be the band's most mature release to date, the 18-track epic Goodbye Mothership, released, again on Stubble, in 1999.
Goodbye Mothership was very well received and the first single, She Fell To Earth, secured a whole new breed of fans for the group. The last single from the album Ramones also received good airplay. They toured extensively behind Goodbye Mothership, the hard slog of touring starting to take its toll on some members of the band, but bassist Mick Vallance had other problems with the caper and, after a show in Melbourne in in 2000, quite simply told his comrades he was out. To quote Mick he was "disillusioned with the music business and most of the people connected with it".
The close-knit band toyed with the idea of carrying on with a replacement for Mick but decided to take a break instead. All the members of the group buried themselves in a raft of projects. Guitarist Scott Kingman went out on tour with Christine Anu, Cam McKenzie went to work with the likes of Things Of Stone And Wood and Mark Seymour. Both Scott and Cameron, besides playing session and touring spots for their respective employers, started moving more into recording and production. Meanwhile Andy McLean completed his architecture degree and Mick Vallance went to work in sound and production in Melbourne. Drummer Max Waugh kept his chops up by playing in a few blues bands around the city.
All of a sudden it's the year 2002 and right now each member of Horsehead is busy and happy. Scott Kingman has worked on production and recording for a bunch of bands. His most recent work was with The Surrogate, a good-time Melbourne band who are currently receiving national exposure on JJJ for She Said off their Scott Kingman co-produced and engineered EP Gentleman's Hardcore. There's even a little bit of Scott on the guitar in amongst that one. He still retains the Christine Anu session and touring guitar slot. Even though the Christine Anu sound is a long way from the power of Horsehead, he keeps the gig because he simply loves touring. The next six months or so for Scott will see him working on the next James Reyne record in recording and production, and hopefully a little guitar work. Scott's brother, Brett Kingman, is actually James' long-time guitar man and has is just coming off James' Strangers In The Night tour with guests Daryl Braithwaite and Jenny Morris.
Singer Andy McLean is a gamefully employed architect who is currently plying his skills building a house for himself in outer Melbourne. He returned to study to complete his degree after Vallance left the group in 2000 and has since done some writing with Scott on a stack of material that will see the light of day some time soon.
Cameron McKenzie has just finished work on the latest Mark Seymour effort and continues to work with a number of bands in production and recording.
Mick Vallance continues to work in sound in Melbourne and has given up the music caper, at least for now. Mick contacted us in April of 2005 to set us straight on the reasons for his departure and it was excellent to hear another side of the story. Needless to say, their won't be a "reunion" anytime soon as far as Mick's concerned.
And finally, drummer Max Waugh has just bought a truck and works by day driving around Melbourne whilst playing two or three nights a week in a couple of blues outfits in the city. He is very happily married with a beautiful wife and child.
So what for the future of Horsehead? More than once the band has been approached by promoters eager for the boys to go back out. The idea is not far from the minds of the guys who were involved in Horsehead and Scott, for one, sure misses the buzz. Some of the members of Horsehead remain great friends and see each other regularly, but some relationships aren't as great as they might be. It would be great to see the horsehead.com.au site up and running again to get the fans together. There's an idea for someone with some spare time on his or her hands and a bit of web savvy.
Drop us an e-mail if you'd like us to track down some of stars of the past for you and feature them in Where Are They Now?
Seriously. I used to do the rock swoon thing when I saw these guys play live in SUCH a big way. Before them it was Presto and there has been no one since *sad face*
WHERE ARE THEY NOW? - HORSEHEAD
I really enjoyed putting together this week's Where Are They Now? on one of my favourite bands of their period. Tremendous thanks to Scott Kingman for his time and info. This story is one of the good ones, no egos or sensational break-up stories. Before we get to it Scott has asked me to thank all the people that came out to the shows and made being in Horsehead such a great time for the whole band. And to our home state people of Adelaide, Scott dearly thanks you all for rocking hard with the band every time they came to town.
Now on with the story of Horsehead.
Photo: Gavin Simms Horsehead came together around 1991 when two members from Melbourne band 21 Guns, singer Andy McLean and guitarist Cameron McKenzie, hooked up with Uncanny X-Men drummer Max Waugh, Cattletruck guitarist Scott Kingman and experienced bassist Mick Vallance. Vallance was an old hand at the game having spent many years already touring with Serious Young Insects and Boom Crash Opera among other groups. Kingman was the youngster, at only 22 Kingman was plugging away selling guitars at Allans in Bourke Street after leaving school a few years earlier. Max War was coming off the success of Uncanny X-Men and McKenzie and McLean had been at it for a short while in their group 21 Guns.
Horsehead's music was strong and energetic metal-edged heavy rock, drawn from a love of the classic rock tradition, then injected with subtle melody and blended with a sublime commercial sensibility. Their combined experience and professionalism gave instant results from their first release, 1993's Horsehead, released ATI. Soon the major labels were looking closely at Horsehead. In the meantime the band were touring nationally and scoring excellent support slots with national acts such as the Screaming Jets and Midnight Oil.
The first single from their self-titled debut, Oil and Water, had become the stand out hard rock release for the year and Horsehead were gaining new fans across the country. A second single from the album, Sun, was released before the majors stepped in. The band was signed to Mushroom when, as the support tour for the debut continued, singer Andy McLean suffered a neck injury which forced the band into hibernation. (Such a short dude swingin' so much hair around every night had to take its toll - Ed.)
During this hiatus the band began work on their sophomore effort, their sound changing more toward a modern heavy rock sound reminiscent of US acts such as Alice In Chains, whilst retaining their obvious classic rock influences. In 1996 Onism was released on the Mushroom label and the album spawned three singles in that year, Strange, Ever and Shine.
Then came the big name supports. Horsehead toured the country with the biggest internationals of the day, Live, followed by Alice Cooper, then Metallica only a few months later. Scott recalls those tours as producing some of the best shows Horsehead have ever played. Personally, I can attest to that and many fellow fans I have spoken with rate the Horsehead support slots on the Metallica tour as having blown away the headline act.
A year after the release the band released the Golden Cow Collection EP on Shock Records imprint label Stubble after parting company with Mushroom Records. This was Horsehead's last release before they headed in to record their next full length. That next release turned out to be the band's most mature release to date, the 18-track epic Goodbye Mothership, released, again on Stubble, in 1999.
Goodbye Mothership was very well received and the first single, She Fell To Earth, secured a whole new breed of fans for the group. The last single from the album Ramones also received good airplay. They toured extensively behind Goodbye Mothership, the hard slog of touring starting to take its toll on some members of the band, but bassist Mick Vallance had other problems with the caper and, after a show in Melbourne in in 2000, quite simply told his comrades he was out. To quote Mick he was "disillusioned with the music business and most of the people connected with it".
The close-knit band toyed with the idea of carrying on with a replacement for Mick but decided to take a break instead. All the members of the group buried themselves in a raft of projects. Guitarist Scott Kingman went out on tour with Christine Anu, Cam McKenzie went to work with the likes of Things Of Stone And Wood and Mark Seymour. Both Scott and Cameron, besides playing session and touring spots for their respective employers, started moving more into recording and production. Meanwhile Andy McLean completed his architecture degree and Mick Vallance went to work in sound and production in Melbourne. Drummer Max Waugh kept his chops up by playing in a few blues bands around the city.
All of a sudden it's the year 2002 and right now each member of Horsehead is busy and happy. Scott Kingman has worked on production and recording for a bunch of bands. His most recent work was with The Surrogate, a good-time Melbourne band who are currently receiving national exposure on JJJ for She Said off their Scott Kingman co-produced and engineered EP Gentleman's Hardcore. There's even a little bit of Scott on the guitar in amongst that one. He still retains the Christine Anu session and touring guitar slot. Even though the Christine Anu sound is a long way from the power of Horsehead, he keeps the gig because he simply loves touring. The next six months or so for Scott will see him working on the next James Reyne record in recording and production, and hopefully a little guitar work. Scott's brother, Brett Kingman, is actually James' long-time guitar man and has is just coming off James' Strangers In The Night tour with guests Daryl Braithwaite and Jenny Morris.
Singer Andy McLean is a gamefully employed architect who is currently plying his skills building a house for himself in outer Melbourne. He returned to study to complete his degree after Vallance left the group in 2000 and has since done some writing with Scott on a stack of material that will see the light of day some time soon.
Cameron McKenzie has just finished work on the latest Mark Seymour effort and continues to work with a number of bands in production and recording.
Mick Vallance continues to work in sound in Melbourne and has given up the music caper, at least for now. Mick contacted us in April of 2005 to set us straight on the reasons for his departure and it was excellent to hear another side of the story. Needless to say, their won't be a "reunion" anytime soon as far as Mick's concerned.
And finally, drummer Max Waugh has just bought a truck and works by day driving around Melbourne whilst playing two or three nights a week in a couple of blues outfits in the city. He is very happily married with a beautiful wife and child.
So what for the future of Horsehead? More than once the band has been approached by promoters eager for the boys to go back out. The idea is not far from the minds of the guys who were involved in Horsehead and Scott, for one, sure misses the buzz. Some of the members of Horsehead remain great friends and see each other regularly, but some relationships aren't as great as they might be. It would be great to see the horsehead.com.au site up and running again to get the fans together. There's an idea for someone with some spare time on his or her hands and a bit of web savvy.
Drop us an e-mail if you'd like us to track down some of stars of the past for you and feature them in Where Are They Now?
Seriously. I used to do the rock swoon thing when I saw these guys play live in SUCH a big way. Before them it was Presto and there has been no one since *sad face*