Crazyhead

Crazyhead are an English grebo and punk rock group from Leicester, United Kingdom. The line-up includes Ian Anderson on vocals, Kev Reverb on guitar, Vom on drums, Fast Dick on guitar and Porkbeast on bass, with later members including Christina on bass and Peter Creed on guitar. The band also uses the names Kevin Bayliss, Ian R. Anderson, Robert Morris, Richard Bell, Dr. Alex Peach, Christine Wigmore and Peter Creed for individual members.

Style and background

Crazyhead are associated with the so-called Grebo scene, although their sound draws more directly on late 1960s garage rock. They also take influence from The Ramones, The Stooges and Captain Beefheart. The band describes itself as an “urban bastard blues band”, and its songs cover social commentary and surreal subjects, often with black humour.

History

The band signs to the independent label Food in late 1986. Its debut single, “What Gives You The Idea That You’re So Amazing, Baby?”, tops the UK Indie Chart, and “Baby Turpentine” also reaches the top of the British indie chart. A third single, “Time Has Taken Its Toll On You”, reaches number 68 in the UK Top 100. Crazyhead tours extensively in this period, supporting The Cult and Julian Cope, and appears at Glastonbury Festival.

Its debut album, Desert Orchid, appears in 1988, followed by “Rags” and the Have Love Will Travel EP. The band tours Europe with Iggy Pop and later plays the Reading Festival. It also performs at an international music festival in Moscow at the request of the British Council, and is among the first western bands to tour post-Ceauşescu Romania. Later in 1990 it plays at the Namibian Independence Day concert. After Food is acquired by EMI, the band is dropped.

Crazyhead’s second album, Some Kind Of Fever, is released on Revolver Records. The band continues to tour Europe in 1992 and tours the UK in 1993 to promote a covers album, Live In Memphis, although the release deal falls through. Later releases include Fucked By Rock, a collection of unreleased material, demos and live tracks, the self-released Chemical Lunch EP, and the 13th Floor EP.

In the later years of the band, Crazyhead plays sporadic live dates and tours the UK supporting The Mission on several occasions. Recording for a new album begins, but Ian Anderson’s departure to work abroad brings the group to an end. Crazyhead plays its farewell show in Leicester in December 2000.

Recordings and releases

Crazyhead’s releases include “What Gives You The Idea That You’re So Amazing, Baby?”, “Baby Turpentine”, “Time Has Taken Its Toll On You”, “Rags”, Desert Orchid, the shared Food Christmas EP with Jesus Jones and Diesel Park West, Some Kind Of Fever, “Everything’s Alright”, Live In Memphis, Chemical Lunch, Fucked By Rock and 13th Floor. Their recordings also feature guest contributions from Gaz Birtles, John Barrow and Tony Robinson on horns, credited as The Phantom Horns and The Space Bastards, and backing vocals from PP Arnold and Katie Kissoon on “Rags”.