Poisoned Electrick Head

Poisoned Electrick Head are a group from St Helens, United Kingdom. They form in the mid-1980s after several earlier local bands fold, beginning as a project called Moon before adopting their longer name and then shortening it to Poisoned Electrick Head after a couple of performances.

Formation and line-up

The first line-up centres on Vic Vibeskin, Emerald Greenshade and Jefferson Jesu, who form Moon in 1985. The group rehearses in a derelict room known as The Dead Fly, then expands by adding Tjunca B Low on keyboards. Professor Bubblekeys later joins on keyboards, with Tjunca B Low moving to bass, and Phil ZaPeep joins on guitar, taking the band to six members. When Emerald Greenshade considers leaving, The Great (Catmandu) joins on vocals, but the group decides to keep both singers, making Poisoned Electrick Head a seven-piece band.

Style and character

Their music is associated with progressive rock, psychedelic rock, progressive punk, punk and “pronk”. The band describes itself in terms of psycho-punk drama, and its material includes surreal and fantastical imagery, including a recurring character called The Jedder, who is described as having a large head, no face and no right hand, with a knee that sheds tears and a long, curly toe that smokes a pipe.

Discography

Their recorded output includes Drink Me on cassette, Trickeroo / Cap Of Flies as a 7-inch single, Poisoned Electrick Head and The Big Eye Am on LP and CD, Unmistakeably Rainbow Trout on cassette, Out Of Order across 7-inch, 12-inch and CD formats, The Hanged Man on CD, and Where The Power Is on CD. The 1992 self-titled release and The Big Eye Am appear as key album-length statements in the discography.

Later activity

After a period away, the founders Jefferson Jesu, Emerald Greenshade and Vic Vibeskin return together for Where The Power Is. Other members move into different work: Professor Bubblekeys lives in Belgium and works as a teacher and actor, Tjunca B Low works as a music technology teacher and occasional bass player, and Phil ZaPeep becomes a tattoo artist based in Merseyside.