"Head of David were like an updated version of Big Black made louder, more metal, and more convincingly British, and I remember playing the heck out of "LP" and "Dustbowl" back in the late 80's. Justin Broadrick (Napalm Death/Godflesh/Jesu) was the drummer in Head of David at one point, which was made into a big deal at the time ("Hey, didja hear there's a Big Black rip-off band that has a metal guy in it?"), but people forget that Paul Stanley was in Raging Slab for a while, and nobody cared.
Blast First, of course, is best known for not releasing any records that Homestead and SST didn't release first." - me, back in 2008
It seems unlikely now, but Head of David were a pretty big deal with the FE-core crowd at one point. For a UK band, they had the right sound-- the Big Black/Killdozer noise thing-- as well as the right references, like a cover of Suicide's "Rocket U.S.A." on their first EP, plus songs like "Shadow Hills California" which seemed like a obvious nod to stuff like "Death Valley '69" at a time when people still cared about Sonic Youth. "Dustbowl" was recorded by Steve Albini (duh), and as I re-listen to it now, in hindsight it's definitely not one of Albini's better efforts; compared to "LP", which sounded appropriately thick and heavy, the guitars on "Dustbowl" are practically brittle, making this feel more like a Whitesnake record or something. Even if Head of David don't get name-checked as often as some of the other bands from back then, if you ever spot any of their earlier records ("LP", the "Dogbreath" EP, "Dustbowl", or the Peel Session recorded in 1987) for less than what a Chinese Restaurants 7" goes for, you should snap it up.
Head of David -
"Tequila"
"Bugged"
"Roadkill"
"108"
1 comment:
such great shit. one of my cherished records.
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