The Heads Sort of Announce Breakup; Final Shows in September
It’s fitting that even a breakup announcement from long-running Bristol psych heads The Heads — wait, what? — should be nebulous. These shows were announced some time ago, but I saw the following posted on the band’s social media, and even as they’re set Sept. 9 to release a 20th anniversary edition of 2002’s Under Sided, preceded by a limited 7″ with a May Blitz cover from Small Stone‘s well-ahead-of-its-time Sucking the ’70s compilation and an edit of “Born to Go” — both out through Rooster Rock — they’re putting out word that these will be the last shows the four-piece play.
Well you’ll have to pardon me, but that’s a pretty big fucking deal. The Heads are more than 30 years into one of heavy psych’s trailblazing tenures, and in the world of fuzz, psychedelic rock, acid jams and shoegaze, you’d have a hard time finding a band of that era whose legacy is so well earned. Everybody knows they, in fact, got somewhere.
I reached out to Hugo Owen Morgan and asked if this was really it. Honestly, I know playing with Mudhoney is cool and all, but I can’t bring myself to imagine a final The Heads show happening somewhere other than Roadburn in the Netherlands, however far that venerated festival has removed itself from its psychedelic and heavy foundations. Some bands you figure get on the bill no matter what.
Morgan was willing to say in so many words that the “final ever” might be as definitive as the “world tour” portion of the same sentence. I don’t know, but if you’d begrudge The Heads wanting to pick and choose their appearances from here on out and feel like they don’t need to be doing anything if they don’t want to, well, that’s true. This isn’t some pissant psych rock upstart with a TikTok and the same manager as insert-impressive-namedrop-here. This is The Heads. They’ve only ever done the thing for real. And if these do end up being their last shows ever, then they’re going out on the same terms under which they’ve always operated: their own and no one else’s.
But I do hope they keep going, at least to some degree. They want to take seven or 10 years, just put out limited reissues, archival live albums, various collections and the odd bit of jams, fine, but I’ll go on record saying I think The Heads have another album in them. I don’t have a god damned clue what that might sound like, but I would sure like to find out. Maybe we’ll get there maybe not. Life is long and weird.
Their announcement and links for the shows follow, as per the aforementioned social media:
Our final ever world tour is fast approaching.
Will be great to see some old familiar faces.
Sept 9th – Bristol Exchange
Sept 10th – London Electric Ballroom,with Mudhoney
https://exchangebristol.com/whats-on/#events/e76409
https://electricballroom.seetickets.com/event/mudhoney/electric-ballroom/1505859
The Heads are:
Simon Price: Guitar/Vocals
Hugo Owen Morgan: Bass
Paul Allen: Guitar/Vocals
Wayne Maskell: Drums
https://www.facebook.com/The-Heads-282801075465/4
https://www.instagram.com/theheadsrock/
https://theheads1.bandcamp.com/
Will be there for the Bristol night. Happy to see them again, sad it may be for the last time, but also fair enough and there’s plenty of torch-bearers carrying the psych forward
Sure hope they reconsider and, indeed, keep doing the odd show here and there. Thanks for asking Hugo.