Horsehead is a name that any Australian Rocker around in the 90’s will know and love. Formed in 1991 by Scott Kingman and Cameron McKenzie on guitars, Andy McLean on vocals, Mick Vallance on bass and Craig Waugh on drums they made a huge impact domestically and at one point threatened to become one of those rare bands to break out internationally. The band toured at home and overseas, supported Metallica and had a live show that was second to none. They issued three classic albums: ‘Horsehead’ (1993), ‘Onism’ (1996) and ‘Goodbye Mothership’ (1999) before breaking up in 2000. And now they’re back with their entire catalogue finding its way onto vinyl courtesy of Golden Robot Records… We caught up with singer Andy McLean to find out what happens next…
Andy: Hey mate!
Mark: How’s things Andy?
Andy: Good buddy! I was just head down in some work!
Mark: All good, I imagine that Horsehead hasn’t been the top of your mind for a few years now!
Andy: It’s just a matter of changing hats (laughs) then tonight it’s off to my kid’s violin concert at school (laughs). So where is the Rockpit based?
Mark: We’re out of Perth, here in sunny WA!
Andy: Oh nice! Were you around 20 years ago or whatever it was now?
Mark: I was, I’ve seen you play a few times over the years, I was trying to work it out the other day, I think it was five times that I could remember, plus a few supports too.
Andy: Oh my God, good on you! (laughs) I’ll bet you’re not jumping on the plane to come and see us this time though?
Mark: I must admit I am tempted, I love The Corner Hotel too, I always used to love seeing a bands there when I was living down the road in St Kilda.
Andy: That explains it, there you go, I was thinking did you see us five times in Perth? But that would have made it easier! (laughs)
Mark: So before we get started any battle scars from the Rock and Roll years?
Andy: Other than my ears I think I’m holding up pretty well! (laughs) We had a rehearsal the other day and I know we all look a lot older and there are three of us worrying about our ears but the rest of us are doing really well.
Mark: You can’t beat a bit of loud music though!
Andy: (laughs)
Mark: There’s so many questions I had lined up to ask you, but when I let everyone know I was talking to Andy from Horsehead the deluge began! There’s a lot of love out there still for that band! A lot of fans out there still.
Andy: It’s great isn’t it? I’m fully aware, like everyone that we disappeared off the scene and went and had kids and did stuff with our lives but I know there’s a bit of nostalgia floating around for what we were doing, what 20 years ago. But I’m pretty chuffed to know that we obviously made quite an impression on people. You know, I guess as a fan of Rock and Roll there’s still bands I’d dash out and see, so I know the feeling of falling in love with Rock and Roll so I’m wrapt to think there’s people who are excited about Horsehead coming back to do a show and putting some music out, I think that’s really lovely. But I think I’ve known that, you know it’s a really good feeling knowing that you were part of something special.
Mark: Well as they describe you on the press release, Rock and Roll Royalty! Australian Rock Royalty!
Andy: (laughs) I don’t know about royalty but a bloody good Rock and Roll band that’s for sure (laughs)
Mark: Absolutely and you played some wonderful shows back in the day and it must be kind of interesting to be in a position where you are just about to take the stage again. But before we get into that in a bit more detail, I have to ask – is it just the one show at The Corner Hotel at the moment?
Andy: (pause) That is the zillion dollar question.
Mark: (laughs).
Andy: We’ve had three lots of rehearsals and when I say three lots I mean a couple of days in a row each time we get together. But before that first rehearsal we hadn’t played together as a band for twenty-odd years. I think it was in 2013, or 2012 I’d got back from living in the country and I was keen to hook up with the lads, and I ran into Scott and he was busy in the studio and we pulled out some of our old stuff and back then I was thinking, “Bloody hell I’d just love to have a blast with the guys again.” And we all managed to get into a studio. When the band broke up it was after many years of sitting together in a Hiace with no money! And just driving, driving, driving with no sleep and we just kind of fell apart at that point, and it wasn’t all hugs and kisses when we finished I remember that. And so the first thing we wanted to do was just make sure that everyone was OK so we did get into a room and have a group hug, I think it was 2012 actually and we threw the instruments on and had a play but I think everybody at that point just thought It wasn’t quite right. I think there were some health issues in the band at that point and we all said, “No, it doesn’t feel right, so let’s not do it.” But Scott and I, we were writing at the time, and so Scott and I went off and did a little side project and I really enjoyed that and we sort of said that we would have another crack at getting the band back together and it was Mark from Golden Robot that basically stirred the pot. When you suddenly get a guy like Mark saying, “I want to re-release your back catalogue and put it on vinyl, but what else have you got?” I think we were all wrapt that someone was interested, and for us the main thing, as people love it was that we thought it would also be nice that it would be preserved digitally as we go from CD’s into the digital realm. For me, for my daughter I’d love to think that she can access it on the formats that kids use. So when he said, “I’ll tidy up your legacy and put it out there in digital and let’s do a vinyl thing, what else have you got to play me?”, that was an excuse to go round to Cameron’s house and start listening to our old DAT recordings!
Mark: Wow.
Andy: And so we managed to unearth a few recordings that we hadn’t heard since we made the albums. And I was listening and thinking, “Why did that track not get on the album? And what about that one?” And when we played them to Mark at the record company he said, “Bloody hell we should put that out as well.” And I think that’s when we all started getting excited and when he was saying to promote it I want you to play ‘live’ we just laughed and said that the last time we’d been in a room together we’d agreed that wasn’t likely to happen. As you can imagine there’s always something, four might want to do it but there’s always one person who says, “No it’s not in my headspace” and that can go on for ever and a day, but it just so happened that when we spoke about the fact that he (Mark) was putting in time and effort and we’d dug out our old clippings to put this book together that was to help promote the thing and just tell the story. And Jeff Jenkins who has always been a supporter and a dear friend offered to write the liner notes for us, and when you put the whole story together, we just went, “This is feeling great” and we thought, “It now is the time for us to play” and we came up with the agreement that said, “Look, let’s get in a room before we tell anybody that we’re going to play, let’s just have a blow for ourselves and see what we think.” And as I said to you the last time we got together it just didn’t feel right. But this time when we had a blast we just said, “Fuck, it’s there.” So that was the first time. Then we said “Let’s do it.” Then the second time we got together it was more like “Fuck what did we say we would do?” (laughs) because playing and it feeling right is a bit different to getting back to gig fitness, which is going to take a lot (laughs).
Mark: I can imagine (laughs).
Andy: So now we’ve just had our third round together where we all for the first time went, “OK.” They’re all great players and it’s one of those things when you’ve got a band, like some of the ones I love, where every member is important and you can’t imagine anyone not being there. And I think that’s one of the special things about Horsehead – everyone has a really important role, I don’t think anyone is really replaceable to get that Horsehead sound. So when that room was rocking it just sounded like Horsehead and when we got into that third rehearsal we all started to think “There it is, there’s the feel, there’s the sound” and everyone’s pretty much cheesy-grinning at the moment thinking, “This is so good.” And when you say would we play again I go, well it’s gonna take a lot of work to get us to the first gig, it would seem silly not to think about it. But none of us have said we would. So we will just take it one gig at a time. And at this point we just have one mission and that’s to deliver one great, god almighty, fun gig and we’ll see what happens after that. Never say never.
Mark: We’ll lets’ hope that you’re taken over on stage by the emotion of the whole thing and the last thing you say is “We’ll see you next time!”
Andy: (laughing) We shall see! I think we’re enjoying the rehearsals and I think when we get it to the point where we’re ready to gig, I don’t know what it will feel like to go out there and play it again for everyone, but we’ll see. I’m just wrapt that supposedly this Friday everything’s digitally online. I’m pretty excited about that.
Mark: And the catalogue has been given that kind of treatment befitting Rock Royalty – all the way up to the ‘superfan’ box set, just reading through that list of inclusions would make any fan’s mouth water.
Andy: It’s a bizarre thing to think we’re deserving of a box set but like I say when I’ve been a fan of bands I’d go out and buy everything they had on offer and I understand people getting excited about Horsehead because for years we all went off and did our own thing and when I listen to the band now after all those years I get it. The guitars are nice and noisy, we’ve got two noisy guitar players and quite unique and I understand there are kids like Mark Erber said, like his kid and his kid’s mates and my daughter and her mates that listen to our stuff and it’s kind of still mind-blowingly rocking! Which is great.
Mark: What I most loved about Horsehead is that it was almost like the best of the old and the new, there was a ‘Zepplinny’ quality there but also a more modern sound.
Andy: I think so, without us meaning to do so we all loved Zeppelin and the old stuff but all our influences at the time were bands like Soundgarden who I thought were the new Zeppelin – they were a big influence.
Mark: I think I saw a lot of Zeppelin and Sabbath in Soundgarden.
Andy: Oh definitely. And I always loved Punk Rock as well, and of course Nirvana were amazing and we all appreciate The Beatles and all that Pop Melody stuff. The thing was if I’d come in with a Pop Melody I knew that the two riff-maniacs would look to bending it and twisting it and shaping it, and then in would come Maxie on drums – and bombastic was always a good word for him! This driving rhythm section with Mick and Max and it just became something else. I could think Pop and it would never come across as that because it would be put through that ‘gang mentality’ where everyone had to be really happy with it, and by the time it came out it sounded like us! We never worried about what we were – we just did it! And it felt pretty bloody tough!
Mark: A great song is a great song no matter how you dress it up and to me Horsehead’s legacy is some very great songs. It sounds like there’s an enormous amount of affection in this moment and this opportunity to look back on what the band did and what it achieved?
Andy: Absolutely, absolutely Mark. Look a lot of people have asked me when they find out the story or who have read what Jeff wrote, and I realise, we were the ‘next big thing’ for ten years, you know. People thought we were really going to crack it and every release it was “Here we go, this single will go” either that or it was “This tour” is the one, or “Bloody hell you’re about to make it here” and when we were off to the States where we were always touted as the next big thing. But I think I remember at the time feeling like… There was a classic moment when we were in America when Madonna’s management, they saw parts of the band they loved obviously, but other parts they didn’t and they were talking about keeping some of us and putting some of us with some song-writers doing this that and the other. I think we had a bit of a gang mentality that no, we knew we were onto something as a pack and we went “No” – all for one and one for all. It was a case of we’ll just keep doing what we’re doing and if people don’t get that or it doesn’t happen that’s OK. And I think that’s where the pride comes from, the thing that gives me that warm fuzzy feeling, is that knowing all these years that we stuck together with the same line-up and we haven’t sold out, and we’ve only ever got back together when everyone’s in that same headspace. And that feels great, you’re right, there is a lot of love and respect for one another and I do really appreciate that there are fans out there who really love and respect that too. And we feel honoured that touch wood we’re all alive and able to do this.
Mark: Absolutely!
Andy: It’s great to have another crack and have some fun, and bloody hell it is fun at the moment I’ll tell you!
Mark: I think I’ve decided I will be coming over now.
Andy: (laughs) You’re a good man, you better let us know if you’re coming all that way we better stick your name on the door! (laughs).
Mark: I’ll set off soon.
Andy: (laughs) Someone was saying the other day if you were offered these special dates would you do it and I can’t say ‘Yay or nay’ at the minute. None of us really know what’s gonna happen next, I think at this point like I say the most important thing for us is that the music is gonna go online digitally as I know people have been saying for years “Where can I get your music?” and I’ve always said, well go looking in a bargain bin because I had no idea where you’d find it these days. And I think when Mark went to put the whole project together I don’t think he could even find whatever he needed to reproduce the artwork, so we had to re-do everything from scratch really for the artwork. And with the music I think it was Cameron who rescued all the tracks and remastered them and gave them to Mark. But it’s come together beautifully and I’m just wrapt that it’s all preserved in a box and I think that’s pretty fun.
Mark: And it is great to see it all out there digitally because I know Horsehead is a band who people still do love to track down the old releases, I just recently found a second copy of ‘The Sun’ cassette single!
Andy: Oh my God yes (laughs), we’re showing our age mate!
Mark: It’s pretty rare.
Andy: (laughs) yes but do you still have a cassette player!
Mark: I do, I have my original Walkman from the days when they build things to last!
Andy: (laughs) That’s hilarious! Fantastic. Walkman’s they were the greatest song-writing tool, now I just use my phone.
Mark: It’s that time in the interview now where we traditionally thank you for your time, and I must admit I’ve really enjoyed this one, thanks Andy.
Andy: My pleasure.
Mark: And then we get to ask our traditional closing questions, the ones we ask everyone we talk to.
Andy: No worries.
Mark: If you could have been a ‘fly on the wall’ for the creation of any great album just to see how the magic happened in the studio, what would you have liked to have seen being made?
Andy: Oh ‘10,9,8…’ That was a pretty impressive Aussie record, and I just read, it’s funny I’ve been reading crime novels lately, I sort of got myself ‘crime-novelled out’ so I went back to my bookcase and thought, “What have I got in here that I can have a look at?” and I pulled out a book Jeff Jenkins had written on Mark Opitz and he was talking about the history of Australian bands and all those he’d worked with and he says in there, and this is a guy who has done some legendary albums, and when he heard ’10,9,8…’ he said “There’s the future of Australian Rock.” I was always a big Midnight Oil fan and when that album came out I was like “Bloody hell!” That album blew me away as a Rock fan so there you go. It was incredibly innovative at the time and leaps and bounds from where they’d just come from so I would have liked to have known what that was like creating that masterpiece there.
Mark: And the easy question for you now – what is the meaning of life?
Andy: (laughs) Happiness! I just read a quote, currently in my office where I work we’re moving, we’re about to go in the New Year and I have a little quote up on my desk from John Lennon. He said that it was his mum who told him the key to life is happiness, but when he wrote that in an exam they failed him. They said, you didn’t understand the question, and he said well you don’t understand life. (laughs) So happiness, there you go.
Mark: And we normally wrap things up there but purely for my own curiosity I’m going to ask one more. Something I’d forgotten is that you were in 21 Guns with The Rockpit’s great mate Scott Gorham?
Andy: Oh yes, now there’s a legendary band, why haven’t we been talking about them! (laughs)
Mark: Maybe we should be! Let’s go again! (laughs). Seriously though I guess it does take us right back to the start and those pre-Horsehead days. I’ve talked to Scott (Gorham) over the years a few times and he always laughs when I bring up 21 Guns, I loved that band but I must have had some sort of mental blank as I’d completely forgotten you played with them?
Andy: (laughs) Yeah, yeah, Cam and I were, and we’d done some bands before that too, that we won’t talk about, but 21 Guns was our foray into… I think we were in some very experimental bands before that, we did some pretty out-there artistic things and, I don’t know, I guess we wanted to get a bit of the action. So we tried this pretty mainstream approach and we had this record deal with WEA. We were about to do our second album and we couldn’t do another like the first one, we just wanted to do something heavier and kick the shit out of something, so that’s what we did and that’s when we started looking for heavier players and I know it sounds ridiculous but you know Max had come from The Uncanny X-Men, but I had seen The X-Men many times when I was younger and I used to think, “My God if ever I was to put a gang together I’d want that bloody bloke up the back” because he just held it all together and no one would fuck with a band with him up the back! (laughs). So to get him into the new line-up was fantastic! So from 21 Guns to Horsehead yes!
Mark: Brilliant! And the start of something very special with Horsehead. Thank you so much Andy, it’s been great to chat.
Andy: It’s been lovely talking to you. Good on you mate.
Mark: See you at the show, which is almost sold out as we speak.
Andy: It’s great, it’s almost a done deal and we haven’t even talked about support acts yet. Good on you buddy, take care mate.
WANT MORE HORSEHEAD?
Right now the Horsehead legacy is being lovingly preserved by Golden Robot Records with the pre-order and pre-sale of the Legacy Box-set on Vinyl for the first time (7 x albums spread across 12 x coloured limited edition vinyls) including Electric (lost and rare recordings), Sharking (Live) and Other Sides (B-sides and gems) plus the original albums and a swag of extras including a 24 x page booklet and tote bag.
The Legacy Box-set will come in 2 different versions with one being a “Superfan’’ version. All original 5 x Horsehead members are involved with this project to finally put a nice big bow around their incredible legacy and history. The Golden Robot Records Store has opened up pre-sale for these extremely limited-edition Box-sets. You can pre-order them here, ahead of their official release on the 29th of November:
HORSEHEAD LEGACY BOXSET:
PRE-ORDER HERE
- Limited edition individual coloured vinyl (only 250 in each colour worldwide)
- 24 page colour “collector’s edition vinyl companion” booklet forwarded by Jeff Jenkins
- Limited edition Horsehead PIN
- Horsehead Legacy Tote bag to keep the vinyls and the booklet in
HORSEHEAD LEGACY “SUPERFAN” BOXSET:
PRE-ORDER HERE
- Limited edition individual coloured vinyl (only 250 in each colour worldwide)
- 24 page colour “collector’s edition vinyl companion” booklet forwarded by Jeff Jenkins and FULLY autographed by ALL 5 x members of the band.
- A personal note to each person who purchased the Superfan box-set on a special edition poster.
- Horsehead “Legacy” Tote bag
- Limited edition Horsehead woven patch
- Custom-made legacy Vinyl protector box
- Limited edition woven badge
- Limited edition Horsehead PIN
- With EVERY Superfan box-set purchase you will have the Chance to win a PRICELESS complete set of fully autographed test pressings of each of the 12 x Vinyl’s in the box set (signed by all 5 members of the band in Melbourne in October 2019).
Horsehead (all original members) will be doing a ONE-OFF special show at The Corner Hotel in Melbourne on February 1st, 2020. Tickets on sale now and Selling fast – over 90% sold as of November 2019
PRE-ORDER:
All recordings will also become available for the first time on all digital platforms from Nov 29th, pre-save and pre-order them here: HORSEHEAD – ONISM – GOODBYE MOTHERSHIP – GOLDEN COW COLLECTION – ELECTRIC – SHARKING – OTHER SIDES