17 May 2012

Back to the moshpit

24/08/2011 10:45:00 a.m.

0 Comments

The songs are hookier, but Head Like A Hole’s trademark sound will still ‘brutalise’ you.

The songs are hookier, but Head Like A Hole’s trademark sound will still ‘brutalise’ you.

GETTING ready to interview Nigel Regan from legendary Wellington rock band Head Like A Hole (aka HLAH), I decided to listen to some of their 90s classics. Immediately transported back to my teenage, bogan days – I recalled with special fondness the one time I got to see their infamous naked set. It was 1998, and they played the ’50 cent concert’ (50 cents being the cover charge, not the rapper), at the Town Hall. I’ve been told that the event was a fundraiser for youth suicide, following the death of Darcy Clay on the day he was supposed to play a youth suicide fundraiser. I reminisced about the event on Facebook, and friends quickly replied – sharing memories of their first rebellions, set against a backdrop of loud music, rocket fuel and hormones.
“HLAH, Shihad, scrumpy and a pash. Ah fond youthful memories,” said one friend.
“My first public smoking!” said another.
One asked: “Who was with me when we flashed boys on the street from upstairs at the Town Hall?”
HLAH hit their peak in the late 90s, and to the dismay of their fans went through a messy break-up in 2000. In 2009 they reformed to play Wellington’s Homegrown music festival, and toured a best of album afterwards.
Now HLAH are back on the bandwagon, touring the country to celebrate the release of their new album Blood Will Out.
“We’re still pretty heavy. It’s still hard out rock music. But it’s a bit more song oriented… the hooks are better,” says Regan.  
Like their fans – HLAH are older and wiser now. Regan tells me that frontman Booga Beazley turned 40 last week.
“He’s giving me the stink eye right now. He doesn’t like being reminded,” says Regan.
Have they had to tone things down this time round?
“Playing music is one of those things that keeps you young - I’d say I’m just the same as when I was in my 20s as far as that goes. Although we won’t be getting naked on this tour… we’re going more for the hairy biker look.”
Regan says he was a bit lost after the band’s breakup, and he sounds stoked to be on the road again.
“It feels like back in the old days. We just had our first tour pie!” he says.
Will the reunion be a permanent one?
“I think well keep it up. We’ve spent a lot of money on the album and we don’t make a lot, but as long as everyone’s enjoying it we’ll continue. We’re really proud of the album and keen to get out and play it on the tour… we’re ready to brutalise people with it.”
After ten years absence - something tells me it’s time I rejoined the moshpit. See you in there.
Head Like A Hole: Blood Will Out Tour, San Francisco Bathhouse, August 25.
Email This Print

0 Comments

Don't worry, we wont make this public

No comments.

Cover Story

Best of Wellington 2011

Briefs

  • A question of nutrition

    Controversial Washington-based nutritionist Sally Fallon-Morell is to speak in Wellington on March 29.
    Fallon-Morell is the co-founder of the American food lobby group the Weston A. Price Foundation and the author of Nourishing Traditions. She advocates for the consumption of nutritionally dense foods such as lacto-fermented vegetables, stocks and broths, and whole raw dairy products.
    Fallon-Morell will speak at St Patrick’s College Hall on March 29.

  • Relay for cancer

    Organisers say Sunday’s Relay for Life is full to capacity with hundreds of Wellingtonians registered for the event.
    A total of 88 teams, made up of 10 to 500 members, plan to take part with a further 25 teams on the waiting list.
    The 24 hour relay, the Cancer Society’s biggest fundraising event of the year, takes place at Frank Kitts Park from 4pm on March 31.

  • Osteoarthritis awareness

    Arthritis New Zealand has launched a nationwide campaign raise awareness about osteoarthritis. 
    Arthritis is New Zealand’s leading cause of disability, affecting 305,000 adults, and osteoarthritis is its most common form.
    The campaign features television commercials and an interactive website.


  • Wild walk

    Take part in the Big Walk at Zealandia on March 31.
    Walkers can choose a two, five or 10 kilometre walk catering to all fitness levels.
    Money raised will go to the Foundation for Youth Development.

  • School pool

    The opening of the new Khandallah School pool this week means hundreds of children will be able to continue their swimming lessons.
    The pool was the first to receive a grant from Wellington City Council’s Schools Pools Partnership Fund, a fund set up in 2010 to help schools improve their pool facilities.
    Grants from the fund have also been made for pools at Wellington East Girls’ College, Barhampore School and Tawa School.

  • Easter bikers

    Motorcyclists are invited to get on their bikes and collect Easter eggs for families support from the Wellington City Mission.
    The charity run on April 1 is organised by motorcycle lobby group BONZ.
    Eggs can be donated at Red Baron Motorcylces in Alicetown. The registration fee for bikers is $10, plus the cost of Easter eggs.

  • Crafty

    Made on Marion opens on the site of the former Golding Handicrafts site in Marion St, from April 1.  They will continue to supply craft materials.

  • Ze upgrade

    Taranaki Street fuel users will notice that the Z Energy’s former Shell Service Station is closed.  Z are doing a “total revamp”.
    The job will take four weeks.

  • Newlands Moves

    Developer Ayal Aharoni has agreed to build only 90 instead of 220 houses on his six and a half hectares above Ngauranga Gorge in Newlands.  Only low density occupation will be allowed on the remaining 8.4 hectares.


  • Baring Head

    There's a new  draft plan out for what should happen at Baring Head.  It outlines how the Greater Wellington Regional council would like to manage the newest addition to its regional parks network. Grazing animals will go, motorised vehicles will be prohibited, predators will be controlled, and the lighthouse will be preserved. Submissions are invited.


  • It’s a wonder

    A new childcare centre in Newtown says it is dedicated to helping kids grow up healthy in mind, body and spirit. Little Wonders Childcare on Rintoul Street is an independent early childhood education and learning centre, the sixth centre to be opened by its Auckland-based owner. It caters to 100 children aged between three months and five years old and has been open for a little more than seven weeks.

  • Festival treats

    CHILDREN have not been forgotten by organisers of the New Zealand International Arts Festival.
    For a perfect first theatrical experience White tells the story of friends Cotton and Winkle who live in a world where there is no colour and everything is startlingly white. That is until a brightly coloured egg tumbles out of the sky and changes their world for ever.
    White plays at Capital E from March 7-11.
    The tale of Peter and the World also promises to be a magical night for all ages. Sergei Prokofiev’s classic children’s tale is told through film and live music from the NZ Symphony Orchestra at the Michael Fowler Centre on March 9.
    March 11 is Young Writers and Readers Day and readings from children’s writers and illustrators Lynley Dodd and Gavin Bishop.

Reader's Poll

Should TVNZ7 be saved as non-commercial?