Nineties nihilists bring back Hole lotta love

Head Like A Hole return - clothed, but with no less energy than in their 90s heyday. Photo / Supplied by Kelly Wright

The first question - the most obvious one that follows the news a band has decided to reform - is why?

Nigel Beazley, singer and prime protagonist amid Head Like A Hole, a collection of Wellington rockers with a penchant for stripping eardrums as effortlessly as their own clothes back in the 1990s, says the reason is simple: it's what he likes doing.

Beazley, who also goes by the stage name Booga, is on the phone from Otaki where he lives with his wife Tamzin and their 3-year-old twins. It turns out the answer to the first (why get back together?) is closely linked to the second (why did you split up?).

"I suppose when the band ended, my heart wasn't in it any more. A lot of people know this anyway, but I was a drug-hazed manifestation for a while. All I wanted to do was take drugs," Beazley reflects.

"Drugs became the love of my life, which was dumb. When the band ended, I thought I could sort my life out, get clean and move on. I think about three years later, around 2003-04, it dawned on me that there would be no more adoration, no more albums, no more fans saying, 'That's wicked'."

Ah, so you were also addicted to the buzz of the crowd?

"It is great seeing people getting into it. It's the first thing I've always wanted to do and I think I'm really good at it. I think it is a waste when I'm not doing it. I think the break has served me well though. Perhaps I'm not in peak physical condition ..."

"When I was in the band I was actually in good condition. That was the mad thing about it. On one hand I was right into pumping weights and going to the gym and at the same time I was doing a lot of drugs. It was madness.

"Now, I'm not doing either - and it shows, but I want to turn that around and get fit again.

"We'd talked about it numerous times over the years, but this time I thought there wasn't much happening in anyone's lives at the moment, nothing major - apart from raising two kids who were born on the sixth of the sixth of the sixth."

Initial impetus for a regathering of Beazley, guitarist Nigel Regan and the Auckland-based pair of bassist Andrew Durno and drummer Mike Franklin-Brown (who replaced original drummer Mark Hamill in the late 90s) came via an invitation to play at the Homegrown music festival in Wellington in March this year. Following a few phone calls and emails, the group assembled for some practices and did a few warm-up shows. Now, the musicians are about to hit the road for a national tour. Oh, and they want to keep going.

"When we sat down and talked about it, we thought, we don't want to stop now," Beazley enthuses. "I think some of the songs have stood the test of time."

Head Like A Hole certainly has no shortage of material from which to select a set-list.

Signed to Wildside Records, the band released its debut album, 13, in 1992, with single Fish Across Face reaching the New Zealand Top 10 charts. It was followed by 1994 album Flik Y'Self Off Y'Self, and the band's popularity continued to build; they played to sold-out venues throughout the country before heading to Australia where they recorded third album Double Your Strength, Improve Your Health & Lengthen Your Life. The final album, 1998's Are You Gonna Kiss It or Shoot It?, covered a wide range of styles - from dirty blues to in-your-face rock riffery and more melodic ramblings. However, two years later, it was all over.

Aforementioned substance abuse aside, the death in 1996 of manager Gerald Dwyer was a major blow for the hard-working outfit.

"It could have ended us but we kept going," Beazley recalls. "We needed our momentum to continue, to build the fanbase and get back overseas as soon as we could, but it didn't happen.

"A lot of bands, once they've got a bit of a following and some recording behind them, will say, 'We want to take over the world'. We used to say we wanted to have world domination, but in reality, being in New Zealand was hard.

"I would've liked to go to America. In New Zealand it got to that point where we were known ..." Beazley pauses, searching for a way to best describe life some 15 years ago. He arrives at a comparison with fellow Wellington rock act Shihad, with whom HLAH toured Europe for three months in 1995. "Now, they are like the Wiggles in that everyone knows who they are. As for us, now it's, 'Who are they? What did they do? Did they sell any records?'."

Asked to quantify HLAH's level of impact, Beazley says the band would not have sold more than 7000 copies of any of its albums. "We never had a gold record," he says before pointing out that, in the music business, timing is everything.

"Look at Straitjacket Fits. When they were caning out great music, something just didn't click. It just didn't come together for them. But their music was killer, you know?"

Despite that lack of bankable success, HLAH continue to be held in high regard. That is largely due to their live shows. The band may have taken their career seriously for a time, but their stage act was a hoot, a mix of energy, irony and nudity.

That sense of fun extended to their choice of material, too. Though the mention of HLAH conjures thoughts of blistering, high-tempo, heavy rock, the group's output was far more varied than that.

Beazley agrees: "It's because Nigel has a wide taste in music and he'd come to practice and say, 'Check this out'. I'd go 'Yeah, nah, yeah', then we'd do it. Some of it worked, some of it didn't."

- OTAGO DAILY TIMES

LOWDOWN

Who: The reformed Head Like A Hole on tour with Luger Boa.

Where and when: Altitude, Hamilton, Thursday, September 10; Powerstation, Auckland, Friday, September 11; James Cabaret, Wellington, Saturday, September 12.