Tackhead

Last updated

Tackhead
Origin New York City, United States
Genres
Years active1987–1991, 2004–present
LabelsON-U, Nettwerk, SBK, World
Spinoffs
Spinoff of
Members
Past members Bernard Fowler
Website tackhead.com

Tackhead (styled TACK>>HEAD, sometimes known as Fats Comet) is an industrial hip-hop group that was most active during the 1980s and early 1990s, and briefly reformed in 2004 for a tour. Their music occupies the territory where funk, dub, industrial music and electronica intersect. The core members are Doug Wimbish (bass), Keith Leblanc (percussion) and Skip McDonald (guitar) and producer (sometimes credited as "mixologist") Adrian Sherwood. Despite being short-lived as a band proper, the legacy and output of these groups of musicians has been prodigious.[ citation needed ]

Contents

History

In the late 1970s, Wimbish, Leblanc and McDonald were members of the house band for the Sugarhill Records record label [1] and the trio of hip-hop artists known as the Sugarhill Gang. They were also the musicians playing behind DJ Grandmaster Flash's 1982 hit "The Message" (the vocal was by Melle Mel) and another hit "White Lines". [2]

During a visit to New York City, to help with a remix, London-based producer Sherwood (already noted in the dub music scene) met Leblanc, and they began to collaborate. Soon the trio of Wimbish, Leblanc and McDonald were producing tracks on Sherwood's On-U Sound record label. [3] One of their earlier collaborations was as "Mark Stewart and the Maffia", which featured Stewart, former member of The Pop Group on vocals. [4] Their first LP produced under that name As the Veneer of Democracy Starts to Fade was amongst the most industrial, noise-oriented and uncompromising of the group's output, described by John Leland as "a scary mess of random sounds, spoken words, and tiny snippets of music, processed and distorted to a grating electric edge." [5]

Later to join forces with Tackhead was Gary Clail, [3] who as MC for the touring version of the On-U sound system, would shout and rant over Tackhead's live playing, [6] and both were then mixed live by Sherwood to produce a wall of sound effect that was highly novel for the mid-1980s. [3] They released one LP Tackhead Tape Time in 1987 as "Gary Clail's Tackhead Sound System" and some of the most distinctive and well-known Tackhead tracks (some were released as 12-inch singles) date from this period particularly: "What's My Mission Now?", "Mind at the End of the Tether" ( named after the H.G. Wells story) and "Hard Left". These tracks combined funk basslines, hammerblow percussion and Sherwood's trademark sample-laden dub production and represent the defining Tackhead sound. [2]

During this period, Leblanc also produced two solo LPs: the highly inventive Major Malfunction (1986) (inspired by the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster) and Stranger Than Fiction (1989), which although credited to Leblanc, featured all the rest of members of Tackhead. Around this time the group began to gel as a band, and started adding vocalists to what had been up until then a largely instrumental affair. On the first Tackhead LP proper, Friendly as a Hand Grenade , Rolling Stones backing-vocalist Bernard Fowler joined the line-up, [3] and many older instrumental tracks re-appeared with lyrics, in what Trouser Press characterized as "Tackhead at its most coherent". The album cover design is by anarchist collage artist, Gee Vaucher. [6] In 1990 Tackhead mounted a world tour which probably marked the zenith of the band's commercial success.

The follow-up album, 1990's Strange Things (the first on a major label, EMI), despite some praise for harder-edge singles such as "Dangerous Sex" and "Class Rock" was not as well received by critics. [3] Many followers of the group were disappointed by the more restrained production, less industrial and more mellow R&B elements. [3] Yet the album was still experimental enough that it did not gain as wide an audience as had been hoped, and the band was dropped from their record label shortly after.

Despite not recording any new material as Tackhead since, group members continued to record as the backing band or along with various Sherwood-led On-U Sound productions artists such as Gary Clail's solo efforts, African Head Charge, Dub Syndicate, New Age Steppers and others. Subsets of the group have also appeared in various guises such as the Strange Parcels, Barmy Army and the blues-oriented Little Axe.

In addition to continuing to collaborate with Sherwood and the On-U Sound record label, each of the other members continues to lead active solo careers. McDonald leads the Little Axe project, and Leblanc runs a record label and plays with two jazz outfits, Noah Ground and Nikki Yeoh's Infinitum. As well as remaining much in demand as a session bass player, Wimbish later became the bass player for Living Colour and has recorded solo material as well as forming the short-lived Jungle Funk (later Head>>Fake), a live drum and bass outfit also featuring Living Colour drummer Will Calhoun.

In 2004, Tackhead briefly reformed to engage in a limited tour of North America and Europe. In April 2022, the entire group, also featuring Mark Stewart, played a short tour of the UK, comprising performances in Glasgow, Edinburgh, and London. [7]

Discography

Studio albums

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Doug Wimbish</span> American bass player

Douglas Arthur Wimbish is an American bassist, primarily known for being a member of rock band Living Colour and funk/dub/hip hop collective Tackhead, and as a session musician with artists such as Sugarhill Gang, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, The Rolling Stones, Mick Jagger, Depeche Mode, James Brown, Annie Lennox, Tarja Turunen, and Barrington Levy.

Adrian Maxwell Sherwood is an English record producer specialising in the genre of dub music. He has created a distinctive production style based on the application of dub effects and dub mixing techniques to other forms of electronic dance music and popular music outside of the genre. He has worked extensively with a variety of reggae artists as well as the musicians Keith LeBlanc, Doug Wimbish and Skip McDonald. Sherwood has remixed tracks by Coldcut, Depeche Mode, The Woodentops, Primal Scream, Pop Will Eat Itself, Sinéad O'Connor, and Skinny Puppy. In his role as a record producer he has worked with a variety of record labels; however, his best-known label is On-U Sound Records which he founded in 1979. Sherwood has been a member of the band Tackhead. He considers himself tone deaf, and focuses on making sounds and noises rather than melody.

On-U Sound Records is an English record label known for releasing its own unique flavour of dub music since the 1980s. The label was founded by Adrian Sherwood in 1979/1980 and is home to acts such as Tackhead, Dub Syndicate, African Head Charge, Akabu, The London Underground, Little Annie, Creation Rebel, Mark Stewart, Gary Clail, New Age Steppers, Audio Active, Asian Dub Foundation, and the dub collective Singers & Players.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Stewart (English musician)</span> English singer (1960–2023)

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Little Axe</span> American blues musician

Skip McDonald is an American musician who also performs under the stage name Little Axe.

Industrial hip hop is a fusion genre of industrial music and hip hop.

Gary Clail is an English singer and record producer, and the founder of the Gary Clail Sound System. He was part of On-U Sound Records and led Gary Clail's Tackhead Sound System. They had a big hit in clubs with the 1991 song "Human Nature".

<i>Friendly as a Hand Grenade</i> 1989 studio album by Tackhead

Friendly as a Hand Grenade is an album by the American band Tackhead. It was released in 1989 through TVT Records.

<i>Tackhead Tape Time</i> 1987 studio album by Gary Clails Tackhead Sound System

Tackhead Tape Time is the debut album of Tackhead, released in 1987 through Nettwerk.

<i>Strange Things</i> 1990 studio album by Tackhead

Strange Things is the third album by Tackhead, released in 1990 through SBK Records.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">What's My Mission Now?</span> 1985 single by Tackhead

"What's My Mission Now?" is a single by the American industrial hip-hop group Tackhead, released in October 1985 on On-U Sound. Scott Becker of Option called it "Sherwood as his outrageous best: wild stereo effects, a crucial beat, a bit of dubbing-it-up, found vocals, odd sounds, the works."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mind at the End of the Tether</span> 1986 single by Tackhead

"Mind at the End of the Tether" is a single by the industrial hip-hop group Tackhead, released in 1986 on On-U Sound Records. Although the record states otherwise, the B-side is actually the Fats Comet song "King of the Beat".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reality (Tackhead song)</span> 1988 single by Tackhead/Gary Clail

"Reality" is a single by the industrial hip-hop group Tackhead, released in January 1988 on On-U Sound Records.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ticking Time Bomb</span> 1989 single by Tackhead

"Ticking Time Bomb" is a single by the industrial hip-hop group Tackhead, released in March 1989 on World Records.

<i>Tackhead Sound Crash</i> 2006 remix album by Tackhead

Tackhead Sound Crash is a remix album by the industrial hip-hop group Tackhead. It was released on November 13, 2006 on Beat and On-U Sound Records.

Fats Comet was a British/American industrial hip hop group formed by Adrian Sherwood, Keith LeBlanc, Skip McDonald and Doug Wimbish. The band was known for producing dance tracks that were densely layered in samples and ahead of their time. In a 1987 article in Spin, Scott Burlingham commented that "songs like "Bop Bop" and "Stormy Weather" are three years old and they still don't fit in." The members eventually shifted their focus to another project Tackhead, under which they continue to produce music.

Strange Parcels was an industrial hip-hop group, formed in 1991. The nucleus was guitarist Skip McDonald, drummer Keith LeBlanc and bassist Doug Wimbish. The group also enlisted the aid of numerous guest musicians, including Mark Stewart, Bim Sherman, Jesse Rae, Talvin Singh and Basil Clarke.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jungle Funk</span> Drum and bass group

Jungle Funk is a drum and bass group formed by Vinx De'Jon Parrette, Will Calhoun and Doug Wimbish. Beginning in 1996, they performed over one hundred and fifty shows throughout Europe and Australia. The trio performed a complex hybrid of R&B, drum and bass, dub, funk, and soul music, buttressed by sampling and electronic percussion. In 1998, they released their eponymously titled debut album Jungle Funk, which consisted of a recording of their live performance in Austria.

References

  1. Schloss, Joseph G. (July 26, 2004). p34 Making Beats: The Art of Sample-Based Hip-Hop by Joseph G. Schloss. ISBN   9780819566966 . Retrieved September 14, 2011.
  2. 1 2 "New York Magazine Feb 22, 1988". February 22, 1988. Retrieved September 14, 2011.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Colin Larkin, ed. (1998). The Virgin Encyclopedia of Dance Music (First ed.). Virgin Books. p. 333. ISBN   0-7535-0252-6.
  4. "SPIN Sep 1987". September 1987. Retrieved September 14, 2011.
  5. "SPIN June 1986". June 1986. Retrieved September 14, 2011.
  6. 1 2 Fletcher, Tony; Frampton, Megan. "Tackhead". Trouser Press. Retrieved May 10, 2021.
  7. "Tackhead - Edinburgh, Scotland". Doug Wimbish. April 25, 2022. Retrieved September 13, 2022.