(photo by Valheria Rocha)
The new EP from The Head is a rollicking, five-song crash course in fusing pop perfection with gritty, fuzzed-out rock and roll. With the three-chord Troggs-style simplicity of opener “Jesus” and the Midwestern indie-rock of “Raincoats”; with phased-out New Wave daydreamer ”Pebbles on the Ground” and would-be ’90s alternative anthem “It Ain’t Easy,” Millipedes is the unified vision of a band that knows its history, and a thing or two about reinventing it in the now.
Just ask the legendary artists who have taken The Head under their wing—Big Star’s Jody Stephens, producer Mitch Easter (R.E.M., Pavement), John Vanderslice and Guided By Voices’ Doug Gillard to name a few. The band has also held their own on stages with the likes of Primal Scream, Dream Syndicate’s Steve Wynn and garage rockers Those Darlins, and have been spotlighted by outlets such as SPIN, Magnet and PopMatters.
The story of The Head is the dream of so many aspiring kids jamming out in their garages across the nation, and with Millipedes (out Nov. 13), the band takes a big step forward.
Today Ghettoblaster has the pleasure of debuting “Pebbles on the Ground.” But first, read what singer/bassist Mike Shaw had to say about it:
“When we came up with the song, the three of us were going through a dark phase—watching a lot of David Lynch’s short films and listening to a lot of Scott Walker. The first half of the song touches on loneliness, and overall the lyrics serve a mostly visual purpose. “Pebbles On the Ground” refers to a writing prompt I answered while I was a student at SCAD [Savannah College of Art & Design]. I was just writing about the pebbles on the driveway of SCAD’s Ivy Hall. The climax of the song—”take me alone to the holy stone, where the millipedes crawl on the chicken bone”—refers to a chicken bone I saw while walking home one day. It was lying in the middle of the road with bugs crawling all over it.
Even though we are all playing different instruments on the song, it all comes off as one giant instrument. The guitar almost plays with the vocal melody, and the drums build up simultaneously with other chaos throughout the song. The mood played a big role in the sessions for “Pebbles on the Ground.” We recorded the vocals and other chaos—like hitting sheets of metal—in a basement stairwell. The natural echo definitely contributes to the dark feeling of the song.”

(Pre-order Millipedes on iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/album/id1033319942?ls=1&app=itunes
Official site (Bandcamp): http://thehead.bandcamp.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theheadrocks?fref=ts (@theheadrocks to tag)
Twitter: https://twitter.com/theheadmusic (@theheadmusic to tag)
Instagram: https://instagram.com/theheadmusic/ (@theheadmusic to tag)
Catch the band live:
Nov. 11 – Philadelphia, PA – Bourbon and Branch
Nov. 12 – Brooklyn, NY – Don Pedro
Nov. 13 – Boston, MA – Lilypad
Nov. 14 – Newport, RI – Jimmy’s Saloon
Nov. 16 – New Haven, CT – Anna Liffey’s
Nov. 18 – Harrisonburg, VA – Golden Pony
Nov. 19 – Raleigh, NC – Slim’s
Nov. 20 – Greensboro, NC – New York Pizza
Nov. 21 – Greenville, SC – Radio Room
Nov. 28 – Atlanta, GA – Drunken Unicron (Record Release show))