Karon Hagon
On Tuesday 14th February, while fans were patiently counting down the days until the Headstones’ big announcement, Hugh Dillon, the band’s lead singer, gave them a little insight into the making of their very first album from 1993 Picture of Health. And yesterday, true to their word, they announced that they had signed with Cadence Music Group/Universal Music and were about to go into the studio to record their forthcoming album entitled Little Army, the album is due for release this spring.
Recording started last night at Revolution Studio in Toronto and will move to The Tragically Hip’s Bathhouse Studio in Kingston, and will be mastered in New York City at Engine Room Audio.
“In true Canadian fashion, we trekked through a huge snow storm last year to meet the guys and hear the new songs. The enthusiasm in the room was incredible and the deal was cemented on the spot!” says Cadence Music Group President and CEO Iain Taylor.
Hugh Dillon, who is thrilled about this partnership, says, “It’s outstanding to see people in the music business who still give a shit about music, I haven’t felt this way since Picture of Health. It’s exciting.”
Not wanting to leave fans out of this process, the band last night started live streaming and posting exclusive behind the scenes footage and real-time content across their social media platforms, giving fans rare access into the whole process of making a new album, with new technology in an old school way and their interaction was in true Headstones style astounding with the band posting on Facebook “FUCKING FUN – THANKS FOLKS!!! WE ARE GETTING THE HANG OF THIS WHOLE MODRN TECH NONSCENCE -KEEP YA POSTED!!”
Picture of Health was released 1st June, and to quote Dillon himself “this album inspired loyal die hard fans, built on our life experience.” It was hungry, raw and darkly edgy covering seriously off-limits subjects such as suicide, drug addition and even necrophilia, but Dillon’s creatively hard hitting smart lyrics, powerfully rebellious guitar riffs and a fierce thumping baseline all contributed to the songs authenticity, add to that Dillon’s unmistakably distinguished gravel voice this fledgling album soon became recognised, game changing and inspiring, it was music a generation wanted to listen to and still do today.
The band soon built a hard core reputation as one of the most hardest working bands in the industry and over the course of 2 years 5 tracks were released the first being “When Something Stands for Nothing” followed by “Its All Over” which Dillon wrote when he was living in London, England, “Tweeter and the Monkey Man” was heard by Dillon who played it for Carr and they quickly decided they wanted to make it their own so had to then legally acquire it from its original songwriters Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Tom Petty & Jeff Lynn of the Travelling Wilbury’s and changing certain aspects to fit in with their own history it soon became a firm fan favourite, along with “Cemetery” and to this day it’s still considered to be the bands anthem, and last but in no way least “Three Angles” which although being a little softer doesn’t shy away from the struggles of drug addition and death, the album was soon certified platinum by the CRIA selling over 100,000 copies and kicked off a recording career which has spanned three decades.
The band have so far released seven studio albums and countless chart topping singles. Known for their intense and authentic performance style, Headstones remain true to their DIY aesthetic. At a time when style is often valued over substance, they craft hard-hitting tunes with brutally honest lyrics and Little Army is no exception.
So for the next few weeks this process will become a regular daily event with the band taking fans into their world of recording and Little Army will continue to enlist a rather large army of loyal Headstones fans excited to hear this new material, and from the video teasers that have already made their way on the band’s social media sites they definitely won’t be disappointed.
Press release credit courtesy of Cadence Music.
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