Tackhead
Encyclopedia
Tackhead are an industrial hip-hop
group that were 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 band proper (there are only two albums credited to the band "Tackhead"), the legacy and output of these groups of musicians has been prodigious.
record label
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
".
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. One of their earlier collaborations was as "Mark Stewart
and the Maffia", which featured Stewart, former member of The Pop Group
on vocals. 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."
Later to join forces with Tackhead, was Gary Clail
, who as MC for the touring version of the On-U sound system
would shout and rant over Tackhead's live playing, and both were then mixed live by Sherwood to produce a wall of sound effect that was highly novel for the mid-1980s. 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 single
s) date from this period particularly: "What's My Mission Now?", "Mind at the End of the Tether" and "Hard Left". These tracks combined funk basslines, hammerblow percussion and Sherwood's trademark sample-laden dub production and represent the defining Tackhead sound.
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 gell 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, vocalist Bernard Fowler
joined the line-up and many older instrumental tracks re-appeared with lyrics. 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. Many followers of the group were disappointed by the more restrained production, less industrial
and more mellow R&B
elements. 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.
Industrial hip-hop
Industrial hip hop is a fusion of the dissonance and dystopian subject matter of industrial music with the rhythms or vocals of hip hop music.-1980s:The origins of industrial hip hop are in the work of Mark Stewart, Bill Laswell, and Adrian Sherwood...
group that were most active during the 1980s and early 1990s, and briefly reformed in 2004 for a tour. Their music occupies the territory where funk, dub
Dub music
Dub is a genre of music which grew out of reggae music in the 1960s, and is commonly considered a subgenre, though it has developed to extend beyond the scope of reggae...
, industrial music
Industrial music
Industrial music is a style of experimental music that draws on transgressive and provocative themes. The term was coined in the mid-1970s with the founding of Industrial Records by the band Throbbing Gristle, and the creation of the slogan "industrial music for industrial people". In general, the...
and electronica
Electronica
Electronica includes a wide range of contemporary electronic music designed for a wide range of uses, including foreground listening, some forms of dancing, and background music for other activities; however, unlike electronic dance music, it is not specifically made for dancing...
intersect. The core members are Doug Wimbish
Doug Wimbish
Doug Wimbish is a bass player, primarily known for his studio work for the rap/hip hop label Sugarhill Records and his membership of the funk metal band Living Colour. He has played for a vast range of artists, including Jeff Beck, Mick Jagger, Madonna, George Clinton, Paula Cole, Bomb the Bass,...
(bass
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
), Keith Leblanc
Keith Leblanc
Keith Leblanc is an American drummer and record producer, and is a member of the bands Little Axe and Tackhead.His record, "No Sell Out", was the first sample based record. His career started out on Sugar Hill Records recording with rap pioneers, Grandmaster Flash and Melle Melle...
(percussion
Percussion instrument
A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
) and Skip McDonald (guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
) and producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
(sometimes credited as "mixologist") Adrian Sherwood
Adrian Sherwood
Adrian Sherwood is an English record producer best known for his work with dub music as well as for remixing a number of popular acts such as Coldcut, Depeche Mode, The Woodentops, Primal Scream, Pop Will Eat Itself, Sinéad O'Connor, and Skinny Puppy...
. Despite being short-lived as band proper (there are only two albums credited to the band "Tackhead"), the legacy and output of these groups of musicians has been prodigious.
History
In the late 1970s, Wimbish, Leblanc and McDonald were members of the house band for the Sugarhill RecordsSugar Hill Records (rap)
Sugar Hill Records was the name of a rap music record label that was founded in 1979 by husband and wife Joe and Sylvia Robinson with Milton Malden and financial funding of Morris Levy, the owner of Roulette Records.-History:...
record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
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
Melle Mel
Grandmaster Mele Mel , also known as Melle Mel , is an American hip-hop musician — one of the pioneers of old school hip hop as lead rapper and main songwriter for Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five.- Biography :...
) and another hit "White Lines
White Lines (Don't Don't Do It)
"White Lines " is a song by Grandmaster Melle Mel, released as a 12" in 1983 on Sugar Hill Records. The song, which warns against the dangers of cocaine, addiction, and drug smuggling, is one of Melle Mel's signature tracks...
".
During a visit to New York City, to help with a remix, London-based producer Sherwood (already noted in the dub music
Dub music
Dub is a genre of music which grew out of reggae music in the 1960s, and is commonly considered a subgenre, though it has developed to extend beyond the scope of reggae...
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. One of their earlier collaborations was as "Mark Stewart
Mark Stewart (musician)
Mark Stewart is a British musician and founding member of The Pop Group. A pioneer of industrial hip-hop, he has recorded for On-U Sound Records and Mute Records.-Career:...
and the Maffia", which featured Stewart, former member of The Pop Group
The Pop Group
The Pop Group are a British post-punk band from Bristol, England, formed in 1978, whose dissonant sound spanned punk, free jazz, funk and dub reggae. Their lyrics were often political in nature...
on vocals. 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."
Later to join forces with Tackhead, was Gary Clail
Gary Clail
Gary Clail is an English singer and record producer. He was part of On-U Sound Records and led Gary Clail's Tackhead Sound System.-Biography:...
, who as MC for the touring version of the On-U sound system
Sound system (DJ)
A sound system is a group of DJs and engineers contributing and working together as one, playing and producing music.-Origin:The sound system concept originated in the 1950s in Kingston, Jamaica. DJs would load up a truck with a generator, turntables, and huge speakers to set up street parties...
would shout and rant over Tackhead's live playing, and both were then mixed live by Sherwood to produce a wall of sound effect that was highly novel for the mid-1980s. 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 single
12-inch single
The 12-inch single is a type of gramophone record that has wider groove spacing compared to other types of records. This allows for louder levels to be cut on the disc by the cutting engineer, which in turn gives a wider dynamic range, and thus better sound quality...
s) date from this period particularly: "What's My Mission Now?", "Mind at the End of the Tether" and "Hard Left". These tracks combined funk basslines, hammerblow percussion and Sherwood's trademark sample-laden dub production and represent the defining Tackhead sound.
During this period Leblanc also produced two solo LPs: the highly inventive Major Malfunction (1986) (inspired by the Space Shuttle Challenger
Space Shuttle Challenger
Space Shuttle Challenger was NASA's second Space Shuttle orbiter to be put into service, Columbia having been the first. The shuttle was built by Rockwell International's Space Transportation Systems Division in Downey, California...
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 gell 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, vocalist Bernard Fowler
Bernard Fowler
Bernard Fowler is an American musician, songwriter, producer, and actor. He has provided backing vocals with The Rolling Stones for over 20 years on recordings and tours, and has been a featured guest vocalist on the majority of solo albums released by the members of that band. He has also been a...
joined the line-up and many older instrumental tracks re-appeared with lyrics. 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
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
), despite some praise for harder-edge singles such as "Dangerous Sex" and "Class Rock" was not as well received by critics. Many followers of the group were disappointed by the more restrained production, less industrial
Industrial music
Industrial music is a style of experimental music that draws on transgressive and provocative themes. The term was coined in the mid-1970s with the founding of Industrial Records by the band Throbbing Gristle, and the creation of the slogan "industrial music for industrial people". In general, the...
and more mellow R&B
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
elements. 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
African Head Charge
African Head Charge is a dub reggae, psychedelic dub ensemble active since the early 1980s. The group was formed by percussionist Bonjo Iyabinghi Noah, and featured a revolving cast of members, including, at times, Prisoner, Crocodile, Junior Moses, Sunny Akpan, Skip McDonald, and Jah Wobble. The...
, Dub Syndicate
Dub Syndicate
Dub Syndicate is a dub band, formed by Adrian Sherwood, and it became a showcase for Adrian Sherwood's collaboration with Style Scott, former ace drummer with the Roots Radics and Creation Rebel....
, New Age Steppers
New Age Steppers
New Age Steppers, one of the On-U Sound stable, under the creative direction of Adrian Sherwood, was a collective of musicians which varied over time...
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
Little Axe
Little Axe is the stage name of Skip McDonald an American blues musician. McDonald played jazz, doo-wop, and gospel when young, and moved to New York as a teenager with his band of friends, called The Entertainers.Axe joined the group Wood Brass & Steel in 1973 with bassist Doug Wimbish and...
.
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
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
outfits, Noah Ground and Nikki Yeoh
Nikki Yeoh
Nikki Yeoh is a British jazz pianist, keyboardist and composer born in London, UK, probably better known for her work with Courtney Pine, Neneh Cherry, Phillip Bent, Dick Heckstall-Smith, Chante Moore and Steve Williamson, among others...
's Infinitum. As well as remaining much in demand as a session bass player, Wimbish later became the bass player for Living Colour
Living Colour
Living Colour is an American rock band from New York City, formed in 1984. Stylistically, the band's music is a creative fusion influenced by free jazz, funk, neo-psychedelia, hard rock, and heavy metal...
and has recorded solo material as well as forming the short-lived Jungle Funk (later Head>>Fake), a live drum and bass
Drum and bass
Drum and bass is a type of electronic music which emerged in the late 1980s. The genre is characterized by fast breakbeats , with heavy bass and sub-bass lines...
outfit also featuring Living Colour
Living Colour
Living Colour is an American rock band from New York City, formed in 1984. Stylistically, the band's music is a creative fusion influenced by free jazz, funk, neo-psychedelia, hard rock, and heavy metal...
drummer Will Calhoun
Will Calhoun
Will Calhoun is an American drummer, who graduated with honors from Berklee College of Music.-Career:...
.
In 2004 Tackhead briefly reformed to engage in a limited tour of North America and Europe.
As Mark Stewart and the Maffia
- As the Veneer of Democracy Starts to Fade (1985)
- Mark Stewart (1987)
- Metatron (1990)
As Keith Leblanc
- Major Malfunction (1986)
- Stranger than Fiction (1989)
As Tackhead
- Tackhead Tape Time (1987)
- En Concert Live (1988)
- Friendly as a Hand GrenadeFriendly as a Hand GrenadeFriendly as a Hand Grenade is the second album of Tackhead, released in 1989 through TVT Records.-Track listing:-Personnel:*Bernard Fowler – keyboards, vocals*Keith LeBlanc – drums, percussion, producer, sampler...
(1989) - Strange Things (1990)
- Power Inc. Vol 1, Power Inc. Vol 2 (1994) (compilations of 12-inch singles and unreleased tracks)
- Power Inc. Vol 3 live album 85-94 (1997)
- Sound Crash (2006)
- ShareHead (late 2010)