Mick Head

Michael Head
Michael Head performing in the 1990s in Japan
Background information
Born	28 November 1961 (1961-11-28) (age 49) KensingtonLiverpool England
Genres	Rock and roll, Indie pop
Occupations	Musician, songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, Guitar
Labels	1985n - Present
Associated acts	The Pale Fountains, Shack, The Strands
Website	Shacknet

Michael Head (born in Kensington, Liverpool November 28, 1961) often called Mick Head, is an English musician. He is most famous as the lead singer and songwriter for Shack and The Strands, both of which also feature his younger brother John.^[1] Though the band never achieved mainstream success, they have a strong following and NME have described him as "a lost genius and among the most gifted British songwriters of his generation".

Head first gained attention a member of cult indie-pop band The Pale Fountains in the early 1980s with his best friend Chris "Biffa" McCaffrey. The band suffered from critical and commercial apathy, and the band split. Shortly afterwards, McCaffrey died of a brain tumour. In 1986, Head formed Shack with John on lead guitar, Peter Wilkinson on bass and Mick Hurst on drums.^[2]

The group debuted in 1988 with Zilch, falling victim to the commercial indifference which earlier plagued The Pale Fountains' career. The follow-up, Waterpistol, was recorded in 1991 at London's Star Street Studio, but shortly after the finished disc was mixed the studio burned to the ground, and the completed master was lost. Producer Chris Allison had the only surviving copy of the album, but unaware of a fire that demolished the studio, carelessly left his copy of the tape in a rental car while in the U.S.; upon returning to the UK and learning of the studio's fate he managed to contact the rental car company and rescue the DAT, but the record company had collapsed and there was no one to distribute it.

Waterpistol was not released until 1995, by which point Shack had split up. After touring for a while with childhood heroes Love, Head went on to form the Strands, again with brother John on guitar. In 1997 they released the critically acclaimed album The Magical World of the Strands. The siblings reformed Shack soon after with bassist Ren Parry and drummer lain Templeton, returning in 1999 with HMS Fable and Here's Tom With the Weather (2003). They signed to Noel Gallagher's "Sour Mash" label and released ...The Corner Of Miles And Gil in 2006. A 'best of' album, "Time Machine" was released in 2007.

In 2008 Mick reformed The Pale Fountains to play a couple of gigs to celebrate 25 years since their inception. The year was a relatively quiet one for Mick, started with Shack being part of "Liverpool, The Musical", which was part of the European City of Culture celebrations and ended with another new venture, Micheal Head & The Red Elastic Band.

Discography

References

1. ^ Ankeny, Jason. "Biography: Shack". AMG. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p373923/biography. Retrieved 11 May 2010. 
2. ^ Ankeny, Jason. "Biography: Pale Fountains". AMG. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p19750/biography. Retrieved 11 May 2010. 

External links

• Michael Head website
• Shack website

Persondata
Name	Head, Mick
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	28 November 1961
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death