Spare head

With their refusal to perform live, record any tracks or even practice, Spare Head took the punk ethic which swept Britain in the late 1970s to its logical conclusion.

The legendary band was formed in the early 1980s in East Anglia. The founding members were Neil Johnson (vocals), Jet Westcott (bass), Jos Williams (guitars, melotron), and Bon Tempi (keyboards).

Their signature minimalist style shows a range of influences, ranging from San Francisco psychedelia to Liverpudlian indie guitar rock, and from Beckettian absurdity to the rhythms of Burundi folk drummers. Their music was largely improvised, with their chosen writing method borrowing some automatic writing techniques from the Surrealist movement.

Spare Head deliberately eschewed mastery of their instruments, blaming the limitations of pub opening hours.

A number of bootlegs subsequently became widely available. "Live at Mrs Fuller's" includes the seminal "Let's Go Burn the Convent Down" and "Happy Bastard". The second, far more influential bootleg, "Arkansas", showed a post-apocalyptic vision that clearly pre-empted the breakup of the band. By the time the members went their separate ways in 1985, they had pushed the boundaries of music far beyond the comfort zone.

Bands influenced by the Head included The Teardrop Explodes and the S Club. Spare Head's impact has also been felt in other fields. The print and television journalist Grub Smith, a prime instigator of the lad phenomenon in British journalism, has credited Spare Head's anarchic spirit as a decisive creative influence, as have the novelist Joseph O'Neill and the painter Simon Page, both of whom briefly collaborated with Spare Head.

Where are they now?

Neil Johnson spent a number of years in the Llama Commune of Llandudno before returning to his roots in the North East and raising deer in the Forest of Byker.

Drugs and obesity took their toll on Jet Westcott. He was last heard of living with his great-uncle.

Jos Williams joined the church.

There is no word on the whereabouts of Bon Tempi.

References

"The Guardian" 13 November 1984, "Spare Head at Mrs Fuller's by M Grosvenor Myer
"Sounds" 3 January 1985, "Going spare for the Head"
"The Face", February 1990, "Subterranean Blues: Was There A 1980s Underground ?"
'Dionysus Destroyed: The Beautiful Damnation of Chet Baker, Elvis Presley, and Jet Westcott,' by Biff Condor, Pluto Press, 2000