Head Like A Hole

A few weeks ago I got to meet and chat with a couple of guys who might otherwise be described as Kiwi Rock Legends – Booga Beazley and Nigel Regan from renowned Wellington band Head Like A Hole, Aotearoa’s finest purveyors of that glorious genre we know and love as Stench Rock.

The Head Like A Hole story is a wonderfully chaotic tale; friends form band, band establishes a huge cult following, band travels overseas, band becomes consumed by the whole sex, drugs, and rock ‘n roll ethos, band self-destructs, band stops being a band for almost a decade, band reforms, band’s comeback album goes top ten, band follows up with 2015 album Narcocorrido (“drug ballad”), and then, what must surely be a career highlight: band – or two original members thereof – get to meet me!

As you can imagine, I had quite a lot of source material to work with, but my chat with vocalist Beazley and guitarist Regan barely skimmed the surface, and I’m quite sure there’s a thrilling book just waiting to be written about the exploits of Head Like A Hole. In the meantime, you can read my words over at NZ Musician (here).

One of the things we discussed was Head Like A Hole’s relationship with cover versions. Beazley even suggested a HLAH covers album is a distinct possibility in the future. Here’s one of their best covers (originally by The Clean), a perfect way to kick-start New Zealand Music Month: