Booga Beazley – The 13th Floor Interview

Hard to believe it, but Head Like A Hole are celebrating the 25th anniversary of the release of their album, 13, with a nationwide tour.

The band had split up in 2000, but reformed eight years later, releasing two albums since then, with a third on the way.

The 13th Floor’s Marty Duda spoke to HLAH frontman Booga Beazley just as the band was about to play their first show of the tour this past Thursday. 

Click here to listen to the interview with Booga Beazley:

Or, read a transcription of the interview here:

MD: We’re talking about your 25th anniversary tour, which, I believe, kicks off today, right?

BB: It does indeed.

MD: How are you feeling about it?

BB: Totally amped! It’s going to be a great time.

MD: You did a warm up show at the Ding Dong Lounge, right?

BB: Yeah. Sort of like a rehearsal.

MD: And how did that go down?

BB: It was good, mate! The band was firing. The songs sound good.

MD: You’re doing the whole 13 album from beginning to end; is that correct?

BB: Yep, we are, and then we’ll chuck in some classics right at the end.

MD: Is it a different vibe, playing an album from top to bottom, rather than doing a regular set list?

BB: It’s definitely a different vibe, as far as playing those songs together as a band, because we haven’t played all of them with this line-up; so, it’s good playing those songs back to back, for sure.

MD: Was there much rehearsing and working things out that had to be done to get prepared for this?

BB: Yeah. The guitarist and bass player would get together and go over things quietly, in between full band rehearsals; just to get things right.  There were even bits that Nigel Regan, the guitarist who I wrote the songs with, had actually dropped some bits; so, we had to go over that.

MD: This being the 25th anniversary: are you guys even surprised that you’re here twenty five years later to do this? They were pretty wild times back then, [weren’t they]?

BB: Yeah, pretty much. Considering we got back together in 2009 – it took a few years for us to get back into the swing of things, and then we started talking about doing this – it was just a matter of time of it happening, really.

MD: There’s been some other 20th and 25th anniversary things happening – like Push Push just did their thing. What was the scene like twenty five years ago? Was there a fairly close community of like minded musicians, or was everybody off doing their own thing? How did it work?

BB: I remember a few bands from that time: there was Shihad, and there was sort of like some funk rock bands around Wellington. Wellington had a really good scene; I can remember it very vividly. The reason we started Head Like a Hole, was because in the late ‘80s going into the ‘90s, covers bands were huge, and we were like, “Dude, we got to stop this. I’ve had enough. I want some real music!”

MD: What was the reaction to that? There must have been a reason why there were so many cover bands to begin with, because somebody must have decided that’s what everybody wanted to hear.

BB: Too many night clubs. Too many night clubs, mate! The reaction was good. We’d been together for three or six months, played a show, and it was great!

MD: Was there a discussion about how you wanted the band to sound, or did it just develop organically?

BB: Well, me and Nigel were into Black Sabbath and metal music; so, it was always going to have that down stroke riff feel; so, that’s how it all started off. I suppose that’s how 13 ended up sounding like it did: because we were right into our old metal – like Black Sabbath – and then we started listening to a lot Chilli Peppers – Mother’s Milk and Faith No More – so, I suppose that’s where the almost funky stuff came around.

MD: If you can: take me back to the actual recording of the album. Where was it recorded? What kind of vibe was happening?

BB: It was recorded at Writhe Studio, Ten Square in Wellington, and we recorded with Brent McLaughlin from the band Bailterspace…. Brent was a great engineer. We did the first recording, Shitnoise, in a small studio called Tongue; so, this was our first big studio hit out… it was great!

MD: You must have had to adjust to playing in a studio scenario. How did that work out for you?

BB: Well, when you start… recording the tracks, you can hear everything perfectly, and you realise just how clean it sounds. When you’re rehearsing as a band, it’s very noisy, and you think… it’s going to sound like a wall of noise and really blunt, in the studio; and I was a little bit surprised when I first heard how it sounded: it’s very clean and precise. Back then, I couldn’t really sing. I had to teach myself how to sing. It can be very brutal for singer, when you’re listening back to your vocals – when you’ve just done a track without any effects on it – it’s like, “Ooh, Jesus!”

MD: I’ve done a little production myself; so, I know what you mean; especially when you’ve got everyone else in the band, and the engineer’s sitting in there listening to it with you.

BB: Yeah! It can be a bit nerve wracking.

MD: Did you have to work with the engineers and the producers to find a way of translating what you did live to get it to sound like a record?

BB: Nah, it was pretty simple. We just whacked it out. Brent was easy to work with. If it wasn’t good enough, he’d just tell us to do it again. There were a few bits there where we had to record things over and over again to get it right….

MD: Then you just headed out on the road and played it?

BB: Yeah. Luckily enough, we got on the back of the Shihad tour; Gerald Dwyer got us on that. That’s how we got the exposure, really.

MD: It was released on Wildside; is that right?

BB: Yeah, it was.

MD: That was Murray Cammick’s label, if I remember correctly.

BB: It was Murray Cammick’s label, yep.

MD: How much did Murray have to do with it? Did he just sign you and say, “Here you go, do your thing,” or did he have much to say about what happened to the band?

BB: He didn’t really say anything about the music. He was, basically, the man that got everything happening for us; label man, you know?

MD: What about the other bands that were on the label? Were Dead Flowers… on the label as well?

BB: Yeah! We hung out with them, and did gigs with them and various other Wildside acts.

MD: How does a gig twenty five years ago compare to what will probably happen tonight?

BB: Back then we were much younger, Nigel didn’t wear many clothes – often he would play, sort of, in the nude, and so did the drummer – and I would leap all over the stage like a blue arsed fly, and, like I said, I wasn’t much of a singer back then; I was still teaching myself how to sing. I was screaming a lot of the time, but it seemed to work. I can actually sing really well now – for everyone out there.

MD: Did you teach yourself, or did you talk to somebody?

BB: My mother taught the local church choir – she could sing operatically – so, I must have had some of her singing in me; I must have got something from her. I just taught myself, she said, “You need to learn how to breathe properly and sing from your stomach, and not from your throat.”

MD: You didn’t have any problem with nodes on your throat, or blowing your voice out?

BB: Nah! Back in the early days – when we toured – I did blow my voice out, every now and then, by screaming, and sometimes I talked myself into getting sick: you’d go out on tour; you get worried about going on tour; you think you’re going to get sick, and sometimes, you do.

MD: A little anxiety creeping up on you.

BB: Yeah. Not anymore, mate. Not anymore.

MD: I would imagine that most folks, when they saw the band back then… wouldn’t even have thought that there would have been any anxiety or anything like that, because you’re like these full-on rock & rollers, rampaging the stage. Was it like that for you? Was it stressful? Were you out of your comfort level?

BB: … I still get nervous now. I think about things constantly, and I just want it to be the best it can be. Back then, I had heaps of nerves before I went on; but as soon as you hit the stage, it’s second nature.

MD: The tour is going through most of the country now. Are there places that you look forward to playing more than others…?

BB: Yeah, sometimes. This time, we’re just really keen to play everywhere. It’s a good tour; twelve dates. Some places we haven’t played for a very, very long time: we’re really looking forward to Gisborne, and we haven’t played Timaru before; so, those two in particular, we’re really looking forward to.

MD: I think there’s thirteen dates in the tour, if I counted them correctly.

BB: Twelve dates, and the warm-up….

MD: Thirteen for 13; it makes sense. And the album’s being reissued on vinyl; is that right?

BB: It has, yep.

MD: Did it originally come out on vinyl, or was it just a CD…?

BB: No, it didn’t. It was just a CD. That’s our main reason, really: get it out on vinyl, and let’s go and tour it.

MD: It’s nice to have: the vinyl….

BB: Yeah, totally!

MD: And you guys have a new album that’s in the works: you’re seventh album.

BB: Yeah. We’re trying to get some stuff rolling. After this tour, we’ll see what’s ahead of us, and start working on stuff.

MD: Is it disconcerting to have to stop progressing, and go back and redo what you did twenty five years ago, or is it a good thing for the band to remember where they came from?

BB: It’s a good thing for us, because it makes me want to write music similar to what we did back then; not similar, as in similar sounding, but just with the same energy. I want to do some songs that are brutal; they’ve got some great changes; and just something fresh. I read some reviews of back then, and that’s what it says: it’s fresh; it’s vital; it’s got some great bits in it.

MD: I would imagine it’s got to be tough to try and come up with anything that’s fresh in any kind of musical things these days, because it feels like everything has been done.

BB: Totally! It does, yeah.

MD: Did it feel that way, back then?

BB: No, no. We were just experimenting. It was all experimentation, really, and just using our influences.

MD: Have those influences changed over the years…?

BB: Definitely! I was a full on metal head, and then I from metal into alternative music, and then I got bored of that, and went back to metal, basically.

MD: So, it’s kind of come full circle anyway.

BB; Yeah, definitely!

Here is the Head Like A Hole 13 Tour Itinerary:

May 4 – TAURANGA, 11 Totara Street
May 5 – GISBORNE, Smash Palace
May 6 – NAPIER, The Cabana
May 11 – AUCKLAND, Galatos
May 12 – RAGLAN, The Yot Club
May 13 – NEW PLYMOUTH, The Mayfair
May 18 – LOWER HUTT, Station Village
May 19 – PALMERSTON NORTH, The Royal
May 20 – WELLINGTON, Valhalla
May 25 – DUNEDIN, Refuel
May 26 – TIMARU, RE Music Lounge
May 27 – CHRISTCHURCH, The Bedford

Tickets available via Eventfinda