Akounak Tedalat Taha Tazouhai

Akounak Tedalat Taha Tazouhai Trailer from sahelsounds on Vimeo.

Holy shit this looks amazing! I absolutely HAVE to see this ASAP! Really digging this guy, Mdou Moctar's, guitar playing... and shit it's got motorbikes too.

Hex Waves Halloween Show!

Hey my band the Hex Waves are playing a Halloween show at our favourite motorcycle bar, Smash Palace, this Saturday! Get dressed up, dig up your ghoulfiend, and see ya there!

Flexidiscs for issue #4 are here!!!

They're here! 1000 copies of the flexidisc for the next issue of Head Full of Snakes. Thanks so much to Tacoma band Girl Trouble for this one. Now we have the flexis in hand we will be making plans to produce this issue (given the wait for them last time, we thought we'd chill til we had these!). Thinking we'll be looking at a November launch at the moment, maybe as part of the Smash Palace Motorcycle Show? Dunno? I'll keep ya posted.

Shakin' Evil Limbo Party (Introduction by Joe Wilson)

New band The Shakin' Evil Limbo Party playing our mate Joe Wilson's birthday party in the mountains last night...

The Hex Waves Halloween Show

I've been busy renovating our shitty old house lately and have barely touched a motorcycle. Have played a couple of shows though, one being this kick-ass Halloween party at the Henries warehouse. This is our newest song too, captured by our mate Warren on his phone or something? Thanks to Anna Dean for leaving her awesome multicolored spinning lightbulb behind!

Bong 'Stoner Rock' double 12" LP

While you're waiting for issue #3 of HFoS why not get a copy of this sucker in the meantime? This just arrived yesterday and it is one great package of kick-ass art work and the best psychedelic doom you'll ever lay your eyes and ears on! If you're one of those losers who doesn't own a turn-table you can listen to it here... but be warned, it's not as good. And, how the fuck are you gonna listen to your next free flexi???

'Skaterdater' 1965

Ok it's been waaaayyy too long I know, but trust me T H I S  I S S U E  will be coming out in very early September! Stuart's coming in the last week of August and we are printing it then. The paper's here. The flexi's are here. We are ready to go, we just need the  T I M E . . .

In the meantime here's some fun on 4 wheels (with a soundtrack by the one and only Davie Allan):

Windhand

Favourite new band... thanks to Nato from Beastwars for putting us onto this band, they are incredible. The singer is amazing, it's like no metal I've heard before. Apparently they might be coming to NZ later this year. Fingers fucking crossed!

Flexi disc test pressings are here!

On Friday the test pressings for the flexidisc to accompany HFoS issue #3 finally showed up! These have been a long time coming, apparently Pirates Press, the manufacturer, have been having problems. I don't know why or what kind, but hey fuck they are here now! So finally... FINALLY... we can make a push to get issue #3 underway.

Big thanks to Moon Duo again for letting us use one of their songs on this and being totally awesome in all aspects of life! Can't wait to see the finished product with labels and all...

The Hex Waves @ The Darkroom, 17 April

My new band, The Hex Waves, is playing at The Darkroom next Thursday the 17th of April. It's the Thursday before Easter, so it's like a Friday don't you know...

The Hex Waves, 'Witch on a Motorcycle'

My new band's first recording... demo only, proper recordings coming when Tim's back in town. Plug your computer into a stereo and turn the muthafucker UP... release your inner demons!

True Widow

Been listening to this band a bunch lately and just bought everything I could find online by them lastnight for our road trip this week. Really loving their simple 3-piece sound but with some quite far out chord changes going on. My new band, The Hex Waves, played our first gig on Friday night and it was really great to be playing some slower, more gloomy and melodic shit for a change (sorry boys!). Still up for wild b grade rock 'n' roll action with Shakin Evil and Motorcamp (if Tim ever comes home!?), but this is sure suitin' my mood at the mo...

Moon Duo flexi for #3!!!

I was gonna keep this quiet (for some reason? Surprise I guess?) but I can't anymore, I'm too excited.

Oscar introduced me to Moon Duo a couple of years ago now and I fell immediately in love with their EPs 'Escape' and 'Killing Time'. I went to see Moon Duo when they played in Auckland earlier this year and ended up talking to them after the show. They are as great and friendly a couple of people you're likely to meet I must say. I put it to them then (I think? I was pretty drunk to be honest) that they might do something for Head Full of Snakes. Anyway I recently got in touch with Ripley (guitar/vocals) and he was totally into it. I couldn't believe it actually, I thought there'd be managerial bullshit we had to go through etc, but no, it's been a real straightforward process and the song is about to go away to get made into a flexidisc to be released with our 3rd issue of Head Full of Snakes.

Thanks so much Ripley and Sanae. Anytime you're back in this neck of the woods let us know if we can help out in anyway at all. Might I even suggest a South Island show? I reckon we could get a pretty good thing happening here in the 'shitty city' of Christchurch.

I think the plan for the future of HFoS is to put out a flexi with each issue. We're considering this anyway. And running a sort of HFoS record label as a sideline/insert in an ongoing way. I really like the idea that all these different things are coming together in one project – which, when I think about it, was always the idea with Head Full of Snakes anyway, to take all the different crap I think about and obssess over into one place...

The Soft Moon

My Soft Moon album finally arrived! Been driving round in my van cranking this all day long, really digging this sound right now, and The Soft moon are hereby inducted into HFoS 'Motorcycle Rock and Roll'. The Soft Moon began as a solo (bedroom?) project of one Luis Vaquez from the city of Oakland... lotta good shit coming from Oakland in last few years it seems, must try and visit sometime...

Dirty Beaches (again)

Been listening to music and playing a lot more myself lately... partly cause it's been shite weather and so riding the bikes hasn't been so attractive, partly because I've fucked both my shoulders and it hurts to ride, and partly I guess just cause I'm just on the buzz at the mo... anyway...

Dirty Beaches new album has been on hi rotate at home lately. Really digging this and thinking very highly of Alex Zhang Hungtai at the mo. Welcome back Dirty Beaches.

Motorcamp 'Pink Room'

  Our new band Motorcamp (yes it's supposed to be funny for fucks sake) played at Tommy Chang's in Lyttelton last Saturday. This was our first song, thanks to Jimi for the vid. It's our version of the song from the 'pink room', the strip club scene in Firewalk With Me, the film by David Lynch. Hear the real one here. I thought Angelo Badalamenti wrote it but a lot of people say David Lynch did, so yeah whatever. I was having a bit of trouble with the guitar sound being first song and all, but you can't really tell cause I'm way over the other side there. Aaron and Tim are tight and on it as bloody usual!

Chelsea Wolfe

Epic Chick-Goth track by Chelsea Wolfe and band. Turn your speakers up – Ow! 

Tropic of Cancer

Oh my god this shit rules my world tonight. I know I'm expanding my motorcycle rock and roll genre a little here... actually not too much considering my inclusion of Dirty Beaches a while back... but wow! This popped up while I was researching for the Goth/Psychedelic band Nadz and I are starting with Ella. The band is called Tropic of Cancer and they're from LA (so much good shit coming from the West Coast USA at the moment!?). Tropic of Cancer is actually a solo project of one Camella Lobo (whom I presume is playing synth/keys and singing in this). Taylor Burch is playing the guitar parts. There's a decent looking interview here which I'm gonna read tomorrow. In the meantime I'm downloading some of this to listen to in bed and imagine riding through the mountains on a cold winter night...

Stuart Page interview set for issue #3!

Just confirmed an interview with Stuart Page for the next issue of HFoS! Stuart made this video for legendary NZ band Snapper in 1988, along with a bunch of other awesome music videos for other kick ass NZ bands like King Loser (featured in HFoS issue #1). In fact it was a King Loser connection that motivated me to get in touch with Stuart – David Bennewith, while visiting recently, bought me a Chris Heazlewood 7" which, on the back, mentioned his buying a motorcycle off Stuart Page. The same motorcycle that appears at the end of this most excellent King Loser video (Dir. Stuart Page of course):

Born Too Late

Had booked flights ages ago to go to Auckland last weekend... was originally going for a gig on Friday – Moon Duo at the Kings Arms – but then had a couple of students having a show/publication launch up there on Saturday too, so had decided to stay for the whole weekend. Obviously I was pretty bloody stoked to find out that the Born Too Late chopper show was gonna be on on the Saturday as well!

Sid wrote an article on the first BTL show for the first issue of Head Full of Snakes, and I'd been keen to get up there to one ever since. This was their 3rd show, and it seems like it's getting bigger each time. I was really impressed at the number of bikes that showed up, and the quality and ambition exhibited by the various builds. To top it off I got to meet up with some old friends there AND there were some awesome bands too. I don't know the name of the first band sorry (let me know if you do?), but next up were the infamous Slavetrader who I haven't seen play in ages. They were great, I always have really dug Matt Alien's bands going right back to Human from Christchurch in the mid 90s (they weren't as good when he left).

Generally I can't stand Auckland, but Born Too Late provided good evidence for me that it's not all late model European cars, fake tan and boob jobs.