HORRIBLE HEAD
Philip Ford – lead vocals
Dave Pope – guitar, vocals
Sean Hyde – bass, backing vocals
Paul Hamilton – drums
Yer archetypal British mid-80s regulation post-Punk power-Pop art school stash, Horrible Head were formed by four Portsmouth Polytechnic Fine Art students after a gig where Punk Folk duo Filthy & Sean (i.e. Ford and Hyde) joined headliners Tadpole Headgear (which included Pope and Hamilton) for a spontaneous demolition derby rendition of The Who’s My Generation.
The Horribles flourished – from the summer of 1985 till the autumn of 1986 – on the stages of pubs, clubs and colleges from Portsmouth (on England’s South Coast) to London. Like more celebrated contemporaries R.E.M., The Smiths and Hüsker Du, they explored the minimal sonic palette of one guitar/vocal/bass/drums.
Following an acrimonious break-up in 1986 (this time we’ll cite the cause to be ‘musical similarities’), Hamilton drummed for Hyde’s Celtic folk-rock combo The Navigators in 1992 and, in 2009-10, co-wrote his Loudsneakers album undoneup.
Whilst making undoneup, Hyde exhumed a cache of Horrible Head cassette tape recordings, made on a 4-track Portastudio, and passed them to Hamilton who had them digitised, mixed and released in 2010 as the CD The Gloom Of Youth.
Frontman Phil Ford disappeared over the other Horribles’ horizontals and, following a rare reunion evening where Filthy’s possible whereabouts were discussed, Hamilton wrote Whatever Happened To Philip Ford? With music by Pope, this song kickstarted Yellowjack and the album Godot Woz Ere.
Discography:
Guillotine Beat [24-song d/l album] (2020)
The Gloom Of Youth [16-song d/l and CD album] (2010)
Selected Videography:
I’m A Loser See! Hear!
Another Fine Mess (Live, 1986) See! Hear!
Black Day (Live, 1986) See! Hear!