The just-released single “God Grant” from Worcester, Massachusetts duo The Dead Heads is not the ordinary track we receive, or post, at IRC.
The song could briefly be described as a frenetic, zany electro-experimental rock track of another kind.
“It is a song about a superhuman being that dresses cool while battling minotaurs, pixies, wizards and demons. He has occasionally been seen riding on a giant goat.”
The track also has a video gamey-sound with cartoonish vocals, fast melodies and electronic drums that then turn to backward beats with a ‘boing’ effect from a Yahama PSS-480 keyboard.
The music was developed along with the lyrics, which involve mythology and fantasy references, like ‘cutting off the devil’s hoof’ or ‘walking the Grant Lagoon.’
“The song turned out to be a great representation of what The Dead Heads are all about…fun, high-energy songs with some weird (and sometimes dark) twists and turns,” says vocalist, keyboardist and drummer Groady Guss. Along with his partner, Animal Anderson (vocals, keys, guitars), they are the band.
Of course, the looming question cannot be ignored: why are they named The Dead Heads if they have nothing to do with The Grateful Dead or the band’s music?
The duo, friends since childhood, actually took the name as teenagers when they first started experimenting with recording.
Thus, they are not those Dead Heads. Actually, they just liked how it sounded and had more to do with the original meaning of a dead head from years ago before the musical group was even formed.
“When we were kids in the late 1980s,” Guss says, “we had a Casio SK-1 sampling keyboard, which we sometimes still use, and a boombox to record with.”
“We would make cassette albums for ourselves filled with goofy, weird songs and parodies,” he continues. “At this time we were influenced by The Dr. Demento Show. We started using the name Dead Heads and it stuck.”
During the 1980s, on radio stations across the U.S., the Dr. Demento Show was a popular underground hit. The D.J., Dr. Demento, played unusual, strange, odd, irreverent and nutty songs that would otherwise never make it on to a mainstream radio station.
Therefore it’s no great surprise that the duo’s influences include artists like Frank Zappa, They Might Be Giants, Weird Al, and Devo, among others.
“We record mostly with keyboards; old 80’s and 90’s Yamahas and Casios to give our music that intentionally cheesy, poppy flavor.”
They also run an Internet radio show that includes Professor Dud’s Castle that focuses on indie and DIY, just like we do.
Listen to more Dead Heads’ on Bandcamp