Pool Of Sound - Poisoned Electrick Head

Poisoned Electric Head

'Poisoned Electrick Head', also known as 'PEH', were a psychedelic indie rock/punk band formed when seven musicians in the St Helens area opted to join forces. The band's name is taken from the final words sung by Vivian Stanshall in the 'Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band' track, 'My Pink Half of the Drainpipe'.
From the start, the band displayed a theatrical flair, with each member operating under a pseudonym - singers 'Emerald Greenshade' and 'Katmandu', rhythm guitarist 'Jefferson Jesu(s) Devil', lead guitarist 'Philippe ZaPeep', keyboard player 'Professor Bubblekeys', bass guitarist 'Tjunca B Low' and drummer 'Vik Vibeskin'.

The band members had previously played together in different permutations from the late 1970s. Emerald,Vik and Zapeep had been in a punk band called' Subversion' in 1979, and both Emerald and Bubblekeys had been part of 'The Aristocrats', releasing a track on the 'Elegance Charm & Deadly Danger' LP (along with Jesu, Vik and Katmandu) in 1982.
Bubblekeys & Tjunca - along with another pseudonymous musician, 'Flimb' on drums and Doug Eglin on vocals and guitar - had worked together as the 'Academy Of Unrest'.
By 1985, Jesu, Emerald & Vik were in a band called 'Moon', to which they recruited Tjunca, initially as their keyboard player - he would subsequently move to bass guitar on the arrival of Bubblekeys. Zapeep was the next addition to the band, in early 1986: later in the same year Katmandu was recruited, initially as a proposed replacement for Greenshade, but it went so well he remained as his singing partner. An unofficial eighth member, Bubblekeys' brother known as 'Burt Sliders', served as sound man and sound designer.

The band's first release was the 1986 cassette-only mini-album, 'Drink Me', followed three years later by the 'Trickeroo' c/w 'Cap of Flies' single. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, 'Poisoned Electrick Head' built up a fiercely devoted live following in their hometown and in other parts of the UK. By the start of the 1990s, the band had taken their onstage theatricality a step further, with the singers dressing in boiler-suits and wearing latex 'death masks' and other bizarre stage costumes while the remaining band members wore ornate 'alien domeheads' and robes. The band's album sleeves were adorned with similarly Giger-esque artwork, designed (as were the costumes) by Zapeep.
Behind the scenes, 'Poisoned Electrick Head' continued to be self-producing and self-releasing, putting out many of their releases on their own Dead Fly label while licensing others to various independent labels.

The band played numerous tours, concerts, festivals and underground gatherings before, in 1992, they licensed their first full-length album, 'Poisoned Electrick Head' to the independent label Probe Plus Records, followed later in the same year by another cassette album, 'Unmistakeably Rainbow Trout', released on Dead Fly. Two years after that, the band licensed and released a second full-release album, 'The Big Eye Am' on another independent label, Abstract Sounds. The tracks on the record included 'Out of Order' which was released as a single: this became an independent chart hit, accompanied by a video made by the band themselves.

By 1997 the band had had around 800 gigs to their credit, but eleven years of hard underground gigging had taken its toll and the band was beginning to fracture. Katmandu had left the band during the 1996 recording sessions for their third album, 'The Hanged Man', leaving Emerald as sole lead vocalist (with occasional backup from Bubblekeys). Around this time the band also dispensed with their stage costumes, as it was considered that these were holding the band back. 'The Hanged Man' was released on the Blueprint label (a subdivision of Voiceprint) but during the promotional tour Tjunca also left the band. They continued to play live, using taped bass lines, and subsequently went through a period with greater vocal input from Bubblekeys, giving them a harder and more metallic sound and the inclusion of rapping. In 1998, Bubblekeys also left the band and so 'Poisoned Electrick Head' split up although just over a decade later the band began recording and performing once more.

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