Australian 6 piece garage rockers The Pinheads have joined the Stolen Body Records family and are set release their new LP Is This Real? in the UK and Europe with Australian label Farmer & The Owl will take care of the release down under.
Born out of friendship, bowling, sci-fi movie marathons and literal brotherhood, The Pinheads formed out of what is now colloquially known as the Leisure Coast, spread out among the northern suburbs of the Illawarra and Wollongong region. They quickly established themselves as one of the area’s must-see live bands; no mic stand was left unturned, no face left unmelted, no speaker stack was left unclimbed. Fans don’t leave Pinheads shows with fond memories – they leave with battle scars and folklore tales to last the ages. The Pinheads reside within a stylistic purgatory – too weird for punk shows, too free-form for garage rock, too genre-defiant for rock & roll, persevering on their own path, which may make pit-stops at any given corner of the musical spectrum should it suit their collective mood. The sound of The Pinheads is a mosaic of their collective tastes – built on the foundations of their heroes, a work of art in its own right.
The 12 track offering opens with ‘Pure Hate’ a piece weighing it at over 8 minutes that builds with clever repetition, drawled vocals and invocative guitar riffs; its not a light undertaking, but it is brilliant. ‘Feel It Now’ is raw passion channelled through music whilst ‘For A While’ is a tad more melodic, with a dance groove that is certain to set bodies moving and ‘No Time’ continues in a similar vein. The energy exuding from the record is relentless and it’s no wonder their live shows always go a certain way. ‘Innocent Crime’ is somewhat different, with a slower tempo and more emphasis placed on the guitar sound. If they were to do a love song, ‘So Alone’ would be it, and there is a definite swoon to the music and ‘Don’t Have A Home’ shows a softer side whilst keeping the same intensity. Concluding ‘Outro’ could easily have slipped off a Pink Floyd album but with added flavours its made all their own and is a curious entity to ensure that fans will want more indefinitely.
In a world that has become saturated by the word psychedelia and all that it entails, The Pinheads can only be described as a sudden down pour on a desert night.
