Fivehead

BIO

In 1994, inspired by their local Boston heroes Mission of Burma and NKOTB, college friends John Hunt (guitar, vocals) and David Comeau (drums) started playing music. A couple of years later, they moved to Austin where they met native Texans Beaty Wilson (guitar, vocals) and Jeff Jones (bass, vocals) college friends who played in bands with a similar ethos. Eventually, the four became Fivehead. From 1996-1999, the band self-released a couple of singles and a full length album that garnered good reviews and lots of college radio play as they made a name for themselves in Austin.

After a handful of national tours and several festival appearances at NXNW and SXSW, Fivehead released a well-received EP on local upstart label Tight Spot Records in 2001. Much touring followed as well as dozens of regional shows with bands such as Spoon, Earlimart, Superdrag, Centro-matic, and Polyphonic Spree. Between touring, the band recorded contributions to a few compilations and began working on a new LP at Jones’s Porchlight Studios.

Drawing influences from such DIY lo-fi rock stalwarts as Sebadoh, Archers of Loaf, and Pavement, Guests of the Nation pays homage to the past with its jingle jangle guitars and hefty hooks. The interplay between Hunt's growling vocals and Wilson's Malkmusian caterwaul display the yin and yang dynamics between both songwriters. Hunt's moodier, angrier fare points fingers at societal misconduct and reflects the angst of shouldering adult responsibilities. Wilson's poppier songs are no less moody, but songs about everyday life, like cats and good friends, act more as a shield to the outside world instead of Hunt's reluctant acceptance of it. Comeau's dead-on drums and Jones' thundering bass provide the perfect backdrop for Hunt and Wilson to display their craft. The superb production from Jones and Josh Case (Knife In the Water, I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness) duplicates the band's live aesthetic, allowing to songs to display themselves without a lot of studio trickery. Fivehead plans to tour heavily behind this record beginning with a trip West in February of 2004 and an East Coast trip in the Spring.