Spaceheads

Andy and Richard first played together in 1980. They were both living in Manchester and travelled to London to play a Punk Jazz festival organised by the LMC (London musicians collective).

They were playing together in a band called Dislocation Dance, who went on to record 2 albums, one on New Hormones and one on Rough trade, as well as a loads of singles, as well as tour Europe and the USA. Dislocation Dance’s unique brand of jazz pop, ended with their split in 1987

Andy meanwhile had joined in Richards first ever band The Mud Hutters. Rehersals took place on Richard’s cousin Moon’s farm in Cheshire, in a barn at the bottom of a muddy field. This line up was recorded but not released.

The Mud Hutters had released an album and some singles before Andy joined.

Their partnership consolidated with appearances in Manchester’s Eric Random and the Bedlamites, with whom they toured around Europe as part of Nico’s backing band before she died.

In 1987 Andy and Richard formed The Honkies with two saxaphone players, Caroline Kraabel and Kathy Hulme in London. The formation of the Honkies overlapped the start of Spaceheads.

The Honkies released 3 cassette albums, One vinyl album and two CDs. They added John Edwards on double bass in 1991, but finally split up at the end of 1993.

Andy and Richard were involved in setting up a studio in a basement which they used to rehearse in and experiment in. They recorded endless jams and ideas as a duo and with friends. Some of these recordings eventually emerged on a Manchester cassette label Bop cassettes, under the title “Bip Bap Bop”

Andy and Richard worked on a second album for Bop cassettes and  released it under the name “spaceheads”

Spaceheads were born !!

You are at Chapter 1 – “Pre Spaceheads”
Here are the links to the next chapters

Chapter 2 – Early Years 89-95
Chapter 3 – Touring 96-02
Chapter 4 – Collaborations 03-12
Chapter 5 – Electric Brass 13-today