severed heads

Severed Heads – Ear Bitten LP [DE-314]

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Dark Entries picks up Severed Heads yet again for Ear Bitten, a double LP reissue of some of the band’s earliest material. As originary Aussie industrial legends – although founder Tom Ellard would balk at being branded as such – Severed Heads shaped the continental subcultural sound with their kitchen electronics, chaotic tape loops, and quietly infectious nursery-rhyme-esque melodies. In 1979 Ellard, Richard Fielding, and Andrew Wright abandoned the moniker Mr. and Mrs. No Smoking Sign and adopted the edgier name Severed Heads “to pretend to be an industrial band such as Surgical Penis Klinik & Throbbing Gristle.” Noise-rockers Rhythmx Chymx had placed an advertisement in a local shop looking for a band to share the costs of pressing an LP. The Heads set about recording a Dadaist racket on a pair of open reel dictaphones and a cassette deck using a TRS-80 computer, Kawai Synthesizer 100F and Korg Mini Pops drum machine. Ear Bitten was released in 1980; original copies now fetch obscene sums, in part due to most of Severed Heads’ copies perishing in a fire at Richard’s home. The band’s next endeavor was a cassette titled Side 2, a collection of free-form experiments fashioned as Ear Bitten’s second side. For this reissue, Dark Entries has collected both Ear Bitten and Side 2 on the first disc, presenting the album in its full form. Disc two includes the original first version of Ear Bitten, which was only unreleased because it was recorded in a format not suitable for pressing.

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Severed Heads – Ear Bitten LP [DE-314]

Severed Heads – Clean [DE265]

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Dark Entries’ first release of 2020 is a deluxe 2xLP reissue of Severed Heads’ debut 1981 album ‘Clean’. One of the longest surviving bands to emerge from the Australian post-punk independent music scene, they began in Sydney in 1979. Severed Heads is basically a nom- de-plum for Tom Ellard, who incorporates elements of ‘industrial’ noise-generation, tape cutting & looping and electronic sound synthesis. As the project developed song-structures and vocals were employed in a more-or-less recognizable mutant electro pop style. ‘Clean’ was amongst the first vinyl releases under the Dogfood Productions banner of Terse Tapes, previously a cassette-only label. For this records Tom used an array of synthesizers (Kawai 100F, Casiotone, Roland CR78+SH1+CSQ100), sequencers, tapes and occasional guitar and violin played by Garry Bradbury. Severed Heads have a language of their own, music that juxtaposes all sorts of noise, in all sorts of ways so that a structure evolves, (fragmented) melody and rhythm being almost a by-product. As one reviewer said in 1981, “It is an ugly album that you simply cannot ignore, it thuds and screeches and makes you stare just to wonder what kind of people would procure such an album.” For this deluxe reissue we’ve included a bonus disc featuring 13 songs, 5 of which have never been released before, culled from live performances, the ‘Side 3’ cassette and a ‘Clean’ demo tape that only surfaced last year, plus “Food City” missing from previous reissues. All songs have been remastered by Tom Ellard, with vinyl EQ and lacquer cutting by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley.

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Severed Heads – Clean [DE265]

Severed Heads – Come Visit The Big Bigot [DE180]

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Dark Entries present the deluxe 2xLP reissue of ‘Come Visit The Big Bigot’ by Severed Heads, one of the longest surviving bands to emerge from the Australian post-punk independent music scene. They began in Sydney in 1979, incorporating elements of ‘industrial’ noise-generation, tape cutting & looping and electronic sound synthesis. As the project developed song-structures and vocals were employed in a more-or-less recognizable mutant electro pop style. After many line-up changes featuring Garry Bradbury and psychedelic guitarist Simon Knuckey, Severed Heads was the vehicle for composer Tom Ellard. ‘Come Visit The Big Bigot’ was Severed Heads’ first record to be released commercially simultaneously in Australia, North America and Europe in 1986. It was a prime period for this ‘industrial dance music’ and Bigot was a respected album that did well from the tour they did with Skinny Puppy that same year. Quite a few people still define the band by this period. ‘Come Visit The Big Bigot’ was made on a Fostex 16 track recorder in Tom’s bedroom, employing the newly acquired AKAI S612 sampler and Roland SH-101 to create most of the drum sounds. The album signaled a new direction, flirting with the dance floor and the pop song. Presenting the Heads at their most cohesive, while retaining their distinctive musical stamp. Tom’s vocals are harmonized, slowed down, sped up, run through fuzz boxes, backwards, drum machine rolls, sampled guitars, horn sections, and voices but with a subversive rather than malevolent intention. Tape loops are more subtle and define their own space and texture. Like the original Australian version of the album, we’ve included a bonus disc featuring three extended remixes by Sydney DJ Robert Racic (who produced the edited 7” version of “Petrol” we reissued in 2015), plus three B-sides from the ‘Twenty Deadly Diseases’12” and two additional tracks from the same recording sessions. All songs have been remastered by Tom Ellard, who worked very slowly and methodically with much better equipment over two years, letting each track have its own breath.

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Severed Heads – Come Visit The Big Bigot [DE180]

Severed Heads – Stretcher (USA Stretched Version) [MR060]

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Medical Records presents it’s 60th release with the much needed reissue of Australia’s Severed Heads and their 1985 release – Stretcher. The Severed Heads story continues with the expanded and Stretched 2LP reissue. After personnel changes in 1985 (Garry Bradbury and Paul Deering left the band), Sev was now down to a 2 piece (Tom Ellard and Stephen Jones). Stretcher was originally released to be a compilation to introduce the band to an American audience, but it was ultimately sold in three versions due to other countries desiring their own version (an EP in Canada and England and an LP in Australia). The name was taken from the sign on the emergency stretcher at the front of every Sydney ferry during that era. This version is based on the Volition release (Australian version) but with all the tracks from the other versions for a full collection of 17 tracks over 2 LPs. A bit more “accessible” than the previous City Slab Horror with a number of dance floor stompers filling out the collection such as the 12″ versions of Halo and Petrol. The collection mostly consists of new tracks written for the multiple releases for each country release but also contains a few older tracks remixed and even a demo version of Harold and Cindy which would be later fleshed out on The Big Bigot. The Heads toured the LP across Australia in 1985 resulting in a lot of “exciting adventures with audiences who wanted to kill us” – Tom Ellard. Two other interesting facts in regard to this collection is that it was the first time Sev used MIDI and a DX7 and every track has some radio signal mixed in there somewhere, always by accident. The original version(s) are all long out of print and becoming rare on the collector’s market. Presented in a beautiful gatefold 2LP on high quality classic black 160gm vinyl with original artwork as well as new gatefold layout by Tom Ellard with extensive liner notes detailing the back story and creation of each individual track. Get lost in it.

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Severed Heads – Stretcher (USA Stretched Version) [MR060]

Severed Heads – Petrol [DE104]

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Dark Entries digs deeper in to the archives of Severed Heads, one of the longest surviving bands to emerge from the Australian post-punk independent music scene. “Petrol”, originally titled “Lamborghini”, was written by Garry Bradbury and Tom Ellard in 1981.

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Severed Heads – Petrol [DE104]

Severed Heads – Big Saints Reward (1988-1990 Dubs) [OT015]

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Optimo Trax 015 sees label boss JD Twitch indulge his love of cult Australian DIY act Severed Heads with a trio of dub version culled from the B-sides of their 1980s 12″ output. Titled quite artfully Big Saints Reward (1987 – 90 dubs), perennial Twitch favourite “Greater Reward” features prominently with the Dub version accompanied by an all new “Piano Power Edit” from the Optimo man which takes full advantage of the glorious keys that characterise the track. Complementing these, the B-side houses “Big Car (Crash dub)” and “All Saints Day (Saints Dub Day)” which add further credence to the notion Severed Heads are one of the most important acts in the formation of club music as we know it today.

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Severed Heads – Big Saints Reward (1988-1990 Dubs) [OT015]

Severed Heads – Dead Eyes Opened [DE070]

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Severed Heads are one of the longest standing bands to have emerged from the Australian post-punk and experimental scene. They began in Sydney in 1979, and were an early outfit to incorporate elements of ‘industrial’ noise-generation, tape cutting & looping and electronic sound synthesis. As the project developed, song-structures and vocals were employed in a more-or-less recognizable mutant electro pop style. Dead Eyes Opened features samples from a radio program narrated by Edgar Lustgarten, a crime journalist from England, referencing a double murder case that occurred in 1924. The rhythms are made by a TR-808 drum machine and an SH-1 synthesizer. A KORG PolySix was used for strings and additional atmospheric elements. The lead solo was a Casiotone run through an Octaver foot pedal. On the B-side are two solo compositions Bullet and Mount that Ellard recorded at Terse Tapes in 1982.

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Severed Heads – Dead Eyes Opened [DE070]

Severed Heads – City Slab Horror [MR035]

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Their most varied, interesting work, City Slab Horror includes stark synthesizer workouts, several tracks of pure rhythm and noise, and, thankfully, little of the unambitious tape music for its own sake of Since the Accident. “Cyflea, Rated R,” “4.W.D.,” and the title track provide several examples of the best experimental synthesizer tracks of the mid-’80s.

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Severed Heads – City Slab Horror [MR035]