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Head East news, tour dates, lyrics, band member quotes, fan mail, and much more!
Sign up for the Head East mailing list to receive periodic updates of Head East news. Simply send a blank email to Issue 6, 26 October 2001 IN THIS ISSUE:
1) Band News 1) Band News * On 25 September, 2001, 20th Century Masters, The Best of Head East - The Millennium Collection was issued by Universal Music Group on their A&M label. See section 4 below for information on this release. * Tom Bryant's CD, The 11th Hour is scheduled for release in November. Ordering information will be posted on www.tombryant.com as soon as it is available. * Renaissance Records has announced that they will be re-issuing Concert Classics Vol. VII. The re-issue will be re-named "Flying By Night" and will contain new liner notes. The enclosed booklet should also include an acknowledgement of both line-ups of Head East playing on this CD and the dates of the two concerts heard on this recording. It's not known at this time if the CD will contain any new photographs or graphics and whether any steps have been taken to improve the sound quality of the recordings. The re-issued CD should be available before the end of the year. * Head East Alumnus John Schlitt and his band Petra are scheduled to release a new CD titled "Revival" on 20 November, 2001. 2) Tour Dates - updated concert schedule (as of 26 Oct, 2001)
Additional concerts are in the works for the Winter months. Check the tour dates page frequently for updates to the tour schedule. * Any dates marked with an asterisk are tentative. All concerts may be subject to change. Please check with each venue before heading to the concert. 3) Ask The Band - The questions below were received from Head East fans over the past few months. A special thanks goes out to keyboardist Roger Boyd for providing us with the answers. Q1. The song Jailer was written a few years before the release of Flat As A Pancake in 1975, but wasn't included on a Head East album until Get Yourself Up was released in 1976. Are there any other songs that were written and/or recorded either prior to or at the same time as the material on Flat As A Pancake, that were not used until later albums? Roger Boyd answers: "Quite a few of the songs on "Get Yourself Up" were written prior to recording "Flat" but did not reach vinyl until the second album." Q2. Was "Get Yourself Up" actually Head East's first album but was temporarily shelved to release "Flat As A Pancake" first? Roger Boyd answers: "No, "GYU" was not shelved for "Flat", it was album #2." Q3. Are there any plans to record and release any new Head East material in the near future? If so, when? Roger Boyd answers: "Yes, there are plans for new material and some of it is already recorded. It should have been out already but the Renaissance Records debacle set us back. We hope to have it out within the next year, possibly late spring." Q4. Do you envision Head East ever touring in excess of 200 days a year again like they did for so many years in the 70's and 80's? If not, why? How many gigs a year do you hope to play? Roger Boyd answers: "No one tours the way we did in the 70's anymore. The logistics and industry are totally different as well as cost factors and our tired old bodies! I don't plan on exceeding 50 shows a year." Q5. Is there any relevance to any of the names on the board on the Gettin' Lucky album? Roger Boyd answers: "The fellows put several names and references to various friends on the board. The name "Blenweed" may be a reference to Henry (Hank) Blenner who was a very close friend of the members of Head East and the Rolling Stones." Q6. Who are the bookie and the secretary on the cover of the Gettin' Lucky album? Roger Boyd answers: "The bookie and the secretary were professional actors." Q7. Why hasn't Universal Music Group, who owns the A&M catalog, released all of your albums on CD? Roger Boyd answers: "It just takes time. We're working on it and I believe that it will come to pass." Q8. What can fans do to help bring Head East to a venue near their home town? Roger Boyd answers: "Have the venue contact our booking agency to book a show. They handle all of the details for our public appearances and performances. Their contact information is posted on the "Booking Info" page of our official website." Q9. When and where was the last performance of the Head East line-up consisting of Huston, Birney, Schlitt, Somerville, and Yourself? Roger Boyd answers: "The last performance for this line-up of the band was April 20,1980 at Kearney State Univ. in Kearney, Nebraska." Q10. Have there ever been any other keyboard players in Head East besides yourself? Roger Boyd answers: "Yes, Brian Kelly, who was a regular member of Head East for a brief period in the latter part of the 1980's, played keyboards and appears on the record "Choice of Weapons". We used two keyboardists for a time as an experiment and I believe he was with the band for a year to two." 4) The Best of Head East - The Millennium Collection On 25 September, Universal Music Group released The Best of Head East as part of the 20th Century Masters - Millennium Collection Series. This remastered single disc release contains 11 songs from the group's first five studio albums on A&M Records and 1 song from their 1979 double live album. The sound quality is excellent and the CD comes with a booklet with front, back, and inside photos of the band taken in the mid-70's. The booklet also contains liner notes that briefly cover the band's evolution from 1969 to present, noting that Head East still has a large group of devoted fans who flock to see them today. And that with every live show and each CD released, Head East proves that great music played by talented musicians never goes out of style. Within a week of it's release, The Best of Head East had sold almost 10,000 copies. This is testament to the fact that thousands of Head East fans are out there waiting for each new Head East release. Hopefully, vigorous sales will lead Universal Music Group to re-release the Head East catalog on CD. The 12 songs on this release are listed below:
Never Been Any Reason Band member photos from the booklet included with The Best of Head East may be viewed at: www.head-east.com/bestof.html 5) Lyrics - The words to 'Sister Sister', from Head East's U.S. 1 Album © 1980 Head East Music/Almo Music Corp (ASCAP)
Sister Sister
She walks like a fox, a door full of locks
Sister Sister
Plastic face, fancy black lace
Sister Sister
Tight blue jeans and real bad scenes
Sister Sister * A special thanks goes out to former Head East member Tony Gross for providing the lyrics to this song. 6) Mail - stories from Head East fans. Story from a fan in New Mexico - "Finally after all these years I got to meet the members of Head East. My blues band was booked to open for them in July of this year in New Mexico. I have to say that I have always been a fan of Head East since first hearing their music on the radio many years ago. Never Been Any Reason and Since You Been Gone are my all time favorites. Meeting the guys in the band was great, though I felt like a dork because I was in the presence of people that I greatly admired. You see, I have always wanted to be a rock star, ever since I was small. Now I play semi-nationally about 200 times a year, I guess that is close enough." "Roger Boyd walked up to me as I was fooling around with the backline bass amp and introduced himself. A nice man who conducted himself professionally throughout the day. I think that made my day to meet him. Mike Mesey was a fun guy to talk with. He's played with some great musicians as well as Head East and I have the utmost respect for him. I Didn't speak with Tom Bryant much, but I wanted to pick his brain a bit. Rich Creadore borrowed my Bass to play. And I wish that I could have seen him play it. I Also wanted to talk with Mike Somerville, but I didn't get the chance." "As for the show that's another story. Our monitors were cutting out, blaring, then went off altogether. It started drizzling rain during our set, but stopped for the last 30 minutes. Then it started to rain harder after we were finished. There wasn't a roof over the stage, so the show got called off after a while. "I was looking forward to watching Head East perform but they didn't get to play because of the rain. But overall, it was a great day for me as I met a few legends and had a good time with them. I realized once again that Rock Stars are just regular people, and most of them don't want to be treated like they are on a pedestal, (I hate when that happens)."
Kevin Kraybill (Selected fan mail and band questions will be chosen for publication in a future newsletter and are subject to editing by the publishers of this newsletter . Click here to e-mail your comments, questions or stories to the Head East Newsletter. LINKS: (Click on the banners below) 
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