WEAPON HEAD

Goondiwindi band, WEAPON HEAD, is making waves in the music world.
They've pounded their way to third place in the Australian final of the Global Battle of the Bands in Sydney a week ago.
The band is hoping the recognition may lead to some tours backing nationally-known bands next year.
October 2006 - Goondiwindi Argus

It's a long way to the top, but Goondiwindi hard rockers WEAPON HEAD are certainly giving it their all to make it in the world of Rock'n'Roll.
They will launch their debut album at the Queensland Hotel on Friday night.
Boris Billing, Steve Bishop, Dave Bishop, and Drew Allen have come a long way in two years, from their humble beginnings in the back of Boris' shed.
Luckily for the neighbours they moved out of there within a couple of weeks and took up residancy at The Snakepit at the Queensland Hotel.
Since that time WEAPON HEAD has played The Gundy B&S twice, won the Riverjam song writing competition, recorded two demo discs, played numerous gigs at their beloved 'Pit', bought a ridiculous amout of music equipment, came first place at the Queensland heat of Global Battle of the Bands, and then went on to come third place in the national final of the same competition.
The boys are proud of what they have achieved as a band, but their greatest achievement so far has just been accomplished.
During three intense weeks in February WEAPON HEAD recorded their debut album titled "SLAVE FREE" at Modern Music Studios in Brisbane.
It is a fantastic effort for these guys to get out there and have a go at their dream, which has resulted in their fantastic debut cd.
"It has cost a lot of time away from home, and money to bring this fantasy to reality, but we think it's well worth it", Boris said.
The album has been descibed as an "intense hard rock journey" which is sure to quench the thirst of all WEAPON HEAD fans.
April 11, 2007 - Goondiwindi Argus

Move over Gunsynd - theres some new stallions in town! Goondiwindis own hard rock band Weapon Head have just won a competition through the Sonic Bids Website to play The Locobazooka Festival in the USA. The Festival is going to be headlined this year by Heaven and Hell - Black Sabbath with Ronnie James Dio on vocals, Alice Cooper, and Queensryche.
The boys are very exited at this chance of a lifetime, and are going to give it everything they've got. - The Courier Mail

" Weapon Head hit a new high in their career very recently when they were asked to play the legendary Locobazooka Festival(Locofest) in the USA!
Locofest was headlined this year by Heaven and Hell(Black Sabbath with Ronnie James Dio on Vocals), Alice Cooper, and Queensryche.
The band jumped on a plane and rocked the house down at The Tweeter Centre, Mansfield.
These Auzzie hard rockers were very well recieved by the American fans, the response from the crowd was overwhelming!
The boys have taken a lot from this performance - from label execs taking cd's from the band tent straight after their set, to the great interest taken in the band in Australia since returning home.
Things are certainly looking very good for Weapon Head."

- Official Weapon Head Website

The riff monsters from Goondiwindi are at it again.


Weapon Head have followed up their 2007 album Slave Free with an EP of 5 new songs, guaranteed to keep the fans' chiropractors in beer for the next year or so.


These tunes are for more than simple head bangers, however. Strong lyrics and song structures like these signify a band in control of its craft and with an exciting musical direction.


Slave Free established these guys as serious contenders with great songwriting and a powerhouse sound. This EP sees them make a huge step forward under the skillful production eye of Steve James - and engineer Sam Hannan has pulled some mighty sounds out of Rocking Horse Studios.


Some of these riffs sound so thick, it's as if the boys have laced up their guitars with fence wire. The feel is relaxed and the rhythm section tight. The vocals are fat and clear with more complex arrangements than they have used previously. In Can't Release The Pain a low, surging lead is answered with high, dense chorus responses and elsewhere throughout the EP, the vocals are front and centre of some creative, solid arrangements.


This is well-balanced set, with the changing tempos of Bleed and the killer riffs of I Need A Little More Time and Miss Match. Then there is my favourite, The March Of Misery - a hard rock swing tune with multi-layered, multi-harmonised walls of guitars laying it down for a yearning, creaming vocal which is up there with the best.


I strongly recommend you do yourself a favour. Get The "Head" and get rockin'.


chris neal
springboard records
avalon
- Chris Neal - Springboard Records

By Noel Mengel
April 01, 2009 11:00pm

THEY say the world is becoming a smaller place. Hard rock outfit Weapon Head are proving it.

They hail from Goondiwindi, population 5000, on the Queensland-NSW border, four hours drive from Brisbane, but they are kicking goals around the world with their new self-titled EP.

Which just goes to show, in the modern music business it's not where you live but what you have to say with your music that counts.

The band has never had any trouble attracting interest. In 2007 they were invited to the US to play at a festival featuring Alice Cooper, Dio and Black Sabbath.

They've been finalists in various songwriting competitions, including one in the UK where they made the final from 8000 entries. Three tracks from the EP featured in the top 10 on Triple J's Unearthed website last year, with March of Misery voted at No.1 in November.

The same tracks were picked up for use in Channel 10's Going Ballistyx snowboard show.

The band's drummer and lead singer Boris Billing says: "We hooked up three-and-a-half years ago. This has been the main musical project the four of us have been involved in and we just clicked from the start, we all had the same enthusiasm.

"We didn't want to play covers which is what a lot of bands do in the country. We had no interest in that and we've always pursued our original music."

The band recorded its debut album in Brisbane.

"That album got the attention of people in America," Billing says. "The promoter of the Locobazooka Festival in Massachusetts heard the music and said, 'If you're crazy enough to come over you've got the spot'.

"It's a long way from Goondi but we were there for 11 days, did a lead-up show and played the festival to 15,000 people so it was worth it."

The band, which also features bassist Drew Allen and identical twins and guitarists Steve and Dave Bishop, recorded Weapon Head at Rocking Horse Studios in Byron Bay with producer Steve James, who has worked with everyone from the Sex Pistols to Shihad in his career in the UK and Australia.

Billing says: "We got some great news this year when the editor of cdbaby.com contacted us and gave us a feature review on the front page of cdbaby, which is a fantastic thing for a band like us to get when they receive so many new CDs every week hoping for a review.

"It shows what it's possible to do out of a country town.

"We realise we need to travel to make it work but we can't see why we can't stay based here and still take our music to the world."

- The Courier Mail

SURGICAL SMILE is the new album from Weapon Head, a four-piece hard rock metal outfit from Queensland, Australia.


Produced by Steve James and recorded by Sam Hannan at Rocking Horse Studios in Byron Bay, this batch of 12 songs is a serious step up for this band.


Their first CD - SLAVE FREE (2007) established that these guys know where your rock button is .... and that they have no reticence about pressing the little sucker. Their eponymously titled 5-track EP (2008) saw them in the studio with James for the first time which produced a tighter sound with more meat in the songwriting and a more cohesive approach to their distinctive twin guitar chugging attack. Fat and filthy - just how we like it.


SURGICAL SMILE however, is something else again. This time they've hit on a formula which crosses a few genre lines. The music is still full of meaty riffs and searing vocals (Got No Money, Charade, Swanksta Gangsta, Lucifer's Lunch) but that's not all there is. I hesitate to call Bring Me Home, Let Go and Surgical Smile pop songs - they're much too heavy for that, but there is something catchy and even radio-friendly about these toons. March Of Misery is military swing metal with layered guitar harmony riffs while Bullshit Has No Sound and Got No Money are (for me, at least) what I would call classic Weapon Head. Rescue Me nods in the direction of modern metal and the cover of Cold Turkey is gorgeously grimy.


The mix of directions does not detract from the whole, however. On the contrary, this collection plays from one through twelve without a hiccup..........a few chunders for sure, but no hiccup. You know what I mean. These tracks are for hard rock enthusiasts. Head-bangers, metal heads and just plain heads. Rock out, drink beer and yell along.


There are memorable, singable lyrics -
"Saddle your high horse and gloss up your face - We must be beneath you we're so out of place - There is your ego that goes with your style - A couple of vals and a surgical smile".
There are provocative lyrics -
"So here I go again - A train is coming straight for me - My eyes are closed right now closed right now - The filth is all I see - Rescue me".


Ah yes, the filth.....the filth. It is eternally fascinating how this music can be so grubby yet somehow cleansing at the same time. What is it about riffy, metallic, hard rock when it is well executed? Has anybody ever explained it? I don't think so.


OK. It's time to come clean. I was asked to write a review of SURGICAL SMILE and the preceding paragraphs clearly cannot truly be called a review. Let's face it, a review has to show at least the pretense of objectivity.......this bit's good, that bit's bad......all grist to the mill of journalistic credibility. But the fact is....the problem is......I'm a frackin' fan, so how can I be bloody objective?


I loves me Oz Rock, you see and I listen to a lot of bands. But these guys are the full package. The goods. The shit.
They rock, they're tight and they've come up with a bunch of songs ready for the world stage. Most important of all, SURGICAL SMILE appeals to the wanker intellectual in me as well as the inner, snotty boofhead. Heaven.


Chris Neal
Rocker
Sydney
- Chris Neal - Springboard Records

WEAPONHEAD…caught my attention with their excellent material, an unusual focus on arrangement details, and progressive melodic hooks…sounds like the recipe for a hit to me..
Beau Hill - L.A Producer - Warrant, Twisted Sister, Ratt, Alice Cooper - Beau Hill