Musicians - Mick Head

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	Musicians - Mick Head

Michael Head (born in Kensington) often called Mick Head, is a British musician from Liverpool. He is most famous as the lead singer and songwriter for Shack and The Strands, both of which also feature his younger brother John. Though the band never acheived mainstream success, they have a strong following and NME have described him as "a lost genius and among the most gifted British songwriters of his generation".

Head first gained attention a member of cult indie-pop band The Pale Fountains in the early 1980s with his best friend Chris "Biffa" McCaffrey. The band suffered from critical and commercial apathy, and the band split. Shortly afterwards, McCaffrey died of a brian tumour. In 1986, Head formed Shack with John on lead guitar, Peter Wilkinson on bass and Mick Hurst on drums. .

The group debuted in 1988 with Zilch, falling victim to the commercial indifference which earlier plagued the Pale Fountains' career. The follow-up, Waterpistol, was recorded in 1991 at London's Star Street Studio, but shortly after the finished disc was mixed the studio burned to the ground, and the completed master was lost. Producer Chris Allison had the only surviving copy of the album, but unaware of the fire he accidentally left the tape in a rental car while in the U.S.; upon returning to the U.K. and learning of the studio's fate he managed to contact the rental car company and rescue the DAT, but the record company had collapsed and there was no one to ditribute it.

Waterpistol was not released until 1995, by which point Shack had split up. After touring for a while with childhood heroes Love, Head went on to form the Strands, again with brother John on guitar. In 1997 they released the critically acclaimed album The Magical World of the Strands. The siblings reformed Shack soon after with bassist Ren Parry and drummer lain Templeton, returning in 1999 with HMS Fable and Here's Tom With the Weather (2003). They are now signed to Noel Gallagher's "Sour Mash" label.

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