Dead Head

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Dead Head
Dead Head at Occultfest 2010
Background information
Origin	Kampen, Netherlands
Genres	Thrash metal
Years active	1989–present
Labels	Displeased
Website	deadhead.nl
Members	Robbie Woning Ronnie van der Wey Hans Spijker Tom van Dijk
Past members	Ralph de Boer Marco Kleinnibbelink Michiel Dekker Johan Wesdijk

Dead Head is a Dutch thrash metal band from the Dutch city Kampen. The band was formed in 1989 by the four original members Tom van Dijk (bass, vocals), Robbie Woning (guitar), Ronnie van der Wey (guitar), and Hans Spijker (drums).^[1] Their mission was to become the most intensive and brutal thrash-metal band Europe ever had seen. They were influenced by classic thrash metal bands like Dark Angel, Kreator and Sadus.

Since its debut record in 1991, the band has released five albums and one 10 inch.

History[]

Even in the beginning of their career Dead Head never cared about trends, they wanted to play aggressive fast thrash metal and made sure everyone heard it. Passing around 100% pure thrash flyers to promote the band wasn't the most ingenious marketing plan to promote the band when every aggressive metalfan only had interest in the newest thing in metal called "death metal". But ignoring that fact and doing the best they could at their live shows they even garnered a real death metal reputation.

After the demos Dead Head made in 1989 and 1990 they scored a record deal with the German company Rising Sun Records, they released Dead Head's first album, The Feast Begins at Dawn, in 1991. After the recordings for the debut-album Dead Head did a tour through Denmark with Edge of Sanity and Invocator, and played in Holland with Sepultura, Heathen, Skyclad, Candlemass, Suffocation, Sinister, Gorefest, Malevolent Creation and Grave.

Their original drummer Hans Spijker was replaced by Marco Kleinnibbelink in 1992. With their new drummer Dead Head started working on new material for their second album which resulted in the album Dream Deceiver in 1993. Before the release of that album Dead Head did a European tour with the band Massacra. During the tour Dead Head played with big names like Kreator and Biohazard in Belgium.

Dead Head at Occultfest 2010

'Kill Division', Dead Head's third album was put together in the original line-up as they began in 1989. Altogether, this album represents the band's roots more than anything, maybe except from playing live. The songs were recorded totally live. No bullshit whatsoever and show the band as it really is: raw and without any compromise.

It took a lot of time to write a sequel to 'Kill Division'. A lot of bands that formed later than 1989 released a lot of albums but Dead Head didn’t feel any pressure and kept releasing albums only if they really felt the urge. At first the band thought that there are already enough great CDs being released nowadays but changed their view and came to the statement that there are also a lot of bad CDs being released on the market. Their mission became to show the world what in their opinion was missing in the nu-metal days. With their fourth album, Haatland, the band did what they wanted to do: put out a straightforward aggressive thrash metal album that came from their hearts. The recording began in 2004 and the album was released in 2005 by critical acclaim.

The band began writing songs for new material in 2007 while doing only a few shows in the Netherlands. In 2008 they signed a record deal with the label Displeased Records. In April 2012 DeadHead announced the returning of the original frontman Tom van Dijk.

Band members[]

Hans Spijker at Occultfest 2010

Current members

• Tom van Dijk – bass guitar, lead vocals (1989–2008, 2012–present)
• Ronnie van der Wey – guitar (1989–present)
• Robbie Woning – guitar (1989–present)
• Hans Spijker – drums (1989–1992, 199?–present)

Former members

• Ralph de Boer – bass guitar, lead vocals (2008–2011)
• Marco Kleinnibbelink – drums (1992–199?)
• Michiel Dekker – bass guitar, lead vocals (199?–199?)

Discography[]

Albums

• 1991 – The Feast Begins at Dawn (Bad Taste Recordings)
• 1993 – Dream Deceiver (Bad Taste Recordings)
• 1999 – Kill Division (Cold Blood Industries)
• 2000 – Come to Salem (Unveiling the Wicked/Hammerheart)
• 2005 – Haatland (Extremity/GMR Music Group)
• 2009 – Depression Tank (Displeased Records)
• 2017 – Swine Plague (HammerHeart)

EPs

• 2004 – Dog God EP (Fadeless Records)

Demos

• 1989 – Double Live Tape
• 1990 – The Festering

References[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dead Head.

External links[]

• Official Dead Head website