American Head Charge

American Head Charge biography

American Head Charge (often referred to as Head Charge or abbreviated AHC) is an industrial metal band from Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, earning nominations at the Kerrang! Awards on two occasions.

History

Formation

Early incarnations of the band sported the monikers Flux, Gestapo Pussy Ranch, and Warsaw Ghetto Pussy, although these were short-lived. The name Flux was already adopted by another band and so was dropped due to fear from copyright infringement and libel, while the latter names were abandoned within a period of six months so as not to alienate prospective label interest. "I'm a fan of 3-word names", Hanks reflected in a December 2001 Livewire interview. In reference to the current band moniker, he confessed; "It means nothing. No meaning by it. Pretty much that purpose right there." Although sometimes speculated that their name was taken from Adrian Sherwood's famous dub label On-U Sound act African Head Charge, which was formed in the early 1980s, it is in fact a coincidence. Chad Hanks remarked in an interview before they were signed that "It turns out that there is actually a band called African Head Charge; it's so hard to be original these days."

Trepanation

After settling on the name American Head Charge, the band made their debut on the underground fringes of the industrial metal scene with their 1999 independent self-released album Trepanation. The personnel on this album saw Heacock and Hanks (now respectively re-christened Martin Cock and Banks) joined by guitarist David Rogers, Peter Harmon on drums, and Christopher Emery on keyboards/samplers.

Further exposure came through two track offerings to Dwell Records tribute albums, namely in homage to industrial bands Ministry and Marilyn Manson. Second guitarist Wayne Kile and keyboard players Justin Fowler and Aaron Zilch joined the quintets ranks during mid/late 1999.

After supporting System of a Down in Des Moines, Iowa in August 1999, System of a Down's Shavo Odadjian was impressed enough that when label head Rick Rubin asked Shavo if there were any bands he should check out, he told Rick about American Head Charge. Six months later the band was offered a record deal with Rick's American Recordings, then under the Columbia Records umbrella.

The War of Art

After the local success of Trepanation and the band's signing to American Recordings in 2000, the band moved to Los Angeles to begin work on their first major label album with producer Rick Rubin at the helm, living and recording at the infamous Rubin-owned Houdini Mansion. The War of Art, released August 28, 2001, sold over 12,000 copies in the United States in its first week. However, like many "heavy" bands at the time, sales of the album suffered immediately after the 9/11 attacks.

American Head Charge, commencing a live schedule in support of their major label debut, began their professional touring experience on Ozzy Osbourne's 2001 Ozzfest, playing 3rd on the "Second Stage" for the entire tour. They then snagged a slot upon the "Pledge of Allegiance" festival tour, headlined by bands like Slipknot, Mudvayne, Rammstein and System of a Down. Guitarist Dave Rogers marked their concluding show of this tour in New Jersey by wholly playing the concert performance naked; this led to his subsequent arrest after the performance. In December 2001, the band co-supported Slayer alongside Ohio metalcore band Chimaira for the first two months of the American "God Hates Us All" tour. Following shows were headlined by Kittie, hardcore punk band Biohazard, and Texan stoner rockers Speedealer, preceding a 4 month Scandinavian/European/UK/Japanese tour headlined by Slipknot. Additional bands they've toured with include Coal Chamber, Ministry, Gravity Kills, Hatebreed, Static-X, Mudvayne, and Otep.

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