Spaceheads

Spaceheads formed as a drum-and-trumpet duo built around percussionist Richard Harrison and trumpeter Andy Diagram. Their output fuses disparate approaches that shift between daring experimentation and steady, rhythm-centered passages. The pair first connected in 1989 when Diagram and Harrison began improvising after rehearsals with separate jazz groups in the Manchester region. They staged occasional joint shows without establishing any formal arrangement. The next year they cut the Pay Me My Money Down EP, using multi-tracking to assemble an expansive brass sound. The release sold out, leading them to issue the full-length cassette Ho! Fat Wallet before the close of that same year. Although they kept playing together, their first public concert did not occur until 1993, when they deployed several brass loops to stage the performances. The same method carried into 1994, highlighted by a widely noticed appearance with Aphex Twin. The following year brought their debut full-length compact disc, a self-titled collection of live and studio pieces, which they backed with a tour. In 1996 they crisscrossed Europe and the United States, taping material for the Round the Outside album at radio stations along the way. Their first video, "Shoot the Boss," received modest airplay on MTV Europe while the duo maintained its touring schedule. By 1998 they had played multiple European improv festivals as well as Terrastock II in San Francisco, and they also reissued Ho! Fat Wallet on CD with the Pay Me My Money Down EP included as bonus material. Angel Station appeared in 1999; continued road work soon returned them to the United States. Recordings from that tour were later assembled into a live album, yet the pair chose to scale back its schedule in order to begin the "Universal Head Expansion" series of releases that featured guest musicians. The opening entry, The Time of the Ancient Astronaut, paired them with sound artist Max Eastley. They simultaneously prepared an album limited to their own instrumentation that surfaced in 2002 as Low Pressure.