Tackhead

Tackhead arose from a potent alliance between the rhythm section of Keith LeBlanc, Skip McDonald, and Doug Wimbish and the iconoclastic producer Adrian Sherwood, fusing taut funk, hip-hop-style grooves, and dub-wise electro-industrial menace. LeBlanc, McDonald, and Wimbish first established their standing as the studio musicians behind several early rap classics. Sherwood brought the trio onto one of his On-U Sound projects, sparking a chain of joint efforts that produced Tackhead’s debut proper album, 1989’s Friendly as a Hand Grenade. Their initial run concluded in 1991, yet assorted lineups kept collaborating until the full group reconvened for the 2014 album For the Love of Money.

Guitarist Skip McDonald, bassist Doug Wimbish, and drummer Keith LeBlanc began their partnership in the late ’70s as the house band for numerous Sugar Hill Records rap releases, crafting the grooves for the Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight” and Grandmaster Flash’s “The Message” and “White Lines.” In October 1983 LeBlanc achieved a minor hit and international notice with “No Sell Out,” layering samples from a Malcolm X speech over a driving hip-hop track. British producer and dub remixer Adrian Sherwood, founder of the On-U Sound label, encountered LeBlanc in New York and invited him to collaborate. LeBlanc, McDonald, and Wimbish moved to England and quickly became Sherwood’s preferred rhythm section for On-U releases, among them albums by Mark Stewart & Maffia and Gary Clail. In 1985 the three issued the first of several singles as Fats Comet, then adopted the name Tackhead for the single “What’s My Mission Now,” with Sherwood layering found voices and electronics onto their hard-edged playing. The same team recorded LeBlanc’s 1986 solo album Major Malfunction, while sessions supporting Gary Clail surfaced in 1987 as Tackhead Tape Time, credited to Gary Clail’s Tackhead Sound System.

In 1989—the same year LeBlanc issued his second solo album, Stranger Than Fiction—Tackhead delivered their first proper LP, Friendly as a Hand Grenade, on TVT Records. The record introduced a fifth member, vocalist Bernard Fowler, replacing Sherwood’s customary vocal samples. The following year Tackhead signed with the EMI-distributed SBK label and released the more rock-oriented Strange Things, featuring guest spots from rapper Melle Mel and Mick Jagger on harmonica. Commercial results fell short of expectations, and although LeBlanc, McDonald, and Wimbish continued contributing to On-U Sound System projects, no new Tackhead material appeared for many years. Between 1994 and 1997 the group issued rarities, outtakes, and live recordings under the name Power, Inc. A 2004 reunion tour covered the United States and Europe, followed in 2006 by Sherwood’s compilation Tackhead Sound Crash: Slash & Mix Adrian Sherwood. Another reunion in 2013 yielded the covers collection For the Love of Money on the German label Dude Records. In 2016 the limited-edition set The Message gathered Tackhead and Fats Comet tracks remixed by Robo Bass Hifi (aka German producer Markus Kammann). The Echo Beach label released another rarities collection, The Lost Tapes 1 & Remixes, in 2018. The complete band reunited one final time in 2022 for three shows in the U.K. as part of On-U Sound’s 40th-anniversary events.

Beyond Tackhead, McDonald has recorded as Little Axe, Wimbish maintains an active session career and performs with Living Colour, Fowler has issued two solo albums and regularly provides backing vocals for the Rolling Stones both live and in the studio, and LeBlanc continued releasing solo material until his death on April 4, 2024, at age 70.