By David DeRocco

 Scientists claim the universe formed 13.8 billion years ago with the “big bang.” HEADSTONES fans recall a more formative but equally explosive big bang occurring just 25 years ago. The date was June 1^st, 1993, when a massive blast of solid rock called “When Something Stands for Nothing” arrived like a meteor to light up the airwaves of Canadian rock radio.

 With the first single from their debut release PICTURE OF HEALTH, the band signaled their intent to infuse some hardcore punk sensibility into an otherwise tame mainstream Canadian rock scene. Lead by the sneering vocal of front man Hugh Dillon, the razor-sharp guitar of Trent Carr, and the relentless bass attack of Tim White, HEADSTONES delivered one of the best debut albums ever released in this country. Songs like “Losing Control,” “Heart of Darkness,” “Three Angels,” “Judy,” and “Cemetery” tackled subjects from addiction to necrophilia, while the blunt force of the music provided a perfect counterpunch to the lyrically-driven pop rock melodies of such 90s Canadian counterparts as The Odds, Sloan, Spirit of The West and Bare Naked Ladies.

 To celebrate the anniversary and remastered reissue of PICTURE OF HEATH, the current line-up – the three original members along with Steve Carr, Rickferd Van Dyk and Jesse Labovitz – is mounting an ever-increasing string of shows on a tour that brings them home to Thorold’s Moose and Goose November 2^nd. Both Tim and Trent took time to talk with GoBeWeekly.com about the band’s early days, lessons learned during their break-up and the joys of sobriety.

GoBe: June 1st, 2018 marked 25 years since you released PICTURE OF HEALTH, and even longer since the band first came together. What are your recollections of those formative years. Were you gigging regularly? What was happening for the band prior to getting signed.

TRENT: It started around ’86. There was a large group of musician friends starting to jam and dream about being in a band and getting a record deal. That was also the very early stages of the grunge era. There was a real do-it-yourself attitude and punk mentality, an anti major-label community of people who thought like that. We felt the drive. There were about 10 to 15 people in different variations of this band at one point. It slowly whittled away to four, then a couple of those fell away to be replaced by others. Then we finally got noticed by Kim Carpenter at MCA at a gig and he decided he was going to sign us.

 GoBe: What was the common denominator for those who remained.

 TRENT: It was about creating cool music that we were all into. But it was also a lifestyle of just annihilation (laughing)

 GoBe: I was really in tune with the Niagara club scene back then but don’t remember hearing anything about HEADSTONES until that first single dropped in the summer of ‘93. How far from Kingston did you travel for gigs back then.

 TRENT: Yea, we were on the outskirts of that scene back then. Do you remember the band 13 Engines? Our drummer was their roommate. The Rheostatics were a big band around that time. We were hanging around that scene a lot. The Lawn, Lowest of the Low. We’d go to the Rivoli and The Horseshoe.

 GoBe: So you were gigging as far as Toronto back then.

 TRENT: We started around ’88, ’89, still playing tiny little places like Sneaky Dee’s on College. The Paddock.

 GoBe: Was there a time prior to signing that deal with MCA that the band was convinced you were all part of something special, that you’d found the right band.

 TRENT: The band itself, the four of us, we felt we were doing something right. We were big fans of ourselves (laughing). We definitely weren’t part of any scene though. We definitely felt like we were a bit of an outsider to all that.

 TIM: It kind of felt the other bands were Queen Street darlings in a bit of a way. We were like the ugly cousin that no one wanted to invite to the party. We had the best songs though, so it was kind of funny.

 GoBe: What do you remember about the negotiations and signing with MCA. Were you just wide-eyed and ready to sign, or did you put up a tough Headstone-style negotiation.

 TRENT: The only savvy thing we did was have a manager who’d been through it before. We were definitely wide-eyed and didn’t know what we were doing. It turned out as a pretty fine deal. We didn’t get screwed or anything.

 GoBe: When you went into the studio to record did you have a ton of songs, or just the ones that are now all included on the reissue of Picture of Health.

 TRENT: I think we cut maybe two or three that didn’t make it. Actually there are some on this reissue. Looking back I don’t know why they were cut really. They’re cool songs.

 GoBe: Was it an easy album to record. What did producer Mark Berry bring to the sessions. How instrumental was his role in shaping that first record.

 TIM: I think he, and this is always a thing with bands, you always need someone driving the ship. Whether it’s the band themselves if they’re experienced enough, then they can do it. If you’re a young band you need a producer to just kind of helm everything. It was great because Mark Berry had a lot of experience. We was a producer for hire and he just did his thing with us. He created a really cohesive record and didn’t let us get too self-indulgent. He kept us on the straight and narrow in terms of performance. In retrospect, it was a good experience to have him there to guide the first record because he gave us an understanding of how someone can make something good and keep it on time and under budget and all those things. Later on when we were spending colossal amounts of money we knew that we were spending colossal amounts of money (laughing).

 GoBe: So the first album was pretty much all business.

 TIM: That record was made for under $40,000 I think, which is pretty awesome.

 GoBe: Was there consensus in choosing the first single, or was “Something Stands for Nothing” always pegged to be the first release.

 TRENT: I don’t think we had any objectivity as to what should be a single on that first record. Looking back I feel like I was totally naïve on what a single is. That was totally the record company saying this is the song that should go out.

 GoBe: I’m kind of biased because Headstones are my favourite Canadian band, but I was doing the research on the album and had to laugh at the competition you had at the time of your release. The single peaked at #71 on the RPM singles charts and it didn’t go platinum until 1999. The best new group Juno the year of your debut went to The Waltons. The top Canadian singles that year included “Informer” by Snow and some ballads from Jeff Healy, Alannah Myles, Brian Adams and “Harvest Moon” by Neil Young. Did reaction – or lack of reaction – to that first album kind of galvanize the fighting spirt the band has always had to say, we’re a kick-ass band, we’re going earn our place here and F the competition.

 TRENT: It was definitely not a conscious thought but we did believe after we did a couple tours across Canada that, when it comes to what we do, there’s no one that can touch us. We’re not competing with anybody. We just wanted to take it to the limit.

 TIM: It wasn’t until some of the other 90s rock bands came around and grunge was happening that we felt we were more a part of something. Right at the beginning, we definitely felt like we were part of a new wave of rock that was going to answer to all this corporate stuff that was happening.

 GoBe: It certainly was exciting from a radio perspective. I remember sitting in on a music meeting at HTZ-FM, listening to those first few singles roll out and saying ‘this is exactly what this station needs.” For you as producers of the music, where does this album rate for in terms of the Headstones catalogue.

 TRENT: It definitely is up there. There is something about any band’s first record, when they come from the garage or the street, whatever you want to call it, before there was any polish or any idea that you could actually do it. You’re just writing songs. That first record encapsulates those moments. That’s true for any band. You can’t do that on the second record. Any band’s first record is special and you realize that. There’s something about the magic of the first record that people latch onto. It’s why playing it again has been great. It’s like, let’s play the whole thing start to finish and respect the legacy of the album and see how it goes. It turns out to be a pretty fun performance. When you play it start to finish it feels like a complete thing.

 GoBe: There definitely is a cohesive feel to those songs and that album from start to finish. Were there any songs from the album that you hadn’t played live before that you had to relearn for the tour.

 TIM: Yea, a couple of them. Probably four or five of them, we realized we probably hadn’t played for 20 years. So there was relearning those. That was kind of fun. It was fun to listen to and figure it out again. There were some parts that I had played that I had to listen to as though they were somebody else’s parts. If we were to remake that album now a lot of us would make different choices in how we approached it.

 GoBe: Do you find that going back and revisiting the album makes you question its perfection.

 TIM: It’s hard to say. It’s like Trent was saying before. You can’t put yourself back in that place of naïveté and inexperience. You didn’t think about it that much. You just did what you had to do. I think we’d consider our parts more and spend more time messing around with them.

 TREVOR: Yes, you’d just be vomiting your ideas out back then, and then you’d just go with it.

 TIM: (Laughing) Yes, we can’t puke like we used to

 GoBe: Well, you probably don’t have the same influences causing you to puke as you used to. Thankfully, you’ve survived those times long enough to see those 1994 Juno winners disappear, while Headstones are still touring and releasing great albums like your last one, Little Army. What perspective have you gained as a result of your longevity, being in a band that has survived 25 years.

TRENT: We really feel like we’ve found a different way to exist in a way. We went from basically the ‘80s until 2003 doing it one way, which was a lot of alcohol and being irresponsible in all kind of different ways without thinking about consequences too much. Then we went through some changes through the breakup. I don’t want to sound like Dr. Phil here, but you figure out a little more of who you are. We learned to appreciate each other a lot more. When we came back in 2011, we became better friends in a lot of ways, respecting each other a lot more. It’s hard to describe. When you say it like that it’s like, ‘yea, that didn’t really happen.’ But it kind of did. (laughing).

TIM: I would say even on Little Army, the respect has continued to go up. Ultimately we all just want to make the best songs, and that’s what it’s all about rather than thinking about this is my idea or whatever. We don’t have any infighting anymore.

TRENT: When you think that all of us are sober now and people say aw, they used to be crazy, fucked up. What happens when you take away the alcohol and stuff is, it actually hones the anger. It hones those feelings that you had when you were wasted and they’re now fine-tuned and focused. (laughing).

GoBe: So if either of you were betting men, would you bet that fans could find you touring Little Army 25 years from now.

TIM: Nope (laughing.) You never know. If you’d asked me in 2003 if we’d ever get together again I would have also say no. You just never know.