Revisiting Crazyhead's Desert Orchid

Late 80s garage punk brilliance

I have no idea how I discovered Crazyhead. At some point in 1988 I came across their third single, Time Has Taken Its Toll On You, and liked it enough to buy it on 10” vinyl¹. A few months later I bought their debut album Desert Orchid and loved it. They were a band who played an updated version of dirty garage rock, different to the grebo indie bands of the time.

Crazyhead formed in 1986 in Leicester, in the midland, with a nice, eclectic bunch of names in the band: Anderson on vocals, Kev Reverb and Fast Dick on guitars, Porkbeast on bass and Vom on drums.

Their first album, Desert Orchid, is an absolute blast, full of crunching, overdriven garage punk, clearly influenced by bands like The Sonics, The Standells and Count Five.