The sleeve for Grey Hairs Schmey Hairs. Check the original here.
At the Gringo Records 15th Anniversary show at the Contemporary in June 2012 Grey Hairs kicked proceedings off with a characteristically face-melting, chaotic, explosively thrilling set. The climax of the band’s set was a cover of Harry Nilsson’s epic, cathartic wig-out, Jump Into The Fire.
There were two members of the Hello Thor Records team at that gig. Unfortunately one of them arrived too late to see Grey Hairs play and the other had drunk too much wine to remember it. Which is a shame, because they love that song. And Harry Nilsson. And Grey Hairs, for that matter.
Two years later, they’re finally making up for it, releasing Grey Hairs’ ace covers of Nilsson’s Jump Into The Fire and Coconut on yellow vinyl.
They’re celebrating the release with a special Nilsson Night this Friday (23 May) - including a screening of the documentary “Who Is Harry Nilsson (and why is everybody talkin’ about him)?” followed by the Grey Hairs single launch party at The Chameleon featuring White Finger and Nadir.
We caught up with Anders from Hello Thor and Chris from Grey Hairs to find out a bit more about the single and about the label and the band’s collective love for Harry Nilsson...
Tell us why you love Nilsson so much?
Anders: Harry Nilsson is, I believe, the most underrated songwriter and performer of all time. He lived a (musical) life that was full and rich and sublime. He should be celebrated as a music legend. His vocal and songwriting range was incredible. He made tender ballads, plaintive country, gut-punchingly good garage rabble rock, novelty songs that weren’t annoying as all hell...he even found time to record a song with a tipsy OAP choir with the lyric "I'd rather be dead, than wet the bed.
If you only buy one Nilsson album what should it be?
Anders: You would be a fool to only buy one Nilsson album, but if you did, it would HAVE to be Nilsson Schmilsson. I genuinely believe that a house is not a home until it has a copy of Nilsson Schmilsson in it - it’s a gem. From blissful raw RnB to bizarre calypso to the inspired mayhem that is Jump into the Fire, to an absolutely belting version of Badfinger’s Without You - it’s all over the place and shows off the breadth of Harry’s talent so well. Plus, it starts with this little beauty...
How did Grey Hairs come to record two Nilsson covers.
Chris: Around the time we started doing Grey Hairs as a band, most Friday or Saturday nights would end up with us in someone's front room listening to records and just moaning about stuff like Statler and Waldorf from The Muppets. It was somewhat repetitious and highly depressing. At some point on one such night, Nilsson Schmilsson was put on and, in the middle of this LP, the song Jump Into The Fire emerged from the speakers at high volume. It sounded like the greatest piece of recorded music ever, a blast of pure 70s high-budget "jam in the studio" lunacy. A half-baked, half-understood vamp that somehow transcends it's origin and becomes Exhibit A in the case for "instinct over skill". Furniture was upturned. Cans were spilled.
Halfway through the track the bassist Herbie Flowers (who also played the bass on Walk On The Wild Side) figures he's entering the fade-out and, to get himself out of playing any more, detunes the strings on his bass, only for Nilsson to launch into another verse. It is righteously unhinged from start to finish and it immediately became something of a mascot for future endeavours. We hatched plans to cover the entire album and make a documentary called "In search of Herbie Flowers" where we'd track said bassist down and make him play the bassline for 24 hours. These plans were scaled back to us just covering the song live which we did, badly, and then we subsequently recorded it and here we are.
If I'm ever asked what being in a band is like I point people to the scene in Goodfellas where Henry is trying to do 400 things at once, constantly on the verge of a severe meltdown. Scorcese picked the perfect soundtrack...
Anders: When Grey Hairs mentioned that they’d not only recorded a version of Jump Into The Fire but also a cover of Coconut, we jumped at the chance to release it. Mainly because it sounds totally awesome. And our label is five years old this year and we haven‘t yet released a song with a drum solo in it.
Watch the trailer for Who Is Harry Nilsson (and why is everybody talkin’ about him)?
Nilsson Night is on Friday 23rd May 2014. At 18:00 there will be a screening of Who Is Harry Nilsson (and why is everyone talking about him) at Broadway, followed at 20:00 by the Grey Hairs Schmey Hairs 7" launch gig at The Chameleon with live music from Grey Hairs, White Finger and Nadir. More information is on the Facebook event.
Pre-order Grey Hairs Schmey Hairs from Hello Thor Records
Listen to Grey Hairs on Bandcamp
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