Head On: These San Francisco Rockers Have A Plan!

Originally published in Rave-Up #7 (1983)

By Devorah Ostrov

If we'd been CREEM, this pic of Mark, James & Frankie would've been

used for a "Star's Cars" feature. And it would've had a funny caption.

Photo: Devorah Ostrov

Not many bands can incur wrath the way Head On seems to do. One particularly nasty oldster (whose band we won't mention 'cause they're crap) had the nerve to compare Frankie's hair to something resembling a "bird's nest." Meanwhile, comments like, "What the fuck do you wear eyeliner for?" and "You look so '70s," are common. Still, in much the same youthful, drunken, fuck-it-all tradition of the New York Dolls, Head On pay no attention to these idiots and carry on having fun!

* * *

D.J. and Frankie
Photo: Devorah Ostrov

Rave-Up: With the plan being to land a major recording deal soon, are you hoping to break out of the San Francisco club scene?

Frankie: Oh, God yes!

James: Yeah! Clubs are okay sometimes, but we just play too many of them all the time. We get tired of it, and people get tired of seeing us. But since we don't have any product out, it's kind of difficult.

Frankie: I'd like to just see how we do with a crowd we've never played for, 'cause we've played and sort of manipulated a lot of these people in the Bay Area.

Rave-Up: How did it go when you were opening for groups like Ted Nugent and Cheap Trick?

Mark: It all depends on where it was. When we played in Stockton with Ted Nugent, it was like... We were expecting to be massacred! But those people don't get shows out there that often, and so here's somebody called Head On that opens up for Ted Nugent — they must be SOMEBODY! Then, when we opened for Cheap Trick... I mean, how often does Humboldt get shows? The crowd went NUTS! This sounds kind of conceited, but there were girls over on James' side of the stage and they were screaming, shaking their heads, and putting their hands on their cheeks. It looked like Beatlemania!

Head On circa summer 1983. L-R: Mark Bergland, Howard Teman,
D.J. Nicholson, James Ray, and Frankie Wilsey
Photo: Devorah Ostrov

Rave-Up: Since it was going so well, why didn't you keep going in that direction?

Mark: Well, it's really hard to say. People try to pin that thing on us — "Well, you had the ball and you dropped it." But I don't know where we would've gotten more shows like those. Those shows that we got were LUCK!

Howard and James

Photo: Devorah Ostrov

James: Every year that we've been together, we've set a goal and we've made it. When we first got together we said, "By February," or whatever, "we're going to be playing the Old Waldorf." So, we did. Then we said, "Let's open up for somebody big," and we got Ted Nugent, Cheap Trick, and Joe Perry. Then we said, "Let's put out some kind of a product," and we did a flexi-disc. We wanted to sell out a club, so we sold out a club. But those steps seem to have come a lot easier than this step [putting out an album]. A lot of times, the public doesn't realize that a band is taking steps, and if it takes them a long time, they'll forget about you. All you know about a band is what you read about them or see about them.

Rave-Up: Still, you are one of the few local bands with a strong following.

Frankie: Which surprises me! It's weird. We play dancy music, but nobody dances. We always discuss it... "This song had a good dancy feel when we were writing it." We'll play it pretty dancy, but NOBODY will bop or anything. It seems like they just sit sort of bewildered. Just like, "Wow, these guys are weird!"

Rave-Up: Do you guys get harassed because of the way you look?

Early promo photo featuring bassist Rick Tweed
Head On logo designed by Ricky McMinn
Photo: Dennis Callahan

Mark: Oh God, do we get shit! I work at a record store, and it's fine while I'm in there, but once I set foot out of that store... Yesterday, some lady came into the store and asked my manager what ear [for an earring] it was that meant gay, right? He goes, "Well, I don't know." And she goes, "Well, I'm not coming any further!" And she turned around and walked out of the store.

Rave-Up: She thought you were gay?

Frankie Wilsey
Photo: Devorah Ostrov

Mark: Yeah. It kind of gets unnerving. You get really caught up in it, y'know. If you're in a bad mood and somebody starts laughing at you... I mean, you'd think that people would not be that cruel to outright laugh in your face. But it happens.

James: I even get it and I look normal! But when I go out, people just look at me like, "God, you're fucking weird!" It just bugs me when you go into a place and you get, "Queer! Faggot! FREAK!"

Frankie: Myself, I wear make-up all the time. I wear eyeliner practically every day; it's just a habit. It's something I've done for a long time. People will notice it more if I'm not wearing any. They won't say nothing when I'm wearing it, but when I don't wear it, it's "HEY!"

Rave-Up: Has the band always been as image-conscious as it is now?

Frankie: We were something acceptable in the beginning. We were a little more acceptable in the way of say, dress and our sound. We were a little on the "macho" side. Not so much metal, it was more of just a "macho" thing. We've changed to appeal to ourselves.

Mark and James

Photo: Devorah Ostrov

Mark: It's kind of funny, the whole look thing. I used to have really long hair, and everyone was, "Hey! Rock 'n' roll!" Then I cut it off, and EVERYBODY gave me shit! They're all going, "Where's your defiance?" I'm going, "You're looking at it right here!" I defied THEM by cutting my hair! And they really got all bent out of shape 'cause I didn't look like them! People still ask me, "Are you gonna grow your hair long again?" I just go, "Fuck off, pal!" I look the way I wanna look. That's the way rock 'n' roll is to me!

Rave-Up: Do you have a hard time separating your real personalities from the way your fans see you — always partying, always drunk, living the rock 'n' roll lifestyle?

James: We're not ALWAYS drunk! That's Frankie! He's living the rock n' roll lifestyle for all of us.

The band hold a meeting in the vacant lot adjacent to Rave-Up HQ.

Photo: Devorah Ostrov

Mark: He's living the cliché rock 'n' roll lifestyle — on the street, in the worst part of town. But it all depends on what side of rock 'n' roll you want to live. I really live for the music. I write lots of songs, not just songs that we play. My songs are my emotions because I have a hard time displaying my emotions. The music for me goes a lot deeper than... I live at home, and for me that's fine. I like living in a nice surrounding. I like having a place to call home. I live rock 'n' roll when I'm playing, and my home life is very different.

Mark & D.J.

Photo: Devorah Ostrov

Rave-Up: One last thing, tell us about your version of the New York Dolls' song "Trash."

Frankie: "Trash" was a little bit shaky in the beginning. I said, "The kids are gonna love that!" Just hearing the word "TRASH!" They don't even care what I'm singing during the verses, as long as they hear "TRASH!" They can relate to that. It reminds them of their girlfriend, or their day, or their job, or school... A lot of the time, I don't even know what David [Johansen] is saying in the verses. I say the same thing over and over. I had it down in the beginning, but we've done it so many times that I've lost it. I just start babbling anything. I used to love it when they [the fans] thought I'd wrote it.

Rave-Up #7 - cover boy Frankie 
Wilsey made our readers swoon.

Photo: Devorah Ostrov

* Many thanks to Rave-Up pen pal Connie Wallace who kept her copy of issue #7 and very kindly forwarded this interview to me.

* For more information about Head On, check out their Facebook page. Here's a link:  https://www.facebook.com/HEAD-ON