Friday, January 10, 8 p.m.
The Rust Belt, 533 12th Avenue, East Moline IL
Praised by AllMusic.com for their “intriguing and quite effective blend of hard melodic rock with progressive rock tendencies and awesome vocal arrangements,” the musicians of the iconic rock ensemble Head East play a special concert at East Moline's the Rust Belt on January 10, performing more than a half-century after the band's formation and eight years after being inducted into the Iowa Rock 'n' Roll Music Association's Hall of Fame.
A five-piece outfit composed of founding member Roger Boyd (keyboards), Greg Manahan (bass and lead guitar), Glen Bridger (lead guitar), Eddy Jones (drums), and Darren Walker (lead vocals and bass), Head East originated in East Central Illinois when Boyd and two of the band's co-founders, in 1969, were students at the University of Illinois. After several years of local gigs, the musicians recorded their first album Flat as a Pancake in 1974 at Golden Voice Recording Studio in South Pekin, releasing it on Head East's own label Pyramid Records. All 5,000 records and 500 eight-tracks produced were quickly sold, and several Midwestern radio stations, chief among them KSHE 95 in St. Louis and KY-102 in Kansas City, began airing cuts from the album, among them the single that would eventually become Head East's signature song: “Never Been Any Reason.” Record label A&M consequently re-released Flat as a Pancake in 1975, and the album reached gold-sales status by 1978, spawning another hit in the song “Love Me Tonight.”
With 13 albums to the group's credit, Head East enjoyed additional Billboard hits in Get Yourself Up, Gettin' Lucky, A Different Kind of Crazy, and the pairing of Head East and Head East Live!, with the musicians' “Never Been Any Reason” a rock anthem so iconic that it's featured on the soundtrack to the coming-of-age-in-the-'70s classic Dazed & Confused. Head East songs have also been heard in the Matthew McConaughey adventure Sahara and the Emmy-winning television series Friday Night Lights and That '70s Show, while the band's most recent album Raise a Little Hell inspired Classic Rock Revisited to rave, “Head East was, in, and will always remain a living example of the live energy that their era of rock and roll is famous for.” Playing between 30 and 40 tour stops per year, the band is currently performing in support of its 50th anniversary, with founding member Boyd saying of the group's future, “As long as I can lift my synthesizer over my head and the audience goes wild, we'll keep rockin' on!”
Head East plays the Rust Belt on January 10 with an opening set by Rolling Thunder, admission to the 8 p.m. concert is $20, and more information and tickets are available by visiting TheRustBeltQC.com.
