Dieselhed was a

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

-based band, originally from

Arcata, California Arcata (; Wiyot language, Wiyot: ''Goudi’ni''; Yurok language, Yurok: ''Oket'oh'') is a city adjacent to the Arcata Bay (northern) portion of Humboldt Bay (United States), Humboldt Bay in Humboldt County, California, Humboldt County, Californ ...

.Prato, Greg. " Dieselhed: Biography,

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

. Retrieved May 22, 2010.

Early career

Dieselhed formed in 1989 in Arcata, California later moving to San Francisco, California, playing a blend of country, punk, and pseudo-classic rock.Beal, Jim Jr. (September 23, 1994). "Night Lights: Alternative", ''

San Antonio Express-News The ''San Antonio Express-News'' is a daily newspaper in San Antonio, Texas. It is owned by the Hearst Corporation and has offices in San Antonio and Austin, Texas. The ''Express-News'' is the third largest newspaper in the state of Texas, with ...

'', p. E22. Drummer Heifetz spread his time between Dieselhed and the genre-bending experimentalists

Mr. Bungle Mr. Bungle is an American experimental rock band formed in Eureka, California in 1985. Having gone through many incarnations throughout their career, the band is best known for music created during their most experimental era. During this time, ...

. Singer-songwriter

Virgil Shaw Virgil Shaw is an American singer-songwriter based in San Francisco. Shaw spent his early life in Fairfax, California. He released two country rock albums in the early 2000s, ''Quad Cities'' and ''Still Falling''. Early career He began his caree ...

previously played in Arcata outfit Brent's T.V. Bassist Ellis had been a founding member of the local disbanded

funk rock Funk rock is a fusion genre that mixes elements of funk and rock. James Brown and others declared that Little Richard and his mid-1950s road band, The Upsetters, were the first to put the funk in the rock and roll beat, with a biographer sta ...

band Psychefunkapus, and

Jonathan Segel Jonathan Segel (born September 3, 1963) is an American composer and multi-instrumentalist. He has played with Camper Van Beethoven, Sparklehorse, Eugene Chadbourne, and Dieselhed. Early life and education Segel was born in Marseille, France, and ...

was a former member of local indie-faves

Camper Van Beethoven Camper Van Beethoven is an American rock band formed in Redlands, California in 1983, later based in Santa Cruz and San Francisco. Their style mixes elements of pop, ska, punk rock, folk, alternative country, and world music. The band init ...

. The band signed a recording contract with independent label

Amarillo Records Amarillo Records was an independent record label owned by Gregg Turkington that operated out of San Francisco, California, from 1992 to 2001. The label specialized in releasing experimental rock music and comedy records. It released several sol ...

in the early 1990s. Dieselhed released three full-length albums for Amarillo while maintaining a national touring schedule throughout the 90s, often accompanied by road manager John Tynan. Dieselhed's self-titled 1993 debut was received well, leading to a modest spurt of college radio airplay. The band wound up selling out Amarillo's first two pressings of the album. Their second album, ''Tales of a Brown Dragon'', came out in 1995 and helped to expand their growing fan base. Dieselhed became regulars at the

SXSW South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Te ...

music festival held each year in

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

. Their third album, 1997's ''Shallow Water Blackout'', was produced by

Dwight Yoakam Dwight David Yoakam (born October 23, 1956) is an American singer-songwriter, actor, and film director. He first achieved mainstream attention in 1986 with the release of his debut album '' Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc.''. Yoakam had considerab ...

engineer

Dusty Wakeman Donald "Dusty" Wakeman is an American rock/country music producer and engineer based in Burbank, California. Wakeman is also credited as a bass player on many recordings. Dusty has worked with Dwight Yoakam, Lucinda Williams, Jim Lauderdale, Buck ...

. Dieselhed followed their 1997 release with two U.S. tours opening for

Link Wray Fred Lincoln "Link" Wray Jr. (May 2, 1929 – November 5, 2005) was an American guitarist, songwriter, and vocalist who became popular in the late 1950s. ''Rolling Stone'' placed Wray at No. 45 of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. In 2013 ...

. For these dates Ellis and Heifitz would return to the stage after their opening set each night to back Wray. The two would go on to become Wray's regular backing band from 1997 to 2003.

Later years

In 1998 Dieselhed signed a new contract with

Bong Load Records Bong Load Records is an independent record label originally based in Los Angeles which was founded by producers Tom Rothrock and Rob Schnapf and partner Bradshaw Lambert. Much of the Bong Load Records catalog is released in small quantities. Sev ...

, a label still riding the success of their recording and release of

Beck Beck David Hansen (born Bek David Campbell; July 8, 1970) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to fame in the early 1990s with his Experimental music, experimental and Lo-fi music, lo-fi style, and became ...

's critically acclaimed gold record ''

Mellow Gold ''Mellow Gold'' is the third studio album by American musician Beck, released on March 1, 1994 by DGC Records. Critics noted the album's hybrid of various styles including rock, hip hop, folk, blues, psychedelia, and country, as well as iron ...

''. Dieselhed issued ''Elephant Rest Home'' in 1998 (a collection of previously unreleased songs) and their final album, the rarely seen ''Chico and the Flute'' in 2000 on Bong Load before disbanding later in 2000. Lead songwriter

went on to release two critically acclaimed solo albums, ''Quad Cities'' and ''Still Falling'', for San Francisco's independent label

Future Farmer Records Future Farmer Records is an independent record label based in San Francisco, California. Inspired by skateboarding culture Future Farmer was founded in 1996 by San Joaquin Valley natives Jeff Klindt and Dennis Mitchell. Former label member M. War ...

. Co-songwriter Zac Holtzman now plays in the

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

-based band

Dengue Fever Dengue fever is a mosquito-borne tropical disease caused by the dengue virus. Symptoms typically begin three to fourteen days after infection. These may include a high fever, headache, vomiting, muscle and joint pains, and a characterist ...

Danny Heifetz Danny Heifetz (born 1964 in New York City) is an American musician who is perhaps best known for being the drummer for American experimental rock group, Mr. Bungle from 1989, until their disbandment in 2000. Heifetz also plays trumpet, guitar, ...

, now raising a family in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, stays busy with local studio session work and drum lessons.

Atom Ellis Atom Ellis (born April 8, 1966) is a bass guitarist from San Francisco, California. Atom was a founding member of the Thrash Funk band Psychefunkapus from 1986 to 1992 and a member of the San Francisco band Dieselhed from 1993 to 2000. During a ...

resides between San Francisco and Los Angeles and performs as bassist with

Neil Hamburger Neil Hamburger is a fictional standup comedian and singer created by Australian-American entertainer Gregg Turkington. Distinguished for his misanthropic jokes and anti-comedy style, Turkington has released a number of albums as Hamburger and ...

The New Cars The New Cars were a band formed in 2005 by two of the original members of the 1970s/1980s new wave band the Cars. The band was composed of original Cars members Elliot Easton and Greg Hawkes, along with vocalist/guitarist Todd Rundgren, vocalist ...

and

The Tubes The Tubes are a San Francisco-based rock band. Their eponymous 1975 debut album included the single "White Punks on Dope," while their 1983 single "She's a Beauty" was a top-10 U.S. hit and its music video was frequently played in the early day ...

. Guitarist Shon McAllin is currently a licensed contractor residing in the deep woods of Northern California.

Band members

– Guitar and Vocals *

Zac Holtzman Zac Holtzman is an American guitarist and co-founder of the band Dengue Fever. Dieselhed From 1989-2000 Holtzman was guitarist, co-vocalist, and co-songwriter for the group Dieselhed, a San Francisco-based rock band. Dengue Fever Holtzman forme ...

– Guitar and Vocals *

– Bass and Vocals *

– Drums, Percussion, and Horns *Shon McAlinn – Lead Guitar

Auxiliary members

– Violin (until 1994) *

Ralph Carney Ralph (pronounced ; or ,) is a male given name of English, Scottish and Irish origin, derived from the Old English ''Rædwulf'' and Radulf, cognate with the Old Norse ''Raðulfr'' (''rað'' "counsel" and ''ulfr'' "wolf"). The most common forms ...

– Various Reed and Brass Wind Instruments *Jeff Palmer – Saw *Josh Roberts – Guitar, Vocals, Drums

Discography

*''Dieselhed'' (Amarillo 1994) *''Tales of a Brown Dragon'' (Amarillo 1995) *''Shallow Water Blackout'' (Amarillo 1997) *''Elephant Rest Home'' (Bong Load 1999) *''Chico and the Flute'' (Bong Load 2000)

References

{{Authority control Punk rock groups from California American country rock groups Musical groups established in 1989