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 dat ...
. 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. Singer-songwriter
Virgil Shaw previously played in Arcata outfit
Brent's T.V. Bassist Ellis had been a founding member of the local disbanded
funk rock band
Psychefunkapus
Psychefunkapus was a funk metal band from the San Francisco Bay Area that released two albums for Atlantic Records in the early nineties. They got their name from their love of psychedelic music and a reference to a P-Funk song warning the comi ...
, and
Jonathan Segel was a former member of local indie-faves
Camper Van Beethoven.
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 solo ...
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 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 considerabl ...
engineer
Dusty Wakeman.
Dieselhed followed their 1997 release with two U.S. tours opening for
Link Wray. 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, a label still riding the success of their recording and release of
Beck'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 ...
''. 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
Virgil Shaw went on to release two critically acclaimed solo albums, ''Quad Cities'' and ''Still Falling'', for San Francisco's independent label
Future Farmer Records. 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 wor ...
-based band
Dengue Fever.
, now raising a family in
Australia, stays busy with local studio session work and drum lessons.
Atom Ellis resides between San Francisco and Los Angeles and performs as bassist with
Neil Hamburger,
The New Cars and
The Tubes. Guitarist Shon McAllin is currently a licensed contractor residing in the deep woods of Northern California.
Band members
*
Virgil Shaw – Guitar and Vocals
*
Zac Holtzman – Guitar and Vocals
*
Atom Ellis – Bass and Vocals
*
Danny Heifetz – Drums, Percussion, and Horns
*Shon McAlinn – Lead Guitar
Auxiliary members
*
Jonathan Segel – Violin (until 1994)
*
Ralph Carney – 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