Baby Turpentine
“Baby Turpentine” was Crazyhead’s second single on Food Records. The band had formed in Leicester the previous year and signed to Food almost immediately. Their debut single, “What Gives You the Idea That You’re So Amazing, Baby?” reached number 2 on the UK Indie Chart in March 1987. “Baby Turpentine” followed five months later. It was produced by David Balfe, Food’s co-founder and former keyboard player with the Teardrop Explodes. The 7” carried one b-side. The 12” added two more tracks: “Bang Bang” and “Sinking Feeling.” The white label 12” promo arrived with an A4 press sheet titled “Day of Reckoning,” dated August 10, 1987. Barry Lazell’s Indie Hits 1980-1999 records it at number 4 on the UK Indie Chart.
The music press assigned Crazyhead to a scene called grebo, alongside their Leicester contemporaries Gaye Bykers on Acid. The label was a tabloid construction and the band rejected it. They called themselves an “urban bastard blues band” and pointed to different reference points: the Stooges, the Ramones, Captain Beefheart, late-1960s garage rock. Through 1987 they toured with The Cult and Julian Cope and played Glastonbury. Food Records was a small independent at the time. Blur would not sign until 1990. But Food was already staking out a piece of British independent music that the majors were not paying attention to.
In 1988 their third single “Time Has Taken Its Toll on You” reached number 65 on the UK Singles Chart, their first mainstream chart entry. The debut album Desert Orchid followed in October 1988 and they toured Europe supporting Iggy Pop. In 1989 they played the Reading Festival and toured the United States twice. At the British Council’s request they also played an international music festival in Moscow. Food dropped them that same year. Their second album Some Kind of Fever came out on Revolver Records. Guitarist Kev Reverb went on to run Memphis Studio in Leicester, producing sessions for Cornershop and others. The band reformed in 2017. The document delivered thirty-nine years ago held up.