Dieselhed

Alt-country

Dieselhed formed in 1989 and soon built a loyal following in the San Francisco Bay Area with their unique blend of country, punk, and pseudo-classic rock. Drummer Heifetz budgeted his time between Dieselhed and the genre-bending experimentalists Mr. Bungle. Singer/Songwriter Virgil Shaw previously played in Arcata's legendary outfit Brent's T.V.. Bassist Ellis had been a founding member of the local disbanded Funk Rock band Psychefunkapus. Fiddling legend Jonathan Segel was a former member of local indie-faves Camper Van Beethoven. With their creamy blend of unusual genres the band successfully developed an original sound that eventually led to a recording contract with independent label Amarillo Records in the early 1990s. Dieselhed released 3 full length LPs for Amarillo while maintaining a tireless national touring schedule throughout the 90s often accompanied by their colorful Mascot/Road Manager John Tynan. Jonathan Segel was reportedly kicked out of the band in the mid-90s for excessive onstage prancing, not showing up to band practice, and frequently extending his violin solos with little or no warning to the band. 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 already growing fan base. Dieselhed became regulars at the SXSW music festival held each ...