Diamond Head are a British heavy metal band formed in 1976 in Stourbridge, England. They were one of the leading members of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) and are acknowledged by later bands like Metallica and Megadeth as an important early influence.

Early history

Formed by school friends Brian Tatler and Duncan Scott with Tatler playing on a Cheap Fuzz guitar and Scott on Biscuit Tins. Sean Harris later joined the band after they learnt about his vocal abilities while on a school trip and auditioned him in Tatler's bedroom. Bassist Colin Kimberley joined the band some months later (and was in fact Diamond Head's fourth bassist) and the band started to play local gigs in the Black Country area. Even from their early days the band refused to play cover songs and stuck to their own material. The only exception to this was the adding of Black Sabbath's Paranoid in 1978 and This Flight Tonight plus Rock The Nation in 1991. In one interview Brian Tatler reported that they wrote 100 songs before their first studio release. The truth can be proven in this statement by the fact that only one song (It's Electric) from their 1978 set ended up being recorded on their debut.

The band recorded and released self-financed demo tapes in 1977 and 1979. Although only recorded within six hours, their unique sound and quality of song writing gained enough attention to tour as support with AC/DC and Iron Maiden. Although a clutch of record companies fought to sign the band, none were willing to fully commit. The fact that the band was at the time managed by Sean Harris' mother (Linda Harris) did not help the band's commercial momentum. So, while other 'New Wave of British Heavy Metal' bands, such as Def Leppard were signed to major labels and were headlining their own tours Diamond Head were growing increasingly impatient and decided that they would release their material through their own label Happy Face Records.

The first releases from this label was the 1980 single Shoot Out the Lights (B-side Helpless), having already had a previous single Sweet And Innocent (B-side Streets of Gold) released by Media Records in the same year. In the same year the band also recorded their debut album on Happy Face most commonly known as Lightning To The Nations, although it has never officially had a title, within seven days at The Old Smythy Studio in Worcester, which the band described as 'dead'. This album came in a plain sleeve with no title, having on it only a signature of one of the band members and no track listings. The reason for this was that the band's manager, Reg Fellows, owned a cardboard factory and could produce blank sleeves at a low cost. There were originally only 1000 copies pressed of the album, which were only available at their concerts or through mail-order at cost of £3.50. In fact the only mail-order advertisement appeared in Sounds and ran for four weeks. However, the band did not pay for the add and ended up being sued. This album has become one of the most sought after record collector items from the time. Later 1000 more copies were pressed, which contained the track listings. Unfortunately, the only original one-and-a-quarter-inch master tapes were lost after the band sent them to the German record company Woolfe Records, and they were never returned. Although Woolfe Records did release the album, which is the version with a picture of the world burning on the front cover. The album was also re-released via Sanctuary Records in 2001, although Brain Tatler had mentioned in an interview in 1982 that it was never going to be re-released.

Living On...Borrowed Time

The success of their first album finally led to a record deal with MCA Records in 1981, and they released the Four Cuts EP, which contained classics such as Call Me and Dead Reckoning. Their 'major label' status afforded them a slot on the Reading festival bill in 1982. They played a stunning set which was recorded by the BBC and later released in 1992 through Raw fruit Records as the 'Friday Rock Show Sessions'.The first MCA LP, Borrowed Time featured a lavish Rodney Matthews illustrated gatefold sleeve, based on the album's Elric theme, which was the most expensive sleeve commissioned by MCA at the time. The investment paid off as it was enthusiastically received and it managed to get to #24 in the UK album charts, enabling the band to perform a full scale UK arena tour, performing large venues such as London's Hammersmith Apollo. Along with Borrowed Time came Diamond Head's third single In the Heat of the Night, which contained live versions of Play it Loud and Sweet And Innocent (recorded at the Zig-Zag club) as well as an interview with DJ Tommy Vance (although the latter was not available on the 12").

Unfortunately success was short lived, as Diamond Head tried a more experimental follow-up to Borrowed Time, tentatively titled Making Music, and which later became Canterbury, in 1983. The success of this album was initially stalled by the fact that the first 20,000 copies suffered vinyl pressing problems, causing the LP to jump. Secondly many people did not like the progressive direction, most fans were expecting a second Borrowed Time. This was also the first album not to feature Duncan Scott and Colin Kimberly, due to pressure from MCA to have them removed from the band. Mervyn Goldsworthy and Robbie France, who later went on to become a founding member and producer of Skunk Anansie, came in on bass and drums respectively.

Diamond Head opened the 1983 Monsters of Rock festival and started work on what was meant to be their fourth studio album, entitled Flight East. However, after being dropped by MCA, both Tatler and Harris decided to call it a day after thinking that they no longer fitted into the metal scene that was blooming, with the likes of Metallica and Slayer. So the band split up for the first time in 1985.

The reason for the change in the band's musical direction was due to the band being bored of just playing heavy metal and felt that it was time to change, much like Led Zeppelin did. Another change the band made at the time was Brian switching from his Flying V to a Gibson Les Paul, due to the over popularity of the former.

Reunion and the National Bowl Incident

Metallica's increasing status and their often mentioned influence due to the Diamond Head sound kept the band name relatively prominent and helped back catalogue sales. Inevitably in 1991 Tatler and Harris reformed Diamond Head, and with Karl Wilcox on drums and Eddie "Chaos" Moohan on bass performed a few low key gigs under the name Dead Reckoning. The band also released a new EP called Rising Up which contained Wild on the Streets and Can't Help Myself, but was only available at the concerts and specialised music stores. The same year Sean Harris worked on a song with Dave Mustaine for Megadeth called "Crown Of Worms" - it was unreleased but would feature on the re-mastered version of Countdown to Extinction.

In 1993, featuring contributions by Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath and Dave Mustaine of Megadeth the band released Death And Progress. However, the band's reunion was short lived, as they were on the verge of splitting up as soon as the record was released. One notable event on the Death And Progress tour, was when Diamond Head opened for Metallica and Megadeth at the National Bowl in Milton Keynes. Sean Harris came out dressed as the Grim Reaper, which Brian Tatler reported in the British rock mag Classic Rock, this was Harris' way of saying that NWOBHM was over. Their performance was very underpart, which was due to the pressure of playing live on MTV, the fact Tatler was suffering from shingles at the time and Diamond Head had had very little rehearsal time prior to the gig. In 1994 the band split again and did not reform until 2000.

2000s

In 2000 Harris and Talter got back together with guitarist Floyd Brennan and performed a series of short acoustic gigs, which ended in the release of the First Cuts Acoustic EP. It seemed that Diamond Head were now back in business and the band started touring again doing electric shows with Eddie Moohan and Karl Wilcox back in the band. This tour also saw Diamond Head play their first show in the US, which never happened during their heyday due to management problems. The band even went back into the studio to record a new album, but Harris wished it to be put out under and new name and had lost the desire to perform live. After years of Tatler, and the rest of the band, breaking their backs to accommodate Harris' desires Diamond Head and Sean Harris went their separate ways. Although Harris issued a press release on Blabbermouth.net[1] that said that as far as he was concerned he had as much right over the Diamond Head name as anyone else, and that as far he was concerned he was still in the band.

The Nick Tart Era

However, the rest of the band was determined to continue and after news of work on a new album, fans were surprised to hear of the departure of Sean Harris in 2004 and his replacement by Nick Tart. Brian Tatler is now the only ever-present member in the Diamond Head line-up. The band's latest album, All Will Be Revealed (the title is apparently referring to Sean Harris), was released in 2005, but was very different from their early material. To promote this album they were fortunate enough to have Dave Mustaine to invite them on tour with Megadeth, who'd also re-formed after Mustaine had recovered enough to be able to play guitar again. Diamond Head also headlined a celebration of 25 years of NWOBHM at London's Astoria, supported by Witchfynde, Bronze, Praying Mantis and Jaguar. This concert was later released as a live CD entitled It's Electric and also the band's first DVD, To the Devil His Due in 2006.

The band are still going strong and have just released their sixth album, What's In Your Head ,through Cargo records with Dave 'Shirt' Nicholls, who has produced albums with bands such as Slipknot and The Wildhearts.

Influence on Metallica

Diamond Head are probably most famous among heavy metal fans for their influence on Metallica. Metallica acknowledge them as a very important early influence and have often covered Diamond Head songs at gigs. Harris was even asked to join Metallica in the 1980s but turned the band down. The song "Helpless" was rumored to be a song Lars Ulrich forced the band to struggle through as an unrehearsed encore in the early days of their formation. "Sucking My Love", "Am I Evil" and "The Prince" were also common live covers at that time. The earliest known actual recording of these songs exists as a rehearsal demo recorded at then-bassist Ron McGovney's house in March of 1982. The Metal Up Your Ass live demo, recorded in November of that year, featured a live rendition of "Am I Evil." "The Prince" was also played, but the tape ran out too soon to catch it. The song would see another demo release as part of the Horsemen Of The Apocalypse demo in 1983. "Sucking My Love" exists on various bootlegs that have been circulating since 1982 along with a recording on the early demo No Life Til Leather.

The first official release of "Am I Evil" came in 1983 as part of the Creeping Death EP, paired with another NWOBHM classic "Blitzkrieg," by the band of the same name. The two songs were also included in the first pressing of the Kill 'Em All LP when it was re-released by Elektra Records.

"Helpless" would see a proper release with Garage Days Re-Revisited in 1987, and "The Prince" was included as a B-side to the Harvester Of Sorrow single.

The official recordings of "Helpless," "Am I Evil," and "The Prince" would also be featured on Metallica's 2-CD Garage Inc. compilation, a collection of numerous other cover songs that the band had played over the years. The first CD in the set was newly recorded covers, one of which was Diamond Head's "It's Electric."

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond_Head_(band)