An Interview with

'Cameron Heacock'

Frontman of American Head Charge

that took place on Friday October 24th, 2014 at Corporation, Sheffield.

Interviewed By Glenn Milligan

Glenn: So how was the show for you tonight Cameron?

Cameron: Well, I mean to be honest with you we’ve been pretty spoiled the last… we started in Southampton and then we played London and then we played York and then we played Glasgow. Man London, York and Glasgow were all unbelievable shows. We had a lot of fun so definitely Sheffield had a lot to live up to and compared to those three prior the crowd was a little less energetic than those but it was still fun. It was a great response add there was a great number of people in the venue so we still had a good time. The thing for us on this tour is to win fans over.

Glenn: And you’re certainly doing that.

Cameron: I think we did our job.

Glenn: Your voice is so powerful and you’ve got a great singing voice as well. How the hell do you keep your voice in trim?

Cameron: Well I don’t know man. I think a lot of it, I’ve just been… you know like it has to do with genes I think. You either have a… you are meant to sing and you can do it over a long period of time or you’re not and that’ll end up shortening itself. Luckily so far, my Mum and Dad are both good singers so I think they passed along strong willing vocal chords or voice box. I mean, there’s stuff I do like I sort of felt a little bit of a cold coming on and I’ll eat like raw garlic. I take a clove of raw garlic and mince it up really fine and put a big ball of it in my mouth and swallow it with some orange juice. It’s really good for your immune system. It’s little tricks like that to keep my health under control but there’s only so much you can do with that. I try and drink a lot of water and I try not to drink a lot of alcohol every night. I’ll have a couple of drinks and people with fans or whatever but overdoing it every night does me no good at all so I gotta be hydrated.

Glenn: Yeah that’s the sort of job you’ve got and it’s a tough gig.

Cameron: It’s tough man and it’s hard to go to a different climate every day in a different state or a different country on this tour.

Glenn: Especially in Britian. You don’t know what it’s gonna be like each day because the temperature is up and down all the time.

(Photo By OZZFestAmy)

Cameron: Yeah. I mean Glasgow was a totally different climate that today. It was wet, it was rainy, it was windy.

Glenn: Yeah it’s been a bit rough. How do you go on avoiding the temptation on tour of like the dangerous things? How do you keep healthy on tour and away from the bad stuff?

Cameron: It just has to do with what you want yourself to feel like. If you want to be a struggle and be hard every day to where you’re like battle yourself more than you are anything else it’s like then you can do that but you know, you have to start making a choice of, ‘I wanna be healthy’, ‘I wanna wake up tomorrow and remember what I did last night’. I wanna wanna wake up and feel like today is completely… you know whatever I wanna do with today is whatever I wanna do with the day rather than 60% of the day you’re just trying f*ck*ng trying to combat the effects of the night before to where you’re only to really like or you’re not really able to like take the day to its fullest potential. So that’s kinda been the big changer for me… just like…

Glenn: Keeping healthy?

Cameron: Yeah. I don’t know if it shows but I feel like my singing is stronger and it speaks for itself I think.

Glenn: How would you say the band’s changed over the years regarding musically and people-wise?

Cameron: We’ve just got more mature and our priorities are a little different. Nobody in the band has any children yet. I’m sure somebody will one of these days but none yet and despite that, that certainly makes some grow and mature quickly. Despite that, we all kind of realise now what’s really important and being able to make music really is such a gift and an honour to be able to that and call that a living because we’re still pretty at the super low end of the spectrum in terms of earning money but even in that capacity to be able to do what we’re able to do is an honour – it’s a gift.

Glenn: So marriage? Have any of you guys got married then yet?

Cameron: Well Chris has gotten married in the past once but not yet or not apparently I should say.

Glenn: You’ve been missing in action quite a bit and been in like a hiatus. What were you guys up to in that period?

Cameron: Still doing the same thing. I ran into a… you know starting going down to the depths pretty hard – myself. I mean I don’t think I properly mourned over Brian and I had some other stuff going on. I just wasn’t looking after myself. I was always making music though and I was doing the thing but follow through and my ability to like to show up at the studio wasn’t really there so we just….

Glenn: Yeah but you got through it?

Cameron: Yeah.

Glenn: And you are alright now?

Cameron: Yeah.

Glenn: Which is good. What made you decide to really come back onto the scene although you were still making music? What made you feel, “Right, I’m gonna get back, I’m gonna get the band back together and really try again and push it”, because you were such a big band first off?

Cameron: The music just necessitated it I think. It got to a point where the songs we were writing again were exciting and they were fresh and they were new. There was that hunger I think we had… you know you take for granted that desire, that driving force that makes you… there’s a lot of sacrifices you make when you go out on tour and you get in a van and there wasn’t that willingness and hunger to do so for that hiatus. We started to write these songs and get really excited again and it just lent ourselves to doing that again. It was a new found like innocence to the band which is cool. We’re all really excited about it again.

(Photo By OZZFestAmy)

Glenn: Yeah. Which songs excited you the most and why when you first started writing that you are happy with?

Cameron: You haven’t heard them yet?

Glenn: Not yet.

Cameron: (Laughs) So I can’t tell you about them until you hear them. You’ll just have to hear them (He tells me later in the interview). I will say that the songs we are playing live are some of my favourites but there’s some songs, probably three or four songs off the new record that are f*ck*n’ super-rad and we are saving ‘em in our back pocket before we play ‘em live that I think people are really gonna f*ck*n’ flip over.

Glenn: Awesome.

Cameron: The whole record’s good but we didn’t wanna use like our very A list stuff and bring it on out before we release the record. Once we release the record we will play some of our really good stuff.

Glenn: What’s the story behind the rights to ‘The War Of Art’? Can you get the rights to that?

Cameron: I don’t know. We will try. I’ve gotta look back at my paperwork and see how long they have it. Yeah eventually some day.

Glenn: Yeah it’d be nice to get hold of that and ‘The Feeding’ and maybe put like a boxed set together with a DVD and tell the bands story and all about it.

Cameron: At least get partial rights to whatever to where we are able to do something like that.

Glenn: Here’s a question for you, Are any of you guys hard to live with?

Cameron: No we’re all pretty used to each other now. We all have our little idiosyncrasies and nuances about us and eccentricities that make it interesting but nothing that’s difficult or hard to.. no.

Glenn: You are very animated people.

Cameron: We are always smiling and keeping each other in proper right spirits. You just have to.

Glenn: I was told you are into sports somewhat. What sorts of sports are you into?

Cameron: I love Football and I love American Football too. I love basketball for sure. Basketball and American Football I played growing up. I like Lacrosse, hockey – I like most sports. I don’t really like baseball. It’s just not fast enough. I like rugby.

Glenn: Are you still into skateboarding?

Cameron: Yeah. I snowboard and surf too. Definitely more of it. I like snowboarding and surfing predominantly. I’ll skate a little bit but I’m so old now. It’s like, I could fall on the cement and it really f*cks me up (laughs). You know how it is you know?

Glenn: Yeah.

Cameron: I don’t bounce back like I did when I was 12 or whatever.

Glenn: Yeah, yeah.

Cameron: I mean I’ll cruise. I’ll get like a proper nice skateboard with some big wheels so I can just cruise real nice Cadillac style.

Glenn: Awesome. When do you like to go cruising?

Cameron: Well between Spring and Summer is always good and I like riding a bike a there too though. I’ll probably get a road bike single-speeder or whatever. There in Minneapolis it’s very good – it’s like built for bicycles and then Northern California is always fun for riding a skateboard. I grew up there and lived there for like nine years so I know all the ins and outs and cool places to go. Plus there’s like the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) subway systems so you can really cover an entire city on a skateboard.

Glenn: Wow!

Cameron: With like a couple of bucks and the BART you can see probably like 15 or 30 radius miles to like point your finger in the middle of the bay area and then draw like a 10-15 mile radius circle and you can cover that whole area on the BART with a skateboard and a couple of bucks – pretty rad!

(Photo By OZZFestAmy)

Glenn: Yeah. What would you say are the highlights of your career so far and why?

Cameron: Honestly the newest highlight I think I’ll say is just this whole resurgence and the writing of the new record that we just finished. It’s gonna really hit like a hard earned highlight, you know what I mean? It’s not so much like it’s a surprise or anything but it’s like we really had to like bleed for this one, you know what I mean, and to get back here and I think honestly we have a lot of hope for just the bands career in general and I think this record will have a hand in there because it’s just the beginning of how we begin again. I definitely consider the band to be of a veteran status but still very early on in its life, you know what I mean?

Glenn: Yeah.

Cameron: If that makes any sense?

Glenn: Yeah like 'Society 1' or someone like that?

Cameron: Yeah we got a long way to go, a lot of records to make, so it’s definitely the beginning but I’m definitely excited and it’s an exciting time for us because like I said, there’s that new found hunger and a kind of excitement to everything. This tour really is great, I mean it’s great crowds every night and it’s going well man. We’re all really happy.

Glenn: All your albums have got some amazing artwork. Who do you work with for that and where do the ideas come from and what are you favourites? Can you tell me about the album artwork and stuff like that?

Cameron: ‘The War Of Art’ was mainly me and Chad’s just brainchild. (We) just kinda like what we could envision in our minds and they made it happen. We were like, “We need a tank and a baby and some books and Downtown LA”, and they were like, “Okay”. Then ‘The Feeding’ was a painting that somebody did… a painting of what my alter-ego looks like which I think is funny but it makes sense like my life… Like the point inside me that makes me do less than healthy things for myself – it makes me shoot drugs and do all sorts of wacky stuff. That’s what that looks like to my friend and my friend painted that. That’s why we ended up using him for the ‘Loyalty’ video.

Then ‘Shoot’ was like kind of inspired by my photography. I mean some of the images in there are from photographs that I took like the thing that’s from a photograph that I took and I just like the rough colour. I like how kinda dark that one is because the music is pretty dark on that record – E.P. We’ll see what the new record’s artwork is gonna be like. We always try to tap into something we haven’t seen or done yet. We don’t.. I personally don’t like seeing a band put out a record and have their cover be something expected. I like how The Deftones kinda… they always keep me guessing in terms of what they are gonna put on their covers.

Glenn: This time you’ve done like a fan-funded project. You’ve put it out there for the fans to fund it and keep it going that way as well, like a raiser – a fan raiser.

Cameron: Oh yeah, the Indiegogo thing?

Glenn: Yeah.

Cameron: Yeah we were able to put together $50,000 which is amazing. We were pretty floored by that and we finished the record. We’ve just gotta get it mixed and do the proper steps in terms of promotion and advertising and stuff like that so it gets in front of the appropriate eyes and people see it and know it’s coming out, you know, blah, blah blah., you know the whole ‘greasing the machine’ and what-not before it comes out so we don’t just put it out to nothing. We want to make a little bit of a splash when we put it out. I think everybody will be really stoked though. I mean I’m happy with it as a songwriter, as a fan of music in general and I try and be a fan of myself because I know that if I dig it then I think our fans will.

Glenn: Where was it recorded and who recorded it?

Cameron: We recorded it in Kentucky – Richmond, Kentucky which is kind of in the middle of nowhere but it’s sorta what it takes with us. You gotta kinda take us in the middle of nowhere so we get away from all the distractions. A guy named Richard Easterling was his name. He was an All-Star. Dave Forman is gonna mix it. He did Evanescense. He just did the new Godsmack record. He’s done some great producing recently. So he’s gonna make it sound amazing. He’s the one who mixed the ‘Shoot’ E.P.

Glenn: What songs do you think you are gonna really be happy about playing live? Did you play any of them tonight?

Cameron: Yeah there was one – the second or third to last one called ‘Drowning Under Everything’. That one may end up being a single – we’ll see. I like kinda the nice big chorus. But what’s funny is there’s like two and three part harmonies and melodies in the chorus that we are just as able to do somewhat but we are gonna get… once we get a little bit further down the road like the next tour we will have like either Chris will sing it or we have a sample of me singing it to where you’ll be able to hear a more full chorus to the way it is on the record. It’s big and epic. There’s another song called ‘Antidote’ and a song called ‘Perfectionist’. The songs have super big hooks and choruses but heavy at the same time. There’s some really good stuff. There’s a really pretty one I wrote about Brian, our Guitar Player who died called ‘A King Among Men’. It’s just me and a piano – it’s a really pretty one. Super sad but it’s pretty. So yeah, a classic ‘Head Charge record – iconic – goes across the whole gammet of human emotions.

Glenn: Can you ever see yourselves going on a label or do you now consider yourselves self-funded and look after everything yourselves now?

Cameron: Well we are actually talking to a label. We’re talking about doing a deal with a label right now. It would just be like a distribution type deal because obviously the record has been paid for.

Glenn: How was the Download Festival at Donington Park for you guys that you played in June this year?

Cameron: It was good. But outdoor festivals are always, you know, they are a little bit hard on to get a guage on like the temperament of the audience or the climate but I think on looking back on it we did pretty well. It’s a hard gig playing an outdoor festival as a band because sound doesn’t do the best when it’s outside. It’s always really weird. To be able to come across and have a show where like your music translates and people are able to appreciate it is a success I think.

Glenn: So you prefer more intimate shows on this sort of size or more like the Whisky A Go-Go size because you really see your fans and you become as one?

Cameron: Anything like this size or under I like. If we played no bigger venues than tonight for the rest of our lives I’d be perfectly happy. That’d be great.

Glenn: Because as soon as you start playing the big places it loses atmosphere and it’s like who are you playing to?

Cameron: You lose that connection.

Glenn: Yeah completely.

Cameron: Then I think bands performances become stale. You know what I mean?

Glenn: Yeah, yeah.

Cameron: Because they are no longer connecting with people on an eye-to-eye level and they start to just… it’s almost what they say is scripted every night and you hear them say the same thing to the audience every and there’s no like…

Glenn: It’s boring isn’t it?

Cameron: Yeah.

Glenn: I’ve been to numerous shows in the past by the same big band and it’s the same gig – it’s not exciting after a while.

Cameron: It loses it’s spontaneity.

Glenn: Yeah. What would you like to say to the fans who will be reading this interview?

Cameron: We’ve always really loved the UK and really sensed we first came over here that there’s been nothing but love and we appreciate the old fans and hopefully any new fans that we garner with this tour.

Glenn: There’s an awful lot of young kids out there. It’s like ‘Wow!’ They’ve taken it upon themselves to check you out which is a good thing.

Cameron: That’s awesome. I mean, the UK is a very unique and special place. We will always be eternally grateful for the love that this country has shown us for sure.

Glenn: I’ve heard one or two people say that the US, it’s very like they work in phases and they’re not always fans of a certain band, they just go off (onto someone else) whereas the UK fans are there forevermore. Is it the same from where you are standing regarding this?

Cameron: Yeah. I mean to some extent I think so yeah. I mean, I think there’s some fans in the US that are like the UK where once they like you, they like you.

Glenn: Yeah.

Cameron: But I think there’s also some fair-weather fan’ness there. There isn’t so much here. It’s like you really gotta… I think in the UK for a UK fan you’ve really gotta do something bad to lose there love. I think it’s really awesome that UK fans are willing to grow with a band, are willing to go where a band wants to go and…

Glenn: And not think, ‘this is the style of the band’ and when you change they’re not fans anymore. It’s not like that here in the UK. They are very much hardcore and they gravitate towards a band that they like and that artist and their music in general.

Cameron: Yeah and they’re willing to take that journey with the band. It’s amazing.

Glenn: Well this has been great!

Cameron: Oh thanks Man!

(Photo By OZZFestAmy)

A big thank you to James Black @ Black Radar Management; Mark Hobson (Manager) of Corporation & all the Staff & Security; the Bands Tour Manager for being so helpful, all the members of American Head Charge - Cameron Heacock especially for this amazing Interview and a very special thank You to OZZFestAmy for her priceless input, not to mention providing me with four great photos too!

All other Photos by Glenn Milligan & taken at Corporation, Sheffield on October 24th 2014