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‘I hadn’t thought about a drink. Then I saw the pub. Game over’: singer-songwriter Michael Head on beating addiction – again
He’s a national treasure to many, with a remarkable songbook spanning more than 40 years. But after kicking heroin twice, he spiralled back into drinking – until an ardent fan saved his life
The very next day, he met the band’s keyboardist Paul Simpson at Probe Records in Liverpool, who introduced him to a local scenester named Yorkie, who in turn altered Head’s mind by playing him Love’s psych-folk classic Forever Changes. He has since amassed a remarkable songbook with the Pale Fountains, Shack, the Strands and, since 2013, the Red Elastic Band: 11 albums of softly psychedelic, Love-inspired, Byrdsian bittersweet beauty. Head has admirers everywhere from Manic Street Preachers to the Coral and his current producer and Yawn owner Bill Ryder-Jones; Noel Gallagher is such a fan he released Shack’s last album, 2006’s The Corner of Miles and Gil, on his Sour Mash label.
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