Search - Pinheads :: Good Bad & Pinheads

Wrong place at the wrong time

Sal Nudo | Champaign, Illinois | 11/17/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Back in the summer of 1993, The Pinheads had a frequently played song called "Hands Off" on a local radio station. It was a highly infectious rocker with a "Whoo-hoo!" in the chorus that grabbed my attention immediately and forced me to know who these guys were. I later heard The Pinheads would be performing in a local bar and made plans with friends to catch them. Sadly, the band never showed for the gig (or they were just really late), and we ended up going somewhere else. Since then, I've always wondered if perhaps the band did show up and we just left too early. In any case, that's my experience with The Pinheads: They're faceless wonders who seemed to never actually exist.



Who do they sound like musically? Van Halen and Urge Overkill may have been influences, and The Unband from years later (2000) would sound like The Pinheads in a big way. Lead singer and principle songwriter Scott Talvitie sounds a lot like a young David Lee Roth, and he portrays the same partying vibe in his songs. Even his homages to love have a sort of devil-may-care attitude ("Bad 2D Bone," "Hands Off," "Still in Love). What's more, The Pinheads definitely did not subscribe to the grunge sound and image that so many other bands heeded back in the early 1990s, nor did they seem to care. Instead, they had a hard-driving metal sound reminiscent of, like I said, Van Halen. This CD is as good, and certainly just as spirited, as any early Van Halen record with David Lee Roth, and that's paying The Pinheads a pretty steep compliment.



As noted, the Pinheads were not a grunge-era doom-and-gloom band, even though they came from that time period. They played barn-burning rock and roll, complete with driving rhythm guitar and mini-guitar solos. Every song on this record contains something sonically memorable, usually in the form of a killer hook. "Snake Charmer" even has a slow-burning bridge and a grinding riff that would make Metallica proud. Talvitie's assertive lyrics and singing style also make this album very special. No song here is a waste of time.



It's unfortunate these guys never established themselves in a bigger way. The Pinheads had more than just potential -- they also had that certain "it," at least in the studio, that was undeniable. The Pinheads were carefree, cocky, hard-rocking and, strangely, nonexistent. Like the image of the buffalo that adorns the back cover of this CD, The Pinheads are extinct. But that doesn't mean this CD has to die as well."