JROCK:  Tension Head is from Saginaw, Michigan....Is there much of a music scene there these days?
 
CHUCK:  Yes, there always has been. Just not too many places to play...though the biggest thing I have seen in the Saginaw area over the past 10 years plus is that there are a shitload of very talented individual musicians/songwriters, but for some reason, many do not either want to or like to work together.  This is something that TENSION HEAD was lucky enough to accomplish. It's one thing to get talented musicians/song writers together, but another to keep them together if ya know what I mean.
 
JROCK:  Who were the bands/musicians who had the greatest influence on you?
 
CHUCK:  Ted Nugent, AC/DC, ZZ Top, Pantera...
 
JROCK:  Could you please tell the readers of Chaotic Riffs Magazine the story of how you met the other members of Tension Head and came to form the band?
 
CHUCK:  Well, it started back in 2003.  I wanted to start a new project, one that would shake things up a bit...1st on the list was Tony/Bass, I knew of him and knew he wanted to start a band, so I showed him some  beat box shit (for some reason I'm able to make a beat and guitar sound with my mouth, been doing it since I was a young kid and is how I come up with many of the TENSION HEAD songs) I recorded into a mini tape player at a loud ass bar one night.  It was the riff for our song "The Bear" (1st T.H. song ever written) and he said, sounds cool...then I got Sean (a old Metal buddy of mine) and asked him if he'd like to play guitar (after the 1st guitar player decided that live music was just not his thing)...now, drummers was the biggest issue of solidifying the T.H. line up.  We quickly went through 4 drummers, what a pain in the ass that was, lol.  Finally, we found JoJo, who one day came up to our jam room, sat down and started doing this tejano roll shit and I looked at Tony and Sean and said “that's the guy”!  We have all been together now for over 5 years now!
 
JROCK:  How did you come to name the band Tension Head?
 
CHUCK:  Alright, I asked everyone in the band to come up with 1 or as many band names that would best describe us for the next band practice.  In a nut shell, it came down to 2 names...2 of us liked Arkansas Chrome (it's a hillbilly slang for Duct Tape that I knew about) and 2 of us liked Tension Head, we literally put both names in a hat and lucky enough, we pulled TENSION HEAD, which Tony came up with by taking a name of a song from Queens of the Stone Age.  Besides that, we're from Michigan, lmao, what was I thinking! (5-17 coming soon!)
 
JROCK:  In listening to your latest release Do Or Die I noticed that while your music has a bit of a Pantera vibe/influence to it that the thing that really impressed me was that Tension Head really does have a sound that is really original and all your own.  Is that something Tension Head, as a band, set out to do or is that just the way the album came out sounding?
 
CHUCK:  Kickass! Thank YOU for comparing us to Pantera.  It’s like a breath of fresh air to me, lol! We get compared to a lot of bands out there and the one that most people compare us to is Clutch.  I can’t stand it, lol.  I know it’s a compliment and I dig their music and all, but we sound nothing like them.  We’re heavier, and better…that you can quote me on!  As far as having a sound all our own, yes, that is what I (we) have set out to do from day one.
 
JROCK:  Another thing I really liked about the album as a whole is that Tension Head's Music seems to be music created for the sole purpose of entertaining people. The songs are quite simple and not loaded with lyrics that you really have to think about....Just great Metal music through and through! Do you think that's why all the songs seem to flow real nice and fit together as a great sounding collection of metal music?
 
CHUCK:  I totally agree with you!  We’re not trying to make our listeners cry, scare them, be political, or see how fast we can play our instruments, etc.  We write music that a majority of music lovers can dig or move their head to.  We want to bring people together for one reason and one reason only, to party your asses off and live up the life you’ve been given every chance you get, cause it just may not be there tomorrow!
 
JROCK:  Is everyone in the band involved with the songwriting?
 
CHUCK:  Yes, except for a couple of songs, all lyrics are done by me, but all music is something we work together on until we find that somewhat of a common ground, we all come from very different musical backgrounds, so sometimes this process can be a pain in the ass, lol!
 
JROCK:  How long did it take the band to record Do Or Die once the band entered the recording studio?
 
CHUCK:  It only took us less than a month, I was on the boys pretty hard about getting ‘Do or Die’ released…the time was now if ya know what I mean, we ain’t getting any younger here!
 
JROCK:  What do you remember most from the recording sessions of Do Or Die?
 
CHUCK:  To be honest with you, I don’t really know, lol.  It’s something I really never looked back on, but if I had to remember something, it would be the way we all felt after every song was done and ready to mixed, what a relief!  We don’t mind the studio, but I think we’d rather be playing live any day!
 
JROCK:  Who produced Do Or Die?
 
CHUCK:  Chris @ Fire Hyena Studio right here in good ol’ Saginaw, Michigan!  He’s a badass and I hope he gets discovered soon, it would be a damn shame if he doesn’t!
 
JROCK:  I read on your MYSPACE site that the band has been added to 31 FM Stations and 50 College Stations making for a total of 81 Stations that the band was added to........That's quite impressive for a metal act...........What could fans do to help get Tension Head added to the playlist of their local radio stations?
 
CHUCK:  Fans can go to our MySpace:
www.myspace.com/tensionhead and on the right side you will see a very long list of FM Radio Stations that have been sent our material through a major radio marketing team.  All they gotta do is call and request some TENSION HEAD and more than likely, they will play it. If they (radio stations on “The List”)say they don’t have anything from us, their lying, that’s when you can bug the shit out of them, lol!
 
JROCK:  How popular is Tension Head with Internet Radio?
 
CHUCK:  Well since I can’t even count in my head (I can only count to 11, lol) how many Internet Radio Stations have helped and supported us over the years, I don’t want to mention any names because I’d want to give credit to all or none if ya know what mean.  However, yes, without it, we would not have as much of a following right now, period!
 
JROCK:  What has been the reaction to the new album Do Or Die?
 
CHUCK:  The thing that I keep hearing over and over is that the Fans tell me personally at shows and or online, that they just can’t take it out of their CD player and we’re at the top of their Mp3 player list…to me, that pretty much says it all!
 
JROCK:  What plans does the band have in regards to touring behind Do Or Die?
 
CHUCK:  We already just did a 30 day (17 date) tour down the east coast this summer and are planning to head back out on many different tours, big ones…I just can’t say too much about this right now because nothing is in stone yet, but it’s very close, so stay tuned!
 
JROCK:  Do you have a favorite track off the new CD?
 
CHUCK:  “Brawler”, hence the reason why it was the first track on the CD, lol!
 
JROCK:  Do you have a crazy road story, or maybe a strange encounter with a fan that you'd like to share with our readers?
 
CHUCK:  Sure, I’ll give ya’ll a little taste of the road…It was about half way through our last tour, when our tour bus “Rosie” broke down (nothing new there) right on the side of the road just before a major freeway exit. Now, before I go on, know that TENSION HEAD has never canceled a single show, and hate the fact of even thinking about…so, we are supposed to be in Cincinnati, Ohio that night and it’s already past 5 p.m. and here we are stuck just outside of Indianapolis, IN. At this point, I’m furious and have had enough of “Rosie’s” shit.  I get out, climb the back ladder, throw my mountain bike off, get down, hop on my bike and pedal my ass down this huge circle exit, I started going so fast, I couldn’t even pedal anymore, and the look on the boy’s faces was priceless as I took off, lol.  When I finally get down to the end of the exit, I see a U-haul rental. I rent a little box truck, throw my bike in the back, fly back out to the freeway.  In order to get to the bus, I had to go South, then North, then illegally turn in an unauthorized zone to head back South to the bus then  pull over in front of the bus, back up, get out and yell at their still shocked faces, “load that mother fucking gear, we’re goin to Cincinnati, now”! Needless to say, 2 of us road in the front and the other 2 choked on exhaust fumes for a couple of hours, but we fucking made it and rocked out the T.H. Fans that we’re there. True story! Now that’s fucking dedication!
 
JROCK:  What should fans expect from Tension Head in the next year ahead?
 
CHUCK:  Many Big things, “they” can’t ignore us for ever! It’s almost TENSION HEAD Time, Oh Yeah!!!

 
Dave Schmidt
Managing Partner, The Revolution Music LLC
http://therevolutionmusic.com
http://www.myspace.com/therevolutionmusicllc

CD REVIEW

Artist:  Tension Head  Title:  Do Or Die  Label:  Revolution Music Records
Release Year:  2009

Band Lineup:
C.P. Rossio - Lead Vocals
Anthony Garcia - Bass Guitar
Sean Griffin - Guitar
Jo Jo Jimenez - Drums

Tension Head is a fantastic, heavy, aggressive band that plays very fast paced, intense, loud metal from Sagnaw, Michigan that will make you put your fist in the air and show your love for everything that is 100% pure Heavy Metal!  Tension Head has a bit of a Pantera vibe/influence to their music but what I really enjoyed about their album Do Or Die from start to finish is that they don't come across as a Pantera Clone/rip off band....Tension Head really has a great/original sound that really is all their own...........The minute I put on this album I thought WOW these guys sound like they could be the Bastard Sons of Pantera!  Another unique thing about DO Or Die is that all 10 tracks are very heavy, aggressive, and real intense!  The thing that I really took notice of is that throughout the entire album The screaming vocals and thunderous/bombastic drumming is what takes center stage........The bass and Guitar Playing are equally impressive but they are the back beat of all the songs, there's no over indulgent guitar playing just for the sake of showing off how fast the Guitar Player can shred......Guitar playing like that has its place and belongs on a Guitar Shred type album like a Steve Vai/Marty Friedman album..........Tension Head is no thinking man's music and that is to say that Tension Head delivers an album that is simple and yet entertaining.........With Do or Die Tension head delivers a 10 track CD that is 100% pure Metal that any metal fan can get off to.  The song writing is quite impressive as well....That I think has a lot to do with the fact that most of the songs weren't written w/the intent of delivering social, conscious messages but were written for the pure purpose of entertaining Metal fans worldwide....and that's something that has been missing in metal music for quite some time.....To me that's enough reason to check out Tension Head and add their latest CD Do or Die to your music collection!

Tension Head is one Metal band that doesn't take themselves all that serious and seems to care more about delivering an album full of quality Metal music for the Metal Masses all around the world and to me that's enough of a reason to pick up Tension Head's 2009 release Do Or Die!