Headrillaz

South London big beat trio Headrillaz produce caustic, bombastic up-tempo trip-hop in the Chemical Brothers/Monkey Mafia mold, fusing rock-based samples and attitude with elements of house, techno, and club-bound hip-hop. Formed in 1995 as an offshoot of Ninja Tune acid-jazz/trip-hop group Slowly, Headrillaz is the brother/stepbrother team of Casper, Saul, and Darius Kedros, all of whom had produced music in one form or another since their early teens.

The name Headrillaz first surfaced as a remix credit on one of a string of experimental Brit-hop 12"s following Slowly's demise (the Kedros brothers released a number of singles as Tranquil Elephantizer and Trunk); and continued as a proper project after London producer Howie "B" Bernstein saw the group dirty up a DATs'n'tables performance in a club. Bernstein insisted on releasing their 1996 debut 12", Weird Planet, on his own Pussyfoot label, and the group followed up with two more 12"s -- Screaming Heads and Spacefuck 2010 -- before releasing the full-length Coldharbour Rocks in 1997. A singles compilation mostly, Coldharbour collected the best of the group's Pussyfoot output to date and added a few unreleased cuts. The trio's live performances also escalated to the band level, with a full touring ensemble landing gigs at major U.K. festivals such as Tribal Gathering and Glastonbury. ~ Sean Cooper, All Music Guide