Bedhead was a mostly overlooked indie rock band from Dallas, TX that were active from 1991-1998.

As opposed to many of the preeminent grunge-rock bands which exploded during the 90s with their typically disorganized, DIY style, Bedhead’s sound was a conscious effort to remain calm and concise while saying everything they needed; often mistaken for being minimalistic. This motif spans even further than the music itself, with the art of their releases often reminiscing the same acute quietness that the tracks hold. The actual lyrics of the song tend to fixate on more abstract ideas, utilizing both personal and metaphorical stanzas to discuss philosophical topics ranging from divine skepticism to virtues referencing psychotherapy.

The effort the band went through to accomplish exactly what they wanted is noteworthy to mention. Money was often tight for the band, once having to sneak in overtime at a studio to work on a project. Many times did the entire quintet have to stay in one motel room since the studio was so far from home:

We used to drive around for hours looking for a motel room for a few bucks less than the last place, and would then feel totally vindicated, at 4:00 in the morning, if we found a place for $39 a night and didn’t have to pay $45 for the place that we had come across hours earlier, when it had still been possible to get a good night’s sleep

—Matt Kadane, Interview Story with The Numero Group

Steve Albini, who helped them produce their final album, once described his experience working with the band:

I met them in full flower, in the depths of their mania, pursuing contemplative music with the kind of intensity normally found in psychopaths. No detail was too small to sweat, no crack in the veneer not worth gluing and clamping

– From Bedhead Bandcamp Transaction Album page

From the beginning, it was the two brothers, Matt Kadane and Bubba Kadane, who were at the heart of the band’s formation. The two had grown up with an immense love for music with the prospect of one day being in a band of their own. Over the course of a couple years leading up to their final line-up of band members, the brothers had scoured shows and through mutual friends whilst searching for the perfect roster for what they needed. Once finally assembled, the band’s members remained relatively consistent up until their dissolution, being:
- Matt Kadane – guitar, vocals
- Bubba Kadane – guitar, vocals
- Tench Coxe – guitar
- Kris Wheat – bass
- Trini Martinez – drums

When still unnamed and of only the Kadanes, the few songs they wrote and performed were accompanied by a violin played by Martie Erwin. It was only after she left that the violin was scrapped, being then replaced by a viola, though ultimately abandoned altogether.

Between 1992 and 1993, the band released their first two 7”-inches on the Direct Hit label consisting totally of the tracks Bedside Table / Living Well and The Rest Of The Day / I’m Not Here, with the first three later appearing fully-mastered on their first two albums.

On April 4th, 1994, the band released their debut album WhatFunLifeWas on the Trance Syndicate label, which they would stick with for the remainder of their active career. Featuring songs written before the brothers had even started playing with Martie, the album had a bit of a varied tracklist, holding styles of melancholic, dissonant post-rock to in-your-face shoegaze (and also whatever “To The Ground” is). Even though the band’s sound was still somewhat getting its footing, the release was met with relatively positive reviews.

After a failed attempt at recording what would later become their sophomore album Beheaded in the Summer of that same year, October saw the release of their 4songCDEP19:10, sporting a beautifully descriptive name. In just one live take at the Kesseler Community Church, the EP delivers four illustratively-personal tracks — the last of which being a wonderfully indie-rock-sounding rendition of Joy Division’s hit, “Disorder”.

The year 1996 saw both the release of their 3-song sophomore EP entitled The Dark Ages in February, as well as the successful attempt at finishing Beheaded in June. By this point, the band had a clear idea of what exactly they wanted their music to sound like and to voice. With a subtle transition between the lyricism of each track, Beheaded covers a range of incredibly introspective topics while keeping a consistently bleak, desolate sound throughout the entire album.

After a couple of years of occasional touring and a premiere of yet-to-be-released material, the band released their final album Transaction de Novo on February 10th, 1998. Although only 9 tracks and coming in at just 38 minutes, the band gives the most consciously diverse and complex set of songs to date. In response to a lot of the attendees at their performances often being indifferent towards the quietest of their songs, tracks like “Extramundane” and “Psychosomatica” give loud, hard-hitting instrumentation reminiscent of many other bands popular at that time; proving they had the skill to do whatever they wanted. However, this release still held a good few tracks which encompassed that same sound heard before on previous releases. “Exhume”, namely, gives us the most empty Bedhead track to date, with a chord progression so subtle that it might make you wonder if the album even started yet.

Sadly, this was when the band called it quits. After a tour across the entire US and around Europe, the band broke up. What’s left afterward is a few things, but their real sign-off lies in the Lepidoptera / Leper 10”-inch released two months after their dissolution. And though “The Present” was a seminal retrospective of all the thoughts gathered up until that point, “Leper” sounds like a final goodbye to the state of mind shared.

In 1999, Matt and Bubba formed The New Year, a self-described continuation of everything they did with Bedhead up until that point. In 2000, a collaboration between the brothers and their long-time friends of the band Macha was made in beautiful mutual appreciation of each other, taking the elements of each band and eloquently pairing them alongside each other.

Finally, during the mid-2010s, a discography-compiling box set with material from every one of the band’s releases, as well as a couple unreleased, is comprised and produced by the Numero Group. Also released was a live recording of a show they did during their final tour as a band, originally captured by Bob Weston and also released by the Numero Group.

Bedhead was much more than what the few who know them give them credit for. They were incredible to an extent that couldn’t possibly be explained in a Genius artist bio. For further reading, check out the Numero Group article that is basically summarized here, as well as the band’s own website.

Also, there exists a long catalog number on the cover of most of their releases which lists a few different pieces of information:

“TR(n)” stands for Trance (Syndicate) release, the label which put out many of the band’s releases, with the number being what number the release was in total with the rest of the label’s catalog
“BH(n)” of course stands for Bedhead, with the number representing how many of their own releases they’ve had
“RJN(n)” unfortunately has never been revealed, with the band even stating in a letter that it ‘will remain a mystery, probably’
And “(n):(n)” obviously being how much time the release plays for.