SPILL FEATURE: YOU GOTTA DO IT FOR YOURSELF – A CONVERSATION WITH HEADSTONES’ HUGH DILLON

YOU GOTTA DO IT FOR YOURSELF

A CONVERSATION WITH HEADSTONES’ HUGH DILLON

Making their Dine Alone Records debut, Canadian rock icons Headstones have returned with Burn All The Ships, due for release on September 19. For their 11th album, the band has delivered one of their most versatile bodies of work to date, comprised of stirring balladry and high-octane bangers, while also featuring collaborations with City And Colour’s Dallas Green and Metric’s Emily Haines. In anticipation for their new release, lead vocalist Hugh Dillon discusses the story behind Burn All The Ships.

Reflecting on the songwriting behind the album, Dillon states that the process was “similar to the last two records; it’s us getting together first and foremost with nothing to say. We don’t play golf, we aren’t super social, but we have this band. We’ll get together for some shows or rehearsal, and that is where the magic happens.” He continues, “It’s the music we like and it excites us in the moment. I usually have some lyrics. There’s a subconscious quality to it. You think you have nothing to say, but all this stuff will come out if you shut that part of your brain off that judges.” Appropriately, the title of the record further emphasises this notion, as Dillon tells, “Sometimes I will reach for a title like that because of the simplicity of how I operate. ‘Fuck It’ just doesn’t cut it, so it’s a bit more poetic than that. I am a fan of profanity, I like the bluntness of it, but you can only use it so much. The existentialism angst underneath it means you gotta go for it. You can’t have a plan B.” To Dillon and the band, however, Burn All The Ships is more than a title, it’s their way of life, “I got here, the rest of us got here because all we cared about was rock ‘n’ roll music, and playing it and creating it. Whether or not we sold records, whether or not anyone else cared, you gotta do it for yourself. That’s the same way I write scripts for television shows, its how I do anything.”

The album is a striking collection of nine songs, led by the arresting opener, “Put That Car In Drive.” There is a cinematic quality to Burn All The Ships that runs parallel to a hard rock edge, seemingly inspired equally by both classic and punk rock. With standout tracks including the rhythmic dissonance of “Details,” the new wave of “Unnatural Causes,” the fiery duet with Haines “An Effort To Forget” and the plush “Navigate”, featuring Green, Dillon captures the essence of the record, “From when we came up, we liked a certain kind of authentic rock ‘n’ roll that is unpretentious. Some of that has to do with our blue-collar work ethic, and, yes, underneath that is poetry and musicianship and the architecture of creating that has interested us for decades.” It is such an ethos that elevates both the record and the band alike.

BURN ALL THE SHIPS ALBUM REVIEW

In regard to working with Dine Alone Records, Dillon describes it as “The single greatest experience of our professional lives. Dallas is just a gentleman… it’s like Gord all over again. He has that gentleman decency, empathetic, great musician vibe.” This connection started with Revolution Records’ engineer Luke Schindler, who had previously worked with the band on 2017’s Little Army, and 2022’s Flight Risk. During the period of recording Burn All The Ships, Schindler was also working with Green, and through showing Green some of Headstone’s new tracks, Green set up a meeting between the band and the Dine Alone Team. Weary of labels, Dillon remembers, “I was a record collector as a young man. I worked at record shops, I leant Gord Downie my records, and I was always deeply interested in film, television, and music… By the time I got a record deal – The Hip already had gotten a record deal, and their first album came out on vinyl – I thought ‘all my dreams are coming true’, but it’s never as good as it seems because right when we got signed, they switched to CDs. As petty as it sounds, I was always disappointed with the record deal thing because I got this little plastic thing with our songs on it.” However, there was no hesitation when it came to Dine Alone, “I’ve always admired them, but it was never on my radar. We were always our own entity; we just do our own thing like we always have… Their headquarters is a record shop, it doesn’t get any cooler. You walk into their offices and there is vinyl everywhere, and they understand how important vinyl is. It’s just a different way of approaching music; you can feel it, you can look at the names.”

Incredibly proud of their eleventh album, Dillon tells me, “We are our biggest fans, for us, this was a great experience. We were lucky to get Dine Alone, Dallas, and Emily”. There is much to be excited about. Following the release of Burn All The Ships, Headstones will hit the road with The Tea Party and Finger Eleven for a Canadian tour throughout November and December. In addition to this, season four of Mayor Of Kingstown, the acclaimed television show not only staring Dillon alongside Jeremy Renner, but was co-written and co-created by Dillon and Taylor Sheridan (Yellowstone) will premiere via Paramount+ on October 26. “You keep your head down, have a killer work ethic and good things happen.” Refusing to remain still for long, Dillon, embodying the sentiment behind Burn All The Ships, is closing out the year on a definite high note.

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Photo Credit: Mike Neal