You remember the 90s. The sludgy guitars, the alienation, the certain je ne sais quois covered in plaid and Doc Marten-sporting ennui. Oh, yes….it was called grunge. Canada wasn’t immune to this development, and a number of indie bands developed (in that and other genres) whose impact is felt today. hHead, for example, featured Noah Mintz and Brendan Canning. Mintz became known for his Toronto-based studio engineering work with artists like Stars, Death From Above 1979, The Dears and Hayden (who, incidentally, directed the video for “Flower”) and Canning is best-known for founding Broken Social Scene with Kevin Drew.
In “Flower” you’ll hear that this wasn’t simply cookie cutter grunge, as Mintz offers up Jim Morrison-esque / “The End” vocals over top of that sludgy sound around the 3:15 mark. Yes, hHead is clearly a band of the 90s. And yes, it took a village of musicians cooperating then to set the stage for the tremendous output of today’s Toronto scene.
