The 1984 first meeting in New York between Adrian Sherwood and Keith LeBlanc was one of the most important events in the history and direction of On-U Sound. It saw the birth of radical collaboration between the British producer and three American musicians that continues to this today:

Tackhead is the vanishing point, the vortex, at the end of many years of formative, experimental collaborations between the innovative British producer and mixologist extraordinaire Adrian Sherwood and the American trio of musicians: guitarist Skip McDonald, bassist Doug Wimbish and drummer Keith LeBlanc. Wimbish and McDonald, whose partnership goes back to the mid-70s disco boom first met up with Keith in 1979 on the newly-formed Sugarhill Records.

They soon became the label’s house band, providing backing for the ground-breaking Sugarhill Gang (“Rapper’s Delight”), Grandmaster Flash (“The Message”) and Melle Mel (“White Lines”), helping to launch the onslaught of 80s rap. After the demise of Sugarhill and drawn-out legal wranglings, the three musicians continued to work on various projects. Described by the New York Times as, “one of today’s most extraordinary rhythm sections”, they included recordings for Tom Silverman’s Tommy Boy label.

Moving on from the early 80s rap explosion, Keith LeBlanc already released some solo work on Tommy Boy (“Maneuvers” and “Uh!” on the 1985 “Masters Of The Beat” compilation); mixing the (now legendary) DMX drumbeats with his own special drum sound. Release “No Sell Out” featured the cut-up raps of civil rights activist Malcolm X pitched against the infamous DMX drumbeat, now acknowledged as the first ever sampling record. Ahead of its time “No Sell Out”, brought him to the attention of London’s dub-meister extraordinare and On-U Sound label owner Adrian Sherwood.

In 1984, while working on a remix of Akabu’s “Watch Yourself” for Tommy Boy, he met Keith LeBlanc. After a productive meeting, McDonald and Wimbish later joined them in London to begin work on a new project which they christened, Fats Comet. LeBlanc’s beat, pitched with Sherwood’s dub methodology, taken it to the limit created a unique media where the heavily distorted sound of McDonald�s guitar and Wimbish’s funky bass made things complete. As LeBlanc summed up:

“We started Fats Comet as a studio experiment. The stuff we considered being “non-commercial” got stuck on Adrian Sherwood’s label and Doug Wimbish came up with the name TACKHEAD; which is New Jersey slang for homeboy.”

After releasing a number of 12″s, including science fiction dancehall classics “Mind At The End Of Tether” (ON-U DP15) and “What’s My Mission Now?” (ON-U DP13) Tackhead had gained a lot of credits and popularity, especially among those who tied up to the industrial virus. A forthcoming LP was inevitable and Tackhead Tape Time (ON-U LP46), including the newly unearthed talents of Gary Clail, was bound to be a classic from the day of release. In the meantime, they also found the time to back former Pop Group main man Mark Stewart as the Maffia; a collaboration which resulted in probably some of the most deranged Hip-Mutant-Funk-Metal-Dub-Hop records ever to be made. “Tackhead In The Area!” became the common chant after “The Game” 12″ (ON-U DP17) which featured TV commentator Brian Moore. The band also started touring, which resulted in the “En Concert” live album, quickly withdrawn soon after release.

The “Friendly As A Hand Grenade” (ON-U LP41) album marked a new direction. They were now joined by fellow American and ex-Peech Boys vocalist Bernard Fowler, giving a soulful edge to their beats and making them more accessible to a wider audience. Bernard’s introduction to the band came through Mick Jagger who was himself a big Tackhead fan. Tackhead, now signed to EMI subsidiary SBK, released in 1990 the “Strange Things” LP which, despite some good tracks turned out to be the band’s “major malfunction”! They were dropped by EMI and the use of the name to promote new material largely dried up.

Though Tackhead as a name has slipped out of use, collaboration between various of its former members continues to this day – such as releases by the Strange Parcels (“a Tackhead re-duction”), the Barmy Barmy and probably most notably, the acclaimed Skip McDonald-fronted dub-blues releases of Little Axe.

Besides the previously mentioned activities it cannot be forgotten that Tackhead’s members also continue to play, produce and remix for a wide range of well known artists: e.g. James Brown, Africa Bambaataa, George Clinton, Seal, BB King, Robbie Robertson, Annie Lennox, Mick Jagger, R.E.M., Tina Turner, Depeche Mode, Bomb The Bass, Robert Palmer, Neneh Cherry, Malcolm McLaren, ABC – and then we’re not even mentioning the numerous releases and formidable productions for the whole On-U Sound posse; Dub Syndicate, Gary Clail, Bim Sherman, Jesse Rae…!

Tackhead, a vast monumental influence on the music of the eighties and nineties; charming visionaries and story tellers about life, love and lust.

(Adapted from On-U Sound In The Area and  Echo Beach’s Tackhead biography found at www.echobeach.de)

Providing guitars, bass, keyboards, and vocals, Little Axe is the return to the blues that Skip grew up with and learned from his father. Born Bernard Alexander on 1 September 1949, Dayton, Ohio in the USA. Skip McDonald learned to play the blues on his father’s guitar from the age of 8, although by the time he was 12 years old he had opted to perform doo-wop.

But from picking up a guitar as a child, and returning to his roots with Little Axe, there has been a long twisting road. McDonald, along with bassplayer Doug Wimbish and drummer Keith Le Blanc formed the house band for the pioneering rap label Sugar Hill, providing the music for some of the most seminal records of the era by  Afrika Bambaata, Force M.D.’s and others. From there he worked closely with Adrian Sherwood on many of projects for the On-U Sound label, as well as spearheading the band Tackhead and working with Living Colour.

Having completed his high school education Skip left Dayton with a band called the Ohio Hustlers, which broke up not long after relocating to New York City. His first professional work as a musician began when he formed the Entertainers who toured the east coast through to the mid-70s.

He moved on to Hartford, Connecticut, and there’s when he met Doug Wimbish, who played in a band called Wood, Brass & Steel. Wood, Brass & Steel recorded a selftitled album for All Platinum Records, the label of Sylvia and Joe Robinson, in 1976. Skip and Doug played a lot of music together, in clubs and colleges around New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts.

In 1979, three years after the Wood, Brass & Steel album, Skip and Doug teamed up with drummer Keith LeBlanc and they became the house band for Sugarhill Records, the Robinson’s new label. The trio played on some of the earliest rap hits such as The Message and White Lines (Don’t Do It) with Grandmaster Flash.

While they worked at Sugar Hill, LeBlanc also freelanced at Tommy Boy Records where he first met Adrian Sherwood. LeBlanc introduced his colleagues to Sherwood and the trio were persuaded to relocate in London. Upon their entry into the On-U Sound fold, the group formed a production team and, again, a house band, this time for On-U. The three participated in dozens of records on Sherwood’s label.

The partnership developed and metamorphosed into a fully-fledged band, Tackhead. Though good working relationships remain to this day, the dispersion of Tackhead in the early 1990s saw Keith and Doug pursue more of their own projects and play less often togther.

For Skip the time since has seen him work ever more closely with Sherwood, both on his own projects and as a musician or guest vocalist on many other of Adrian’s On-U Sound productions – such as by Junior Delgado, Bim Sherman, Dub Syndicate and African Head Charge, sometimes along side Keith and /or Doug.

Skip has been the prime mover behind Little Axe since around 1992. Under a name inspired by Bob Marley’s Small Axe and gospel singer Willmer ‘Little Ax’ Broadnax, the debut album Wolf That House Built was a personal take on blues and dub, and was released to critical acclaim in 1994. This had followed a partial release in Japan compiled in a slightly different form and with a different title (Never Turn Back) the previous year. The second Little Axe album, Slow Fuse, was also well received. Both albums featured tabla player Talvin Singh for Slow Fuse the gifted voices of Kevin Gibbs and Sas Bell were added.

Then it remained silent for far too long. In 2002 Skip’s third Little Axe album Hard Grind became the first release for four years on Sherwood’s revived and re-launched On-U Sound label with a mixture of raw blues and reggae. While Hard Grind no doubt will also draw comparisons to Moby’s Play, it was Skip who pioneered the fusion of blues and electronic music with Little Axe.

It’s 2006 now and Skip McDonald has finished the fifth Little Axe album, Stone Cold Ohio, after Champagne and Grits (2004), the second record released on Peter Gabriel’s Real World Records. Skip still has got the blues but this time the emphasis is on the gospel, another of Skip’s old loves. The production and mixing was done Adrian Sherwood; ‘gospel dub’ like you never heard before.