History Made: Head Like A Hole, 1991

Head Like a Hole were known for taking their clothes off when they hit the stage in their early days. Photo / Supplied

Nigel Regan first got his kit off onstage when Head Like A Hole played The Powerstation on Friday 13 December 1991.

Driving to Auckland in Gerald Dwyer's van, I was sitting in the back thinking, "Mark's got his look down - dreaded leather monster - and Booga and Andrew have theirs down as well".

I was still dressing like a bogan and, for a guy playing guitar in a rock band, I was totally 'uncool'. To this day I will never know why the thought popped into my head, but I blurted out, "I'm gonna play naked tonight!"

At this point it was probably 85% bravado and 15% bullshit.

As soon as I said it, I saw Gerald's eyes lock onto mine in the rear vision mirror. He started stuttering and stumbling over his words as he said, "if you did that, it would be... wow!"

We get to Auckland and he corners me in the motel room and starts convincing me that I definitely should "play naked". So I said to Gerald, "I'll do it but we have to be allowed smoke, lights - the works".

I was sitting there shitting myself, thinking "what the hell have I got myself into?" That's when I came up with the idea of painting myself so that I wouldn't look like a pasty bogan up onstage.

After procuring some tubes of highly toxic paint, Amanda Clarke ¬ who was videographer for the tour - went about painting my entire body including my weenie, which she painted bright blue.

So then I'm thinking, "How the fuck am I going to get into the venue without people seeing?" At that point, a trench coat was procured which I draped around myself.

I hastily made my way backstage. Lance from S.P.U.D. and Solid Gold Hell sneered at me and said, "What are you doing? Trying to pull some chicks?" to which I replied, "If I was I could think of better ways to do it".

And the rest is history.

POSTSCRIPT:

When we played the Big Day Out main stage, I did the naked thing again. The bass player from Future Stupid was with a bunch of his mates, and as soon as we walked on stage he said, "I bet that guitar doesn't move an inch". So I played the loudest E chord ever and lifted the guitar straight above my head. I mean, if you're going to do it, don't do half-measures, right?

- Volume

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