When faced with discrepancies between truth and legend, the guardians of rock-鈥檔鈥-roll history tend to follow the advice of the late Tony Wilson and 鈥減rint the legend.鈥
One has to ask a chap with a past as legendarily chequered as Hugh Dillon, then, if the messy personal circumstances that saw the Headstones finally blow apart at the seams in 2003 were really as a bad as popular lore makes them out to be.
鈥淵eah, it was bad,鈥 affirms the good-humoured Dillon, long sober but still intense at 56. 鈥淚t just fell apart. With the state of music at the time and the Spice Girls and the horsesh—, nobody gave a f—-, y鈥檏now? And out of Nirvana and all the greatness that was the early 鈥90s, by the end of it we were f—-ed, just drug addicts and alcoholics, and there was no coming back from it.
鈥淟uckily we all have great families and we鈥檝e got great people around us. My wife was a huge part of it, a huge part of it, and to this day I have the finest rock 鈥榥鈥 roll manager in the world, Bernie Breen, who managed the Tragically Hip and still manages the band and my acting career. Anybody else would have kept us on the road 鈥 anybody, because that鈥檚 their bread and butter 鈥 but Bernie just said, 鈥榊鈥檏now, nobody wants to see you die.鈥 And the good news was our bass player, Tim White, was also saying 鈥榃e can鈥檛 continue.鈥 It was one of those moments. That was my whole life, but to walk away from it really enabled me to save my life and to figure out how to clean up.鈥
Stepping away from rock 鈥榥鈥 roll was no small feat for Dillon, as that was all he鈥檇 ever really wanted to do, and by any means necessary. He would not be dissuaded. In his late teens, his mom packed him off from his hometown of Kingston 鈥 where he was primarily known for dealing drugs but one of his early dabblings in rock 鈥減rofessionalism鈥 was doing lights for Gord Downie鈥檚 first band, the Slinks 鈥 overseas to London hoping that he鈥檇 clean up his act. Instead he spent the next five years living in squats, busking for booze money in the Tube and in Leicester Square and generally learning how to become an even more authentic gutter punk at the source.
Ultimately, the thing that would finally knock Dillon off course after actually fronting a notably ass-whuppin鈥 rock band for 15 years 鈥 one whose snarling breed of punk-derived heaviness sufficiently caught the grunge-era zeitgeist to give it unlikely mainstream prominence in Canada with early albums like 1993鈥檚 鈥淧icture of Health,鈥 1995鈥檚 鈥淭eeth and Tissue鈥 and 1997鈥檚 鈥淪mile and Wave鈥 鈥 was heroin. His umpteenth relapse into addiction came after the release of 2002鈥檚 鈥淭he Oracle of Hi-Fi,鈥 and this time it was evident to all around him that a life-or-death situation was developing.
Dillon chose life, luckily, and soon found himself enjoying a second life as a film and TV actor. He鈥檇 established that he could do the gig after essentially playing his old, nihilistic self as Joe Dick in Bruce McDonald鈥檚 terrific adaptation of 鈥淗ard Core Logo鈥 in 1996, but by 2007 he was suddenly a familiar face on national TV playing cops, of all things, on series such as The Movie Network鈥檚 鈥淒urham County鈥 and CTV鈥檚 鈥淔lashpoint.鈥 He鈥檚 currently playing a sheriff again on pal Taylor Sheridan鈥檚 hit U.S. Kevin Costner series 鈥淵ellowstone,鈥 which he concedes is indeed rather amusing 鈥渋f you know the back story.鈥
It鈥檚 been a pretty spectacular, and unforeseen, turnaround. And now that the reformed Headstones are firing up again toward the Oct. 25 release of their best album in a couple of decades, the no-fuss, old-school-punk barnburner 鈥淧EOPLESKILLS,鈥 Dillon is more than a little gobsmacked that he鈥檚 been able to return to his first true love, music, and still find not just willing co-conspirators in his much-abused longtime bandmates White and Trent Carr and producer/co-writer Chris Osti but an actual audience for what the Headstones do.
No label would touch the prospect of a new Headstones album after the band 鈥 these days a six-piece that also includes Steve Carr, Rickferd Van Dyk and Jesse Labovitz 鈥 reunited to play a benefit gig for a dying friend鈥檚 young son in 2011, realized they were past the 鈥渂ullsh—鈥 and decided to record again. Yet they were able to crowdfund what would become 2013鈥檚 鈥淟ove + Fury鈥 within 24 hours. 鈥淒evil鈥檚 On Fire鈥 from the Headstones鈥 next reunion album, 2017鈥檚 鈥淟ittle Army,鈥 subsequently became the band鈥檚 first-ever No. 1 hit on the rock-radio charts.
鈥淲ell, I got kinda lucky in that I didn鈥檛 plan it. I thought we were done and over and I think that鈥檚 why this is just, like, stunning. On every level. On every level,鈥 says Dillon, admitting that even during the drive to new label Cadence Music鈥檚 office in rapidly gentrifying Corktown for this interview he was struck by what a wild ride he鈥檚 had. 鈥淚 drive by places where I go, 鈥楩—-, I had a bad experience there鈥 or 鈥楤ut I had a great experience there.鈥 It鈥檚 black-and-white kind of feelings sometimes. It was so low and it was so high.
鈥淭his was today: I remember scoring drugs on the bad strip over there and I had a terrible job because I鈥檇 just moved back from England and I was driving a fork truck and I remember the foreman was just such a f—-in鈥 dick and I hated the job so much that I put the forks up and drove them straight into the f—-in鈥 load and walked away, not knowing that I was gonna have another job. I wanted to play music and I couldn鈥檛 handle it and I was paid f—- all. And then as I was turning the corner to come here, I was, like, 鈥極h, hey, 鈥楩lashpoint鈥 shot on the roof of that building once.鈥 鈥
The Headstones will stage 鈥楶EOPLESKILLS鈥 grand 海角社区官网unveiling , to be followed by another cross-Canada trek as soon as Dillon鈥檚 busy acting schedule permits. He鈥檚 got a couple more projects in the works with Sheridan, he confides, while his moviemaking buddy also just sent word that 鈥淢otorcade,鈥 a Dylan-esque new number from 鈥楶EOPLESKILLS,鈥 will feature in his next film 鈥Those Who Wish Me Dead,鈥 starring Angelina Jolie.
Being back onstage is where it鈥檚 at, though.
鈥淲hen I left, you could still smoke onstage. And we did. So to come back to there鈥檚 no smoking and everybody鈥檚 got phones was a little bit of an adjustment,鈥 he laughs. 鈥淚 was on the fence with all of it until I embraced it. It鈥檚 magical.
鈥淚t鈥檚 magical. And then to be able to do things that I didn鈥檛 know (about) back then that I can do now. I鈥檝e learned so much about filmmaking so we make these great little videos and make cinematic little pieces that go with the music. I control the artwork. I love the whole process. And now it鈥檚 all in, and I love the ability to work with guys I know and trust and who I鈥檝e known forever because that chemistry 鈥 you can鈥檛 find it, you can鈥檛 make it, it is there. Tim and Trent have been friends since they were 10 and we鈥檝e been friends for f—-in鈥 ever and it鈥檚 amazing.
鈥淎nd on the road is fun. We laugh our asses off. We have the weird luxury of being this weird, little Canadian band because that prevents us from getting burned out or overplaying. That doesn鈥檛 happen to us. So when we want to play from coast to coast in this country, when we go and it鈥檚 been building, we go hard and it鈥檚 exciting. We don鈥檛 go 鈥極h, f—-, we鈥檙e here again?鈥
鈥淓very show becomes an assault. Well, maybe that鈥檚 not the right word, but we don鈥檛 phone it in. Now we make sure we stay in places we like to stay in and go to restaurants we like going to and when it鈥檚 time to play, it goes off and we have the ability to get where we want to go faster and have it be stronger and meaner, in a sense.
鈥淲e鈥檙e honest and committed. It鈥檚 the old thing: we love it. So if we happen to get lucky or anybody else responds, that鈥檚 great.鈥
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