It was back in 1991 when Vadim Krasnooky started the first neo rockabilly/psychobilly band of Ukraine. The style was completely unknown there, so the guys felt like aliens with their quiffs, semi-acoustic guitar, double bass and stand up drum set. They were the aliens on a mission, and the mission was to spread new sound across their country and to bring it back to where it had come from, but with their own vision.
It took time and a few line-up changes before Mad Heads became a band able to succeed with such a hard task, but since they were ready there was nothing to stop them. Their debut album Psycholula was out in 1996 on Crazy Love Records in Germany, while in Ukraine they were already a well known band: seen on TV, heard on radio, talked about in major press. They filmed a video to support their album, and it was actually rotated on the channel of national importance.
Soon after, Mad Heads started to tour abroad. They appeared 4 times at Rock'n'Roll Jamboree in Finland, 3 times at Calella Psychobilly Meeting in Spain, they rocked the halls of many festivals and clubs in Russia, Poland, Germany, Great Britain, Finland, Spain, Italy, Switzerland and the Netherlands. They've been invited to the USA and only couldn't make it because of some visa problems. They played the same stage with the most of their favorite bands of the scene while becoming the heroes for many younger acts.
The debut album was followed by Mad in Ukraine in 1998 and Naked Flame in 2002 (both out on Crazy Love Records) which brought the acknowledgment for Mad Heads of being #1 band of the scene in Eastern Europe and with no doubt an outstanding act among the psychobilly bands of all the world. In Ukraine, they simply become a rock'n'roll legend, so they decided to do even more for their local fans and in 2003 was released the album Contact with all the songs in the mother languages (the first 3 albums were in English). This record was out on local EMI sub-label Comp Music.
In 2004 the guys felt that their mission was complete. Their music was changing throughout the years, and now they had to face the fact that it didn't fit psychobilly scene anymore. So they took it even further, doubled the line up with 3-piece brass section and mixed up their older sounds with ska punk, swing and Ukrainian folk music. The new project called Mad Heads XL became a smashing success in Ukraine, so it was decided to quit as a trio for an indeterminate period.
The best known and the longest lasting Mad Heads line-up was:
Vadym Krasnooky - vocal, guitar; Maxym Krasnooky - double bass; Bogdan Ocheretyany - drums.
In the early years the band had Vladimir Stalinsky, then Stanislav Lisovsky on double bass; Roman Sharkevich, then Evgen Medved on drums.
official site: www.madheads.kiev.ua/old
photo of Mad Heads from: http://kmstudio.com.ua/index.php?nma=cherem&fla=stat&nm=153
