Head East

Head East
Origin	South Central Illinois, United States
Genres	Hard rock
Years active	1969–present
Labels	A&M, Pyramid Records, Darkheart Records, Allegiance Records
Members	Roger Boyd Greg Manahan Eddy Jones Glen Bridger Darren Walker
Past members	John Schlitt Mike Somerville Dan Birney Tim Day Kurt Hansen Steve Huston Steve Anderson

Head East is an American hard rock band originally from East Central Illinois. The band was formed by vocalist John Schlitt, guitarist Danny Piper, keyboardist Roger Boyd, bassist Larry Boyd, and drummer Steve Huston. They met and formed the band while John, Roger, and Larry were studying at the University of Illinois, Steve was at Eastern Illinois University 45 miles away and Danny was not in college. Eventually both Larry and Danny dropped out of the band and were replaced by Mike Somerville (guitar) and Dan Birney (bass). The band achieved success in the Midwest during the 1970s, but fell into obscurity in the following decades on both coasts while remaining strong in the Midwest and South. They remain best known for their AOR hit Never Been Any Reason.

Originally known as the TimeAtions, the band adopted the name Head East on August 6, 1969 at the suggestion of the band's roadie, Baxter Forrest Twilight. In a 2011 interview, founding member Steve Huston claimed that soon after sunrise one morning in 1969, Baxter Twilight woke the band members in their communal home/practice facility. Having been up all night sitting in the front yard consuming acid, the roadie said that when the sun rose, it turned into a giant talking head and told him the band's new name should be "Head East". After thinking on it briefly, the band liked the unusual nature of it and has kept the name. However, other members of the band dispute Huston's claim about the naming.

Head East recorded their first album, Flat as a Pancake, in 1974 at Golden Voice Recording Studio in South Pekin, Illinois. Released on their own record label, Pyramid Records, all 5,000 records and 500 eight-tracks produced were sold. Several midwest album rock radio stations, chief among them KSHE 95, St. Louis and KY-102 in Kansas City and others, began airing songs from the album as well. With those sales, and the song "Never Been Any Reason" on radio, A&M was impressed enough to sign the band and re-release the album in 1975. The album reached gold status by 1978 and would remain their most popular album, spawning another hit in the song "Love Me Tonight", which peaked at #54.

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