'You just can't beat that raw energy when someone's face is three foot away from yours,” says guitarist Nigel Regan.

Mount Maunganui's Brewers Bar should then provide the perfect venue when the one and only Head Like a Hole and metal masters 8 Foot Sativa storm into town on Saturday, July 25

Hootenanny! Head Like A Hole, joined by 8 Foot Sativa, will be playing Mount Maunganui's Brewers Bar on Saturday, July 25. Photo: Supplied.

HLAH are vocalist Booga Beazley, drummer Mike-Franklin-Browne, bassist Simon Nicholls, and guitarists Andrew Ashton and Nigel Regan.

This upcoming show is part of a 10 date national tour in celebration of the band's sixth and latest album Narcocorrido which was released in April of this year.

Nigel says they're amping to hit the road to play their heavy, groove laden style of rock and are particularly looking forward to hitting Brewers Bar.

'For some reason you just go absolutely mental when we play, so we're really looking forward to coming back,” says Regan. 'The other gigs, people tend to dance and jump around, but in Tauranga they just put in that extra 10 per cent.

'We're a band that feeds off energy so when the audience puts it out there we give it back and it turns into a circular thing. The more they put out the more we put out and it goes absolutely crazy.

'It reminds me of the early gigs when the whole grunge thing was huge and people moshed and stage dived.”

Formed in Wellington during the early 1990's, HLAH released albums 13, Flik Y'Self Off Y'Self, Double Your Strength, Improve Your Health, & Lengthen Your Life and Are You Gonna Kiss It Or Shoot It? before disbanding in 2000.

And during the early 2000's, rock music seemed to disappear from the New Zealand music scene, says Nigel.

'Everyone was going to dance parties and dropping E's and all that sort of thing. But rock has had a resurgence which is shown by a lot of bands like us reforming and getting back out there again.”

In 2008, HLAH were asked to perform at the Vodafone Homegrown music festival. Thankfully for fans they said ‘yes' and it's been all on since then, including offering new music on 2011's Blood Will Out.

Head Like A Hole during the recording of their new album ‘Narcocorrido'. Photo: HLAH/Facebook

Nigel says recording Narcocorrido (which is Spanish for ‘Drug ballad') has been more of a band affair this time round, with each member offering input and ideas to each song.

The inclusion of Simon on bass has also added a new dimension to the band's sound and Nigel says the bassist brought 'a ton of great ideas” and his versatility allowed HLAH to branch out more.

'HLAH have a few sort of tricks, we like a big groove and heaviness. So as long as that's in there and the songs can work around it, it works for us.”

But he admits the recording process for Narcocorrido was a pain in the ass for the band who had to use multiple studios to complete the album.

'We got Andrew Buckman, who recorded Blood Will Out, again because we were really happy with what he did but unfortunately he had to shut his studio down halfway through.

'So we ended up doing it at a whole bunch of different places with a whole bunch of different people. But we're totally stoked with album, especially because of all the hard work we put in to it.”

They've played both big and small venues, but Head Like A Hole guitarist Nigel Regan reckons something special when the crowd are right in front of your face. Photo: HLAH

In some ways, life has come full circle and Nigel says he sees this every time the band takes to the stage.

If you thought a HLAH audience would simply be made up of middle-aged men and women, Nigel says that couldn't be further from the truth.

Their first tour after reforming brought in people their age who used to watch them way back in the day. But since then they've noticed the audience has got younger.

'A lot of them are sons and daughters of people who'd seen us when they were 20, we've got a whole new audience of young people out there, it's really important to have the youth on your side.

'The weird thing, when we're on stage playing and looking out at the audience it's sort of like going back in time, it reminds me of playing the Carpark in Wellington or Powerstation in Auckland.

'You could take a photo and line it up beside an old one, and apart from a few more wrinkles on our faces the audience pretty much looks the same – same t-shirts, same haircuts, everything.”

SunLive has one double pass and a copy of Head Like A Hole's new album 'Narcocorrido' to give away to one lucky reader who can tell us where in New Zealand the band formed?

Visit our Competitions Section to get yourself in the draw. Entries must be received by Wednesday, July 22.

Head Like a Hole and 8 Foot Sativa play Brewers Bar in Mount Maunganui on Saturday, July 25. This is an R18 gig. Tickets cost $47.50 from Eventfinda: www.eventfinder.co.nz

For more information visit Head Like A Hole's website at: www.headlikeahole.co.nz

Check out Head Like A Hole's song ‘Hootenanny' from the album ‘Double Your Strength, Improve Your Health, & Lengthen Your Life' below: