About
Out of Champaign, Illinois came Head East, a hard-working Midwestern rock band that built a devoted following through relentless touring before many people outside their region had even heard of them. Coming together in the early 1970s, the band centered around the keyboards and vocals of Roger Boyd alongside guitarist Mike Somerville, and their chemistry drove a sound that blended melodic hard rock with progressive rock textures — think Styx or Kansas, but with a grittier, more road-worn edge. They were exactly the kind of band that lived and died by the live show.
Their 1978 album Never Been Any Reason, reissued after massive regional success, became their breakthrough moment, with the title track standing as one of the most underrated arena rock anthems of the decade. A-sides: Their Greatest Hits followed and gave them a foothold in the mainstream. While they never quite cracked the top tier alongside their Illinois contemporaries, Head East represented something important — the idea that a band could sustain itself on pure grassroots hustle, building a fanbase city by city. For fans of classic melodic rock, they remain a rewarding deep cut with a catalog that holds up surprisingly well.
