Well, damn. Rocks Off should have known that when something sounds too good to be true, it usually is.
And so, unlike what we reported Monday, the original lineup of Houston thrash-metal gods deadhorse will not be playing at Warehouse Live on October 22. The lineup that released the group's final recording, the 1996 Boil(ing) EP, will play.
Rocks Off just got off the phone with Warehouse's Christian Larson, who confirmed that the Boil(ing) lineup, fronted by Scott Sevall, is the correct one.
That wasn't always the case, at least not in theory. Larson says the plans were for both versions of deadhorse to perform, for original front man Michael Haaga, who left the group in 1994, and Sevall to each sing for a while. Then things basically "blew up," Larson says.
Unfortunately, someone put the cart before the horse, as it were. From what Larson and Haaga's brother (and former deadhorse manager) Randy told us, it sounds like the chain of bad information started when no one bothered to inform Haaga about the reunion plans or ask if he might like to participate. We also called and emailed Haaga ourselves, but haven't heard back.
It's a moot point now, we suppose. Rocks Off apologizes for getting anyone's hopes up. As we understood it, and Larson told us yesterday, it was a done deal. We both thought it was, but obviously that wasn't the case.
Is half a deadhorse better than none? Can't say. Like we said yesterday, Rocks Off never saw either version of the band live, and we were looking forward to it. We'll probably still go to the show out of curiosity, but in all likelihood the chances of an original deadhorse reunion are further away than ever.
Dammit. There's probably not much chance of the Pain Teens getting back together, either.
Follow Rocks Off on Facebook and on Twitter at @HPRocksOff.