Hannah Moorhead

Hannah Moorhead is an American musician based in New York City. She started playing bass guitar in 1992 after a long break from musical instruments. Her early years studying piano was her musical foundation, although she strayed away from it before starting high school. She moved to New York City from Connecticut in 1992 to pursue a career in film and video, working on many indie features and shorts along with two music themed TV shows. Shortly after moving, Moorhead decided that playing music was more of her passion and prioritized making bass guitar her focus. Moorhead's first notable band was Battershell (NG Records). She joined after the debut album, Sunshine In Popopia, had already been released in 1996. She became their new bassist in 1997, learning the demos to record the second record, Luv Punks, (1999) as Hannah Head. They played festivals and toured constantly until their breakup in 2000. Soon after that she became a founding and composing member of Epic Recording artist The Twenty Twos. This band started with Moorhead and Terrah Schroll (keys and vocals) creating their vision through various lineup changes which ultimately solidified as the 4 piece that emerged in the vibrant NYC scene of the early 2000s. Jenny Christmas was lead vocalist and guitarist, and Jonny Cragg of Spacehog became their drummer. They released their self titled debut EP/DVD on Epic Records in 2004. After playing half of the 2005 Warped Tour, they toured all over the US and the UK. Two major motion picture soundtracks, Grandma's Boy, and Elektra, feature their songs "Another Day" and "Five Years." The Twenty Twos made, mixed, and mastered a full length follow up that was never released before the band's break up in 2006. During that time, she joined Marty Willson-Piper (The Church, All About Eve, The Saints) on stage in 2001 for a gig at The Fez, to continue as his touring bassist ever since. She has been involved with countless different lineups of his, playing festivals and TV shows, such as Music City Roots in 2016. Their most recent tour together brought them through select US cities in early 2018. After the breakup of the Twenty Twos, Moorhead joined two bands, The Netherlands and Silver Rockets. The Netherlands is NY based Timo Ellis' project, which still exists today with a new lineup. She joined to showcase his songs playing bass guitar and synth keyboards, occasionally contributing backup vocals. They recorded an EP in 2007 called Gato Au Chocolate released by Ellis' label, Tapes and Records Records. She was with The Netherlands for about two years. Silver Rockets was Paul Dillon's (Mercury Rev) project. Moorhead joined an ever evolving lineup for the live shows. They ended up recording and releasing a 7" in 2008 of "Retreat" / "Hanging On." She played with Dillon until he started making plans to leave NY for Portland, OR a few years later. Starcrossed Signs was her next creative endeavor, with three of the members of Brooklyn's Caveman. Starcrossed Signs was founded and fronted by Caveman's bassist Jeff Berrall (also known for playing bass in Elephant). They played many local gigs and recorded a full length LP which never got released. About a year into it Berrall decided to put his project on a back burner while Caveman brought on an extensive touring and recording schedule as they gained notoriety. 2011 is the year Moorhead was introduced to Louis Schefano, who she collaborated with for over 5 years. They played gigs and a few small festivals under the names Lou-is, Louis, and Suspicious Light. Their early lineup included Adam Franklin (Swervedriver) on guitar and bvs, and the later incarnation as Suspicious Light gained unsolicited press as one of the best new bands in New York by Gigwise and Deli Magazine. They disbanded when Schefano moved out of NY before releasing his own solo record in 2017, Opposite Side of the World, that includes 3 tracks Moorhead played bass on. In 2016, Martin Bisi introduced Moorhead to his friend and client which lead to her next band. She currently plays with Nikolai Zeinikov as Rocket Silence; his debut EP was produced by Martin Bisi. The spring of 2018 brought her into The Giraffes (New York) as the newest member on bass, immediately contributing by recording a song for their upcoming LP "Flower of the Cosmos." due for release in 2019. They start touring mid summer of 2018. Moorhead resides in Brooklyn, NY