Bellhead
Bellhead came together in 2019 the way real bands come together, not by design but by accident. Ivan and Karen had orbited each other in the Chicago scene for years, playing in the same band at different times, until a run of unfortunate lineup collapses left them both band-less at the same time. During a Chicago blizzard, they got extremely drunk, passed out watching To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar, and woke up as Bellhead. They played their first show that summer, and the concept, two basses (Ivan on high bass and vocals and drum programming, Karen on low bass and vocals), no guitar, no filler, was there from the first note.
The catalog moved fast. Two EPs in 2019 (Fire Control and Runaway), 2020's Unicorn Bones EP engineered by Neil Strauch (Iron and Wine, Counting Crows, Joan of Arc) and mastered by Carl Saff (Red Fang, Guided by Voices), 2021's Remix with Guns EP featuring contributions from artists tied to Chemlab, Sister Machine Gun, and Pigface, 2023's Good Intentions EP, and April 2025's Threats EP on Oppressive Sky Records, which just got expanded to a 10-track limited-edition yellow vinyl in June 2026 with a Stabbing Westward remix by Chris Hall included. Tracks have landed on Electronic Saviors Vol. 6, DSBP's Industrial Assault Vol. 7, and Side-Line's Face the Beat Vol. 5. They've toured with Julien-K, opened dates across the Midwest, and Karen has also logged time with Pigface, which is about as deep in the Chicago industrial bloodline as you can get.
Both members were music scene veterans before Bellhead. Ivan came out of Ahab Rex, Mr. Russia, and Sheriff Scabs. Karen came through Fashion Bomb, Team Cybergeist, W.O.R.M, and Bethany Thomas. This isn't a first band for either of them, and you can hear it in how tight the arrangements are and how confident the songwriting is. The Threats EP in particular leans into narrative songwriting about abandonment, revenge, and independent women with a taste for danger, wrapped in a sound that pulls from post-punk, darkwave, industrial, and EBM without ever quite settling into any one lane.
Whether you've caught Bellhead at Late Bar in Chicago, been on a bill with them, or you're meeting the duo for the first time, this is a conversation with two scene veterans who threw out the guitar, kept the songs, and built one of the most distinctive live acts working in post-punk right now.
The Unwritten Rules of the Road is hosted by Tash Cox, frontwoman of AL1CE and a steadfast independent artist who has spent years on the road, in the van, and on stages across North America and abroad. A road warrior, lifelong music fan, and unapologetic champion of the underground, Tash started Unwritten Rules of the Road to shine a light on the people who make touring life actually happen: working musicians, crew, promoters, label folks, and the countless artists grinding outside the spotlight. The show pulls back the curtain on what the road really costs, what it gives back, and the unspoken rules you only learn by living it.
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What they get into
- Building a live show around two basses and a drum machine and why the "no guitar" rule is more than a gimmick
- Twenty plus years of Chicago scene experience feeding into a project you started in 2019
- Karen's time with Pigface and what carries over into Bellhead
- Working with Neil Strauch and Carl Saff and how that shaped the early records
- The evolution from Unicorn Bones to Threats and where the songwriting is going next
- Running an independent band on your own mailing list instead of chasing the algorithm
- Prepping for the July 31 to September 20 US tour and what a Bellhead room looks like in 2026