Dieselhed, circa 1995/6.
Dieselhed formed in 1989 and soon built a loyal following in the San Francisco Bay Area with their unique blend of country, punk, and pseudo-classic rock. Drummer Heifetz budgeted his time between Dieselhed and the genre-bending experimentalists Mr. Bungle. Singer/Songwriter Virgil Shaw previously played in Arcata’s legendary outfit Brent’s TV. Bassist Ellis had been a founding member of the local disbanded Funk Rock band Psychefunkapus. Fiddling legend Jonathan Segel was a former member of local indie-faves Camper Van Beethoven.
With their creamy blend of unusual genres the band successfully developed an original sound that eventually led to a recording contract with independent label Amarillo Records in the early 1990s. Dieselhed released 3 full length LPs for Amarillo while maintaining a tireless national touring schedule throughout the 90s often accompanied by their “colorful” Mascot/Road Manager John Tynan.
Jonathan Segel was reportedly kicked out of the band in the mid-90s for excessive onstage prancing, not showing up to band practice, and frequently extending his violin solos with little or no warning to the band.
Dieselhed’s self-titled 1993 debut was received well leading to a modest spurt of college radio airplay. The band wound up selling out Amarillo’s first two pressings of the album. Their second album, Tales of a Brown Dragon, came out in 1995 and helped to expand their already growing fan base. Dieselhed became regulars at the SXSW music festival held each year in Austin, Texas. Their third album, 1997’s Shallow Water Blackout, was produced by Dwight Yoakam engineer Dusty Wakeman. Dieselhed followed their 1997 release with two U.S. tours opening for rock & roll legend Link Wray. For these dates Ellis and Heifitz would return to the stage after their opening set each night to back Wray. The two would go on to become Wray’s regular backing band from 1997-2003.
In 1998 Dieselhed signed a new contract with Bong Load Records, a label still riding the success of their recording and release of Beck’s critically acclaimed gold record Mellow Gold. Dieselhed issued Elephant Rest Home in 1998 (a collection of previously unreleased songs) and their final album Chico and the Flute in 2000 on Bongload.
Where Are They Now?
Like any great classic car, the parts of Dieselhed eventually went their separate ways, but none of them ended up in the scrap heap:
- Virgil Shaw: Still the poet laureate of the dark and dusty. In 2026, he’s still performing, recently releasing the acclaimed album At the Time I Didn’t Care. He’s moved into a “folky-country” lane, still painting with oil and writing “hundreds of jokes” into his voice memos.
- Zac Holtzman: Found massive success with the Los Angeles-based psychedelic outfit Dengue Fever, blending Cambodian pop with surf rock. It’s a long way from Arcata, but the spirit of the “Petroleum” lives on.
- Danny Heifetz: Now a resident of Australia (specifically Melbourne), Danny is the local legend you’ll find in the drum-stool for the band Umlaut. In late 2025, they released Desolé, proving he still has the best hands in the business.
- Atom Ellis: Spends his time between SF and LA, holding down the low end for legends like The Tubes and working with the likes of Chuck Prophet.
- Shon McAlinn: Reportedly traded the stage for the deep woods of Northern California, where he works as a licensed contractor, proving that if you can build a song, you can build a house.