Page Hamilton is a music geek. There is no question. This is a guy that loves music. Loves listening to it at home, loves listening to it in clubs and loves playing it. The thing is, he actually gets out of his room and does something about it. Music isn't just a theoretical discussion to him, it's a living breathing part of his existence. Don't get me wrong, if it's theory you want to discuss Mr. Hamilton could go on for hours, but he puts his theory to practice with his band, Helmet.
Page's musical roots are in Oregon where he grew up listening to Led Zeppelin. Eventually he moved to New York City, enrolled in the Manhattan School for Music and, of course, learned to play jazz. Soon he was playing with Glen Branca and Band of Susans, who helped to further expand his musical vocabulary. Finally he decided it was time to do his own thing and Helmet was born. Helmet was signed for a hefty sum by Interscope in the Nirvana/Grunge record company feeding frenzy but have turned out to be the real deal and, of course, not grunge.
What is Helmet? Helmet is ROCK. If there is any doubt about that please have a listen to their new record on Interscope titled Aftertaste. This record, as all Helmet records, is not for the weak of heart. The first cut on the record is Pure - a heavy but very melodic song that points to Page's increased interest in the song writing craft. There is a surprising turnaround that takes a 7th chord and then moves it down a half step in a very poppy, Beatlesque way. It's unexpected, yet fits into the overall movement of the song and works well as a respite from the drive of the main groove. I found myself singing Pure [ wav | au ] all day.
Aftertaste, Helmet's fourth record, was produced by Dave Sardi of Barkmarket and his goal seems to have been to keep the pedal to the metal and not let anything that could be construed as precious get in the way. This is a no apologies Helmet/Rock record that doesn't try to do anything except rock heavy and hard. Got a problem with that? Check out that sugar sweet sentiment in Exactly What You Wanted [ wav | au ]. Is this a love song? I don't think so. Why not try out the skin splitting burst that is Insatiable [ wav | au ]. Now isn't that better?
I don't think anyone is going to get an aroma-therapy massage to this music. Perhaps, if you turn it up and you have big enough speakers, it might rearrange your internal and external organs. This album definitely has some big vibrations and if you buy it, Page can get even more guitars than he has now.
If you would like to know more about the mind of Page Hamilton, please read on and see what he had to say for himself when I spoke to him about his new record, Ornette Coleman and of course Fran Tarkington.
interview
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