Hamell On Trial - Irish Tour December 2003

jmc · 27-11-2003 02:17PM #1

He's some boy! Love 'Choochtown'...

Hamell On Trial - Irish Tour December 2003

Hamell tour dates are:
Tuesday December 9, 2003 DUNDALK - Spirit Store
Wednesday December 10, 2003 BELFAST - Auntie Annie's
Thursday December 11, 2003 LIMERICK - Dolan's
Friday December 12, 2003 CORK - The Half Moon
Saturday December 13, 2003 DUBLIN - at The Village

"He's like Billy Bragg with a bad attitude, or more accurately Bill Hicks wielding his guitar like a scythe" - The Independent

UNCUT: "Two years ago before he became an Uncut regular with his own monthly column, Ed Hamell - aka Hamell On Trial - released an album called 'Choochtown' that we described as 'Mean Streets: The Musical'. We weren't joking either. 'Choochtown' teemed with the same raw vitality, violence and profane humour as Scorcesse's early masterpiece and was populated by a similarly colourful cast of hoodlums, hookers, big-time gangsters, small-time hoods and Chooch himself, a freelance Mob bone-breaker. The thing really played out like a great ****ing movie, with parts for De Niro, Keitel, Pesci and all your other favourite wiseguys. And what a soundtrack it came with!"

"Musically, Hamell drew inspiration from Dylan, the Velvets, the Modern Lovers, MC5, Stooges, Patti Smith and The Clash. Recorded mostly in the basment of his Brooklyn home, 'Choochtown' was rock 'n' roll stripped to the sinew, gristle and bone: hard as nails, noisy, confrontational. A ****ing belter, in other words.
And the good news for all the friends and fans that Hamell's made since is that 'Tough Love', released on Ani DiFranco's Righteous Babe imprint, is even better, and finds Hamell moving up in the world somewhat. Former Stone Roses and Radiohead producer, John Leckie has helmed four tracks and great musicians include DiFranco herself, guitarist Gary Lucas (The Magic Bands, Gods And Monsters, Jeff Buckley), bassist Errnie Brooks (the Modern Lovers) and drummer Jonathan Kane (Swans) ... 'Tough Love' is dedicated to Joe Strummer, who I like to think would've loved it as much as I do."

lodgepole · 27-11-2003 05:52PM

He's brilliant live, but apparently the last few times he's played in Ireland his set has been pretty much the same, which in turn was indentical to his live album.

He has new material though so hopefully it'll be a new show.

I met him at Witnness, got my Choochtown CD signed. Brilliant album, and he's a top bloke too.

jmc · 27-11-2003 10:00PM

The new album ('Tough Love') is fantastic, brilliantly biting and some great acoustic moments. I'd say he'll play a good bit of new stuff and he's been through a good bit since (a serious car accident, fatherhood) so he should have plenty to say.

Saw this in the new issue of Time Out, which sums him up quite nicely I reckon:

"On stage, Ed Hamell is one scary-looking bloke - bald, with a deathly pallor and a slightly crazed look in his eyes. Yes, there's definitely something mad about the way he moves across the boards. But hey, it's just one man and his guitar, isn't it? And a beat-up old acoustic guitar, isn't it? Don't believe it!
From the first, lightning-fast burst of brutal, attacking strumming, the stacks of speakers rumble and rattle with a delicious wall of raw sound. (So loud - just how does he do that?). He careers around the stage like a maniac. He's unpredictable, there's an intensity that crackles as he spits out his angry, darkly witty lyrics.

Between songs he's hilarious. It's Bill Hicks meets The Ramones, The Clash and more. Hamell writes of the disaffected, the dangerous, dark side of life and injustice, of the wrongs of society, of murders, drugs and violence, stories coupled with shady characters living on their wits.
He grabs songs by the scruff of the neck and shakes out the pithy realities - as captured brilliantly on latest album, ' Tough Love' (Righteous Babe Records). He has a tender side too, with songs of love and survival among the rants, but there's no descending into sickly syrup for this anti-folkster - everything's ultra-real and loud and scarily funny.
A Hamell show is the most life-affirming of experiences in its darkness, humour, raw vitality and passion - btoh energising and cathartic. This man's not mad, he's a genius."

Hamell On Trial - Irish Tour December 2003

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