Hammer (NWoBHM-Band)
| hammer | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| origin | Middlesbrough , England |
| Genre (s) | New Wave of British Heavy Metal , Rock |
| founding | 1982 as Holland, 2015 |
| resolution | circa 1987 |
| Current occupation | |
| Graeme Hutchinson | |
| Marty Day | |
Electric guitar |
Bob Henman |
Electric guitar |
Kenny Nicholson |
| Marty "Doggy" "The Dog" Wilkinson | |
| former members | |
Electric guitar |
Arthur Fixter |
Hammer is an English New Wave of British Heavy Metal and Rock band from Middlesbrough , which was founded in 1982 under the name Holland , dissolved around 1987 and has been active again since 2015.
history
The band was founded in late 1982 under the name Holland by Black Rose guitarist Kenny Nicholson and emerged from the break-up of various local bands. The line-up was supplemented by the drummer Marty Day (ex- Axis ), the guitarist Bob Henman, the bassist Graeme Hutchinson and the singer Marty "Doggy" Wilkinson. The band then worked on their first songs and recorded a demo with the songs Illusion , The Lowdown and Driving Me Crazy . The recordings had taken place in November 1982 at Evergreen Studios in North Yorkshire . Since she did not consider these songs good enough, however, another demo was recorded in late 1983, which includes the songs Liar and Second Time Casualty . The recordings for this had been held in December 1983 at Fairview Studios near Kingston upon Hull with producer Roy Neave . Thereupon, among others, Roadrunner Records and Ebony Records became aware of the band. The band decided to sign a record deal with the latter label. The group then went to the label's own studio to record their debut album. After the recording was finished in the spring of 1984, it was released a few months later with the title Early Warning . Various small appearances followed to promote the sound carrier, among others together with Magnum . Due to good sales, Ebony Records was interested in releasing another album. However, since there was already a Canadian band of the same name (according to another source American ), the group was renamed Hammer.
The renaming took place around the beginning of 1985. Wilkinson had meanwhile changed his nickname from "Doggy" to "The Dog". The album Contract with Hell was also released in the same year via Ebony Records . This includes the song Hard Hittin 'Woman , of which the group recorded a demo back in 1982. In early 1986 guitarist Kenny Nicholson announced that he wanted to go musically in a harder direction with the band, while Wilkinson wanted to play more chart-friendly music. This led to the departure of Nicholson, who then founded Fast Kutz . Arthur Fixter was hired as a replacement, with whom further demos were recorded over the following years. The group remained under contract with Ebony Records during this time, an album was temporarily planned, but was never released. It was only after Fixter and Hutchinson left that Hammer finally lost the record deal. After Hutchinson's departure in mid-1986, the band tried to replace him with another bass player, but they broke up about a year later.
In 2015 the band got back together and played their first gig at the Brofest that same year .
style
According to Malc Macmillan in The NWOBHM Encyclopedia , influences from Thin Lizzy and Diamond Head can be heard on the first demo , while the second demo sounds more commercial and evokes memories of Export , Terraplane and Wild Horses . On the album Early Warning the band play particularly melodic music from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal and sound influenced by Power Metal . The album also brings back memories of bands like Bad Company , Ace Lane , After Dark and Raw Deal from Leicestershire . Since the name was changed to Hammer, the sound of the music has changed somewhat, which is mainly due to the occasional use of a keyboard. The band tried to take on a more metal image. Lyrically and also in terms of songwriting, she has developed further. After the addition of guitarist Arthur Fixter, the group moved into more commercial realms with each demo. Also Allmusic found that short time, the band was of the NWOBHM. The first album suffered from poor production, while the second was more impressive. Martin Popoff wrote in The Collector's Guide of Heavy Metal Volume 2: The Eighties about Early Warning that this was followed by American-sounding vocals that roughly resembled Glenn Hughes . He was reminded of early Tokyo Blade , although the music also tended towards Savage and Grim Reaper . The vocals on Contract with Hell still sound the same, but the group now sounds more like a German metal band and a bit Irish . In addition to NWoBHM, US stadium rock can also be heard from the music. E. Koschmider from Metal Hammer wrote in his review of Contract with Hell that the songs are usually played rather slowly. The opening song is reminiscent of Captain Nemo from the Michael Schenker Group . The other songs would also be reminiscent of traditional hard rock , with keyboards occasionally used. Overall, the group plays music that picks up where Y&T at Black Tiger or where the Michael Schenker Group left off completely.
Discography
- than Holland
- 1982: Demo '82 (demo, self-published)
- 1983: Demo '83 (demo, self-published)
- 1984: Early Warning (Album, Ebony Records )
- as a hammer
- 1985: Contract with Hell (Album, Ebony Records)
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Malc Macmillan: The NWOBHM Encyclopedia . IP Verlag Jeske / Mader GbR, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-931624-16-3 , p. 291 f .
- ↑ a b c Info. Facebook , accessed November 19, 2016 .
- ↑ a b c Martin Popoff : The Collector's Guide of Heavy Metal Volume 2: The Eighties . Collectors Guide Ltd, Burlington, Ontario, Canada 2005, ISBN 978-1-894959-31-5 , pp. 145 .
- ↑ Biography. (No longer available online.) Musicmight.com, archived from the original on March 24, 2016 ; Retrieved November 19, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ A b c Malc Macmillan: The NWOBHM Encyclopedia . IP Verlag Jeske / Mader GbR, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-931624-16-3 , p. 267 f .
- ↑ Bands 2015. brofest.co.uk, accessed November 19, 2016 .
- ↑ Holland. Allmusic , accessed November 19, 2016 .
- ↑ Martin Popoff: The Collector's Guide of Heavy Metal Volume 2: The Eighties . Collectors Guide Ltd, Burlington, Ontario, Canada 2005, ISBN 978-1-894959-31-5 , pp. 161 .
- ^ E. Koschmider: Hammer . Contract with Hell. In: Metal Hammer . May 1985, p. 74 .
