Helmet /Page Hamilton : Classic Or Dud, Search & Destroy.

I think their particular approach flamed out pretty quickly, though. Betty just seemed like going through the motions, and I never heard anything after that. I wish they could have found a way to liven or broaden their sound somewhat. For all the lip service Page Hamilton paid to guys like Ornette Coleman, or how into "jazz" he always claimed to be, you sure couldn't hear it in the music.

There are definite affinities between the music of Helmet and some of the nu-metallers. What little I've heard of the Deftones struck me as kind of a Helmet redux. I actually just auditioned Betty a few weeks ago, because I've been going through a cd purge (it didn't make the cut); I listened with the nu-metal guys in mind, as I've heard the idea of a linkage advanced before. But who can say how much of that is a direct borrowing/whatever? Most of the formal elements in Helmet's music had long been present in the metal vocabulary. The churning, repetitive chord-based riffs of AC/DC; the fussy time signatures and jerky rhythms of something like King Crimson's Red. Sometimes their occasional use of space even recalled Pink Flag-era Wire.

I once saw 'em in like 1991 opening up for the Melvins in a little shithole performance space that was only around for a couple years. It was a great show. Helmet's sound completely filled the room; it was like swimming in sound waves. LOUD AS FUCK.

I can see a link to nu-metal in that Helmet was one of the first bands to get significant airplay blending many of nu-metal's signature elements, though they lacked nu-metal's hip-hop stylings and angsty lyrics.

_meantime_ really, really bores me.

Never liked their music much, though the song "In The Meantime" was okay.

That's the other way round, surely? Chaos AD was perceived as their sellout/bandwagonjumping album because they moved to the US and adopted the sound/songwriting that was popular in the US at the time (Biohazard/Pantera et al). A typical "me too" album, so to say...

DESTROY: Paige playing for Bowie.

I've seen it around on slsk and wasn't sure if it was a rarities album but i found the above article.
So has anyone heard it?

When the show was over, I slipped on a patch of ice outside and landed right on my ass.

I hope this record sucks and sells peanuts.

Anyway yeah, listening to Monochrome. Not having heard anything since Betty, I'm sort of thrown by how shredded his voice sounds now.

Oh wait, the title track sounds like King's X. WTF?!

I'm not sure I want to finish this.

Helmet just didn't seem to be able to come up with enough good tunes after that one. Betty would about make a good EP.

I would have liked to seen them live back then, but never got around to seeing them play.

Page Hamilton has one thing to prove: "can he make another good record?"

Because that hasn't happened since Meantime.

He does have a right to be a grumpy old man. Garbage like Candlebox stole his gimmick and trademark riffs and hit platinum with them. And becuase they did, they got dated quick.

Not once have I ever heard a Candlebox song on the radio and thought "hmm, is this Helmet?"

Dunno about that, but Page stole it from Prong in the first place, so it's all relative.

anyway...strap it on and meantime are classic.

Bwahahahaha

Candlebox's breakout hit had a hook that ripped off "In The Meantime."

Um, you've heard Prong, right?

it's true, that "heaven let your light shine down" turd they did

that was collective soul not candlebox wasn't it?

its definitely better than Candlebox's hit at least! i can't even hardly remember what it sounds like.

Ok anyways Helmet rules and Page is OTM here:
"I hear so many bands that, to me, I can't distinguish between them," he said, talking about the current scene. "It's sort of like, 'Insert four guys with tattoos here.' And it's pseudo-hardcore or pseudo-punk rock or emo. It just seems like you get your 'Rock Star 101' manual and fill in the blanks. This music just doesn't interest me at this point in my life."

Helmet on a Kibbutz. Helmet at Masada. Helmet at King David's Tomb. It was great.

Unsung made the top 100 in the current ILM poll!

http://www.drop-d.ie/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/helmet-meantime.jpg

fuckin the best...

i would be curious to see a best of poll. listening to "so easy to get bored" over and over today for some reason. still sounds amazing!

best of records or best of songs?
cause if it's the first the winner is obvious isn't it?

Helmet on a Kibbutz. Helmet at Masada. Helmet at King David's Tomb. It was great.

― Theodore "Thee Diddy" Roosevelt (Hurting 2), Wednesday, August 4, 2010 11:24 AM (1 year ago) Bookmark

sounds like a line from a Mark Leyner novel.

songs, obv!

id vote in that

the problem is i'm lazy.

are these guys touring again? sure i saw their name on a tokyo listings page.

"What people make the mistake of is saying, 'Well, I don't hear jazz.' I'm not playing jazz," he said. "It's not jazz. But I can hear the jazz influences. Name me one other band on the planet that's using a major-7 sharp 11 chord with a 13 in the chorus. None. This is my tuning. None. I guarantee it."

> Name me one other band on the planet that's using a major-7 sharp 11 chord with a 13 in the chorus

Shudder to Think

this is fucking weird but I am listing to do make say think on spotify right now and p sure I just heard that song

chord I mean

also I bet there's chicago and yes songs with that chord in the chorus

I dig helmet and all I guess, but claiming ownership of a chord is like some next level shredder asshole nonsense.

Pity he didn't put so much care and thought into his crappy vocal melodies or Helmet would have been much better.

C'mon, this is just a Foo Fighters song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkFMvststF0

awful

i'm not gonna listen to that. MEANTIME 4EVER.

i got this double band of susans Cd comp thing not long ago and i don't think i knew that there was this weird proto-helmet phase of that band. it's not great stuff and sounds really weird next to older cooler band of susans stuff. which i like a lot.

or maybe not even proto-helmet. i never heard the last couple of records and page isn't even on them now that i look. anyway, weird beefy grunge-era band of susans.

love agenda and the word and the flesh are still essential though. they sound even better to me now than they did back then.

I've come around on Helmet since 2003, when I posted way upthread about seeing Caspar Brötzmann Massaker open for them. Now I have their first four albums in my iPod. I've still never heard the album Page and Caspar did together. I should get around to that one day.

Scott, the last BoS album is pretty great. There's at least one essential song Pardon My French, and I pretty much love the whole thing, though the opening track is on the gothy side (which might not be a problem for many). I'm sure you can find a cheap copy...

i don't think I ever knew Page Hamilton was in Band of Susans

I think it is possible to mix skronky guitar with Beatle harmonies, but that new Helmet tune is not the recipe.

Meantime is sounding hard as hell atm

Meantime makes me want to pump iron

I’m kind of amazed by how few people are vouching for Strap it On. I still think it’s their one truly perfect album

I listened to Strap It On the other week and it was OK but their run from Meantime through Aftertaste is the good stuff.

This live set from 1992 is crushing my head right now. This must have been absolutely turn-your-bones-to-jelly loud in person.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBotGSwTTNo

US tour cancelled, Europe still happening

https://www.brooklynvegan.com/helmet-local-h-cancel-tour-due-to-lower-than-expected-ticket-sales/

ticket sales are down industry-wide, it's something managers & artists are talking about a lot.

Gen Z figuring out its cheaper to just drink and talk loudly at home with music on the stereo

worry about not being seen by the important folks? Just instalive it or some shit

Helmet never was huge, so not being able to headline a club tour 30 years on might not be surprising.

That said, the economics of music are really upside down. Too many people. Just like when the Jazz big bands got priced out of existence- seems for many ‘bands’ it is going the same way now.

I think it was Allen Ravenstine who said something like rock and roll is just moving big black heavy boxes from place to place- well that is much more expensive now.

Wish I’d seen them live in their prime, though a friend told me he fell asleep during one of their shows!

Going to shows has definitely changed for me -- I probably make it out to maybe 10% of the shows I want to see (on paper at least) these days, whereas it used to be more like 60-70%. I thought this was due to me getting old though rather than the landscape changing post-Covid.

My sister had tickets to this tour, but was apparently going to see Local H and had never heard of Helmet. Not really surprised that a Helmet/Local H combo isn't filling up not especially small venues in places like Little Rock, Destin, and Knoxville, though -- kind of an odd tour to begin with.

It's interesting, I've definitely upped my show going this year. I've already seen more than I saw the last two years combined and I've still got Pearl Jam, Goose, Slift, Osees and Blood Incantation on deck.

I liked Helmet more than Wire when I saw them both a bunch of years ago, was not expecting that

https://i.ibb.co/pjMt3B8/ugly-american-overkill.jpg

this was the one time i saw Helmet live, 1991 in London on an AmRep package tour. bought the 'born annoying' 7" and the first album when they came out cos i was a huge Band Of Susans fan. didn't really love them tbh but they were absolute fire live. Tar were also superb. could've sworn that Cows played too, but maybe that was another time in the same venue?

no, they were, but not on that poster apparently

https://www.setlist.fm/search?query=london+the+venue+1991-05-25

oh top work stan! thank you!

Here you are

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJ-qPXfc2bU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3UnAWhPbQw

I was there too! They were the best band of the 5 by a long way.

lol i did have a sneaking suspicion that you wouldve been there too

Even though I liked them well enough, I've always felt that Helmet would have been and done much better with another singer, even as a more shouty stylist he's unremarkable.

touring one album for 30 years..............

which is what it boils down to.

not that i don't love that album. i rilly rilly do.

they should just say fukk it and rent a big transport van and play smaller club shows and go nuts and play 20 minute skronk guitar versions of their songs. actually, do that with the songs nobody knows - basically every song after that one album - and then play mindblowing heavy versions of your famous songs in a small space.