In a new interview with Argentina’s Rocktambulos, HELMET guitarist/vocalist Page Hamilton discussed the South American leg of the band’s “Betty” 30th-anniversary tour, which will take place in late April and early May. The setlist will feature the “Betty” album together with favorites from the band’s catalog.
Speaking about “Betty”‘s legacy, Page said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “Well, it’s not for me to say. People have told me — like I was talking to an engineer in Germany, and he said, ‘Yeah, when we wanna kind of tune the system or get in the right vibe for mixing, we listen to ‘Betty’.’ Other people said, like one guy in Australia said, ‘Oh, I was at the university in Australia and they used the ‘Betty’ album cover as an example of subversive art.’ And so I like that. That makes me happy.
“I know that a lot of [people view ‘Betty’ as a classic] — only because people have told me,” he continued. “I’m not sitting around going, like, ‘Wow,’ patting myself on the back. But I like that people like the album because we got shit for it when it came out from some people. Some people were, like, ‘This isn’t ‘Meantime’.’ And I’m like, ‘Well, we did ‘Meantime’. We don’t wanna do ‘Meantime’ again.’ So, it’s gratifying, I guess, that 30-plus years later that people refer to ‘Betty’, a lot of people think it’s our best album. That cracks me up.”
Regarding the prospect of performing the entire “Betty” album live more than 30 years after the LP’s release, Page said: “If you don’t have the — I don’t know, not bravery, that’s not the right word, but the guts to try to challenge your fans, then you’re kind of… I would lose respect for someone that didn’t wanna challenge people. I love jazz music, and jazz is improvisation. The song ‘Beautiful Love’, I’ve played it a thousand times and I play it completely differently now than I did in 1994. In fact, I’ll play it completely different today than I did yesterday. That’s the beauty of jazz. There’s a structure there, a 16-bar structure on that tune, for example, and there’s chord changes. And what can I do with those chord changes to keep it interesting and improvise? And it’s much like a conversation. And I think that’s why I love jazz so much.
“The one thing with ‘Betty’, playing it live, as you ask about, is that I get to play guitar solos, so I get to improvise every night,” he explained. “And so it’s different. It’s gonna be different. Like the solo I play on ‘Sam Hell’ is gonna be different in Argentina than it will be in São Paulo or Santiago on the other shows we’re doing down south. So, that’s kind of fun — fun for me. I don’t know what it’s like for those guys, but they really love playing together. They’re such a powerful rhythm section. Kyle [Stevenson, drums], Dave [Case, bass] and Dan [Beeman, rhythm guitar] together are very in sync. And they get the music on that level. They understand that you have to kind of tap into something.
“I mean, I have the occasional conflict as well with Kyle, ’cause a lot of drummers feel that you have to lay back to make music feel good, and there is some truth to that in some forms of music, but in the HELMET music, you have to kind of stay on top of the beat,” Hamilton added. “And it has to feel like it’s speeding up, even though it’s not. That’s very much a jazz thing — it feels like it’s speeding up, but it’s not. So, yeah, I’m sure they have different things that they’re challenged by every night to keep it fresh as well.”
HELMET‘s latest album, “Left”, was released in November 2023 via earMUSIC.
After the critically acclaimed “Dead To The World” in 2016, HELMET is back with their signature blend of heavy, riff-loaded rock and evocative lyrics that have resonated with fans worldwide for over three decades. “Time for your holiday serial murder / How time slips away”, resonate the opening lines of “Holiday”. HELMET take no prisoners in their direct and unfiltered expression, leaving listeners with a lasting impact and a sense of urgency to examine the world around them.
“Left” sees HELMET — comprising frontman Page Hamilton, drummer Kyle Stevenson, guitarist Dan Beeman and bassist Dave Case — carve out a musical landscape that is taut, muscular, and direct. Hamilton‘s lead guitar lines feel like everything from downed power lines arcing to exploding resistors in shortwave radios. On “Left”, every snare crack hits like gunfire, every solo seemingly a manifestation of rabies-induced psychosis.
Guided by Hamilton alongside co-producers Jim Kaufman and Mark Renk, and mastered by Howie Weinberg, the 11 songs on the new album are leaner and meaner in their execution than previous aural throwdowns. “Left” is powered by unbridled determination, a renewed sense of purpose and a desire to create more new dialects within the musical language Hamilton invented via his use of drop-D tuning.
HELMET‘s first official live album, “Live And Rare”, was released in November 2021 via earMUSIC. It was made available on heavyweight black vinyl as well as a CD digipak edition and digital.
Although HELMET disbanded in 1997, Hamilton revived the band in 2004, and the group has continued to tour and record.
“Dead To The World” was released in October 2016 via earMUSIC. The effort was produced by Hamilton and mixed by Jay Baumgardner.
In 2021, HELMET released a cover of GANG OF FOUR‘s 1981 song “Into The Ditch”. The track was recorded for a tribute album to GANG OF FOUR‘s guitarist Andy Gill, “The Problem Of Leisure: A Celebration Of Andy Gill And Gang Of Four”.
Having cut his teeth playing with avant-garde guitar icon Glenn Branca and indie stalwarts BAND OF SUSANS, Hamilton launched HELMET in 1989, and the band released its debut album, “Strap It On”, on the independent Amphetamine Reptile label the following year. HELMET soon became the subject of an unprecedented major-label bidding war, ultimately signing with Interscope and releasing “Meantime” in June 1992.
Even while the band was absent from the spotlight, HELMET continued to exercise considerable influence on multiple generations of bands. Their songs have been covered by the likes of CHEVELLE, DEFTONES, FAITH NO MORE, PIG DESTROYER and SOULFLY, and the band inspired a 2016 HELMET tribute album titled “Meantime Redux”. HELMET has also been cited as a key influence on such bands as GODSMACK, KORN, MARILYN MANSON, MASTODON, PANTERA, QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE, SEPULTURA, SLIPKNOT, STAIND, SYSTEM OF A DOWN and TOOL.
Source: blabbermouth.net
