“Fabulous evening – nicely balanced between the acerbic, wordy folk-wit of Ruth Theodore, and Ed Hamell, being wonderfully non-PC. Sweary, bold and bald! Leery and lascivious…bonkers!”
Alan Dearling was out on live musical reporting duties!
Quite a double bill from Dark Matter Promotions upstairs on stage at the Todmorden Working Men’s Social Club. Both artists are connected with Ani DiFranco’s record label, Righteous Babe. First up was Ruth Theodore, intense, emotional, over-flowing with curiously quirky songs packed with interesting ‘messages’. Reminded me a lot of new Traveller festies and their alternative DIY vibes from the ’80s and early ’90s. Some powerful material, I was especially impressed with ‘Thompson’ – “You got to know me by now…Can you hear me now?… I need you now more than I realise?” And there was her ironic song concerning a barbed-wire fence down in the deep south of England outside of middle-class, Winchester. Like all rebels, Ruth sang: “Take No Notice of the Notice on the barbed-wire fence.”
Another highlight was Ruth’s song, ‘Brighton Stones’:
“Maybe nothing is forever…All there is, is all there is…”
Ruth’s new album ‘I Am I Am’ is crammed full of memorable musical ear-worms. Strangely perhaps, there were times when I was reminded of the best of Paul Simon’s songs, maybe it’s the mix of catchy tunes and clever lyrical ‘stories’. Ruth Theodore is a lovely musical ‘contradiction’. A mixed blend of gorgeous , beautiful songs and anger and fragility in equal parts.
Video for ‘Barbed-Wire Fence’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYpgmi1k9Pc
And, headlining, from Austin in Texas, the iconic, wonderfully obscene, over-the-top, Ed Hamell – aka Hamell on Trial. Larger than life and twice as naughty. This was readily apparent as he sang that he’s always been, “A square peg in a round hole”. A punky singer, raconteur, and as ‘The Village Voice’ magazine has commented: “A one-man Tarantino flick!” ‘Rolling Stone’ magazine adds, “He’s superbad”. An all-round talented performer. Not recommended for PC audiences! During the show, Ed loudly proclaimed: “I love whores! (just like Jesus).”
The latest Hamell on Trial album is ‘Bring the Kids’. It is strangely fragmented, all over the shop in terms of styles. He calls it his ‘Trail Mix’, poetry and heavy metal, disco to folk and blues, and it features lots of duets, including some between Ed and Ruth, such as the quirky, ‘Tell you Why’ and ‘NKGG’. It’s quite an up-beat album, as indeed is his stage show, which also encourages plenty of interaction between Hamell and the audience members.
Hamell on Trial live on stage is an often thunderous onslaught, fast and frenetic. Ed reminded me of Wolfman Jack, a famous US motor-mouth radio DJ. It’s also kind of Frank Zappa-esque, who often asked, ‘Who put humour into the music?’ Lots of drug references and machine-gun sounds, off-the-scale naughty bits: “I blew a chimp…it was kindof a lonely chimp!” And the even weirder, “Why do you hurt the one you love?…Who put the sand in the Vaseline?”
But then Ed also includes some soft, gentle moments, such as on the poignant and ironic, ‘The Way She Says’: “I Love You.” This could easily be a song from Tom Waits’ ‘Heart of a Saturday Night’.
Here are A few images… including some of Hamell’s individual art-works. I bought Sioux!
In advance of this gig, I contacted my good friend, Thom the World Poet in Austin, Texas about Ed Hamell. Here is his poetic response based on his memories of Ed in the 1990s and beyond:
thom woodruff
From:[email protected]
To:adearling,
IN PRAISE OF ED HAMELL
Hamell on Trial is beloved in Austin
He comes from New York
where he worked in a bar
and shares “there was an incident every night”.
His songs are cinema verite – one of the best
shares the night he met John Lennon at a party,
when the crowd parted, he went up to John and John said,
“Fuck Off!”
…Hamell was so well received in Austin-
during the days of the ELECTRIC LOUNGE (and many other venues..
Hamell kept returning to play his acoustic guitar and sing original song story sagas
with his astonishing fast pace of playing-a wall of sounds emanating from his passionate performances.
I heard he was in a car accident. I went to many of his shows pre-that event.
I have the greatest respect for the truth and power of his playing
I wish more people knew of this amazingly talented
Hamell on Trial!
Finally here’s how Hamell on Trial was described in the advance promo for the event:
“Armed with a battered 1937 Gibson acoustic guitar that he amplifies mightily and strums like a machine gun, a politically astute mind that can’t stop moving, and a mouth that can be profane one minute and profound the next.”
And here’s an old video of Ed with ‘Happiest Man in the World’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_i68ksuMmM