Hammers of Misfortune...anyone? PPUSA MATERIAL...!!!

[skyrefuge]

Just doing some pimping for their tour that started last night in Chicago. Go see if you can help your town draw more than the 50+ that Chicago drew:

JULY 19 Grand Rapids MI @ Pyramid Scheme
JULY 20 Columbus OH @ Ruby Tuesday
JULY 21 Baltimore MD @ Golden West
JULY 22 Philadelphia PA @ North Star
JULY 23 Brooklyn NY @ Saint Vitus
JULY 24 Providence RI @ AS220
JULY 25 Cambridge MA @ TT The Bears
JULY 26 Montreal QC @ Il Motore
JULY 27 Toronto ON @ Courthouse
JULY 29 Cleveland OH @ Grog Shop

Sorry Baroness, you're out, Hammers of Misfortune is in as the best live metal band going right now.

The combination of a somewhat 'meh' performance from Baroness on the Meshuggah tour, along with a couple of amazing performances from Hammers of Misfortune in the last 8 months have put Hammers in the lead.

I think a large component used to calculate the ratings is the differential between how much I love a band live vs. how much I love them on record. I have all of Hammers' records, and they're all good, but the way they string their (relatively short) sets together, every single song they play seems like a 'hit single'. With the opening notes for each and every song, I (and the rest of the crowd) was like "fuck yeah, this one!"

This was the first show on their short northeast North America tour, so they didn't even play all that flawlessly, but their overall sound was still so good. Three part vocal harmonies, two-part guitar harmonies, a bit of wicked girl-growling, and so many variations on a headbanging chunk that is familiar yet unique to Hammers. Lead vocalist Joe Hutton was even more amazing than when I saw them back in Portland, and now I nearly forget the name of the charismatic and unique vocalist who I once figured would be pretty irreplaceable in Hammers. Their presence and aesthetic is perfect for me: loose and relaxed with zero posing, but enough built-in natural coolness to still provide a clear identity and vibe. By combining 40 years worth of metal fans with people like me who think they're too cool to be metal fans, it seems like these guys should be huge, but for some reason they aren't.

Setlist (same as Portland, but missing 'Doomed Parade'):
317
Trot Out the Dead
An Oath Sworn in Hell
17th Street
The Grain
A Room and a Riddle
Motorcade
You Should Have Slain Me
====
The Locust Years

 

[Exploding Ned]

I have liked everything I've heard from these guys. Criminal that they aren't huge by now.

 

[TheLongshot]

Damn, I didn't even know they were on tour. Not sure if I can make the Baltimore show...

(Again, it fricking sucks that DC isn't getting the shows it used to.)

 

[TychoCelchu]

I'm probably gonna hit the Providence show. Good to see the setlist is more than twice as long as the 4 songs they were able to cram in last time they were in Boston.

 

[TheLongshot]

I did end up going to the Baltimore gig. I gotta say the venue was...interesting. Tiny little stage that I doubted the whole band could fit on, and they did not. One of the guitarists was playing on the floor. The crowd was small, but enthusiastic, tho said guitarist on the floor got into an argument with a woman. Don't know what it exactly was about, but I suspect she was getting too close. I did hear the boyfriend threaten his family if guitarist did anything with his girl. That said, the band gave it their all in relatively crappy conditions.

Most amusing comment was in the restroom before Hammers went on. While waiting, a guy came up to me and yelled, "ProgPower!", reading my shirt. For a minute, I thought he had recognised the festival, but then followed it up with, "Do you know MAGMA?", which told me he had no clue about the festival. I did talk to another guy about it, but he was very drunk and I wasn't sure how much he'd remember afterwards.

 

[DuchessOfDork]

I did end up going to the Baltimore gig. I gotta say the venue was...interesting. Tiny little stage that I doubted the whole band could fit on, and they did not. One of the guitarists was playing on the floor.

Where was this? Sounds like Sidebar. Sorry I missed them.

 

[TheLongshot]

Where was this? Sounds like Sidebar. Sorry I missed them.

Golden West Cafe in Hampden.

BTW, I have to give credit to The Pilgrim, who was the local opener and was pretty darn good. Basically stoner rock with female lead vocals, they were pretty good at what they do.



20 seconds into the video is the venue where they played the other night.

 

[TwizstedJesus]

I signed on to comment on this thread but I can't remember what I was gonna say....(wanders off into traffic...)