Hamell on Trial

Hamell on Trial brings one-man acoustic band to Haunt
(Ithaca Journal, 12/6/2007)

Ed Hamell, who brings his one-man acoustic band Hamell on Trial to the Haunt Friday night, is familiar with Upstate New York. He’s a native of Syracuse who attended Henninger High School and LeMoyne College and who spent years in the local music scene as a member of the Works, a popular band in the 1980s that also included Haunt owner J. Harman.

Since the late 1980s, though, Hamell has been taking a guerrilla approach to music, hitting the road with just an acoustic guitar. But don’t expect to hear sensitive folk songs at Friday’s show—Hamell is a rock and roller at heart, and he bashes his guitar with a fury that recalls Anthrax’s Scott Ian

“A whole bunch of things led to it, but I remember seeing Neil Young, who I’m a fan of but not the biggest fan, at Farm Aid,” says Hamell. “He had an acoustic guitar in the middle of the crowd singing, “My My Hey Hey,” and I remember thinking ‘this rocks infinity more than John Cougar Mellencamp with his 14-piece electric band.’ So the epiphany came from an acoustic side of it more than the punk rock side of it.”

Hamell also likes to confound stereotypes. “It has more to do with twisting the expectations,” he says. “People think, ‘Oh, he plays the acoustic guitar; he’ll probably do ‘Dead Flowers’ by the Stones.’ But I’ll do ‘White Riot’ by the Clash, just to twist what an acoustic guy can be. There’s the whole anti-folk thing that I really like, and those guys get a big thing when they bring the energy to the table.”
Hamell has found a kindred soul in acoustic icon Ani DiFranco, who signed Hamell to her Righteous Babe Records label, produced his latest album, and has shared many gigs.

“I’ve been opening for Ani since 1999, and she is amazing in that in light of how popular she is,” he says. “She’s incredibly down to earth, and unquestionably to me the most generous person that I’ve ever experienced.”

Hamell’s latest album is titled “Songs for Peoples Who Enjoy Drugs”; it contains provocative songs such as “Inquiring Minds,” in which he weighs how to explain his past to his kid, and “Values,” which grapples with how to pass along wisdom. There are also a few songs with lyrics that can’t be printed in a family newspaper.

Hamell says the new album was inspired by three variables. “I was in an intense car accident, 9/11 happened, and my son was born, so all these feelings of mortality fed into it,” he says. “But then I started writing these tunes, like ‘Values.’ And I started getting all these relatively young parents who would come up and say ‘we’re having kids and it became apparent to me there was a whole new generation of rock and rollers who are parents.

Also , liberals would say it’s a crazy world, we don’t’ want to have kids. I’d say, ‘no the republicans are procreating, if you’re an open-minded creative, liberal person, now would be the time to have children, to get more multiculturalism happening.

The album title was kind of tongue in cheek, you can be hip, you don’t have to adhere to any one form. I’m all about breaking the rules.”

To learn more about Hamell, visit www.hamellontrial.com

There’s a $10 cover for Friday’s show, which kicks off around 10 p.m. with opener Adam Day. Call 607-275-3447 or visit www.thehaunt.com for information.

Ed’s a pisser – – well worth the cover charge, if he’s ever in anyone’s neck of the woods