Helmet was a band who never did things the way they were supposed to. From rejecting the idea
of having an edgy “rock n’ roll” image, to lead singer and guitarist Page Hamilton
getting a very traditional music education, The media labelled them as heavy metal even
comparing Hamilton’s vocals to ozzy osbourne, but Hamilton’s biggest influences drew on jazz
and the noise rock scene of New York City. Today let’s talk about the history of Helmet,
how they were considered to be the next “nirvana” and what really happened to the band.
Helmet’s formation didn’t follow the typical formula of two childhood friends starting a
group together. Instead, Page Hamilton was very much the leader of the destiny of the group,
and he never set out to be a rock musician. The band’s songs sound like
a stop and start sledgehammaer, featuring odd time signatures and guitar tunings.
Hailing from Medford, Oregon., which Hamilton referred to as and i quote
a "typical redneck town of 25,000 people," One of his first jobs was working at the local logging
mill and fruit orchard. He would recall to Rolling Stone “I was just a really nice little small-town
geek who wanted to play baseball and football," He was also a pot-head who picked up guitar in
his final year of high school after listening to Led Zeppelin IV. After graduating high school he
would attend Lane Community College and it was here he played in one of his first bands a new
wave cover act named Twist and the Ups. While he was a student there he would end up learning
jazz guitar and classical music. He would end up meeting two professors, one who was taught
philosophy and the other who taught literature who helped him develop as a songwriter. He would tell
the News Times “They encouraged him to write Obviously, it was a literature class. We were
writing poetry and things like that. As I started messing around with words more than I had in
the past, I always sort of wrote stuff down in a little traveling notebook that I carried around."”
He would soon enroll in the University of Oregon, but he struggled through his first
term getting a 1.9 GPA in his first year. It would be two jazz guitarists who convinced
him to pursue a career in music They also taught Hamilton the importance of Space
in music with him telling the News Times “They turned me on to the use of space in my playing,
They said 'You don't have to play out everything you know every time you pick up the guitar.
He would earn a degree in jazz and Classical music telling the Chicago Tribune "I began to
feel that rock was limited and that jazz had a real language," Of course Hamilton’s parents had
other plans for their son hoping their son would become a professional like a lawyer or doctor
and he would recall to Rolling Stone his parent’s reaction when he wanted to become a professional
musician remembering "They're very small-town, family and work oriented so my dad's first word
when I told him I was going to be a music major was 'Bullshit!' His eyes were like saucers!"
By 1985 Hamilton moved across the country New York City to further pursue his education and
get a masters degree in jazz guitar. It was in New York he met Glenn Branca,
who Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore and Lee Ronaldo had played with. It was during
his time in new york he would be exposed to the noise rock scene and bands like butthole surfers,
sonic youth and big black. It was exposure to this new type of music that expanded Hamilton’s mind,
but at the same time he saw similarities to his earliest rock influences telling Rolling Stone
"I obviously started playing the guitar because of rock music," Hamilton says. "Aerosmith,
Ted Nugent, Led Zeppelin -- that's all I listened to.
I don't see it as that far removed from Sonic Youth or Big Black."
Hamilton would play in wall of sound band called Band of Susans appearing on their record Love
Agenda as well as touring with them, He would tell the chicago tribune in 1992
“ It was all open tuned guitars playing these incredibly simple rhythms in different
time signatures. That was the environment helmet was born in. I saw Helmet as wanting
to be like Aerosmith was in 1975-1976 simple arrangement played intensely. “
Hamilton would end up leaving the group after his songwriting ideas were rejected by the band
and thus in 1989 he formed his own outfit named Helmet. He would tell Rolling Stone
his goal of his new band revealing "I wanted to do something that had the density of Sonic Youth,
but with more rhythmic intensity and more intricate ensemble playing."
To find musicians for his group, Hamilton posted an ad in the classified section of
a local paper and eventually met drummer John Stanier and bassist Henry Bogdan.
Stanier would recall to spin magazine “it was a dumb ad that kind of mentioned Wire and Ornette
Coleman neither of which i was into. But i was in this really stupid band and when i
talked to Page over the phone he sounded cool. Of course the early days of Helmet didn’t see
hamilton or it’s members make a living off their music. Hamilton would admit to the LA
Times in 1992 that he had a variety of jobs including being a night time security guard,
a limo driver, as well as a bartender. It was during this time Hamilton lived
in Harlem in an apartment the size of a closet. It would one of Hamilton's friends - who worked
at the Rockpool music trade magazine, liked his demos and introduced him to her then
husband Peter Mengede who was an Australian, who eventually became the band’s guitarist.
Mengede remembered going to the bar with Hamilton bartended and told Spin Magzine “Even then all
he wanted to talk about was Helmet. Helmet this, Helmet that. Please kid, just get me a seabreeze.”
but mengede would go to the one of the band’s live shows and was interested enough that he
soon joined the group. Soon enough their demo tape found it’s way to indie label Amphetamine Records
who signed the band. Only six months after their first rehearsals the label. released their first
single “born annoying” in 1989. It would be soon followed by their debut album 1990’s Strap it On.
One of the most notable songs off Strap it On was called FBLA, which stands for future
business leaders of america. The lyrics tell the story of how the the long road to bagging a
successful career involves a stop through rock n roll. Hamilton would recall to the Chicago
Tribune. I saw punk rock fans as becoming our FBLA the same way the pot-smoking hippies of he 60s’
turne into insurance salesman. Why can’t that youthul intensity be maintained in the business
world or in raising a family? Why not seek truth, cathartic experiences all through life?” he'd say.
Strap it on would end up being modest success selling 40,000
copies .
The album was helped by as rolling stone would put it “by Good word of mouth,
lots of alternative press and raves from other bands generated a buzz for Helmet.
It wasn’t too long after their debut album that major labels started to show interest. Hamilton
would admit he was surprised by the major-label interest in the same interview revealing "We never
set out to sign with a major,""Maybe that's why we ended up getting a fair deal and not getting
screwed over—because we weren't hungry or begging for a major-label deal, they all came to us."
The band formed at a pivotal point in music history.
As Kerrang magazine online describes it, they arrived and i quote:
"at the apex of the hair metal explosion and the birth of grunge.
They stood out by looking like clean cut dudes in jeans, t-shirts and short haircuts,
distinctly lacking anything resembling an image.”
Keep in mind this was the early 90’s and Labels were interested in any bands that shared
any similarities to Jane’s Addiction, Faith No More and of course Nirvana. While Helmet was being
courted by several major labels, it was the hype around Nirvana that increased Helmet’s price tag
and the band signed an astounding deal with Interscope who gave them a million dollar advance.
The band was given complete creative control and a high royalty rate, something that was
pretty uncommon at the time. Helmet would end up being one of the first band’s scooped up by labels
after Nirvana was signed to Geffen Records. I read a lot of old articles labelling helmet
as being the next “nirvana”, something which the band obviously brushed off, but Hamilton
would tell Spin Magazine the moment he noticed a dynamic shift in the music industry revealing
“We were driving through Canada and all of a sudden nirvana comes on the radio
in between paula abdul and bryan adams & it felt like there was hope in the world.The
band would end up playing a show with Nirvana during the band’s first visit to New York City.
The band also had some iconic fans, like David Bowie and Phil Anselmo of Pantera. Hamilton was a
huge fan of Bowie’s and got a chance to play with him as his stand-in guitarist in 1999 on several
tour dates. Bowie would prove to be an inspiration on the group’s later album 1994's “Betty.”
Interscope released the band’s major label debut Meantime in 1992, which
would go Gold selling around 600,000 copies peaking at number 68 on the album's charts.
The album contained the band’s best known song unsung,
which got heavy airplay on MTV” and peaked out at #29 on the modern rock tracks charts.
The video even caught the attention of Beavis and Butthead, where they made fun
of the band’s clean cut image saying that & i quote “you wouldn’t even know these guys
were cool.” The track also ended showing up the video game franchise Guitar Hero years later.
Despite the success, Hamilton didn’t believe his old music teachers would be ans of he group’s
sound revealing in one interview “Jack Wilkins, my teacher at the Manhattan School of Music,
will probably think what we’re doing is interesting, but he’ll give me hell,”
“And I told another old teacher that I was playing a Stratocaster through a Marshall amp and he said,
‘What are you doing? Why would you do that?’ ”
After recording two albums with the band, 1990’s Strap It On and 1992’s Meantime,
Peter would end up leaving the group He was replaced by Rob Echeverria,
who had played in some early New York hardcore bands including Straight Ahead and Rest in Pieces.
Peter's relationship with the band, more specifically their frontman
led to him departing the group. & he would tell Rolling Stone:
“Page said my dismissal was due to our worsening personal relationship,
which he said was largely his fault. I think that’s legitimate.”"When they informed me I
was leaving the band, they offered me 6,000 bucks and six months of health insurance,"
He would end up suing the band over royalty despites.
Page would go on to tell Rolling Stone
My take on it is that he (Peter) became resentful of the fact that
I was writing songs that three of us were capable of playing,
and he wasn't as capable. A good musical thing can't survive in that kind of vibe."
With Echeverria, they released their most critically and highest charting
album with 1994’s Betty, which peaked at number 45 on the album charts. Unusually
though a the rock album, it was produced by hip-hop producer T-Ray
along with Nirvana producer Butch Vig It would be the band’s only album with Rob on guitar,
as he left to be the guitarist in Biohazard before 1997’s Aftertaste was released.
Kerrang magazine would state the following about Betty saying and i
quote “it's the most polished Helmut album. Just pure Helmet doing what they do best.”
Hamilton would reflect on the album and fans expectations revealing to rolling stone "People
were expecting 'Meantime, Part 2' when this came out," There's no need to write a song again,
or the 'Meantime' album again. The fact that 'Betty' wasn't a gold record, and 'Meantime' was,
doesn't mean that it's not a great record. Because I like the record a lot."
Betty” was buzzed about, with everybody wondering who the pretty blonde on the album cover was.
In a 2014 interview with The Skinny UK online, Hamilton said:
"My feeling was ‘ach, fuck everybody – I’ve got this great idea for an album
with this woman in an English garden on the cover”
While the band seemed to have a good relationship with their label in the early days
that relationship seemed to sour around the time of Betty was released with Hamilton
revealing to Rolling Stone "The record company still thinks we're Guns n' Roses,
and I can't get them to think otherwise," "They see Stone Temple Pilot enter at No. 1 and say,
'Why didn't you do that?' I asked them if they've listened to their album—and
if they've listened to ours! We've never tried to appeal to the masses."
The band would release one more album during the decade 1997’s “Aftertaste.”
which received mixed reviews and less than stellar sales. The band would break up soon after.
Hamilton would tell Chicago Tribune Hamilton why the band broke up revealing how their
rise outpaced their maturity recalling. "We were never a business-minded band,
and the business did create a strain on the band," "When there are a bunch of people around the band,
if there's a bandleader, and it's less 'all for one, one for all' ... your bandmates start
to (say), 'He gets more attention than we do, he's the singer and writer.' It's human nature.
Ego comes into play. Their roles become more defined, and that's not always easy."
Hamilton revived the group under the same name in 2004 at the urging of interscope’s
Jimmy Iovine. Hamilton continued to tour and record with a new band.
The new lineup has turned out to be as prolific as the original group,
recording 4 more albums to match the band’s original four Their most recent albums include
2004’s Size Matters, 2006’s Monochrome, 2010’s Seeing Eye Dog and 2016’s Dead to the World.
In 2011, they undertook a 28-date European tour,
in honor of the album Meantime while the same year reuniting with peter in australia
So, for a band so prolific, which albums were actually Hamilton’s favorites?
In an interview with The Skinny UK online, he shared his thoughts saying:
“There's two. I'd say Strap It On, because it was our first album and there was just an
excitement about having found these guys who were like-minded and committed to this thing.
I love that album. Seeing Eye Dog came after all this shit I’d been through – all the lies
that were written. I was at peace, had a bunch of guys on-board that I enjoyed working with – again.
It all felt comfortable. I’m not wild about the album cover but I like the music a lot.”
After their split, Hamilton, Bogdan and Stanier all went on to work on different musical projects.
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