Peter Hammill

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Peter Hammill
PHammill08.jpg
Peter Hammill onstage at NEARfest, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, June 2008
Background information
Birth namePeter Joseph Andrew Hammill
Born (1948-11-05) 5 November 1948 (age 75)
Ealing, London, England
Origin Manchester, England
Genres
Occupation(s)Singer, songwriter, record producer
Instrument(s)Vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards
Discography Peter Hammill discography
Years active1968–present
Labels Charisma, S-Type, Virgin, Naive, Foundry, Enigma, Fie!
Member of Van der Graaf Generator
Website www.sofasound.com

Peter Joseph Andrew Hammill (born 5 November 1948) is an English musician and recording artist. He was a founder member of the progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator. Best known as a singer-songwriter, he also plays guitar and piano and produces his own recordings and occasionally those of other artists. In 2012, he was recognised with the Visionary award at the first Progressive Music Awards. [1]

Contents

Biography

Early life

Peter Hammill was born in Ealing, West London, and moved with his family to Derby when he was 12. [2] He attended Beaumont College and Manchester University, where he studied Liberal Studies in Science. [3] Hammill has stated that his grandfather was originally from Pakistan. [4]

Early career

Hammill's solo career has coexisted with Van der Graaf Generator's activities. The band was offered a contract by Mercury Records in 1968, that only Hammill signed. When Van der Graaf Generator broke up in 1969 he wanted to record his first solo album. In the summer of 1969 Hammill had a residency at The Lyceum and played weekly solo concerts there. [5] Eventually the intended solo album was released under the Van der Graaf Generator banner as their first album ( The Aerosol Grey Machine ). [6] Hammill's first real solo album was Fool's Mate (1971), containing songs from the early (1967/68) Van der Graaf Generator days.

Van der Graaf Generator and after

When Van der Graaf Generator broke up again in August 1972, Hammill resumed his solo career. Songs that were intended for Van der Graaf Generator now ended up on his solo albums, notably "Black Room" (on Chameleon in the Shadow of the Night ) and "A Louse Is Not a Home" (on The Silent Corner and the Empty Stage ). For the majority of both his solo songs and the band's songs he is credited as the sole songwriter, and some of his solo albums feature all the members of Van der Graaf Generator. In general, Hammill's solo work is thematically concerned with more personal matters, while the band's songs deal with broader themes.

Nadir's Big Chance (1975) was a major change from the preceding In Camera . Whilst In Camera is characterised by extremely intense and complex songs and even has some musique concrète on it, Nadir's Big Chance contains anticipations of punk rock. In a 1977 radio interview, John Lydon of the Sex Pistols played two tracks from the album and expressed his admiration for Hammill in glowing terms: "Peter Hammill's great. A true original. I've just liked him for years. If you listen to him, his solo albums, I'm damn sure Bowie copied a lot out of that geezer. The credit he deserves, just has not been given to him. I love all his stuff". [7]

Over (1977) contains very personal songs about the break-up of a long-term relationship.

Hammill's first solo album after the 1978 break-up of Van der Graaf was The Future Now . He provided vocals on three tracks for Robert Fripp's solo debut Exposure , released in June 1979.

With the next solo albums, pH7 and A Black Box , the sound became more compact, more new wave. On those albums, Hammill played the drums himself. What followed was the K group. In later years Hammill would sometimes refer to the band as a "beat group". [8] The K group consisted of Hammill himself on guitars and piano, with John Ellis on lead guitar, and Van der Graaf Generator mainstays Nic Potter on bass, and Guy Evans on drums and percussion. This group recorded the albums Enter K and Patience .

Live performances

Live concerts by Peter Hammill are characterised by a degree of unpredictability, in terms of the songs played, the arrangements and the players involved. Hammill generally does not undertake live tours to promote albums. Whenever he plays with a certain predominant line-up, almost always there will also be concerts interspersed with different permutations of musicians, so the word "tour" is not always very applicable.

From September 1981 until September 1985 Hammill played with the K group, playing raw, energetic, new-wave rock. A live recording of a number of these concerts was released as The Margin . In March and April 1983, Hammill with John Ellis was the support act for Marillion on their UK tour in support of their debut album Script for a Jester's Tear . [9] [10]

From February until October 1990 he played with Nic Potter on bass and Stuart Gordon on violin. A live recording of these shows was released as Room Temperature . From April 1993 until August 1996 they were joined by Manny Elias on drums. A live recording of these shows was released as There Goes The Daylight. From October 1994 until August 1996 Hammill played with David Jackson on flutes and saxophones, Stuart Gordon on violin and Manny Elias on drums (this line-up is sometimes informally referred to as the Peter Hammill Quartet [11] ).

From January 1998 until November 2006 Hammill played with just Stuart Gordon on violin. Of these shows the live recording Veracious was released.

From 1969 on, Hammill has also performed solo concerts, with just guitar and keyboards.

Fie! Records

Hammill's early records, like the Van der Graaf Generator albums, were released on Charisma Records. He parted company with them after pH7 (1979), and then released albums on a number of small labels. A Black Box came out on S-Type, a label run by Hammill and his manager Gail Colson. Enter K and Patience appeared on Naive, Skin and The Margin on Foundry and In A Foreign Town , Out of Water and Room Temperature on Enigma Records. In 1992 he formed his own label, Fie! Records, on which all his albums since Fireships have been released. The label's logo is the Greek letter phi (Φ), a pun on PH-I. Ever since the 1970s he has also had his own home recording studio, called Sofa Sound. His website was later named after the studio.

Releases

NumberCD TitleArtist
9101 Enter K Peter Hammill
9102 Patience Peter Hammill [12]
9103 Fireships Peter Hammill
9104 The Noise Peter Hammill
9105 Loops and Reels Peter Hammill
9106There Goes The DaylightPeter Hammill
9107 Roaring Forties Peter Hammill
9108 In a Foreign Town Peter Hammill [13]
9109 Out of Water Peter Hammill [14]
9110 Room Temperature Live Peter Hammill [15]
9111 X My Heart Peter Hammill
9112 Past Go (Collected) Peter Hammill
9113Fractal BridgeDavid Jackson
9114SonixPeter Hammill
9115 The Union Chapel Concert Guy Evans & Peter Hammill
9116 The Aerosol Grey Machine Van der Graaf Generator
9117 Everyone You Hold Peter Hammill
9118 This Peter Hammill
9119 Typical Peter Hammill
9120 The Appointed Hour Roger Eno and Peter Hammill
9121 The Fall of The House of Usher - deconstructed & rebuilt Peter Hammill and Chris Judge Smith
9122 None of the Above Peter Hammill
9123 What, Now? Peter Hammill
9124UnsungPeter Hammill
9125 The Margin+ Peter Hammill & The K Group
9126The Thin Man Sings BalladsPeter Hammill
9127 Clutch Peter Hammill
9128The Goldberg VariationsHugh Banton
9129 Incoherence Peter Hammill
9130VeraciousPeter Hammill with Stuart Gordon
9131 Singularity Peter Hammill
9132 Thin Air Peter Hammill
9133The PlanetsHugh Banton [12]
9134Pno Gtr VoxPeter Hammill [12]
9135Pno Gtr Vox BoxPeter Hammill
9136 Consequences Peter Hammill
9137...all that might have been... (1CD)Peter Hammill [16]
9137V...all that might have been... (Vinyl LP)Peter Hammill [16]
9137X...all that might have been... (3CD box)Peter Hammill
9138
FIXD01 Real Time Van Der Graaf Generator

Later years

In 1991, Hammill released the long-awaited opera The Fall of the House of Usher . He had written the music and Van der Graaf Generator co-founder Judge Smith the libretto, and the two of them had been working on it since 1973. In 1999 he released a reworked version, The Fall of the House Of Usher (Deconstructed & Rebuilt).

He was awarded the Italian Tenco Prize for songwriting at the end of 2004. [17]

In 2005, Hammill announced the reformation of Van der Graaf Generator. In 2004 they had recorded a new album, Present , which was released in April 2005, and from May until November 2005 played a series of well received concerts. Between 2005 and 2007 Hammill oversaw the remastering of almost all of his pre-Fie! releases, and also carried out similar work on his more recent catalogue. The last of the Charisma remasters was released in September 2007. Hammill's solo career did not end because of the Van der Graaf Generator reunion. He released an album Singularity in December 2006.[ citation needed ] It was the first solo album he completed after his heart attack, and for a large part it deals with matters of life and (sudden) death. In 2007 several gigs by Van der Graaf Generator as a trio (minus David Jackson) took place in Britain and Europe; their new album Trisector was released in March 2008. In the summer and autumn of 2008, Hammill did a tour of solo dates in the U.S. and Canada which included a performance at the progressive rock festival NEARfest. He also played his only ever professional "parlour gig" at a private residence in Holland, Michigan.[ citation needed ]

In the summer of 2009 Van der Graaf Generator toured the U.S. and Canada, which occasioned Hammill's triumphant return to NEARfest. Thin Air was released on 8 June 2009. This was followed in October 2011 by a live double CD Pno, Gtr, Vox, recorded at performances in Japan and the UK in 2010. An extended 7-CD box set, Pno, Gtr, Vox Box was released in a limited edition of 2000 in February 2012.[ citation needed ]

Consequences , a solo studio album was released in May 2012. Again Hammill played all the instruments. The lyrics deal with conflicted characters in various scenarios. Other World , a collaborative album with guitarist Gary Lucas, was released in February 2014. The album features Hammill's vocals, Hammill and Lucas on guitars, and Hammill's sound treatments, and is a mixture of conventional songs with extended avant-garde instrumentals.

In 2019 In Amazonia was released, a collaboration album with progressive rock group Isildurs Bane. Hammill released a second album with Isildurs Bane in September of 2021, In Disequilibrium. Earlier that year in May, In Translation was released, Hammill's first covers album. Written in light of Brexit, Hammill has called it "a love letter to [Europe]," and it features songs written by Astor Piazzolla, Leiber and Stoller, Gustav Mahler, Rodgers and Hammerstein, and Gabriel Fauré among others. [18]

Music

Musically, Hammill's work ranges from short simple riff-based songs to highly complex lengthy pieces. His work with Van der Graaf Generator, and much of his solo work, is usually described as progressive rock, though Hammill himself does not identify with the label. [19] He has received recognition as a visionary artist from the progressive music world. [1]

Hammill's output is prolific. Many different styles of music appear in his work, among them artful complexity (for instance Chameleon in the Shadow of the Night), avant garde electronic experiments ( Loops and Reels , Unsung), opera (The Fall of the House of Usher), solo keyboard accompaniment ( And Close As This ), solo guitar accompaniment ( Clutch ), improvisation ( Spur of the Moment ), film music (Sonix), band recordings ( Enter K ), and slow, melancholic balladry ( None of the Above ).[ citation needed ]

Hammill exerted significant influences on punk rock and new wave music.[ citation needed ] Over the years he collaborated with musicians and song-writers such as Le Orme, Robert Fripp, Peter Gabriel, Alice, Ayuo, Herbert Grönemeyer, Judge Smith, The Stranglers, David Cross, Moondog, Premiata Forneria Marconi, Tim Bowness, Jakko Jakszyk and The Amorphous Androgynous.

Voice

Hammill's voice is a very distinctive element of his music. He sings in an emotional, often even dramatic way. As a former Jesuit chorister, his delivery is usually Received Pronunciation British English – notable exceptions are his Afrikaner accent on "A Motor-bike in Afrika" and his Cockney accent on "Polaroid" — and ranges in tone from peacefully celestial to screaming rants (which are nevertheless highly controlled). Singing in registers from baritone to high falsetto, he growls, croons, shrieks and shouts in ways that have drawn comparison with the guitar playing of Jimi Hendrix. [20] [21]

Lyrics

Hammill's lyrics are another distinctive feature of his work. He has visited a number of recurring themes including love and human relationships, ageing and death, human folly, self-awareness and introspection, politics, and religion. His lyrics often include scientific, literary or historical references. For example, the Norse names mentioned in the song "Viking" on Fool's Mate (co-written with Judge Smith) are characters in the Icelandic Saga of Eric the Red.

The science fiction themes of Van der Graaf Generator's lyrics are mostly absent in his later work, but there still are many science references, especially to physics (for instance in the song "Patient"). In 1974 Hammill published a book, Killers, Angels, Refugees (Charisma Books, London), a collection of lyrics, poems and short stories. This was later reissued by Hammill himself (Sofa Sound, Bath) and was followed by a sequel Mirrors, Dreams, Miracles (1982).

In 2000 Dagmar Klein published Shouting down the passage of time: The Spaces & Times of Peter Hammill, an analysis and interpretation of Hammill's lyrics along the lines of his dealings with "Space", "Time" and "Journeys". [22]

Personal life

Hammill is fluent in Italian. [23] He has been married since 1978 to Hilary, who is credited with taking the picture for the cover of In a Foreign Town . They have three children.

Hammill survived a heart attack in December 2003, [24] [25] less than 48 hours [26] after having finished the recording of Incoherence . In May 2022, while on tour with Van der Graaf Generator, he had to undergo surgery in Germany. In August he twittered: "No long term repercussions from my surgery in Fürth (where my treatment was outstanding). It also has to be said that it was a close-run thing".

Discography

See also

Related Research Articles

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Godbluff is the fifth album released by English progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator. It was the first album after the band reformed in 1975 and was recorded after a European tour.

<i>Pawn Hearts</i> 1971 studio album by Van der Graaf Generator

Pawn Hearts is the fourth album by English progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator, released in October 1971 on Charisma Records. The original album features just three tracks, including the side-long suite "A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers". The album was not commercially successful in the UK, but reached number one in Italy. It has since seen retrospective critical praise and was reissued on CD in 2005 with extra material.

<i>H to He, Who Am the Only One</i> 1970 studio album by Van der Graaf Generator

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<i>The Silent Corner and the Empty Stage</i> 1974 studio album by Peter Hammill

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Judge Smith</span> Musical artist

Christopher John Judge Smith, is an English songwriter, author, composer and performer, and a founder member of progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator. Initially working under the name Chris Judge Smith, he has been known simply as Judge Smith since 1994. After Van der Graaf Generator, he has written songs, stage musicals and operas, and from the early 1990s on he has released a number of solo CDs, including three "Songstories".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tony Stratton Smith</span> British music executive (1933–1987)

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<i>The Quiet Zone/The Pleasure Dome</i> 1977 studio album by Van der Graaf


The Quiet Zone/The Pleasure Dome is the eighth album by British progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator. Released in 1977, it was their last studio album before their 2005 reunion. The album features a more energetic, new wave sound than its three immediate predecessors, anticipating singer and songwriter Peter Hammill's late 1970s solo work.

<i>Vital</i> (Van der Graaf Generator album) 1978 live album by Van der Graaf

Vital: Van der Graaf Live is the first live album by English progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator. It was recorded 16 January 1978 at the Marquee Club in London and was released in July, one month after the band's 1978 break-up. The album was credited under the abbreviated name Van der Graaf, like the previous year's The Quiet Zone/The Pleasure Dome (1977), and featured the same line-up plus newcomer cellist/keyboardist Charles Dickie, who had officially joined the band in August 1977, and original saxophonist and flautist David Jackson, who re-joined the band for this recording.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hugh Banton</span> British musician

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<i>The Aerosol Grey Machine</i> 1969 studio album by Van der Graaf Generator

The Aerosol Grey Machine is the debut studio album by English progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator. It was first released in the United States in 1969 by Mercury Records.

<i>Present</i> (Van der Graaf Generator album) 2005 studio album by Van der Graaf Generator

Present is the ninth studio album by British progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator, released in 2005. It was the band's first studio album since The Quiet Zone/The Pleasure Dome in 1977, and the first with the 'classic' line-up since World Record in 1976. The Charisma Records label was re-activated for its release, as well as a re-issue series of Van der Graaf Generator's catalogue and Peter Hammill's solo releases from 1972-86.

<i>The Fall of the House of Usher</i> (Hammill opera) 1991 studio album by Peter Hammill

The Fall of the House of Usher is an opera by Peter Hammill (music) and Chris Judge Smith (libretto). It is based on the 1839 short story of the same name by Edgar Allan Poe.

<i>Chameleon in the Shadow of the Night</i> 1973 studio album by Peter Hammill

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<i>Fools Mate</i> (album) 1971 studio album by Peter Hammill

Fool's Mate is the debut solo album by Peter Hammill of progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator. The title is both a chess and tarot reference. It was produced by Trident Studios' in-house producer John Anthony. The album was recorded in 1971, in the midst of one of Van der Graaf Generator's most prolific periods. Hammill used the album to record a backlog of songs which were much shorter and simpler than his Van der Graaf Generator material, and declared on the original album sleeve: "This isn't intended to be any kind of statement of my present musical position, but at the same time, it is an album which involves a great deal of me, the person, basically a return to the roots."

<i>pH7</i> (Peter Hammill album) 1979 studio album by Peter Hammill

pH7 is an album by the English musician Peter Hammill. It was released on Charisma Records in September 1979. It was Hammill's eighth solo album and his last release on the Charisma label.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Van der Graaf Generator</span> English rock band formed in 1967

Van der Graaf Generator are an English progressive rock band, formed in 1967 in Manchester by singer-songwriters Peter Hammill and Chris Judge Smith and the first act signed by Charisma Records. They did not experience much commercial success in the UK, but became popular in Italy during the 1970s. In 2005 the band reformed, and are still musically active with a line-up of Hammill, organist Hugh Banton and drummer Guy Evans.

Keith Ian Ellis was an English bass player. He was born in Matlock, Derbyshire. He is known for his associations with The Koobas, The Misunderstood and Juicy Lucy. He was also a member of Van der Graaf Generator from 1968 to 1969. Ellis worked with Mike Patto and Ollie Halsall's band Boxer from 1975 until late 1976 when the original line-up split.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nic Potter</span> Musical artist

Nic Potter was a British bassist, composer and painter, best known for his work with the group Van der Graaf Generator in the 1970s.

"A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers" is a song by the English rock band Van der Graaf Generator, from their fourth album Pawn Hearts (1971). It is a concept piece over 23 minutes long, which comprises the whole B-side of the album. "A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers" evolved in the studio, recorded in small sections and pieced together during mixing. The song has many changes in time signature and key signature, and even incorporates some musique concrète.

References

  1. 1 2 Masters, Tim (6 September 2012). "Genesis honoured at Progressive Music awards". BBC News . Retrieved 30 March 2016.
  2. ↑ Hasted, Nick (26 June 2004). "Peter Hammill: Heart attack music". The Independent . Archived from the original on 15 April 2015. Retrieved 31 July 2016. The Jesuits' blandishments were balanced by the equally fierce pull of pop, playing nightly in the clubs of 1960s Derby, where Hammill's family moved when he was 12.
  3. ↑ Christopulos, J., and Smart, P.: Van der Graaf Generator – The Book, p. 5. Phil and Jim publishers, 2005.
  4. ↑ "Peter Hammill: Heart attack music". Independent.co.uk. 26 June 2004. Retrieved 24 November 2018.
  5. ↑ Christopulos, J., and Smart, P.: Van der Graaf Generator – The Book, p. 37. Phil and Jim publishers, 2005.
  6. ↑ Christopulos, J., and Smart, P.: Van der Graaf Generator – The Book, pp. 32–44, 58. Phil and Jim publishers, 2005.
  7. ↑ "Fodderstompf – Press Archives – Johnny Rotten Capital Radio, 1977" . Retrieved 23 April 2016.
  8. ↑ Album notes by Peter Hammill for The Margin +, expanded reissue of CD The Margin (2001). Fie!
  9. ↑ "Peter Hammill – 1983". Archived from the original on 3 November 2009. Retrieved 27 January 2010.
  10. ↑ "Marillion Setlists – 1983". Archived from the original on 16 May 2009. Retrieved 19 December 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  11. ↑ "Learning Curves". Sofa Sound Newsletter. March 1995. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  12. 1 2 3 "Label: Fie! Records - Rate Your Music". Archived from the original on 6 January 2015.
  13. ↑ Greg Prato. "In a Foreign Town - Peter Hammill - Release Information, Reviews and Credits - AllMusic". AllMusic.
  14. ↑ Peter Hammill - Out Of Water (CD, Album) at Discogs
  15. ↑ Peter Hammill - Room Temperature Live (CD, Album) at Discogs
  16. 1 2 Peter Hammill - ...All That Might Have Been... (File, Album) at Discogs
  17. ↑ "27/Mar 2005". Sofa Sound Newsletter. March 2005. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  18. ↑ Lawson, Dom (5 November 2022). "Peter Hammill: inside the mind of prog's renaissance man". Prog. Future. Retrieved 20 August 2023.
  19. ↑ "Peter Hammill: Prog Rock's Unsung Hero". NPR . 6 November 2008. Retrieved 23 April 2016.
  20. ↑ Album notes for Sometimes God Smiles – The Young Person's Guide To Discipline, compilation CD (1998). Discipline Global Mobile.
  21. ↑ "Peter Hammill May 16th, 1999 at Sandweiler, Luxembourg". fortunecity.com. 19 August 1999. Archived from the original on 13 May 2008. Retrieved 18 August 2008.
  22. ↑ Dagmar Klein: Shouting down the passage of time: The Spaces & Times of Peter Hammill. Libri Books on Demand 2000. ISBN   3-8311-0881-1
  23. ↑ "Incontro con PETER HAMMILL". YouTube. Archived from the original on 12 December 2021. Retrieved 3 March 2017.
  24. ↑ Hasted, Nick (26 June 2004). "Peter Hammill: Heart attack music". The Independent . Archived from the original on 15 April 2015. Retrieved 31 July 2016. When Peter Hammill collapsed in the street with a sudden heart attack last year, it didn't make the papers.
  25. ↑ "25/Dec 2003". Sofa Sound Newsletter. December 2003. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
  26. ↑ "26/Mar 2004". Sofa Sound Newsletter. March 2004. Retrieved 31 July 2016.

Further references

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