ALBANY—NYC-bred alt metal purveyor Helmet – led by founder/singer/guitarist Page Hamilton – helped define heavy music over the past three decades with the band’s shuddering detuned guitar crunch and Hamilton’s biting, acerbic lyrics, but hadn’t released a new LP in seven years, since 2016’s Dead to the World. Then the pandemic happened, and suddenly, Hamilton found himself with some deeply important issues to address.
Re-energized, Helmet – Hamilton, drummer Kyle Stevenson, guitarist Dan Beeman and bassist Dave Case – has returned with Left, its ninth studio album, set for release on November 10, as well as an ongoing tour, which stops in Albany at Empire Live on Tuesday, Oct. 3. The new album captures Helmet in prime form, serving up platters of steaming vitriol, while pushing the sonic envelope, punctuated by some of Hamilton’s most biting and topically current lyrics to date.
To learn more about this megaton bomb of a new record, and to get the lowdown on the band’s upcoming live show, I recently chatted with Hamilton outside Pawtucket, R.I., while the singer/guitarist sought refuge from a torrential downpour, happening just outside the band’s bus.
BRENDAN MANLEY: Your new album, Left, is Helmet ’s first release in seven years. Why now? And what have you been up to all this time?
PAGE HAMILTON: Contemplating my navel? I was asleep under a tree? I don’t know… You know, during the pandemic everybody went through stuff. Obviously, it was a massive, life-changing, world-changing event. I live by myself, and was single during the pandemic. I spent a lot of time just playing jazz guitar and drinking Budweiser and accomplishing nothing. I didn’t write. I tried to learn Spanish on Duolingo, but after I got a 365-day streak, I still couldn’t speak a damn lick of Spanish.
This album came about because the pandemic sort of changed our booking agent situation in the U.K. and U.S. We decided to go to another agency, which was really excited to get Helmet. I decided, “Let’s get a new record going.” I wrote an orchestra piece for the Christian Brothers High School in Memphis, Tenn., and started the Helmet record literally the next day. Other than that, since the last record, I just got older.
BM: The pandemic definitely took a big chunk of time out of everyone’s lives. I hear so many interesting stories now, of people’s post-pandemic re-emergences.
PH: It’s certainly been life-changing. For me, the biggest part of it was the political climate, and how much it’s changed in our country. I can’t speak for other countries — I know Hungary has a fascist guy too, and there are neo-Nazis popping up and they’ve always been around — but they were a little more underground before orange douche face made it okay to be a racist douchebag. That stuff really had an effect on me. I have a trans godson, for example. I have nieces and nephews. I have two other godsons. I would like to leave a better world behind when I go for them, than the current state of divisive, caustic [beliefs] and whatever is going on in this country.
I feel like the good guys outnumber the bad guys, but the good guys are more tactful as far as expressing themselves, and so this album is me yelling more loudly than the bad guys. I joke that it’s my version of, “All You Need Is Love,” by The Beatles, or “One Love,” by Bob Marley. It’s like, “Why can’t we all just get along?” Can we just accept each other? But I deliver it with a bit more venomous tone.
BM: A tone that some might say is more appropriate for the context. As the saying goes, “Don’t bring a knife to a gun fight.”
PH: I mean, exactly. I love my country. My father was an Air Force guy. The flag from his coffin is on my dresser in my room. I’ve paid taxes since I was 10, because Dad said if you want to buy a bike, you’ve got to get a job, so I did. Then he showed me, “This is a W-2 and this is how you do your taxes,” so I pay my taxes, and have since 1970. I vote and have since 1978, and I have a right to express myself. So do they. But we can’t sit back and let people bully us into thinking that this is honoring the Constitution. Like, what are you talking about? I’ve been hoping to get rid of the electoral college for 10 years; it’s not representative of the population.
BM: You dig into all these issues and more on Left. For example, the second single, “Gun Fluf,” specifically targets the gun lobby.
PH: Yeah, and the first single, “Holiday,” was all the f-bombs, making fun of the lowest common denominator that’s celebrity; how we can sort of sweep real life under the rug, and like worship this. We’re just fascinated.
And with “Gun Fluf,” again I feel I have a right to express myself. I’m happy to sit down and have a conversation with any gun owner. I own guns. I grew up owning guns. I grew up in southern Oregon. I got a 12-gauge shotgun when I turned 12 from Grandpa Bones, and I hunted. I’m all for it, but I’m not all for there not being tighter restrictions on who can purchase a gun. Automatic weapons are unnecessary for a citizen population. They’re not for hunting; they’re not for recreation. They are for killing human beings. Every time there’s another mass murderer shooting, it affects me deeply. That’s just heartbreaking. What we are saying is, yes, we have the right to bear arms, but we also have children who have a right to go to school and not fear for their lives, or go grocery shopping — as in Buffalo — and not worry that somebody’s going to come in with an automatic weapon that can shoot 200 rounds in however many minutes. So that song poured out of me. It makes me angry that people are not more responsible.
BM: It’s so strange that with all the responsible gun owners out there, this debate remains so divisive, without much middle ground.
PH: Well first, there’s the argument that they want to defend themselves against the government coming for them. Like, your AR-15 ain’t gonna help you if the government wants to come in and take your guns, and even take over your home. Automatic weapons? They have other means, so that’s not a great argument. I’ve shot an AR-15 before. I have a couple of dear friends who are Marines and saw combat and I’ve shot many, many guns. They’re really fun. But you can’t know what it’s like when a parent has to identify their child by their sneakers, because the damage that one of those bullets does obliterates their head.
BM: If I had to pick the most weighted new Helmet song title, though, it would have to be “NYC Tough Guy.”
PH: It’s funny. It’s tongue-in-cheek. I had my heart badly broken by my ex-wife many times before I left her and it took me this long — I left her in 1999 — to write a song about her. It’s about control and relationships: people specifically needing to have some kind of power or control over someone. I never understood that; I always thought it should just be a partnership. You’re going to have disagreements and you can talk it out, you know? There doesn’t have to be an upper hand. I have a lot of resentment about the way things went, but I think she’s a lovely human being. I haven’t spoken with her since then. She’s got a family and I’m happy for her, but it was a good song.
BM: At this stage of Helmet ‘s career, what are some new things you’ve tried this time around? Anything outside of your comfort zone? And/or, what are you most proud of on Left?
PH: “NYC Tough Guy,” for sure. A lot of my music comes from a theme, like a motif, or a riff, or whatever you want to call it. Once I get a riff in my head and I write, I’ll write against a click track or a hi-hat or a trumpet or whatever. Then I try to get away from the guitar and arrange it in my head, because stringing riffs together can work just to a certain extent, but it’s not the best way to compose. “Tough Guy” was one of the things where I got those major seven chords — the same chord from the song “I Know” on Betty (1994) — and I started doing this slide thing, and came up with this rhythmic pattern. Then I came up with that chord with the low string open, and then an F#. This is not concert pitch, because I’m lazy: We play in drop C now, so everything is a whole step lower than what I call it. That song is a really fun one.
With “Holiday,” I had that riff and I was trying to make my bandmates laugh with all the foul language. They had a friend that was in our dressing room years ago in San Diego I believe, and somebody had written “dumbass” on the wall. He was drunk and said, “What’s dumb bass?” They’re like, “Oh my God dude, it’s dumbass.” So we always say “dumb bass” or “what a dumb bass.” It’s a very different kind of song for us and it’s still got the Helmet elements, of a power riff and then these open chords, but the vocal follows the chords. There’s a song called “Dislocated” that has been a really difficult one. We’ve been playing it the last three or four shows. That’s really satisfying; that’s a been a fun one. “Big Shot,” that’s the next single. That’s been fun; kind of a big, open harmonic melodic thing. Just an interesting voice movement; I came up with the chords because I had the vocal melody, so I shaped the chords around the vocal melody.
I’m really happy with the response to the album. People seem to be really fired up about it. It’s fun. if it’s the last one, it’d be a good one to go out on. Maybe there’ll be one more.
BM: Well, it’s certainly an inspiring time to write angry, pissed off music.
PH: Yeah. My former father-in-law, who was I friendly with, and we had many great conversations, once told me, “All you do is write ‘fuck you’ songs.” He’s like, “They’re really good ‘fuck you’ songs, but they’re still just ‘fuck you’ songs.” Okay thanks, Dave.
BM: You mentioned drop tunings, of which you’re an early innovator. Isn’t it kind of funny, how everybody’s doing drop tunings now?
PH: The turning point for me was when I wrote the song “Repetition.” (Off the 1990 debut Strap It On.) One night I picked the guitar up, and that note I was hearing — the D — was a whole step lower than the lowest note on the guitar, so I had to drop the tuning, and all of a sudden it freed me from all my bad guitar habits. I became a much better writer at that point, because I was writing what I was hearing.
BM: And now everybody’s doing it. You even just said, Helmet plays in drop C now, which has become kind of the common denominator for heavy bands. Guys are playing eight-string guitars. Where do we go next?
PH: I know. Years ago, Danny Kortchmar, the great guitarist and producer who worked with Don Henley and Billy Joel, and played with James Taylor, Joni Mitchell and you name it, said, “What, are they gonna just keep tuning lower?” They’re losing any sort of ability to hear any overtones or anything in these chords, and it becomes a wall of crap. It’s not about tuning lower to get heavier. AC/DC doesn’t drop tune, and they’re heavier than all of us.
BM: Can we tease your setlist for the upcoming show in Albany? How much juggling happens with all the Helmet records you’re pulling from?
PH: I love when you start adding new songs to the set, how they inject life into songs that you’ve played three thousand times. I’m working on tonight’s set list right now, and I’m gonna throw in a couple of things that we haven’t done yet. Sometimes going from “Holiday,” into “Repetition” works. I go by the key, the tempo, and the groove. I hear the end of one song going into the beginning of the next song. So, we have certain songs that have always worked very well together from different eras. It’s fun. I also resurrected a couple of old songs, because when we were on our 30th anniversary tour, we were in such a good groove, we knew like 90 songs and played 30-song sets. Over the pandemic we kind of forgot a few of those, so I dragged out the song “Taken,” which is from an old Amphetamine Reptile seven-inch and “Your Head,” which is the original B-side for “Unsung.”
BM: Local fans are stoked for the Empire Live show. When was the last time you’ve even played here in the 518?
PH: I don’t think I’ve been to Albany in a million years. I have very fond memories, though. The very first major label video we did was “In The Meantime,” (1992) and live footage was shot on a Super 8 camera at the QE2 in Albany [now the Fuze Box]. That’s the black-and-white, cool-looking footage, if you ever watch that video. That was in Albany. I always found it to be a really pretty town…the fall colors and all that stuff. Maybe I’m delusional. I don’t know. [laughs]
BM: It’s cool that Helmet picked Soul Blind, a band from the NY Hudson Valley, to open for you on this tour. How did that come about?
PH: We got a bunch of submissions, as we do, and nothing against any of the other bands, but something about Soul Blind just struck me. They’re great guys and they’re an honest band. Rock music is such a slippery slope. The good news is rock music can be and is a great art form, but it also creates rock stars, and rock stars are mostly assholes. Some people are in it because they want to do something new and interesting and cool. Or, do they want to do more stoner rock? I’m just done with stoner rock. It’s just enough already, man. I grew up in the ’70s, so we got stoned to Z.Z. Top’s Fandango!, Thin Lizzy, Edgar Winter Group… Our staples were Led Zeppelin, Sabbath, AC/DC and Aerosmith, because they were amazing. Even Ted Nugent; like the first couple of albums I listened to a lot, even though I can’t stand the guy now. But yeah, the Soul Blind guys seemed honest and real, and it’s been good. (For more on Soul Blind, check out our recent live gallery, from their killer set at Born Dead Fest 2023 at Empire Live Albany!)
BM: One last question before I let you go: The new Helmet record is called Left. Is that supposed to have a political meaning?
PH: It’s the title that I’ve had bouncing around in my head for at least 10 years, maybe more. I was going to call the last album Left. I just think it’s funny how a word can stir up so much fucking controversy. It’s like, what do you care? Who cares? It’s just a word. What’s left? Who’s left? Who’s Next was that Who album, where they’re peeing on that big cement thing. I just thought it had all these implications. I could tell a more conservative person, “No, it’s not political at all.” It’s just like I was saying: What’s left? I’m 63 years old; what’s left in my life? What more am I gonna do? Or who’s left? It strikes me as funny.
BM: That’s a great point. There are many, many usages of the word “left.”
PH: Yeah. My manager and everybody’s like, “Page, you should be more involved with social media.” I know I need to, but whatever I post, five out of six people are like, “Yeah, cool,” and then there’s always that one person who’s like, “What is this? Some left-wing commie pinko bullshit?” And it’s like, “Calm down buddy.” It cracks me up. As I say, the point of the album is live and let live. Let’s just all get along, you know? No one should be made to feel lousy because of their sexual orientation, the color of their skin, their religious practices, or [how they live], as long as you don’t hurt people.
BM: Right. As long as you don’t have people chained up in the basement, you’re good.
PH: Yeah, exactly.
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Helmet headlines Empire Live in Albany on October 3, with special guest Soul Blind. Tickets can be purchased online here.
