lump-hammer-live

What inspired you to first start making music? And how did you come to be in your current incarnation? Or if you prefer, a brief bio about you.

It started with a conversation between James and Tim whilst walking back from the pub about how good it would be to do songs that just sit on one riff for ages. Then we got Kev involved, and no-one else wanted to do it so we stuck to a three piece with Kev on baritone guitar.

Provide us with some info about your latest release…

The release we have out at the moment is our four track self titled EP, but we have a follow up full length out in the relatively near future when we have finished building the canal. As a follow up to the EP it will have more tracks and stick to the single riff formula, with some further interpretations of that.

Which ones would you consider your main influences both music-wise & non-music-wise?

Our influences are all over the place and probably too varied to pin down into a definitive list. We obviously listen to plenty of heavy dirgey stuff but alongside that there’s plenty of experimental, rock, electronic and pop. We also all listen to a lot of stuff that the rest of us don’t like, which is always useful.

We’re also collectively into comedians such as Stewart Lee and Limmy and Art, including people like the Chapman brothers, Banks Violette and a whole range of music art/graphics cross overs, and comics, which probably comes through in our unorthodox way of doing things.

In what way does your sound differ from the rest genre-related artists/bands and why should we listen to your music? In other words, how would you describe your sound?

Overall we are more minimal in terms of song writing. Each song is one riff so we develop that through dynamics and rhythm as opposed to traditional song structure. It’s about repetition and what that does, particularly with different time signatures, dynamic shifts, or layering up of effects. We’re also less genre specific in terms of where the riffs come from – bar being heavy and distorted we don’t necessarily play ‘sludge’, ‘doom’ riffs or ‘noise rock’ riffs, but we’ll pull stuff from that if we like it.

Please name your 3 desert islands albums, movies & books…

Film: Ray Mears Extreme Survival

Album: Ray Mears – My Outdoor Life Audiobook

Book: Ray Mears – Essential Bushcraft

Do you prefer studio or performing live and why?

Kev and James prefer live performance, which still makes Tim nervous. Because of the nature of what we do, we have to record ‘as live’ in single takes anyway so that kind of energy is generally part of everything we put out.

Is there any funny-unique story you would like to share with us, always in relation to your music ‘career’?

We once played one riff for two hours in an art gallery underneath a university library and someone directly messaged us to tell us how inconsiderate we were. We have since done another performance in another art gallery but it was acoustic, only lasted half an hour and no-one in a library got upset.

Which track of your own would you point out as the most unique and why?

There are a couple that are stand outs to play, that we haven’t put out on record yet. ‘Gravy (Beef)’ (which there is a live recording of) is unique because it’s in a different tuning and almost has two riffs in, and ‘Nothing Changes’ is a newer song that is unique because we have to write the structure on Tim’s snare so we don’t forget it, and it’s got some really nice loud/quiet harsh/sung shifts in it.

Would you like to share with our readers your future plans?

We are building a canal to coincide with our next release and are setting up a tableau in which perform a gig on top of a canal boat. We also have plans in the works for a split release with some good friends working in similar musical territory and plenty more gigs planned. We also have a tour imminent with Modern Technology including a big bash in London featuring Bruxa Maria, and with all the profits going to charity.

Free question!!! (Ask yourself a question) you wish to answer and haven’t been given the opportunity…

What other bands from your area should people check out?

Kev plays bass in a slacker punk band called Slurs, and James shouts in Lovely Wife and Plague Rider as well as droning Möbius. Other bands well worth checking out near us are Fret!, Snakes Don’t Belong In Alaska, Star Cult, Mondo Sadists, The Smoking’ Coconuts, Bong, Lush Worker, David Terry, Live Burial, Penance Stare, Bleach, Corpse Twitcher, Onlooker and Ballpeen.

Photo credits: Blank Slate Photography

Curated by: Christos Doukakis

Recommended listening:

Connect with Lump Hammer:

https://www.facebook.com/hammerslumps/

https://lumphammer.bandcamp.com/releases