Blast Toronto has been sitting on the sidelines as Covid slowly sucks the music away from us. I am sure you have pulled out a lot of your favourite records and are reminiscing about the good old days.
Well I am not going to get relaxed about it. I want the music of Toronto to stand proud and to have this city embrace our music scene. I have devised a fun little interview process called 20 questions. It is a quick fire questionnaire that is geared to bands and musicians you may not have heard of as yet. They are still there and would love to play for you one day. This is an easy way to discover the music that Toronto still has to offer. So over the next little while, I hope you read and investigate the bands and musicians that introduce themselves with this entertaining forum.
First up to bat is a Hard Core Band called Hammerhands. I was suppose to review their show, but for reasons I don’t remember I couldn’t make it. This is one band that is on my must see list. I heard a couple of their songs and I knew this was going to be a review I would look forward to writing. So, for now, I give you this…
Hey, we’re HAMMERHANDS, we’ve slowly churned out three records over the better part of the last decade. We’ve had the fortune of sharing the stage with some awesome bands. We’re looking forward to getting back at it once we can!
- When did you Form?- We formed In 2011
- How did you come up with your name? – The name came through divine enlightenment to NJ. The name came first and we built everything around it.
- Your musical influences growing up? – We all grew up on a diet of 90’s alt rock that slowly curdled into Nu Metal.
- Describe your musical style.- Dark, Sludgy, menacing.(I agree-Blast)
- Why did you choose the musical path? – I was terrible at sports.
- What are you listening to right now? – Idles, John Williams, Great Sabatini, The Who, Slowdive, Torche, King Gizzard. (I love Slowdive!-Blast)
- What is the message you want to give to your audience? – We’re not much of a message band, we aim to be a distraction or escape from life’s seriousness.
- Where do you draw your inspiration from?- All art has potential to influence, even a good movie or a bad band, so I keep trying to keep my eyes open to new things.
- What is your best lyric and what does it mean? – “And while it’s on another level, You’ve got balls of heavy metal, Let em sing,let em sing”. Are your testicles actually metallic, or do you have the embodiment of metal music in your nutsack? I say both!
- If you could, what Toronto venue do you want to play in? – I’ve got a soft spot for the Opera House after the many gigs I’ve seen there.
- Who would you love to open for? – The Melvins are pretty much the kings of our genre, so that would make my life.
- Best or worst performance you had?- We got to play the Riverside bar at the Molson Amphitheatre, in a way, opening the show for Alice in Chains and Korn, two total high school heroes!
- What Instruments do you own?
- NJ- Hagstrom Viking Baritone
- Collin Young- Fender Jaguar Baritone Special HH
- Justin Hunt- Rickenbacker 4003
- Johnny Galletly- Unix Drums
- What advice would you give to other similar musicians? Don’t expect anything, and appreciate everything.
- Who was a favourite musician/band you got to play with? – We were blown away when we shared the stage with Botfly.
- Who would you love to work with if you could?- Kurt Ballou
- Musically, what album is your guilty pleasure?- There’s never any guilt, but we get down to some corny ass stuff, George Michael, Seal, Air Supply, Celine Dion, Disney Soundtracks, every 80’s montage song ever written. No Shame. (Blast says…Whaaa?)
- Your top 3 albums.
- The Bootlicker
- Kid A
- Animals
- Favourite Canadian group or artist? – Godspeed! You Black Emperor (The Blast Abides…)
- Your best Spinal Tap moment?- My amp actually goes to 11
And now for some shameless plugs… If this interview peaked your interest, go see their video, listen to them on Spotify and we will see you at their next show. Thanks for reading, it’s time to Blast off for now!
Here are some more images of Hammerhands: