Helmet

Helmet

http://www.helmetband.com
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Biography

Moving to New York City, USA to pursue a degree in jazz guitar, Page Hamilton discovered distortion and new influences such as Big Black, Killing Joke and Sonic Youth during his time with Band Of Susans. The experience led him to form helmet with fellow Oregon native, bass player Henry Bogdan, Australian guitarist Peter Mengede and classically schooled drummer John Stanier, a veteran of the Florida hardcore scene.

Getting their start on the low-budget amphetamine reptile record label, the band recorded a couple of songs for compilations and the seminal 'Born Annoying/ Rumble' EP, which is now unavailable, before setting to work on their debut album. "Strap It On" released 1991, embodies the early essence of the band, due to the raw, low-quality recording, but it still maintains a powerful surge throughout with tracks like "Repetition", "Bad mood", "Sinatra", "Blacktop" and "Murder". While the album is not available in its original form, interscope records re-released the album, after they signed Helmet in 1992. Even with the jump to the high-profile record label industry, Helmet refused to wilt under the pressure as they released the major label debut, "Meantime" released 1992, which reeked of passion, fury and mayhem, courtesy of their loud guitars, basses, drums and Page's unmistakable voice.

The band's appearance shocked many hard rock fans, for when they saw images of the band, they saw a cleancut group of young men, who make some loud rock n' roll. This time around, the band was not held back by poor recording quality as they corrode and blast through with favourites like "In the meantime", "Ironhead", "Give it", "He feels bad", "Fbla" and their first big single, "Unsung". The band went on to tour incessantly for the album, which had them linked with Ministry, Sepultura, Quicksand, The Melvins and more..., and they created three videos for "Give it", "In the meantime" and "Unsung". Their hard-edged music has brought the band recognition as they were asked to collaborate on the rap-rock soundtrack, 'Judgment Night', with House Of Pain on a track called "Just another victim."

After taking time out for themselves, Helmet set to work and released their third album, "Betty" released 1994. This album not only continues to show their maturity, but it displayed their ability to experiment with different genres to incorporate into their own. 'Betty' featured a new guitarist, Rob Echeverria, who was hired after arguments and disagreements ensued with Peter Mengede. Again, Helmet hits with hard-edged bass and drums lines, but the guitars, while maintaining heavy riffage, also incorporates more melodic, jazz-like rhythms. The experimentation and customary hard rock can be heard on tracks like "Wilma's rainbow", "I know", "Rollo", "Vaccination", the jazz-influenced cover of dizzy gillespie's "Beautiful love", "Speechless", "The silver hawaiian", "Sam hell" and "Milquetoast", which was recorded for the 'The Crow' soundtrack. The band again toured in support and they made videos for "Wilma's rainbow", "Biscuits for smut" and "Milquetoast", with the latter, getting the most airplay.

The boys decided to get their old stuff released and re-released in some cases. The resulting product was "Born Annoying" released 1995, a collection of unreleased songs. The album was released on Amphetamine Reptile and the sound quality is reminiscent of "Strap it on" and the material features the original guitarist, Peter Mengede. The material was compiled from 1989 to 1993 and it is exemplified by the loud, tinny effect on "Rumble", the rhythmic attack on "Shirley Maclaine", the bass and guitar attack on "Your head", the upbeat bass-filled "Primitive" and the two versions of "Born annoying", from 1989 and 1993. The '89 version is longer and muffled, where the '93 version is clean and fast.

A lot of time passed after "Betty" and "Born Annoying". The band recorded some tracks like "Complete" for movies like 'Johnny Mnemonic', 'Feeling Minnesota' and 'The Jerky Boys'. Page also entered a guitar duel with german firebomb guitarist, Caspar Brotzmann on "Zulutime", but change was around the corner for the band.

Guitarist Rob Echeverria decided to continue his career in the music business by joining Biohazard. Instead of looking for a new member, Helmet moved forward. Rumors about the band spun around in October that an album would be put out, but on the cusp of its release, the band decided to pull the album to re-record, re-produce and re-mix the album. The final result was released in 1997 under the title "Aftertaste" in mid-March. The album features the three mainstays of Helmet, Henry Bogdan on bass, John Stanier on drums and Page Hamilton handling all guitars and vocals. Opting for a new, drop-d chord styling, Hamilton bristles and cleanses ears while Bogdan lays down cutting bass lines and Stanier puts his blistering drums into action. After the recording, the band brought in Chris Traynor from Orange 9mm to add guitar parts.

The album attempts to go back the roots stylings of "Strap it on" and "Meantime" with some added melodiousness, but at times, "Aftertaste" comes up lacking. There are some hard hitting tracks on the album, but the overall aura of the songs is not what was present on earlier releases. Tracks like "Pure", "Renovation", "Exactly what you wanted", "Like i care", "Birth defect", "Harmless" and "Crisis king" show the bands power, but the raw emotion and drive is lacking, as it seems as if their heart wasn't into it. It is still an excellent album, but it isn't what the public is used to hearing from Helmet.

The band toured for a bit and then in early 1999, the band decided to call it quits. It was an amicable departure for all members as each member decided to go his separate way. Henry Bogdan, John Stanier and Chris Traynor have gone on to work on new projects, whereas Page Hamilton is said to be working on a solo album for an Interscope release. In the mean time, he has been contributing to other groups releases, including Nine Inch Nails. It is an unfortunate loss for the rock world, but their influence has already been seen on such artists as Quicksand, System of a Down and Silverchair. Helmet has officially called it quits, according to their management group.

Helmet was composed of guitarist and singer Page Hamilton, bassist Henry Bogdan, and drummer John Stanier. Guitarist Rob Echeverria, who replaced original guitarist Peter Mengede on Betty, left the group to join Biohazard. Chris Traynor of Orange 9mm played with the band on their final tour in support of their swan song, "Aftertaste". The group was centered around Page's songwriting, with the majority of the tunes being authored solely by him.
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