The Hamma Newsletter Interview

The Hamma is a dirty kick-ass four-piece rock band from Hawke’s Bay who play original songs and classic covers. Their album Panzer Tank is out now. Glen provided the following information for muzic.net.nz:

Pete and Hugh started the band in 1984 (photo at right) while they were school mates at Napier Boys. Kev was added on drums soon after and with various lead guitarists they gigged around the Bay in garages and warehouses as well as pubs and The Cabana (the country’s oldest pure live-music venue), which was in its ceiling-dripping heyday. They recorded their originals using a VHS recorder and a couple of microphones to use as demos, but then their lead guitarist at the time was killed in a motorbike accident and things just kind of fell apart after that.

After a 15 year hiatus Hugh returned to Hawke’s Bay from a long stint in Australia and immediately bumped in to Pete in the supermarket. It didn’t take long before they decided to reform The Hamma and tracked down Kev. They did a few gigs as a 3 piece, returning to their old stomping ground, The Cabana, which had been resurrected with the help of Ian Morris and friends. In 2011 they went back to being a 4 piece when they added a second guitarist, Bomber, to the mix, and started gigging in earnest again. In 2012 they re-recorded their originals, and produced the single Snake’s Eyes before releasing the album Panzer Tank in Jan 2013.

Which one of your songs are you most proud of, and why?

It’s got to be Snake’s Eyes. It’s a really catchy riff, and it gets people up dancing every time. It’s real popular with the ladies.

What is the one thing you want NZ to know about The Hamma?

We’re honest. We know we ain’t young and we sure ain’t pretty: we’re just a straight-up old-school hard-rockin’ band. We’re not trying to be something we’re not and we do things our own way. We produced the album ourselves (mostly because we’re too poor to afford all the fancy stuff), but also so we could keep control of our sound and try stuff out we which we couldn’t if we had deadlines imposed by record companies/managers etc Not that we’d say no to doing it the fancy way!

How would you describe The Hamma’s music in one sentence?

Raw and powerful, but something you can boogie/tap your foot/bang your head to and still hear the lyrics and instruments.

What is The Hamma’s long term goal?

Just to get our stuff out to the masses. We’re not motivated by making money out of it really (although we wouldn’t say no!), we just love playing and listening to rock/metal/whatever you want to call it. For us it’s all about having a bit of fun and hopefully entertaining the people who hear/see us.

Where do you get your inspiration to create music from?

Bands like Motorhead, AC/DC and Black Sabbath. Pete and Hugh went backstage with Lemmy and Motorhead when they played in Napier in about 1984. Lemmy gave them some Ritz crackers with speed on!

What can we expect to see from The Hamma over the next year?

We’re just organising some gigs again after spending the last 6 months getting the album finished. We should be doing Smash Palace in Gizzy in the next few months and there are more dates to come. We’re also working on new songs for the next album.

What advice would you like to give to other aspiring musicians?

JFDI! Don’t worry about “not being good enough”. Just put your stuff out there and see what happens.