The dark cellar, usually awash with youthful faces wearing black hoodies made way for an older clientele, a number of whom sported a haircut not dissimilar to Ed Hamell’s, when he turned up that is.
The ‘fashionably late’ Mr. Hamell allowed for a few more pre-performance drinks to be drank (and spilled), and then the bald headed, middle-aged, roadie-looking artist begins.
“God called down from the mountain” the NYC-based singer-songwriter opens with ‘Don’t Kill’ from his latest release “Tough Love”. Hamell manages to generate a tremendous sound from a single guitar often simultaneously picking melodies whilst strumming chords. ‘What part of don’t kill don’t you understand?’ he continues, for those expecting fights with lightsabres and talking camp robots, they’d be wrong and probably confused him with Mark Hamill, but for those expecting something a little angrier, they got it.
Next on the man’s hitlist is the media and artist’s subsequent use of, “those corny bullshit music magazines, that’s just an excuse to sell fashion”. Hamell certainly delivers his message with passion and verve, and the crowd is certainly riled up. Being the focal point of stares and lights, and furious strumming Hamell soon works up a sweat.
Between tracks he has time to tell a variety of jokes, a true one-man show. Talks of a drunken night out, followed by an individual blowing chunks, ending with the revelation that Chunks is a dog, that sort of thing, maybe why we don’t ever see Hamell on Top Of The Pops.
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‘Hail’ is a track touching on the subject of hate crimes, and those in particular of Tina Brandon, Brian Deneke and Matthew Shepard, it doesn’t make for easy listening, but then again no-one wants it that way. The crowd are lapping up every word, unquestionably. A brief tribute to Johnny Cash is followed by a little crowd participation, who give particular emphasis to any four-letter words starting with ‘F’, and ends with a rendition of the late Joe Strummer’s ‘White Riot’.
You’re unlikely to ever see this man on TV, you’re unlikely to ever see this man on the cover of a magazine, you’re unlikely to ever see this man in an arena stadium, but who wants to? The intamacy of the Barfly makes for an interesting and somewhat rewarding evening. Hamell On Trial?… Guilty of hate filled twisted poetry set to the sound of an expressive and impressive acoustic guitar.
If you like this go and see:
Lou Reed
Damien Rice
Spencer P. Jones
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