PAGE HAMILTON’S “ART” ONLY ACCENTUATES THE AGONIZING DEMISE OF HELMET’S CREDIBILITY
Friday, October 23rd, 2009 at 1:00pm by Gary Suarez
Wow, can this really be twentieth anniversary of Helmet? Well, yeah, the classic core of Henry Bogdan, Page Hamilton, and John Stanier disbanded in 1998. And sure, the reconstituted line-up that Hamilton unilaterally pulled together for 2004’s better-than-expected Size Matters has degenerated entirely into an unrecognizable cast of hired guns spilling in and out of a literal revolving door. But, uhhh, barring that, technically the band did form in 1989, so even though there’s only one original member and his last album Monochrome was fucking awful, I guess Hamilton is allowed to celebrate this moment.
But not like this.
You see, instead of taking this opportunity to reunite the old gang, a gesture that Helmet’s fans continue to long for, Hamilton has decided that this is the perfect time to showcase his visual art.
To mark the 20th year, Helmet leader Page Hamilton began a project unlike any done before, exploring and revealing the origin of Helmet’s sound and lyrics onto massive sized canvases – “Close to Home” 200 original art pieces – was born. The collection will be available to Helmet believers on Halloween 2009.
Apparently, if you sign up at the shamefully named Legacy Of Helmet site, you’ll receive exclusive information about this project. Of course, I’m not a glutton for punishment, so I decided to listen to Strap It On, which still totally fucking rocks, by the way. Check out the video for “Bad Mood” below and remind yourself that Helmet used to be awesome.
-GS
[Gary Suarez is a handsome devil. He usually manages the consistently off-topic No Yoko No. Say, why don't you follow him on Twitter?]
Aw, man, Size Matters was abysmal. Ugh.
His voice/singing changed too much for Size Matters & Monochrome to be enjoyable. Also, once Stanier was gone, it could never be the same
Yeah, he/they went downhill pretty quickly. On the plus side, this post does make me want to listen to MEANTIME, so I will.
Its a shame becouse i do love me some helmet.
That sounded kinda gay didnt it….
Nowhere near as gay as ‘Legacy Of Helmet’ though.
http://www.tmoc.com.au
You nailed it. I think we all wish Page would put aside the egomaniac schtick for just a minute and reunite with Stanier and Bogdan. I’m not even talking new material…maybe just a few dates. Seems very unlikely though as long as Page and scabby Helmet (see what I did there…) are stilling getting a 10-15K guarantee for a show, which they are.
most of the posters on this site were born annoying.
your comments are a bit milquetoast themselves…
gosh. somebody`s in a bad mood. i hope you don`t resort to murder.
I was expecting you to say “you borrowed my idea.” Originality is overrated.
Time to kill yourself!
well, i don’t know how that got into your head, but i think you’ve taken this joke too far. rest assured, i don’t want to be enemies, but your rude repetition has distracted me for far too long. i’ll admit, i’m no future business leader of america, but i’m not here to rumble. maybe my response was exactly what you wanted, but i think we’ve turned out as much funny as we can from this, so we’d better make room for better posts.
in conclusion, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVsolv_FGw8
gary suarez is an unsung hero.
I love Helmet and always will. They were completely ahead of their time. The crap “nu” metal bands of the late 90’s completely took that sound and bastardized it, leaving Helmet with the irony of being unsung heros. Maybe for the best though, at least no one blamed them for the crap and Helmet really never sold out either.
Meantime, Betty, Aftertaste are all classic albums. If you are reading this and are unfamiliar with Helmet, check out the Meantime album. Brutal, honest, heavy and just a killer album that influenced so many bands, good and bad. The recent disc, well Size Matters I have found has been holding up after a bunch of listens, still has classic Helmet moments with a great lineup of musicians on there. Monochrome, meh, but I am still a loyal fan who has yet to give up hope that Stanier, Bogdan reunion will take hold. Maybe a remastered issue of Meantime to boot. They could tour with Faith No More??? Ah, maybe asking for too much.
Right on!
All the Helmet albums up to Betty were fucking killer, and I agree that they were ahead of their time.
Aftertaste was OK, but not their best. As much as I respect Page Hamilton, unless the lineup includes Stanier and Bogdan, it’s a sham.
200 original art pieces??? yeah, they must be awesome.
I miss the old Helmet.
I got to see helmet live once with the melvins back in I think the late 90s they were amazing.
Big dramatic art show on halloween? Coming out with huge paintings? On halloween? Is he gay?
dude, this bad mood video is much more weird than the boris video.
the song rocks, but WTF?!?!
helmet only stole what quicksand perfected before them.
I love Quicksand. Better than Helmet, yes, but I don’t think the timeline really supports your argument here. Both had debuts out in 1990. Seems a little unlikely that Page & co. “stole” anything from Walter & co. though Helmet obviously got the most attention, right or wrong. At least we’re not sitting here wishing Quicksand would just give it up and retire already.
Side note: I saw Helmet live on the Aftertaste tour. To this date they’re the only headlining act I’ve ever seen who chose not to play an encore. Pricks.
in the meantime and betty will always be classics, unbeatable by the test of time. ps, kudos to aaron m for posting the massive helmet pun. I have to give it to you, your an unsung hero and your a role model to jason, who tryed to beat you, but turned out he couldnt. Now, he feels bad. In the meantime, hed feel better if he built a women robot so he could get some ironhead. wth a robot woman, he cant get street crabs. but, he still mightr want to strap it on. anyway, this has all left me speechless. and i dont want to keep going on and on, in fear of repetition…
Damn you guys are brutal. Well if you are interested, I got the chance to do an exclusive interview with Page on his art project.
http://musicnewstidbits.com/?p=1144