DT: JANUARY 6, 2005
FM: KRISTINE ASHTON-MAGNUSON/LIBBY HENRY/AMANDA HALE/
MITCH SCHNEIDER
HELMET CONFIRMED FOR WINTERFRESH SNOCORE TOUR
LAUNCHING JANUARY 22 IN VAIL, CO
Following headlining tours of the U.S. and Europe, HELMET are set to hit the road again in support of Size Matters (Interscope Records), their first CD of new music in seven years. The group--PAGE HAMILTON (singer/guitarist/founder), CHRIS TRAYNOR (guitars), JOHN TEMPESTA (drums) and FRANK BELLO (bass)--will join Chevelle plus Crossfade, Future Leaders Of The World and Strata for the 38-date 10th annual Winterfresh SnoCore Tour which launches January 22 in Vail, CO and wraps March 13 in Orlando, FL.
Look for HELMET to draw on songs from such memorable albums as Strap It On, Meantime, Betty and Aftertaste as well as the acclaimed SIZE MATTERS, which was produced by HAMILTON with assistance from producer Jay Baumgardner and former Nine Inch Nails associate Charlie Clouser. In his New York Daily News CD review, Jim Farber lauded: “Size Matters elaborates Helmet’s trademark killer riffs with more melody in the choruses. But the tunefulness doesn’t sell out the power slam of the chords. In ‘Smart,’ the players present a unified assault. In ‘Surgery,’ the stuttering inflections of the guitars create a grinding hook. At a time when guitar-led music hasn’t fully escaped the clichés of rap-metal and nu-metal, Helmet’s smart rock has returned at just the right time (October 9, 2004).” Elsewhere, in a four-star review in the February 2005 issue of Car Audio, Laurie Hassold praised the album, noting: “Size Matters delivers the same groin-bashing rhythms and surgically fingered leads from earlier LPs (Meantime, Betty, Aftertaste), but the angry ennui of Hamilton’s vocals has given way to a new expressiveness…’Enemies’…shows the band’s ability to reinvent themselves while still paying homage to their roots…ultimately, this is a protein-packed banquet fit for the most voracious of musical carnivores. It takes the edge off your hunger, yet leaves you craving for more.”
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HELMET are receiving praise for their live shows. Here’s a sample of the critical acclaim.
"The reshaped band felt comfortable revisiting plenty of older Helmet material, from 1994's ‘Milquetoast’ to 1997's ‘Exactly What You Wanted.’ But the best parts of Tuesday's performance came from new material..."
--Crayton Harrison, Dallas Morning News, November 24, 2004
"...the new incarnation of Helmet rocked with a fierce intricacy to rival memories of the original. The monolithic riffs and martial rhythms of Helmet's 1992 platinum album Meantime can still be heard in the material from the new Size Matters, yet there's a fresh melodic fluency....Size Matters provided the core of the show, with the single 'See You Dead' reflecting Hamilton's growth as a writer and singer...Set against staccato march verses, the song's chorus approached the dimensions of a pop song as Hamilton bore the sublimated violence along with tensely voiced lyricism...”
--Bradley Bambarger, Newark Star Ledger, November 16, 2004
"Led by singer-guitarist Page Hamilton, the New York quartet charged through a 75-minute set, balancing brutish force with perfectionist precision, like a barge that could also do amazing pirouettes...Songs such as ‘Exactly What You Wanted’ made bludgeoning seem like a good thing, while ‘See You Dead’ had the rapid-fire exactitude of a semiautomatic weapon."
--Teresa Gubbins, Fort Worth Star Telegram, November 25, 2004
“After breaking up in the late 90’s, HELMET has reformed this past year and released the critically acclaimed Size Matters…They blazed through the new material that spoke of Hamilton’s recent love-gone-bad experiences. New songs like ‘Crashing Foreign Cars,’ ‘Smart’ and ‘Unwound’ stayed true to the HELMET sound and gained approval from the hundred-son die hards in the crowd. Hamilton sang and abused his trademark ESP guitar with much passion while Tempesta laid down a relenting drum beat. Bello worked himself into a chiropractor-bound frenzy and added the new element of backing vocals to many songs. Fan were also pleased to band their heads to the time-tested anti-establishment favorites ‘Wilma’s Rainbow,’ ‘Meantime’ and ‘Unsung.’”
--Sean Damitz, Utah Statesman, November 3, 2004
“In the course of one live set, Helmet gave the people what they wanted in spades: no-frills, mechanically precise, punch-you-in-the-face rock; the type of rock that many other outfits wish they had the cognitive capacity to pull off but fail miserably…”
--Norm Narvaja, Mansfield News Journal (OH), January 4, 2005
Current tour dates are as follows. Also check out www.helmetmusic.com.
Date City Venue
Sat 1/22 Vail, CO 8150
Sun 1/23 Salt Lake City, UT In The Venue
Mon 1/24 Las Vegas, NV The Joint
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Date City Venue
Tue 1/25 Phoenix, AZ Marquee Theatre
Thu 1/27 San Diego, CA Soma
Fri 1/28 Anaheim, CA The Grove
Sat 1/29 Los Angeles, CA House Of Blues
Mon 1/31 San Francisco, CA Fillmore
Tue 2/1 Reno, NV New Oasis
Thu 2/3 Seattle, WA Moore Theatre
Fri 2/4 Spokane, WA Big Easy
Sat 2/5 Boise, ID The Big Easy
Mon 2/7 Denver, CO Ogden Theatre
Tue 2/8 Wichita, KS Cotillion Ballroom
Thu 2/10 Minneapolis, MN The Quest
Fri 2/11 Milwaukee, WI The Rave
Sat 2/12 Chicago, IL Congress Theatre
Mon 2/14 St. Louis, MO Pageant
Tue 2/15 Cincinnati, OH Bogarts
Wed 2/16 Columbus, OH Newport Music Hall
Fri 2/18 Detroit, MI State Theater
Sat 2/19 Toronto, ON Kool Haus
Mon 2/21 Cleveland, OH House Of Blues
Tue 2/22 Albany, NY Northern Lights
Wed 2/23 Burlington, VT Higher Ground
Fri 2/25 New York, NY Spirit Perf. Center
Sat 2/26 Providence, RI Lupos
Sun 2/27 Worcester, MA Palladium
Tue 3/1 Hartford, CT Webster Theatre
Wed 3/2 Philadelphia, PA Trocadero
Fri 3/4 Sayreville, NJ Starland Ballroom
Sat 3/5 Washington, DC 930 Club
Sun 3/6 Poughkeepsie, NY Mid Hudson Civic
Tue 3/8 Baltimore, MD Sonor
Wed 3/9 Norfolk, VA Norva
Thu 3/10 Myrtle Beach, SC House Of Blues
Sat 3/12 Ft. Lauderdale, FL Revolution
Sun 3/13 Orlando, FL House Of Blues
MSO Contacts:
Libby Henry Lhenry@msopr.com 818.380.0400 x224
Kristine Ashton-Magnuson Kashton@msopr.com 818.380.0400 x233
Mitch Schneider Mschneider@msopr.com 818-380-0400 x235
Amanda Hale Ahale@msopr.com 818-380-0400 x238
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