NASHVILLE |DATE: JUNE 22, 2004
FROM: MITCH SCHNEIDER/LIBBY HENRY/KRISTINE ASHTON-MAGNUSON
HELMET
RETURN WITH ‘SIZE MATTERS’
SEPTEMBER 14 ON INTERSCOPE RECORDS
HELMET return September 14 with SIZE MATTERS (Interscope), their first collection of new music in seven years. Singer/guitarist/founder PAGE HAMILTON has reactivated the HELMET name with guitarist CHRIS TRAYNOR (Orange 9mm, Bush, Helmet), drummer JOHN TEMPESTA (Rob Zombie, Testament), and bassist FRANK BELLO (Anthrax). SIZE MATTERS refers to, according to HAMILTON, “An obsession in American culture with higher, louder, bigger and faster. There are no rewards or regard for integrity and progressive thought anymore.”
Produced by HAMILTON with assistance from producer Jay Baumgardner and former Nine Inch Nails associate Charlie Clouser, SIZE MATTERS imaginatively merges the band’s vocabulary (minimalist crushing riffs, taut rhythmic propulsion, clusterbomb solos and seething lyrical invective) with a greater melodic sense.
SIZE MATTERS is a powerful return to the kind of fury that raged under the HELMET banner. Recorded as a trio with TRAYNOR on bass (BELLO signed on to fill the bass slot so TRAYNOR could return to his guitar duties when HELMET tours later this fall), the disc features all the punishing riff economy HAMILTON has built his reputation on, but instead of delivering “Meantime In 2K4,” HAMILTON has added more melodic parts for TRAYNOR and TEMPESTA to drive. HELMET 2K4 has all the vision and the energy level needed to stand out in these dangerous times. The disc's 11 cuts offer a plethora of sonic invention and punishing riffage. There's the vicious big-dumb-sex of "Smart"; the bone-snapping pit bull disguised as a C-(maj7) chord that's anchoring "See You Dead"; the menacing chromatic scales on "Throwing Punches"; and the closing "Last Breath," which delivers a decidedly "old-school" HELMET vibe. SIZE MATTERS is a rare thing: a record made by veterans who haven't mellowed with age, but have no reason to erect a monument to their past.
“In the past few years I’ve been fortunate enough to sit in the company of people like Bowie, Bono and film composer Elliot Goldenthal and I soaked up a lot of ideas from those people, says HAMILTON, illuminating the path that got him to make SIZE MATTERS. “It gave me the confidence in my own writing. You listen to those early HELMET records and you’ll hear that ‘anti-songwriter’ vibe I had going around back then. I was using my voice as a rhythmic instrument, with less regard for the meaning of the words. Now I appreciate clarity.”
Over the course of nine years and four coruscating albums, HELMET was the vehicle for HAMILTON's reductionist rock aesthetic, a vision that bridged the gaps between underground-rock geeks, cosmopolitan art-snobs and populist headbangers looking for a new fix. Their 1991 Amphetamine Reptile debut Strap It On helped define a brusque element of America's underground-rock scene, while its follow-up for Interscope, 1992's Meantime sold over a million copies and helped lay waste to America's vacuous hair-farming metal scene. The band released two more albums, Betty (1994) and Aftertaste (1996), prior to breaking up in 1998. Interscope/Universal Chronicles issued Unsung: The Best Of Helmet 1991-1997, earlier this year, a collection whose parts still sound as fierce as they did on their respective release dates.
HAMILTON had remained busy since HELMET's dissolution six years ago. He went to New Orleans to write songs with programmer Charlie Clouser down at Trent Reznor’s studio. He did many sessions for film scores (S.W.A.T, The Good Thief, In Dreams, Titus) and worked on a rock-guitar opera (“Transposed Heads”). In addition, HAMILTON recorded with a diverse array of artists including California electronica merchants Uberzone and mutant trumpeter Ben Neill as well as toured with David Bowie for four months behind his ”…hours” album.
Check out www.helmetmusic.com and stay tuned for tour news.
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
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