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Biography
For|the journalist and writer|Pete HamillUse British English|date=August 2011Infobox musical artist | name = Peter Hammill| image = PHammill08.jpg| caption = Peter Hammill onstage at Nearfest , Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, June 2008| image_size = | background = solo_singer| birth_name = Peter Joseph Andrew Hammill| alias =| birth_date = Birth date and age|1948|11|5|df=y|birth_place = Ealing , London, England| death_date =| origin = Manchester , England| instrument = Vocals, guitar, keyboards| genre = Progressive rock , art rock , avant garde , opera| occupation = Singer, songwriter, record producer| years_active = 1968–present| label = Charisma Records|Charisma , S-Type Records|S-Type , Virgin Records|Virgin , Naive Records|Naive , Foundry Records|Foundry , Enigma Records|Enigma , Fie& #33; Records|Fie! | associated_acts = Van der Graaf Generator | website = http://www.sofasound.com Sofasound| current_members =| past_members =| notable_instruments = Peter Joseph Andrew Hammill (born 5 November 1948, in Ealing , west London) is an English singer-songwriter, and a founding member of the progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator . Most noted for his vocal abilities, his main instruments are guitar and piano. He also acts as a record producer for his own recordings, and occasionally for other artists.
Biography
Early career
Hammill's solo career has coexisted with Van der Graaf Generator's activities. The band was offered a contract by Mercury Records in 1968, that only Hammill signed. When Van der Graaf Generator broke up in 1969 he wanted to record his first solo album. In the summer of 1969 Hammill had a residency at Lyceum Theatre, London|The Lyceum and played weekly solo concerts there.Christopulos, J., and Smart, P.: "Van der Graaf Generator – The Book", page 37. Phil and Jim publishers, 2005. Eventually the intended solo album was released under the Van der Graaf Generator banner as their first album ( The Aerosol Grey Machine ).Christopulos, J., and Smart, P.: "Van der Graaf Generator – The Book", page 32-44 and page 58. Phil and Jim publishers, 2005. Hammill's first real solo album was '' Fool's Mate (album)|Fool's Mate (1971), containing songs from the early (1967/68) Van der Graaf Generator days.
Van der Graaf Generator and after
When Van der Graaf Generator broke up again in August 1972, Hammill resumed his solo career. Songs that were intended for Van der Graaf Generator, now ended up on his solo albums, notably "Black Room" (on Chameleon in the Shadow of the Night ) and "A Louse Is Not a Home" (on The Silent Corner and the Empty Stage ). This to some extent makes it difficult to separate Hammill's solo work during the 1970s from his work with the band (for the majority of both his solo songs and the band's songs he is credited as the sole songwriter, and some of his solo albums feature all the members of Van der Graaf Generator). In general, however, solo Hammill is concerned with more personal matters, while the band's songs deal with broader themes.
'' Nadir's Big Chance (1975) was a great change from the preceding In Camera (Peter Hammill album)|In Camera . Whilst In Camera is characterised by extremely intense and complex songs and even has some musique concrète on it, Nadir's Big Chance'' is notable for its anticipation of punk rock . In a 1977 radio interview, John Lydon of the Sex Pistols played two tracks from the album and expressed his admiration for Hammill in glowing terms: "Peter Hammill's great. A true original. I've just liked him for years. If you listen to him, his solo albums, I'm damn sure David Bowie|Bowie copied a lot out of that geezer. The credit he deserves, just has not been given to him. I love all his stuff".Tommy Vance Show, (16 July 1977) http://www.fodderstompf.com/ARCHIVES/REVIEWS%202/capital77.html John Lydon. Capital Radio,. Fodderstompf Archives (16 July 1977). Retrieved on 5 August 2011.
Over (album)|Over (1977) contains very personal songs about the break-up of a long-term relationship.
Hammill's first solo-album after the 1978 break-up of Van der Graaf was The Future Now . With the next albums, PH7 (Peter Hammill album)|pH7 and A Black Box , the sound became more compact, more new wave. On those albums, Hammill played the drums himself. What followed was the "K group". In later years Hammill would sometimes refer to the band as a "beat group".Album notes by Peter Hammill for The Margin + , expanded reissue of CD The Margin (2001). Fie! The K group consisted of Hammill himself on guitars and piano, with John Ellis (guitarist)|John Ellis on lead guitar, Nic Potter on bass, and Guy Evans on drums and percussion. This group recorded the albums Enter K and Patience (Peter Hammill album)|Patience .
Live performances
Live concerts by Peter Hammill are characterised by a degree of unpredictability, in terms of the songs played, the arrangements and the players involved. Hammill generally does not undertake live-tours to promote albums. Whenever he plays with a certain predominant line-up, almost always there will also be concerts interspersed with different permutations of musicians, so the word 'tour' is not always very applicable.
From September 1981 until September 1985 Hammill played with the K Group , playing raw, energetic, new-wave rock. A live recording of a number of these concerts was released as The Margin . In March and April 1983, Hammill with John Ellis was the support act for Marillion on their UK tour in support of their debut album '' Script for a Jester's Tear . http://www.couchnoise.com/years/1983.htm The Agenda at. Couchnoise.com. Retrieved on 5 August 2011. http://www.morain.de/marillion_setlists_-_1983.html Marillion Setlists – 1983dead link|date=August 2011
From February until October 1990 he played with Nic Potter on bass and Stuart Gordon (violinist)|Stuart Gordon on violin. A live recording of these shows was released as Room Temperature (album)|Room Temperature . From April 1993 until August 1996 he played with Nic Potter on bass, Stuart Gordon on violin and Manny Elias on drums. A live recording of these shows was released as There Goes The Daylight . From October 1994 until August 1996 Hammill played with David Jackson (rock musician)|David Jackson on flutes and saxophones, Stuart Gordon on violin and Manny Elias on drums (this line-up is sometimes informally referred to as the Peter Hammill Quartet http://www.sofasound.com/nlmar95.htm SofaSound newsletter by Peter Hammill, March 1995. Sofasound.com. Retrieved on 5 August 2011.).
From January 1998 until November 2006 Hammill played with just Stuart Gordon on violin. Of these shows the live recording Veracious was released.
From 1969 on, Hammill has also performed solo concerts, with just guitar and keyboards.
Label Fie!
Hammill's early records, like the Van der Graaf Generator albums, were released on Charisma Records . He parted company with them after pH7 (1979), and then released albums on a number of small labels. A Black Box came out on S-Type, a label run by Hammill and his manager Gail Colson. Enter K and Patience appeared on Naive, Skin (1986 album)|Skin and The Margin on Foundry and In A Foreign Town , Out of Water and Room Temperature on Enigma Records . In 1992 he formed his own label, Fie! , on which all his albums since Fireships (album)|Fireships have been released. The label's logo is the Greek letter phi (F), a pun on PH-I. Ever since the 1970s he has also had his own home recording studio, appropriately called Sofa Sound (his website was later named after the studio).
Later years
In 1991, Hammill released the long-awaited opera The Fall of the House of Usher (opera)|The Fall of the House of Usher . He had written the music and Van der Graaf Generator co-founder Judge Smith the libretto, and the two of them had been working on it since 1973. In 1999 he released a reworked version, The Fall Of The House Of Usher (Deconstructed & Rebuilt) .
Hammill survived a heart attack in December 2003, http://arts.independent.co.uk/music/features/article44837.ece The Independent, 27 June 2004. Arts.independent.co.uk (27 June 2004). Retrieved on 5 August 2011. http://www.sofasound.com/nldec03.htm SofaSound newsletter by Peter Hammill, December 2003. Sofasound.com. Retrieved on 5 August 2011. less than 48 hours http://www.sofasound.com/nlmar04.htm SofaSound newsletter by Peter Hammill, March 2004. Sofasound.com. Retrieved on 5 August 2011. after having finished the recording of Incoherence . He was awarded the Italian 'Tenco Prize' for songwriting at the end of 2004. http://www.sofasound.com/nlmar05.htm SofaSound newsletter by Peter Hammill, March 2005. Sofasound.com. Retrieved on 5 August 2011.
In 2005, Hammill announced the reformation of Van der Graaf Generator. In 2004 they had recorded a new album, Present (Van der Graaf Generator album)|Present , which was released in April 2005, and from May until November 2005 played a series of well received concerts.
Between 2005 and 2007 Hammill oversaw the remastering of almost all of his pre-Fie& #33; releases, and also carried out similar work on his more recent catalogue. The last of the Charisma remasters was released in September 2007.
Hammill's solo career did not end because of the Van der Graaf Generator reunion. He released an album Singularity (Peter Hammill album)|Singularity in December 2006. It was the first solo album he completed after his heart attack, and for a large part it deals with matters of life and (sudden) death.
In 2007 several gigs by Van der Graaf Generator as a trio (minus David Jackson) took place in Britain and Europe; their new album Trisector was released in March 2008.
In the summer and fall of 2008 Hammill did a tour of solo dates in the U.S. and Canada. In the summer of 2009 Van der Graaf Generator toured the U.S. and Canada.
Thin Air (album)|Thin Air was released on 8 June 2009. This was followed in October 2011 by a live double CD Pno, Gtr, Vox (album)|Pno, Gtr, Vox , recorded at performances in Japan and the UK in 2010. An extended 7-CD box set, Pno, Gtr, Vox Box (album)|Pno, Gtr, Vox Box was released in a limited edition of 2000 in February 2012.
Music
Musically, Hammill's work ranges from short simple riff -based songs to highly complex lengthy pieces. Mainly because of the diversity of his compositions, his refusal to make anything resembling middle-of-the-road music, and the general absence of any smooth or glamorous sounds in his music, there is much debate amongst his admirers whether Hammill is to be considered a part of the so-called progressive rock scene. In many interviews however Hammill himself has stated that he does not want to be put in the progressive rock music label, or any music label at all. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php? storyId=96712715 Interview by Chris Boros from NPR with Peter Hammill, 6 Nov 2008. Npr.org (6 November 2008). Retrieved on 5 August 2011. http://www.sofasound.com/nlnow.htm SofaSound newsletter by Peter Hammill, Dec 2008. Sofasound.com. Retrieved on 5 August 2011.
Hammill's output is prolific. Many different styles of music appear in his work, among them artful complexity (for instance Chameleon in the Shadow of the Night ), avant garde electronic experiments ( Loops and Reels , Unsung (Peter Hammill album)|Unsung ), opera ( The Fall of the House of Usher ), solo keyboard accompaniment ( And Close As This ), solo guitar accompaniment ( Clutch (Peter Hammill album)|Clutch ), improvisation ( Spur of the Moment (album)|Spur of the Moment ), film music ( Sonix ), band recordings ( Enter K ), and slow, melancholic balladry ( None of the Above (Peter Hammill album)|None of the Above ).
Voice
Hammill's voice is a very distinctive element of his music. He sings in an emotional, often even dramatic way. As a former Jesuit chorister, his delivery is usually Received Pronunciation British English — notable exceptions are his Afrikaner accent on "A Motor-bike in Afrika" and his Cockney#Cockney speech|Cockney accent on "Polaroid" — and ranges in tone from peacefully celestial to screaming rants (which are nevertheless highly controlled). Singing in registers from baritone to high falsetto , he growls, croons, shrieks and shouts in ways that have drawn comparison with the guitar playing of Jimi Hendrix . http://home.arcor.de/schenstroem/interview/interview.htm Interview Peter Hammill. Home.arcor.de. Retrieved on 5 August 2011.Album notes for ''Sometimes God Smiles – The Young Person's Guide To Discipline , compilation CD (1998). Discipline Global Mobile. http://www.fortunecity.com/tinpan/deadhead/780/int_hammill.html Peter Hammill. Fortunecity.com (16 May 1999). Retrieved on 5 August 2011.
Lyrics
Hammill's lyrics are another distinctive feature of his work. He has visited a number of recurring themes including love and human relationships, ageing and death, human follies, self-awareness and introspection, politics, and religion. His lyrics often include scientific, literary or historical references. For example, the Norse names mentioned in the song "Viking" on ''Fool's Mate'' (co-written with Judge Smith) are characters in the Icelandic Saga of Eric the Red . (Hammill's source, judging by the spelling of the names, seems to have been Magnus Magnusson 's 1965 translation.)
The science fiction themes of Van der Graaf Generator's lyrics are mostly absent in his later work, but there still are many science references, especially to physics (for instance in the song "Patient"). In 1974 Hammill published a book, Killers, Angels, Refugees (Charisma Books, London), a collection of lyrics, poems and short stories. This was later reissued by Hammill himself (Sofa Sound, Bath) and was followed by a sequel Mirrors, Dreams, Miracles (1982).
Personal life
Peter Hammill was born in Ealing and moved with his family to Derby when he was 12. http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/music/features/article44837.ece The Independent , 27 June 2004. Enjoyment.independent.co.uk (27 June 2004). Retrieved on 5 August 2011. He attended Beaumont College , Old Windsor , and Manchester University , where he studied Liberal Studies in Science.Christopulos, J., and Smart, P.: "Van der Graaf Generator – The Book", p. 5. Phil and Jim publishers, 2005.
He has been married since 1978 to Hilary, who is credited with taking the picture for the cover of In A Foreign Town . They have three children, Holly, Beatrice and Phoebe. Holly and Beatrice Hammill sing soprano vox on one track of Everyone You Hold and on two tracks of None of the Above . Holly Hammill wrote the song "Eyebrows" (on Unsung ) and co-wrote "Personality" (on Everyone You Hold ).
Discography
Main|Peter Hammill discography
Studio albums
'' Fool's Mate (album)|Fool's Mate (July 1971)
Chameleon in the Shadow of the Night (May 1973)
The Silent Corner and the Empty Stage (Feb 1974)
In Camera (Peter Hammill album)|In Camera (July 1974)
PH-VdGG Study Group, Fiaccavento L., Olivotto M. (2005) Van der Graaf Generator – Dark Figures Running – Lyrics 1968–1978 (Published by PH-VdGG Study Group http://www.phvdggstudygroup.it/libro_eng.htm)
Mike Barnes, Life Sentences . Wire, March 2007. pp.& nbsp;34–41.
Peter HammillVan der Graaf GeneratorUse dmy dates|date=August 2011 Persondata | NAME =Hammill, Peter | ALTERNATIVE NAMES = | SHORT DESCRIPTION = | DATE OF BIRTH =5 November 1948 | PLACE OF BIRTH =Ealing, west London | DATE OF DEATH = | PLACE OF DEATH = DEFAULTSORT:Hammill, Peter Category:1948 births Category:Van der Graaf Generator members Category:Living people Category:People from Ealing Category:Musicians from Manchester Category:English male singers Category:English record producers Category:English songwriters Category:Protopunk musicians Category:Charisma Records artists Category:Discipline Global Mobile artists
