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Hammingwell… Past and Present

Picture it - 1972. Bell-bottoms are all the rage; polyester shirts and long hair dominate the scene. A few hippies meet… through their mutual love of music, a friendship began, a musical friendship. They jammed along with records of their favorite artists for several months. It was purely a basement jam band, never leaving the confines of their homes for bigger venues.

The band started working on enough cover material to fill up a few sets. At that time, underage and known as Mainstream, they played clubs on weekends and attended high school on weekdays. In the mid '70s, Mainstream jammed regularly and honed their skills, but still hadn't written anything original. Now was the time to re-focus. Realizing that to get anywhere in the music business they were going to have to write their own material, they began to do just that.

They changed the band's name to Hammingwell. Weeks were spent writing, trying to emulate their music heroes (the progressive rock groups of the era), but with their own flare and style. "If they can do it, we can too," was their philosophy at the time. The band wrote and recorded a concert's worth of music, mostly in that familiar basement and sometimes in actual recording studios, but never played it live.

Life happened…

Picture it - 2000. Bell-bottoms are all the rage; polyester shirts and long hair again dominate the scene. A few hippies meet… much to everyone's surprise, after 25 years of not playing together, playing some old Hammingwell original tunes felt good. Maybe now their music had potential! They decided to get together on a regular basis… back to the basement, to re-write some of the overly pretentious songs that youth had inspired. Two of those, Quiet Walks and Harvested, appear on the debut CD "Warm".

They set about to refine and write more material, and bought a 16-track digital recording unit to capture the material. Recording on their debut CD started in Dec '01 when the drum tracks were laid down. Through '02 and on into '03, the band worked on recording the rest of the instruments and vocals on all the songs.

They played such venues as The Republic and the Ship Inn. They hosted Hammingwell's Follies, an eclectic showcase of Newfoundland talent. Most recently they presented Pink Floyd's "The Dark Side of the Moon" album in its entirety, complete with videos and quadraphonic sound.

This was repeated a few times to raise money to get the debut CD properly mixed, mastered and manufactured. The show was presented at The Basement in downtown St. John's in Feb '03 to a full house.
Since then, it has been brought to many venues over the years and remains as a fan favorite event. This long awaited CD was released on Thursday, July 10, 2003 at - you guessed it - The Basement!!

Then there are the Bulldog Blues shows - a mix of the greatest songs by the best of the 1970's British Rock scene. Another fun show for our fans, who love the same music that has inspired our original material.

The band is currently working on new material for their next CD, touring when possible and is arranging gigs and concerts for future dates. We are re-inventing a long-ago dream to play our own music live to a welcoming audience - and the response has been growing with every new show.

Band Members:
DAVE BAILEY
Drums/Percussion

Dave started playing drums during the ‘70s while in high school as part of a basement band… a hobby that has lead him down a path of writing and recording original music with ‘Hammingwell’. He played in local bars and schools as part of ‘Grange’ after ‘Hammingwell’ called it quits, then completely gave up music in ’77 to pursue a career in the wild and exotic world of accounting and auditing. After a 25-year hiatus Dave returned to the music world when called upon by old ‘Hammingwell’ band mates. He currently spends his days trying to keep the boys and the books on the straight and narrow.

JEFF WHITE
Guitars/Vocals
Jeff has remained a part of the music scene over the years by playing in various dance bands within the St. John’s, Mt. Pearl area… occasionally venturing to locations outside the overpass! Jeff performed with ‘The Anchormen Barbershop Chorus’ and ‘The Cavendish Square Quartet’ winning many awards and trophies at competitions throughout Atlantic Canada. He has also performed at the St. John’s Arts & Culture Centre in numerous musical theatre productions including ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’. Jeff keeps busy writing and performing with fellow Hammingwell band mates; in his free time he volunteers at a local cable company.

MICHAEL FISHER
Bass/Guitars/Vocals
Michael played in many bands over the 25-year period since ‘Hammingwell’s’ inception, notably ‘The Reaction’ and ‘Neon’ from St. John’s, which continue to attract interest from collectors around the world. Other projects have included the award winning Regina band ‘The Toasters’, and Ottawa’s ‘Paul Fenton’, with whom Michael produced a video that received airplay on Much Music. He currently divides his time between music and video production, the latter of which has included ‘Tales from the Mist - Newfoundland Ghost Stories’, and directing the St. John’s program ‘Out Of The Fog’.

STEPHEN JACKSON
Keyboards / Vocals / Acoustic Guitar
Stephen continues to be an artsy bugger and a reluctant, though stubborn entrepreneur, despite a couple of serious degrees. He has had years and years of performing experience: he has written, produced, directed, acted and starred in everything from songs and musical groups, to videos, rock operas, endless theatre productions, television shows and more. Some musical heroes, in the piano/keyboard world anyway, include Beethoven, Chopin, Lyle Mays, Ruben Gonzalez, Kraftwerk, Ultravox and, of course, John Evan (and Ian A. but he's not a keyboardist!). His other heroes are too many to mention – but very few contributed to this current project!