Helmet UK Tour

MagicPigDetective · July 2023

Helmet are releasing a new album and touring the UK in December, I've bought a ticket for Manchester.

https://myticket.co.uk/artists/helmet

I've loved them since Betty came out. Seen them twice and always shit hot live. Page Hamilton's guitar style is unique.

Who else is a fan?

Philly_Q · July 2023

MagicPigDetective said:

Who else is a fan?

I really, really liked them around the time of Meantime and Betty, especially the latter. I went back and bought Strap It On but wasn't so keen on that.

But I went off them quite quickly, I didn't really like much of Aftertaste and I thought it was a shame when that amazing original rhythm section left. After that it felt like "The Page Hamilton Band", which I guess it always was, really.

It doesn't seem a big deal now, but I remember at the time it seemed quite shocking (to me) to see this strait-laced, short-haired bunch of guys playing such heavy music.

Funnily enough the other day I found my copy of the one and only album by Handsome, the band Peter Mengede formed after leaving Helmet. I was trying to remember what it sounded like, I think there was one killer track I loved at the time.

Lebarque · July 2023

Brilliant band. Love them. Meantime and Betty were mainstays for me back in the day. One of the few bands I never saw.

Lebarque · July 2023

And a mention for the drummer. Incredible.

theatreanchor · July 2023

Oh nice. Thanks!

Philly_Q · July 2023

Oh, and I really liked the fact that Betty came in a bright yellow CD case.

octatonic · July 2023

Love them, seen them 5 times.
Aftertaste is my fave album.

Going to the London show.

MagicPigDetective · July 2023

Interesting @Philly_Q and @octatonic you both mentioned Aftertaste for different reasons. When it came out I was disappointed with it. Many years later I went back and found it to be superb... I struggle to understand what i didn't like about it back in the day!

I saw them in Reading 94, suffice to say they were magnificent. Saw them again in Bristol in the 00's, top gig.

octatonic · July 2023

MagicPigDetective said:

Interesting @Philly_Q and @octatonic you both mentioned Aftertaste for different reasons. When it came out I was disappointed with it. Many years later I went back and found it to be superb... I struggle to understand what i didn't like about it back in the day!

I saw them in Reading 94, suffice to say they were magnificent. Saw them again in Bristol in the 00's, top gig.

I think the songwriting was a bit more nailed down for Aftertaste- although it is undeniably a bit 'poppier'.
I think that is what people reacted against.

I love Betty and Meantime too but the other album I go back to a lot is Size Matters.
Speak and Spell has such a great intro.
I never get sick of it.

Don't have a whole lot of time for Monochrome or Dead to the World.

Philly_Q · July 2023

MagicPigDetective said:

Interesting @Philly_Q and @octatonic you both mentioned Aftertaste for different reasons. When it came out I was disappointed with it. Many years later I went back and found it to be superb... I struggle to understand what i didn't like about it back in the day!

What often happens for me is that if I don't take to an album on the first two or three listens then I give up on it, I don't keep trying to like it. It might also depend on the other things, by other bands, I'm listening to at the time and enjoying more.

Years later I won't remember exactly why I didn't like it, but I will remember the general impression I had of the album, that always sticks with me. In the case of Aftertaste, I know I loved the track "Driving Nowhere" and played it all the time, but skipped the rest!

Maybe, like you, I could listen to it now and really like it, that happens sometimes.... but it's not so much the kind of thing I listen to nowadays.

Philly_Q · July 2023

Listening to Aftertaste now, it sounds pretty damn good to be honest.

octatonic · July 2023

Philly_Q said:

Listening to Aftertaste now, it sounds pretty damn good to be honest.

'Exactly What You Wanted' is such a banger.

Philly_Q · July 2023

It's set me off exploring Spotify for bands of that era like Quicksand, Rival Schools, the aforementioned Handsome and Jawbox.

MagicPigDetective · July 2023

Listened to Aftertaste last night; yes as said I was probably not keen on the ‘poppier’ direction at the time being the young musical snob I was. I remember thinking the backwards guitar solo on Driving Nowhere was naff, probably as it wasn’t like the dissonant noise solos I liked… it sounds great to me now!

I listened to Size Matters a lot when it came out, time to re-visit it.

theatreanchor · July 2023

Philly_Q said:

It's set me off exploring Spotify for bands of that era like Quicksand, Rival Schools, the aforementioned Handsome and Jawbox.

Saw Rival Schools last week. Bit of a disappointment. Sound was pretty bad.

Deijavoo · July 2023

Superb news!

Philly_Q · July 2023

theatreanchor said:

Philly_Q said:

It's set me off exploring Spotify for bands of that era like Quicksand, Rival Schools, the aforementioned Handsome and Jawbox.

Saw Rival Schools last week. Bit of a disappointment. Sound was pretty bad.

Oh yes, I saw they'd got back together. I must admit I don't really know much about these bands, they're right on the edge of "my kind of thing" and I've got precisely one album by each of them (apart from Helmet, I've got most of their stuff).

earwighoney · July 2023

Lebarque said:

And a mention for the drummer. Incredible.

Which one? John Stanier the original drummer is one of the most phenomenal musicians I have ever seen play live. I never saw him play with Helmet but a number of times with Battles (when they were a 4 piece).

I ripped his setlist off his drum kit, and it's one of my most prized possessions many years later.

MagicPigDetective · August 2023

New Single. It's a yes from me.

Deijavoo · August 2023

That's going more towards what I didn't like, than towards what I loved.

strumjoughlamps · August 2023

I was introduced to Helmet from Strap It On which I loved and then came Meantime which I loved even more, Betty was okay but for me they were gone with Aftertaste..

Me and my bestie still agree Meantime is one of the greatest albums of all time and one of our top gigs ever was Helmet with Therapy and Done Lying Down supporting.

Reverend · August 2023

Missed them on the ugly american overkill tour but did see them at the underworld for Meantime.

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