Peter Hammill
Encyclopedia
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.
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 The Lyceum and played weekly solo concerts there. Eventually the intended solo album was released under the Van der Graaf Generator banner as their first album (The Aerosol Grey Machine
). Hammill's first real solo album was Fool's Mate
(1971), containing songs from the early (1967/68) Van der Graaf Generator days.
) 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. 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 Bowie
copied a lot out of that geezer. The credit he deserves, just has not been given to him. I love all his stuff".
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
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". The K group consisted of Hammill himself on guitars and piano, with 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.
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
.
From February until October 1990 he played with Nic Potter on bass and Stuart Gordon on violin. A live recording of these shows was released as 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
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).
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.
. 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
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
have been released. The label's logo is the Greek letter phi (Φ), 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).
. 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, less than 48 hours after having finished the recording of Incoherence
. He was awarded the Italian 'Tenco Prize' for songwriting at the end of 2004.
In 2005, Hammill announced the reformation of Van der Graaf Generator. In 2004 they had recorded a new 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! 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
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.
Hammill's latest solo album Thin Air
was released on 8 June 2009.
-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.
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), opera (The Fall of the House of Usher), solo keyboard accompaniment (And Close As This
), solo guitar accompaniment (Clutch
), improvisation (Spur of the Moment
), film music (Sonix), band recordings (Enter K
), and slow, melancholic balladry (None of the Above
).
British English — notable exceptions are his Afrikaner
accent on "A Motor-bike in Afrika" and his 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
.
. (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).
when he was 12. He attended Beaumont College
, Old Windsor
, and Manchester University, where he studied Liberal Studies in Science.
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).
Ealing
Ealing is a suburban area of west London, England and the administrative centre of the London Borough of Ealing. It is located west of Charing Cross and around from the City of London. It is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. It was historically a rural village...
, west London) is an English singer-songwriter, and a founding member of the progressive rock
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
band Van der Graaf Generator
Van der Graaf Generator
Van der Graaf Generator are an English progressive rock band, formed in 1967 in Manchester. They were the first act signed to Charisma Records. The band achieved considerable success in Italy during the 1970s...
. 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.
Early career
Hammill's solo career has coexisted with Van der Graaf Generator's activities. The band was offered a contract by Mercury RecordsMercury Records
Mercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal...
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 The Lyceum and played weekly solo concerts there. Eventually the intended solo album was released under the Van der Graaf Generator banner as their first album (The Aerosol Grey Machine
The Aerosol Grey Machine
The Aerosol Grey Machine is the first album by the British progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator. It was released in September 1969.The album was originally intended as a solo album by the band's lead singer and main songwriter, Peter Hammill...
). Hammill's first real solo album was Fool's Mate
Fool's Mate (album)
Fool's Mate is the debut solo album by Peter Hammill of progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator. The title is both a chess and tarot reference. It was produced by Trident Studios' in-house producer John Anthony. The album was recorded in 1971, in the midst of one of Van der Graaf Generator's...
(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 NightChameleon in the Shadow of the Night
Chameleon in the Shadow of the Night was the second solo album by British singer-songwriter Peter Hammill. It followed in the aftermath of the breakup of Hammill's band Van der Graaf Generator, although the other members of Van der Graaf Generator all perform on the album, blurring the distinction...
) and "A Louse Is Not a Home" (on The Silent Corner and the Empty Stage
The Silent Corner and the Empty Stage
The Silent Corner and the Empty Stage is the third album by British singer-songwriter Peter Hammill. It was released on Charisma Records in 1974, during a hiatus in the activities of Hammill's progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator...
). 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
Nadir's Big Chance
Nadir's Big Chance was the fifth solo album by Peter Hammill, released on Charisma Records in 1975.It was recorded shortly after a decision to re-form the band Van der Graaf Generator , and Nadir's Big Chance is actually performed by the reformed Van der Graaf Generator line-up.The album's songs...
(1975) was a great change from the preceding In Camera. Whilst In Camera is characterised by extremely intense and complex songs and even has some musique concrète
Musique concrète
Musique concrète is a form of electroacoustic music that utilises acousmatic sound as a compositional resource. The compositional material is not restricted to the inclusion of sounds derived from musical instruments or voices, nor to elements traditionally thought of as "musical"...
on it, Nadir's Big Chance is notable for its anticipation of punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
. In a 1977 radio interview, John Lydon
John Lydon
John Joseph Lydon , also known by the former stage name Johnny Rotten, is a singer-songwriter and television presenter, best known as the lead singer of punk rock band the Sex Pistols from 1975 until 1978, and again for various revivals during the 1990s and 2000s...
of the Sex Pistols
Sex Pistols
The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band that formed in London in 1975. They were responsible for initiating the punk movement in the United Kingdom and inspiring many later punk and alternative rock musicians...
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 Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
copied a lot out of that geezer. The credit he deserves, just has not been given to him. I love all his stuff".
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
The Future Now
The Future Now is an album by Peter Hammill, released on Charisma Records in 1978. It was the first solo album Hammill released following the breakup of his band Van der Graaf Generator, although he had released numerous solo albums while VdGG were active...
. With the next albums, pH7
PH7 (Peter Hammill album)
pH7 is an album by Peter Hammill, originally released on Charisma Records in September 1979. It was Hammill's 8th solo album and his last release on the Charisma label....
and A Black Box
A Black Box
A Black Box is an album by Peter Hammill, originally released on S-Type Records in August 1980.Hammill performed nearly all the instrumentation himself, including the drum parts, a task he had first undertaken on his previous album pH7...
, 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". The K group consisted of Hammill himself on guitars and piano, with John Ellis
John Ellis (guitarist)
John Ellis is an English guitarist and songwriter.-Career:He was a co-founder of the pub rock band Bazooka Joe in 1970 and a founding member of the punk rock band The Vibrators. Ellis formed The Vibrators in 1974 while still at art school studying illustration. The Vibrators released two albums...
on lead guitar, Nic Potter
Nic Potter
Nic Potter is a British bassist, composer and painter, best known for his work with the group Van der Graaf Generator in the 1970s.-Career:...
on bass, and Guy Evans
Guy Evans
Guy Randolph Evans is an English progressive rock drummer, percussionist and composer, and a member of Van der Graaf Generator....
on drums and percussion. This group recorded the albums Enter K
Enter K
Enter K is an album by Peter Hammill, originally released on the Naive Records label in Oct 1982. The label was owned and operated by Gordian Troeller, the former manager of Hammill's band Van der Graaf Generator...
and 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
The Margin
The Margin is a live album by Peter Hammill, documenting early nineteen-eighties concerts by his K Group. Hammill was K , Nic Potter was Mozart , Guy Evans was Brain , and John Ellis was Fury . The album was originally released as a double album on Foundry Records in 1985...
. In March and April 1983, Hammill with John Ellis was the support act for Marillion
Marillion
Marillion are a British rock band, formed in Aylesbury, England in 1979. Their recorded studio output comprises sixteen albums generally regarded in two distinct eras, delineated by the departure of original vocalist & frontman Fish in late 1988, and the subsequent arrival of replacement Steve...
on their UK tour in support of their debut album Script for a Jester's Tear
Script for a Jester's Tear
Script for a Jester's Tear is the first album by the neo-progressive rock band Marillion, released in 1983. It reached number seven on the UK album chart and stayed on the chart for 31 weeks, the second longest chart residency of a Marillion album....
.
From February until October 1990 he played with Nic Potter on bass and Stuart Gordon on violin. A live recording of these shows was released as Room Temperature
Room Temperature (album)
Room Temperature is a live album by Peter Hammill, originally released on Enigma Records in 1990. On its initial release, the album was only available in North America. It was subsequently re-released on Hammill's own Fie! label....
. From April 1993 until August 1996 he played with Nic Potter on bass, Stuart Gordon on violin and Manny Elias
Manny Elias
Manny Elias is an English drummer, notable for being the original drummer with Tears for Fears during the 1980s.Originally a member of the rock band Interview from Bath, Somerset. Elias began working with Tears For Fears in 1982 and drummed on the albums The Hurting and Songs From The Big Chair,...
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
David Jackson (rock musician)
David Nicholas George Jackson , nicknamed Jaxon, is a British progressive rock saxophonist, flautist, and composer. He is best known for his work with the band Van der Graaf Generator and his work in Music and Disability...
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).
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 RecordsCharisma Records
Charisma was a record label founded by former journalist Tony Stratton-Smith in 1969. Manager for The Nice, the Bonzo Dog Band and Van der Graaf Generator at the time, Stratton-Smith was unable to find a record company willing to release an album by one of his favourite groups so he founded his own...
. 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
Skin (1986 album)
Skin is an album by Peter Hammill, originally released on vinyl on Foundry Records in 1986 and later re-released on CD on Virgin Records. It was also released on CD by DaTE ....
and The Margin on Foundry and In A Foreign Town
In a Foreign Town
In a Foreign Town is an album by the English singer-songwriter Peter Hammill. It was originally released in 1988 on Enigma Records, and was subsequently reissued on Hammill's own Fie! label....
, Out of Water
Out of Water
Out of Water is an album by Peter Hammill, originally released on Enigma Records in 1990 and subsequently re-released on Hammill's own Fie label...
and Room Temperature on Enigma Records
Enigma Records
Enigma Records was a popular rock and alternative American record label in the 1980s. It was initially a division of Greenworld Distribution, an independent music importer/distributor, which it split-off from in 1985 to become its own company...
. In 1992 he formed his own label, Fie!, on which all his albums since Fireships
Fireships (album)
Fireships is an album by English singer and songwriter Peter Hammill. Originally released in 1992, it was the first release on Hammill's own Fie! Records label. It was reissued in remastered form in 2006....
have been released. The label's logo is the Greek letter phi (Φ), 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 UsherThe Fall Of The House Of Usher (opera)
The Fall of the House of Usher is an opera by Peter Hammill and Chris Judge Smith . It is based on the short story of the same name by Edgar Allan Poe....
. He had written the music and Van der Graaf Generator co-founder Judge Smith
Judge Smith
Christopher John Judge Smith , is a songwriter, composer and performer, and a founder member of progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator. Initially working under the name Chris Judge Smith, he has been known simply as Judge Smith since 1994.- Early years :In 1967, with Peter Hammill, Judge...
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, less than 48 hours after having finished the recording of Incoherence
Incoherence
Incoherence is an album by Peter Hammill, released on his Fie! label in March 2004. Incoherence is a concept album about language, containing 14 tracks with soft transitions between them. The album was produced and played by Hammill himself, with contributions from Stuart Gordon on violin and David...
. He was awarded the Italian 'Tenco Prize' for songwriting at the end of 2004.
In 2005, Hammill announced the reformation of Van der Graaf Generator. In 2004 they had recorded a new 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! 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
Singularity (Peter Hammill album)
Singularity is an album by Peter Hammill, released on his own Fie! Records label in December 2006.The album was the first Hammill recorded after suffering a heart attack in 2003. Some of the songs refer directly to his brush with death...
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
Trisector
Trisector is a studio album by the British rock group Van der Graaf Generator. It was released on Virgin/EMI Records in March 2008. It is an important release for Van der Graaf Generator because it is the first album the band recorded as a trio...
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.
Hammill's latest solo album Thin Air
Thin Air (album)
Thin Air is British singer-songwriter Peter Hammill's 30th solo album, released on his own Fie! Records label in June 2009. It was additionally made available as digital download through Burning Shed Records....
was released on 8 June 2009.
Music
Musically, Hammill's work ranges from short simple riffRIFF
The Resource Interchange File Format is a generic file container format for storing data in tagged chunks. It is primarily used to store multimedia such as sound and video, though it may also be used to store any arbitrary data....
-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.
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
Loops and Reels
Loops and Reels is an album by Peter Hammill, originally released on cassette on Fie! Records in June 1983. On the back cover it says: "Two songs, two dance pieces, four near instrumentals." -Track listing:All songs written by Peter Hammill.#"A Ritual Mask"#"Critical Mass"#"The Moebius Loop"#"An...
, Unsung), opera (The Fall of the House of Usher), solo keyboard accompaniment (And Close As This
And Close As This
And Close As This is an album by Peter Hammill, released on Virgin Records in 1986. Each track on the album is a song played and sung by Hammill solo at a keyboard, with the keyboard parts played in a single take...
), solo guitar accompaniment (Clutch
Clutch (Peter Hammill album)
Clutch is an album by Peter Hammill, released on his Fie! label in 2002. Clutch contains 9 tracks played exclusively on acoustic guitar with accompaniments on saxophones and other instruments. The album was produced and played by Hammill himself, with contributions from Stuart Gordon on violin and...
), improvisation (Spur of the Moment
Spur of the Moment (album)
Spur of the Moment is an album of experimental music by Peter Hammill and Guy Evans, originally released as cassette tape on the Red Hot label. A remastered version was released on CD on the DaTE label in February 1988 . It was the first time Hammill and Evans played together on a CD since their...
), film music (Sonix), band recordings (Enter K
Enter K
Enter K is an album by Peter Hammill, originally released on the Naive Records label in Oct 1982. The label was owned and operated by Gordian Troeller, the former manager of Hammill's band Van der Graaf Generator...
), and slow, melancholic balladry (None of the Above
None of the Above (Peter Hammill album)
None of the Above is an album by Peter Hammill, released on his Fie! label in 2000. The genre of None of the Above is not located in progressive rock music like Peter Hammill's band Van der Graaf Generator and some of his earlier solo albums, but can be described best as singer/songwriter...
).
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 PronunciationReceived Pronunciation
Received Pronunciation , also called the Queen's English, Oxford English or BBC English, is the accent of Standard English in England, with a relationship to regional accents similar to the relationship in other European languages between their standard varieties and their regional forms...
British English — notable exceptions are his Afrikaner
Afrikaner
Afrikaners are an ethnic group in Southern Africa descended from almost equal numbers of Dutch, French and German settlers whose native tongue is Afrikaans: a Germanic language which derives primarily from 17th century Dutch, and a variety of other languages.-Related ethno-linguistic groups:The...
accent on "A Motor-bike in Afrika" and his Cockney accent on "Polaroid" — and ranges in tone from peacefully celestial to screaming rants (which are nevertheless highly controlled). Singing in registers from baritone
Baritone
Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
to high falsetto
Falsetto
Falsetto is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave. It is produced by the vibration of the ligamentous edges of the vocal folds, in whole or in part...
, he growls, croons, shrieks and shouts in ways that have drawn comparison with the guitar playing of Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
.
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 RedSaga of Eric the Red
Eiríks saga rauða or the Saga of Erik the Red is a saga on the Norse exploration of North-America.The saga chronicles the events that led to Erik the Red's banishment to Greenland as well as Leif Ericson's discovery of Vinland the Good after his longship was blown off course...
. (Hammill's source, judging by the spelling of the names, seems to have been Magnus Magnusson
Magnus Magnusson
Magnus Magnusson KBE was a television presenter, journalist, translator and writer. He was born in Iceland but lived in Scotland for almost all of his life, although he never took British citizenship...
'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 DerbyDerby
Derby , is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands region of England. It lies upon the banks of the River Derwent and is located in the south of the ceremonial county of Derbyshire. In the 2001 census, the population of the city was 233,700, whilst that of the Derby Urban Area was 229,407...
when he was 12. He attended Beaumont College
Beaumont College
Beaumont College was a Jesuit public school in Old Windsor, Berkshire, England. In 1967 the school closed. The property became a conference centre, and from 2008 an hotel.-History of the estate:...
, Old Windsor
Old Windsor
Old Windsor is a large village and civil parish in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in the English county of Berkshire.-Location:...
, and Manchester University, where he studied Liberal Studies in Science.
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
Everyone You Hold
Everyone You Hold is an album by Peter Hammill, released in 1997.-Track listing:All tracks written by Peter Hammill except where noted.# "Everyone You Hold" – 5:59# "Personality" Everyone You Hold is an album by Peter Hammill, released in 1997.-Track listing:All tracks written by Peter Hammill...
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).
Studio albums
- Fool's MateFool's Mate (album)Fool's Mate is the debut solo album by Peter Hammill of progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator. The title is both a chess and tarot reference. It was produced by Trident Studios' in-house producer John Anthony. The album was recorded in 1971, in the midst of one of Van der Graaf Generator's...
(July 1971) - Chameleon in the Shadow of the NightChameleon in the Shadow of the NightChameleon in the Shadow of the Night was the second solo album by British singer-songwriter Peter Hammill. It followed in the aftermath of the breakup of Hammill's band Van der Graaf Generator, although the other members of Van der Graaf Generator all perform on the album, blurring the distinction...
(May 1973) - The Silent Corner and the Empty StageThe Silent Corner and the Empty StageThe Silent Corner and the Empty Stage is the third album by British singer-songwriter Peter Hammill. It was released on Charisma Records in 1974, during a hiatus in the activities of Hammill's progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator...
(Feb 1974) - In Camera (July 1974)
- Nadir's Big ChanceNadir's Big ChanceNadir's Big Chance was the fifth solo album by Peter Hammill, released on Charisma Records in 1975.It was recorded shortly after a decision to re-form the band Van der Graaf Generator , and Nadir's Big Chance is actually performed by the reformed Van der Graaf Generator line-up.The album's songs...
(Feb 1975) - Over (April 1977)
- The Future NowThe Future NowThe Future Now is an album by Peter Hammill, released on Charisma Records in 1978. It was the first solo album Hammill released following the breakup of his band Van der Graaf Generator, although he had released numerous solo albums while VdGG were active...
(Sept 1978) - pH7PH7 (Peter Hammill album)pH7 is an album by Peter Hammill, originally released on Charisma Records in September 1979. It was Hammill's 8th solo album and his last release on the Charisma label....
(Sept 1979) - A Black BoxA Black BoxA Black Box is an album by Peter Hammill, originally released on S-Type Records in August 1980.Hammill performed nearly all the instrumentation himself, including the drum parts, a task he had first undertaken on his previous album pH7...
(Aug 1980) - Sitting TargetsSitting TargetsSitting Targets is an album by Peter Hammill, released on Virgin Records in June 1981. It contains several songs in the raw new wave style typical of Hammill's work in the late 70s and early 80s, following the dissolution of his band Van der Graaf Generator, and one of his occasional tender...
(June 1981) - Enter KEnter KEnter K is an album by Peter Hammill, originally released on the Naive Records label in Oct 1982. The label was owned and operated by Gordian Troeller, the former manager of Hammill's band Van der Graaf Generator...
(Oct 1982) - Loops and ReelsLoops and ReelsLoops and Reels is an album by Peter Hammill, originally released on cassette on Fie! Records in June 1983. On the back cover it says: "Two songs, two dance pieces, four near instrumentals." -Track listing:All songs written by Peter Hammill.#"A Ritual Mask"#"Critical Mass"#"The Moebius Loop"#"An...
(June 1983) - Patience (Aug 1983)
- Skin (March 1986)
- And Close As ThisAnd Close As ThisAnd Close As This is an album by Peter Hammill, released on Virgin Records in 1986. Each track on the album is a song played and sung by Hammill solo at a keyboard, with the keyboard parts played in a single take...
(Nov 1986) - In a Foreign TownIn a Foreign TownIn a Foreign Town is an album by the English singer-songwriter Peter Hammill. It was originally released in 1988 on Enigma Records, and was subsequently reissued on Hammill's own Fie! label....
(Nov 1988) - Out of WaterOut of WaterOut of Water is an album by Peter Hammill, originally released on Enigma Records in 1990 and subsequently re-released on Hammill's own Fie label...
(Feb 1990) - The Fall of the House of UsherThe Fall Of The House Of Usher (opera)The Fall of the House of Usher is an opera by Peter Hammill and Chris Judge Smith . It is based on the short story of the same name by Edgar Allan Poe....
(Nov 1991, deconstructed and rebuilt released in Nov 1999) - FireshipsFireships (album)Fireships is an album by English singer and songwriter Peter Hammill. Originally released in 1992, it was the first release on Hammill's own Fie! Records label. It was reissued in remastered form in 2006....
(March 1992) - The NoiseThe Noise (album)The Noise is an album by the English singer and songwriter Peter Hammill.As the title implies, the album is a collection of uptempo rock songs, in sharp contrast to Hammill's previous album, Fireships, which consisted mainly of ballads...
(March 1993) - Roaring Forties (Sept 1994)
- X My HeartX My HeartX My Heart is an album by Peter Hammill, originally released on Hammill's own Fie! Records in 1996. It is the last of Hammill's albums to date performed in what might be described as a full band style; the later albums have been more solo and intimate in style.Two of the songs on the album, "A...
(March 1996) - Everyone You HoldEveryone You HoldEveryone You Hold is an album by Peter Hammill, released in 1997.-Track listing:All tracks written by Peter Hammill except where noted.# "Everyone You Hold" – 5:59# "Personality" Everyone You Hold is an album by Peter Hammill, released in 1997.-Track listing:All tracks written by Peter Hammill...
(June 1997) - ThisThis (Peter Hammill album)This is an album by Peter Hammill, released on his Fie! label in 1998. There is a large variety in the compositions, ranging from the minimalism of the final song, "The Light Continent", to the rough, almost Nadir-like sound of "Always is Next", the complex "Unrehearsed" and the ballad "Since the...
(Oct 1998) - None of the AboveNone of the Above (Peter Hammill album)None of the Above is an album by Peter Hammill, released on his Fie! label in 2000. The genre of None of the Above is not located in progressive rock music like Peter Hammill's band Van der Graaf Generator and some of his earlier solo albums, but can be described best as singer/songwriter...
(April 2000) - What, Now?What, Now? (album)What, Now? is an album by singer-songwriter Peter Hammill, released on his Fie! label in June 2001. According to the booklet it was "recorded, mixed and mastered at Terra Incognita, Bath between, oh, sometime in the late XXth Century and 11:23 March 23rd 2001." It was produced by Peter...
(June 2001) - ClutchClutch (Peter Hammill album)Clutch is an album by Peter Hammill, released on his Fie! label in 2002. Clutch contains 9 tracks played exclusively on acoustic guitar with accompaniments on saxophones and other instruments. The album was produced and played by Hammill himself, with contributions from Stuart Gordon on violin and...
(Oct 2002) - IncoherenceIncoherenceIncoherence is an album by Peter Hammill, released on his Fie! label in March 2004. Incoherence is a concept album about language, containing 14 tracks with soft transitions between them. The album was produced and played by Hammill himself, with contributions from Stuart Gordon on violin and David...
(March 2004) - SingularitySingularity (Peter Hammill album)Singularity is an album by Peter Hammill, released on his own Fie! Records label in December 2006.The album was the first Hammill recorded after suffering a heart attack in 2003. Some of the songs refer directly to his brush with death...
(Dec 2006) - Thin AirThin Air (album)Thin Air is British singer-songwriter Peter Hammill's 30th solo album, released on his own Fie! Records label in June 2009. It was additionally made available as digital download through Burning Shed Records....
(June 2009)
Further references
- 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. 34–41.