If this yr has proved something, it’s that planning is an absolute mug’s recreation. That’s been significantly true for musicians all around the planet, most of whose touring and promotional escapades have been abruptly curtailed. You must really feel for Glass Hammer , specifically. The Tennessee prog veterans have been having fun with a powerful run of artistic kind in current occasions and these DIY underdogs are extra well-liked than ever, so the discharge of latest album Dreaming Metropolis ought to have been a stroll within the progressive park, adopted by a noisily attended lap of honour. Sadly, Mom Nature had different concepts. Coinciding virtually completely with the album’s launch, brutal tornadoes tore by way of Glass Hammer’s house city of Chattanooga in
So when Prog enquires how issues are going for the band’s core duo of Steve Babb and Fred Schendel, to not point out their households, we’re primarily checking that they’re all nonetheless in a single piece. Luckily, the reply is sure.
“We have been fortunate. We’re all okay. One massive tree got here down from our neighbour’s yard and took out our fence, however that’s about it,” Babb reveals with an audible grimace. “The storm was 1,500 yards vast, and we have been supposedly proper on the skin of it. However in case you drive about three minutes throughout the freeway, it’s like a bomb went off. It’s a 20-mile lengthy path, the place all these lovely houses have been, and there’s simply nothing there. I didn’t wish to complain about it an excessive amount of, nevertheless it occurred proper on launch day. So it was like, ‘Oh my gosh, now what?’”
Presumably, the ‘now what?’ turned out to be a world pandemic!
“Yeah, proper! So now all of the non-essential enterprise are closed, so our recording studio’s simply sitting there [Babb and Schendel co-own a studio and produce records across multiple genres]. They’re opening up the state of Tennessee however our mayor gained’t open up Chattanooga. We’d prefer to make a residing once more, however at the least the album’s completed and it shipped. My spouse handles most of that and she or he managed to get every thing despatched out. We had no WiFi, TV or something for about 10 days, so lots of time we have been utilizing our iPhones as hotspots. It was loopy, in case you might’ve seen us packing and getting all these things out! However individuals have it now and so they like it, so it’s all good.”
(Picture credit score: Glass Hammer)
Within the face of real adversity, Babb admits to being comforted by the truth that Glass Hammer have simply made one of many most interesting albums of their profession. Though not precisely a radical departure from the band’s current run of nice data, Dreaming Metropolis is noticeably heavier and extra numerous than any earlier album. Eagerly embracing a extra old-school heavy steel vibe on songs just like the title observe and The Key, whereas venturing additional into darkish, ambient electronica on The Tower and even skittering, industrial rock on A Determined Man , it’s an album filled with delicate shocks and courageous leaps ahead.
“The sound of all of it has been evolving for the final three albums,” says Babb. “On Valkyrie Nexus Woman proper in the course of some typical Glass Hammer stuff. Individuals actually went loopy for it, so we thought, ‘Wait a minute, perhaps we’re onto one thing!’ On Chronomonaut Tangerine Dream -like concepts and Fred did brass preparations to present a few of it a Chicago really feel, and folks responded properly to that. On the identical time we additionally bought the concept that we actually needed to rock on the following album.”
The sheer thunderous bombast that erupts a number of occasions throughout Dreaming Metropolis is maybe the document’s most startling revelation. Glass Hammer have written just a few killer riffs of their time, however that is the primary time the Individuals have strayed this near the Black Sabbath or Led Zeppelin blueprint.
“To be sincere, neither one among us can be a fan of progressive steel as such, however I’m an old-school fan of Rush , of A Farewell To Kings Hemispheres Ozric Tentacles , that heavy, spacey stuff,” Babb states. “We each needed to rock out, so we began developing with these sorts of items and it made us all really feel nice so we simply stored going. I do have a background in steel to a point. Additionally, Fred’s an incredible rhythm guitar participant. That’s him doing most, if not all, of the rhythm enjoying on this album.”
Nearly by chance, Dreaming Metropolis is undeniably tailored for a sure breed of prog and steel followers, impressed as it’s by the Michael Moorcock and Robert E Howard novels that Babb absorbed as a youth. An idea piece that takes place in the identical world as 2005’s The Inconsolable Secret album, it follows a troubled, sword-wielding warrior who should battle his approach by way of “a spectrum of horrors” to rescue his misplaced love.
“I knew I needed to do an idea a couple of determined man. I assumed I’d give it
Does that replicate a darkening of your individual worldview? Glass Hammer have all the time been a predominantly optimistic, virtually hippie-like band, when it comes to outlook.
“Properly, it’s positively my view of one thing. There’s private stuff entwined in it, after all. Simply private conditions which have occurred. As for what’s happening on the earth, you most likely know that almost all of us within the band have been or are Christians, so yeah, I do imagine in pleased endings, however I simply don’t know in case you discover it on this life, so perhaps that’s the place that is coming from.”
Again within the depths of fantasy, Dreaming Metropolis positively seems to be the half, too. Its paintings was as soon as once more created by Polish artist Michaeł ‘Xaay’ Loranc, who designed the band’s present brand and whose work has adorned each Glass Hammer album since 2014’s Ode To Echo . This time, Babb had a really particular imaginative and prescient in thoughts.
“I informed Michael I needed it to seem like one among my previous Elric [The Elric Saga – Michael Moorcock’s series of fantasy novels] paperbacks and provides it that really feel,” he notes. “I all the time give this man tons of concepts and he says ‘Yeah, I get it!’ after which he provides me one thing utterly completely different and blows me away. We do that little dance and we each faux that he’s gonna do what I need him to do, after which he does what he desires anyway! [Laughs] I did say I needed this scarred-up, rugged-looking man and the sword and town, and he did do all of that, so I’m very happy.”
Having maintained their standing as a self-sufficient entity for almost 30 years, Glass Hammer don’t have anything to show at this level. Steve Babb jokingly observes that he is aware of that his band’s viewers is sort of totally “guys between the ages of 45 and 65”, however he additionally acknowledges that current years have seen the scale of that viewers steadily develop. Sticking to your weapons apparently does repay ultimately, tornados however.
“Yeah, from what I perceive, so far as our gross sales are going, there’s a model new viewers that’s simply found us,” Babb grins. “I’m undecided what’s occurred however one thing has! We kinda reinvent ourselves each few years and I’ve questioned if frequently doing it beneath the identify Glass Hammer is an efficient factor, as a result of the entire thing’s modified over time. However we don’t wish to begin launching a brand new band each two or three years when it’s simply me and Fred doing the identical stuff. It appears to be working simply advantageous proper now.”
(Picture credit score: Julie Babb)
Assuming that the world is up and working once more some level quickly, Babb and Schendel are a brighter future than ever earlier than. Dreaming Metropolis sounds just like the end result of a few years of exhausting work and experimentation, and the response from followers has already been overwhelmingly optimistic. Sadly, plans to carry out on this yr’s Cruise To The Edge have been scotched together with everybody else’s 2020 touring plans, however Steve Babb sounds undeterred and genuinely enthusiastic about the way in which his enduring challenge is progressing.
“Fred and I work collectively nearly every single day, both on our music or another person’s, and we had a dialogue concerning the nice response to the document. He’s pleased with what we did and I’m too. I’ve informed different people who we deserve the precise to be wishy-washy about this, however because it stands now, we wish to preserve constructing on this, with a heavier sound. These new songs are actually good, so we’ll be placing a few of them into the reside present, after we lastly get to rehearse once more!”
Sneaking out one of many yr’s biggest data by the pores and skin of their enamel, and with tornados whistling of their ears, Glass Hammer have as soon as once more proved that the DIY ethos is alive and properly in prog. They’ve additionally supplied us with the best technique of escape from the continued drudgery of lockdown and social-distancing: an enormous, daring and bombastic idea album with swords, sorcery, towering melodies and large riffs. As Steve Babb cheerily concludes, it was all positively definitely worth the effort.
“We labored on this factor for months and months after which all of the sudden the Sure cruise was cancelled, I’d already given the order for the CDs and the T-shirts have been being made, so what was gonna occur? For a couple of month we have been on the sting of our seats! So I’d say it was a monumental effort on our half to get this album out, however you don’t wish to discuss that an excessive amount of as a result of we’re not docs or nurses. We’re not heroes! We’re simply struggling to make a residing like everybody else.”
