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Thanks to a dedicated frontman, rock band Helmet soldiers on

BY KEITH RYAN CARTWRIGHT

PROVIDED

Helmet will play a show at The Dive in Goose Creek this weekend.

There is no new album, or any other Helmet project to promote.

Instead, Page Hamilton just likes being out on the road with his recently revamped lineup, which includes Kyle Stevenson, John Fuller and newcomer Dan Beeman. However, he prefers the trips only last for a few weeks at a time.

"It's for fun to go play," said Hamilton of the tour that brings Helmet to the Lowcountry. "It's a fairly new lineup of the band. I've had it together for about a year and a half now, so it's just kind of been good."

Hamilton, of course, formed the band in New York City at a time — 1989 — when bands in that scene could simply get in a van, drive around the country and play 20 to 30 shows over the course of six weeks — only to return home and go back to a bartending job.

Initially Helmet drew college kids who still listened to indie rock radio stations, and even after the success of the band's 1992 major label debut — "Meantime" — the indie vibe remained intact.

"When we got on TV, the audience expanded," Hamilton said, "but (nowadays) people are so much more genre-specific than they were back in 1989, 1991, when Nirvana exploded and all of a sudden alternative and punk became mainstream."

As much as things are different from when Hamilton formed the band 19 years ago — and things were definitely a lot different than they are now as far as music is concerned — it's evident that there are still a lot of people who are passionate about music that want to go to rock shows.

And, according to Hamilton, the band is finding those types of pockets (or scenes) around the country.

There's Texas and North Carolina, along with Chicago and Cleveland, that have proved to be supportive since the reformation of Helmet — the band broke up in 1998 before Hamilton put another lineup together in 2004. But, more importantly, the band is finding that "people just want to have personal contact with a band, and talk to the band."

"People are like, 'Wow, you're so cool. You talk to people after the show,' " Hamilton recalls. "Why wouldn't I?

"I'm really enjoying this right now. We're going out and playing shows in two-week chunks rather than going out and just being on the road for the sake of being on the road. Because I don't find that as enjoyable as I did when I was 30 years old.

"I would prefer to go out and have a good time, have the energy and then go back home," he continues, "and sort of work on the things I'm working on — the other musical things that I do."

As for recording any future albums, Hamilton last released a Helmet project in 2006 — "Monochrome" — and is going to wait while he surveys the music scene after a less than amicable split from Warcon Records.

In the meantime, Hamilton just shot an instructional guitar DVD and is working on an orchestra and jazz project.

Then, of course, there are the aforementioned series of two- to four-weeklong tours.

However, he is planning on writing a new Helmet album in the fall, recording over the winter, and he promises a new album in 2009.

"I never stopped doing it, and I don't know how long it's practical," said Hamilton, who will turn 48 in a few months. "But I stopped smoking weed, I stopped smoking cigarettes, I still drink, and I try to exercise.

"I just love really (touring), but I know I won't be able to do it forever."

Keith Ryan Cartwright is a Colorado-based freelance entertainment journalist.