By Jens

It's not secret that this Kentucky punk'n'roll combo is one of my absolute faves of all time. Since the mid-80s they've been making the world unsafe with their unique brand of country fried punky rawk'n'roll. I was fortunate enough to see their outstanding gig here in Copenhagen in 1994 and I'll never forget the experience, basically I've been a pest at any party since; "Take off that weak shit, and put on some Nine Pound Hammer, okay pussy?" has been my drunken line for two decades. A couple years after "Hayseed Timebomb" (their 3rd album of 1994) things were kinda quiet from the guys. They did a few reunion shows during the years, but last year's glorious comeback, "Kentucky Breakdown", showed how powerful and much needed impact they had on the punkrock scene and how missed their roughneck tunes were. "Unfinished business" sez main howler Scott Luallen when I had chat with him prior to their gig at Loppen. The other Hammer members are Blaine Cartwright (guitar, vocals, also in Nashville Pussy) who were sleeping after partying till 7 a.m. in Holland, and new comers Earl Crim (bass and half awake) and drummer Brian Pulito.

LC: Your latest album "Kentucky Breakdown" was recorded 11 years after your previous "Hayseed Hayseed", yet it sounds like it could've been recorded less than 6 months after that one?

Scott: I agree. As Blaine said, who's sleeping there, we got it right the first time when we started the band, we knew what wanted to do from the day one. Playing punkrock, inspired by The Ramones, and growing up in Kentucky you cant help being influenced by country music. Jason And The Scorchers were great influence on us, not that we sound like them...

LC: They're very underrated.

Scott: Oh yeah, they were big heroes of ours, but we were like two years behind them, not that we copied them, but we were already playing "Folsom Prison Blues", playing it hard and rocking. We're talking to our tour manager about country melodies, people like to hear them, and when you combine the hardrock punk stuff with it and keep the melodies, its kinda like bluegrass music.

LC: Hayseed Dixie said that any good C&W song can be played like a hardrock song and vice versa...

Scott: Yeah, they translate very well. We're doing a Dwight Yoakam song now, and me and Earl (drummer) are talking about doing a few of our hardrock songs doing them more honky tonk style, maybe.

LC: As most know Blaine's been doing the Nashville Pussy thing for almost 10 years, what have you been doing after Nine Pound Hammer took a break?

Scott: Been working, haha. Got married, haha. Just played around with some bands for fun. We did a reunion show in 2000, but I just worked and got married, and got fat, haha. Goofed around, I dreamt about playing with the band, we just needed a break. It was a natural thing, and it's a natural thing to get back together again. It was unfinished business. It's funny, once we broke up, we got real popular, haha.

LC: Then there was this "Live At The Vera"...

Scott: I did that on my own, well, not completely on my own, but I kinda did that to keep things rolling.

LC: You played Europe last year.

Scott: Yeah, not really a tour, we just flew in for a festival in Spain and then did the Shock festival in Belgium, which both Nashville Pussy and Nine Pound Hammer played, headlined both days which was cool. Georgia Satelites and Jason Ringenberg played there, the Satelites is a huge influence on us.

LC: You did a split 7" with South 75.

Scott: We did that just before "Kentucky Breakdown" came out, "Double Super Buzz" and "Aint Hurtin' Nobody". Both live recordings. We got a new 7" out now, a brand new song and a Dwight Yoakam cover.

LC: You're also on a Bloodshot comp?

Scott: We did the South By South West showcase for them in Austin, we're doing a song called "I'm Your Huckleberry", a new original.

LC: Speaking about "Aint Hurtin' Nobody", usually your songs are mostly tongue-in-cheek, but that one is based on a real incident where a Vietnam Vet got killed by the Feds for growing marijuana, right?

Scott: Kentucky is along with California the largest producer of domestic marijuana, and for some strange reason these National Guards and the army flies these military missions with choppers and shit. And this guy had like 12 plants, big fuckin' deal, he ain't hurtin' nobody, you know? It bothers us.

LC: Yeah, why waste time on like a guy like Tommy Chong for selling bongs on the internet, when you're fighting 'the war on terror', haha.

Scott: Right. It was an old theme I had and Blaine had some music, and we collaborated. It all depends, sometimes I got the music and he's got the lyrics. I also play some guitar.

LC: "Zebra Lounge" is another song based on a real bar?

Scott: Its a real place, an old honky tonk dive in Lexington, Kentucky. I used to play with The Smell Hounds, some old friends of ours, one of them wrote the song. I guess I covered one of my own songs, haha.

LC: Its pretty much like a C&W song, topic wise.

Scott: Yeah absolutely, its based on a true story where this guy came into the bar and shot his old girlfriend cause she was cheating on him. She was at the table talking to this other man, and BOOM!

LC: You're familiar with Hasil Adkins?

Scott: Yeah, Hasil played Lexington a few times, he's a trip. We're gonna do "No More Hotdogs" at one point...

LC: Are you gonna be on a tribute to him after his recent demise?

Scott: What? You mean he's dead? When?

LC: In the end or middle of April I think.

Earl (suddenly wide awake): What happened?

LC: He was hit by a truck outside his trailer and died like a week later.

Earl: Shit. I hung out with him in Lexington.

Scott: He was a great guitarplayer. He lives in West Virginia which is right on the border of East Kentucky. That's weird, I havent heard of his death. You know Jesco White, the Mountain Dancer? Well, they're all from Boon County. Jesco lives next to Hasil, Tom Arnold saw a documentary on him and put him on TV. Well, "Double Super Buzz" is about Jesco, he also lives in a trailer and snorts gasoline through a sock, a double super buzz, haha.

LC: How has the touring been going, promoting "Kentucky Breakdown"?

Scott: We wanted to go West, but it didn't happen so we've done the East; Chicago, Austin, St. Louis, Detroit etc. Promoting the record the best we can. It's like there as in Europe we still have fans who've stuck with us, and that support made able to tour and get a record deal. Not 3 or 4 months long tours, I mean, Blaine does that full time with Nashville Pussy, the rest of us have to work, haha. If we got big we'd tour all the time. The rebirth of Spinal Tap, haha. I actually saw Spinal Tap on tour in 1994 I think, it was fun, there was like 10,000 people at the show.

LC: The intro on "Kentucky Breakdown" is from "The Wild Bunch" movie, and "Devil's Playground" of "Hayseed Timebomb" is from "Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2".

Scott: We watch a lot of movies, get ideas and lines of dialogue. And Sam Peckinpah is a fave, "The Wild Bunch" started the whole genre of gory bloody realistic gun battles. And Blaine picked it up and it kinda fitted our situation with getting the band together again like; "It ain't like it used to be but it will do". It ain't like it used to be but its close, haha. The new one, "I'm Your Huckleberry", is from the "Tombstone" movie about Doc Holiday. I like Walter Hill, "Extreme Prejudice" which is sort of a remake of "The Wild Bunch", Nick Nolte is great.

LC: "The Wild Bunch" with a lotta cocaine.

Scott: Yeah!

LC: Anything to add?

Scott: We will do a new record, a 16 days straight tour, that's what we'll do in the near future unless David Geffen calls us on the phone, haha. We'll just do this, if it makes people happy, we're happy.

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