Ed Hammel came to most people's attention in 2000 with his album Choochtown. Based around the characters of Bobby, Chooch, Nancy and Joe Brush the album is as much influenced by the novels of Raymond Chandler and Dashiel Hammett and the comedy of Bill Hicks and Denis Leary as it is by the music of The Clash and Lou Reed.
One man, one guitar and one hell of a noise. Everytime I listen to Choochtown it just makes me smile... the songs concern small time gangsters, low lifes and hustlers with the cast of characters appearing throughout the album in different tracks with the Toddle House bar being the centre of the action...all the time the fondness Hammel has for the characters shines through as does the dark humour that weaves its way through the stories he tells...a very funny and original album...
Where Hammel really excels is on stage...we were fortunate to see him round about 2000 in King Tuts and it was a mix of rapid fire stand up mixed with Hammel hammering the living daylights out of his heavily amplified acoustic guitar and railing against the intellectual laziness that affects his homeland....simply a great gig by a very talented man....If you get a chance book an evening with Hammel On Trial the next time he makes it over to these shores...
In the meantime buy Choochtown here ....
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