What started as a bedroom project in 2010 for songwriter, vocalist, and guitarist Ryan Christopher Parks (whose collaborative track with The Coup’s Boots Riley “OYAHYTT” features heavily in Riley’s 2018 film Sorry to Bother You) with the addition of Parks’ good friends Andrew Macy on bass, and Raj Kumar Ojha on drums (Once and Future Band, Shannon Shaw Band, Howlin’ Rain), B. Hamilton has since become one of Oakland, California’s staple rock-and-roll bands.
With Parks’ moody, atmospheric guitar riffs and lyrical ability to encapsulate entire characters and scenes within a few short minutes, there is a decidedly driven, cinematic feel to B. Hamilton’s sound. B. Hamilton’s fourth album Nothing and Nowhere is an album to drive late at night to, windows down, pounding along with Ojha and Macy’s urgent, yet steadfast tempos and rhythms on the roof of the car to stay awake. Parks’ vocals and guitar take us over potholed, winding terrain that has lead many from adolescence into adulthood.
In the album opener “North San Juan,” Parks describes the fall out of 1960’s San Francisco’s “Summer of Love” in contemporary Northern California. A situation where “Peace and Love” has given way to addiction, false prophets, and youthful recklessness. Numbers like “45 and Straight” may be more of a meditation on the kind of adult one hopes they don’t become: disillusioned, entitled, sitting on a powder keg of resentments. “Song for T.W.” cements the album’s theme that love is excruciating and worth fighting for, while hate is easy and designed for the weak.
B. Hamilton’s new album Nothing and Nowhere (Sofaburn Records) will be available on October 15th on vinyl and digital/streaming platforms.
Today, Ghettoblaster has the pleasure of premiering the video for “Song for T.W.,” which was filmed, directed, and edited by Luke Judd and shot at Santo Recording in Oakland. This is what Parks had to say about it:
“’Song for T.W.’ cement the album’s theme that love is excruciating and worth fighting for, while a lot of the ‘loner’ tendencies of youth are ultimately caustic if not dealt with. I began writing it for a friend who was going through trouble with his child’s mother but ended up being about myself. That happens all the time.”
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