Hamjam launch their debut EP this Saturday, November 1, at Mojos with help from Aborted Tortoise, Ben Witt and Kitchen People. BOB GORDON chats with drummer, James Ireland.
Their members play (or have played in) such reputable bands such as The Chemist, The Growl, Gunns, Savoir, Cool Band and any number of outfits that may or may not form as you read.
The origins of Hamjam, lie with its co-founders, Hamish Rahn and James Ireland.
“Yeah we all play in each other’s bands,” Ireland says. “Me and Hamish played in The Chemist together (Ireland on keyboards, Rahn on bass) and while we were recording the Chemist record we started jamming li’l riffs after hours. We would jump into the live room where all the gear was set up after everyone bailed from the studio for the day. The guy engineering the Chemist record spoke to us on the talkback mic and said, ‘not that fucking Hamjam shit again’ and the name Hamjam stuck. Shouts to Matt Lovell for being a mad dawg. Try his beer sometime, Lovell’s Lager.”
Noted. So, eventually being joined by Clinton Oliver and Thomas Lettenmaier with an EP being released through Pilerats/Warner, has this become a more serious band than it was when it all started out?
“Nah,” says Ireland, “we’ll always be dickheads.”
Warming to the topic, he tells of the creation of their opus.
“We recorded it in the 2I8 T0n3Z0N3, which was the spare room at our old place on Charles St,” Ireland offers. “Heinz (Rahn) had these songs which we’d been playing for a while and we got approached by these Pilerats goons so we decided to record the tracks and do a li’l EP. We took a bit of time off our noodle shop jobs and started recording. After a few weeks’ time it was done and ready. We went mental a bunch of times. too many late nights on the yerba, mate. Shouts to Dave Pensado.”
Have you tasted actual Hamjam?
“I haven’t but Heinz has as a part of some other interview he did. I think he said it tastes like shit. Apparently there’s a music festival called Hamjam as well somewhere in Canada or something. Should try get on the line-up for next year!”
When asked to describe the feeling of playing a Hamjam gig, Ireland is forthright. “Fucked,” he says. “My stamina as a drummer is terrible. I need to call up Vergil Vonati for some lessons.” Despite having an EP to tout, nothing seems to inked in on the Hamjam schedule.
“No solid plans,” Ireland says. “We all got other stuff going on. I reckon we’ll probably be doing more of the same thing. All the other bands we play in have music coming out real soon too, so we’ll see how it all goes. We’ll definitely start thinking about recording again though.”
