Helmet’s Page Hamilton Reflects on Band’s Early Days

“We knew it.”

When Page Hamilton joined Loudwire Nights as the show’s special guest (Sept. 5), he spent a lot of time reflecting on the early days of Helmet‘s career.

He was quick to agree with host Chuck Armstrong that in those days, Helmet were starting to make music that they hadn’t really heard before.

“I walked home one night and I had this epiphany or something — inspiration, call it whatever you will,” Hamilton recalled.

“I got this riff in my head. [The band had] been together, the four of us, for six, seven, eight months and I got this riff in my head. It’s the intro riff to the song, ‘Repetition,’ the first song on Strap It On.”

As Hamilton explained, that moment changed everything for Helmet.

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“I was walking home late at night in the East Village, got home and picked up the guitar and I was like, ‘Oh, this note that I’m hearing was a whole step below that and I’m like, that’s not standard turning,” he said.

“If I lower this string, that gets the note and all of a sudden this whole vocabulary opened up.”

What Else Did Helmet’s Page Hamilton Discuss on Loudwire Nights?

• After collaborating with a wide range of artists over the years — including Nine Inch Nails, Linkin Park and P.O.D. — who would he like to work with in the future: “I met with Serj [Tankian] years ago … I think Serj is amazing [and] I really enjoy the Korn guys, we’ve become friendly over the years…if they ever asked me to come in and do something, I would.”
• Why he’s not interested in writing a memoir right now: “I don’t know that I would want to dedicate that much time to talking about my life while I’m still in it. I have all these goals, I have all these musical goals.”
• What his massive goal is: “That’s my fantasy, to do this guitar orchestral piece … And I cannot wait to hear a 100-piece orchestra play a big, giant Helmet major7#11 chord.”

Listen to the Full Interview in the Podcast Player Below

Page Hamilton joined Loudwire Nights on Thursday, Sept. 5; the show replays online here, and you can tune in live every weeknight at 7PM ET or on the Loudwire app; you can also see if the show is available on your local radio station and listen to interviews on-demand.