Hammer No More
The Fingers
Hammer No More
The Fingers
Power Team Records
By Jose Fritz
Durham, the bull city: home of tobacco, generations of sharecroppers, railroad depots, and since 1994, Hammer No More the Fingers, in one form or another. A long meandering list of external forces witnessed their movements away from each other: school, Brooklynites, that blonde girl that works at Hooters, and Joe Halls life-long pursuit of that promo only Lemonheads Acoustic Versions CDEP. Do not judge Joe Hall for we cannot fully control our compulsions, only the manner in which we exhibit them to others in their full glory.
While Joe was on his holy crusade, bassist Duncan Webster spent time fronting the Brooklyn snob-rock band Mumu Worthy. Thank god that’s over, for everyone’s sake. At the urging of a peccant Patti Smith, Duncan returned home to Raleigh, to the tobacco lands. There, he reunited with comrades and Hammer No More the Fingers began again and anew. They were no longer 10 year old virgins playing Red Hot Chili Peppers covers. Now they were adults, drunks, still terminally unlaid but the odds were looking up.
A decade ago this record would have been breathtaking; it’s got all the sass of Archers of Loaf and all the punch of the Pixies. The one-sheet and all the reviewers refer to it as a mid-nineties revivalist album. Their loyalty to the era is abundantly clear, from the opening plucked chords of “Mushroom” reminiscent of Burning Airlines to the crunchy bass lines elsewhere straight out of the Superchunk catalog. They span the decade as thoroughly as an Alan Greenspan summary of events.
Now maybe I was playing my headphones too loud back then but this record is smoother than that. Their love of the 90s notwithstanding this is not a record of that era. I appreciate their rejection of effusive emo posturing. I appreciate their partisan politics with respect to the majesty of the power trio and the general avoidance of grunge. It’s hard to obsess on a decade and sidestep its major musical movement but they manage. They sound nothing like Soundgarden, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains or Mudhoney. Instead they ape the pop end of the spectrum They Might be Giants, Jawbox, and yes, the Lemonheads. Every action has a reaction, every reaction a result, every result has an effect, and every effect a consequence… every cultural movement has a long tail. Evan Dando would be proud.
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