Another cool Hamer out in the wild…

[cmatthes]

…does it count if I put it there?

I had been chatting with Mr. Dave Hill (NOT the dude from Slade, the one from Cleveland) over the last year or two about various guitar geekery and Hamers have come up here and there.  I sent him a copy of “The Book” a while back just so he could see what he’d been missing all of these years.  He was intrigued by the purple Prince Studio Custom, and I offered to let him check it out and play it when he was passing through the area sometime.  
Dave, Stike, my son and I had gotten a chance to hang out for an afternoon back in April and he was raving about borrowing a new Veleno for the Charlotte show the previous evening and dug it (but had to give it back).  I brought up the Prince guitar again and he said he’d be honored to play it sometime. 
I had tickets to see Dave opening for Bill Murray at The Warner here in town a few weeks ago, and had also picked up a house concert at a really cool venue in North Baltimore’s lovely Roland Park neighborhood (Club 603).  Friends of ours had just been there to see Rhett Miller and couldn’t say enough good stuff about it and also let me know that tickets were going on sale the next day - they don’t advertise, really, and the 30-40 seats usually sell out right away. I scored two, and right after, Bill postponed his DC show for the second time.  I wasn’t sure if Dave was going to take the train down for just the smaller show, but he’s a man of his word, and did.

My son and I trucked the purple guitar up and handed it to Dave for a soundcheck.  He totally wailed on it for a solid half hour with a giant smile, and he showed it off to the hosts and sound team, who totally dug it.

Dave had just scored a new Dunable V, which was super cool, and similar to the ones he usually plays, but he opted to sling the Hamer instead.  It sounded great for the first part of the show and unfortunately, during his EVH interlude, he hit something (mic stand) and the middle string lock at the nut somehow loosened and the guitar went hopelessly out of tune mid solo. He was in the middle of a bit, so started riffing about having broken the guitar, but it was all planned payback for Prince trashing Capt. Kirk Douglas’ treasured ‘61 Epiphone Crestwood Custom.  The audience started an unprompted “Prince! Prince! Prince!” chant as he switched to the Dunable.  He didn’t get to play the Hamer for the rest of the set, but felt awful that he had broken the guitar.  After the finale, he headed to the merch area a few rooms away so I hopped up took a quick look and in about 5 seconds had the guitar perfectly back in tune.

We chatted later and he felt awful about it all, but honestly, there was zero harm done.  He definitely wants to play it next time he’s in the area, like at the Enormodome or something.  He definitely did it justice while he was playing and clearly dug it.

 

[alantig]

If you take it to him again, wrap the headstock in bubble wrap and tell him you did it just in case.  We saw him open for Bill Murray last year, and he really won the crowd over.

Also, if anyone watches Last Week With John Oliver, Dave's band plays the theme song.

[cmatthes]

2 hours ago, alantig said:

If you take it to him again, wrap the headstock in bubble wrap and tell him you did it just in case.  We saw him open for Bill Murray last year, and he really won the crowd over.

Also, if anyone watches Last Week With John Oliver, Dave's band plays the theme song.

He’s just coming off of an opening run for Puscifer, and is heading out for 26 more dates with them this fall.  In addition to his comedy gig, he just released some new Valley Lodge, has a hard rock band with Chris Reiffert (Autopsy) and a mock black metal band called Witch Taint, and is wrapping up a solo album.  He’s also recently released a 4-part comic book/graphic novel and continues to do his artwork on the side (he painted a cool axe for me last year).  He’s the busiest guy in showbiz, for sure.

 

 

As always, kudos to Kiz for the “SCHARTER” logo!