I’ve been trying to get into more blues music recently, so I couldn’t help but love The Ballad of Lampshade Ed – a new track by The Curse of K.K. Hammond. It’s an amazing tune and one you really need to check out, if you haven’t already! The track can be found at the bottom of this interview if you missed it!
By Jane Howkins
You recently released a track titled The Ballad of Lampshade Ed, which we reviewed. What can you tell us about the song? Who is Lampshade Ed?
The Ballad of Lampshade Ed is a murder ballad based on the childhood of Ed Gein (American murderer and cannibal.) Having read about his upbringing I felt a song honing in on the period during which his mind turned to such macabre interests would make for an interesting and alternative look at this notorious person.
How has the reception been for The Ballad of Lampshade Ed, and where can it be purchased?
The reception has been awesome and I feel so incredibly grateful! It landed the number 1 spot on the iTunes blues chart soon after its release and has received a great deal of air play on radio stations around the world. You can find it on all major music sites, iTunes, Spotify, Amazon Music etc.
Do you plan to release any more singles in the near future?
Having completed my album I am definitely planning to return to releasing singles for a good while. I’m currently working on a few which I hope to release in the new year!
Your debut album, Death Roll Blues, is coming out soon! What can you tell us about the album?
Death Roll Blues was a work in progress for a good two years and I would like to hope features some of my best work to date! It is an eleven track album with nine original songs and two swamp ambiance tracks to open and close it and set the mood. It is a concept album that approaches the topic of death in a multitude of ways from sombre to macabre to comedic. The songs are all pretty bare boned with a roots feel featuring a lot of acoustic resonator and percussion in the way of hand claps, foot stomps and rattle snake tails (and even an old zinc bucket being kicked!) I’m really excited for folks to hear it as I think my style and song writing has matured and grown from the earlier singles I have released and this album show cases that well.
What is the writing and recording process like for you?
The writing process is somewhat out of my hands. I tend to sit around picking at my guitar and waiting for inspiration to hit out the blue! I guess as is the case for many musicians, sometimes I go months without any new ideas. Sometimes, when I’m least expecting or trying for it, I will be hit with a slew of ideas and write three songs in a week! I get inspired by moods and emotions I feel and interesting stories about people’s lives. Often I will read about an interesting person in history and then will be hit with a song idea. Perhaps a few lines of lyrics or a little melody and I run with it.
I record in my own simple home studio. My set up is pretty straight forward: a mic on my resonator guitar set up near the cone and then a jack from my guitar into my interface straight into the DAW. I use a Neat Worker Bee mic to record both guitar and vocals. I have a firm plan for how the song and lyrics will be structured but my slide solos are almost always improvised as I go. I really love soloing on slide guitar and often each take is completely different until I find one I like and that sticks!
Did the pandemic hinder your work much?
The pandemic was a strange and lonely time for many but being a bit of a hermit who lives in a very remote woodland location on a working farm, it didn’t change my life huge great deal. I managed to get a lot of music recorded during that period.
Your music has a cool, bluesy sound. What/who influences you most as an artist? What have you been listening to recently?
I listen to a great deal of roots blues from the 1930s and this is where the bulk of my influence and musical inspiration comes from. I tend to have a lot of great blues artists in rotation. Mainly Skip James, Robert Johnson, Son House, Blind Willie Johnson, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Leadbelly and many, many more. Old blues is the most magnificent of rabbit holes as, just when you think you’ve dug as deep as you can, an obscure but brilliant act you’ve never heard of before comes to light and that is honestly the most exciting thing!
Where are you based? What is the local music scene like?
I am based in the county of Buckinghamshire which is not to far from London where there is of course a fantastic music scene. My friend Kaspar “Berry” Rapkin lives one county over in Hertfordshire and books a lot of great bands in a few local venues round him. Being a huge blues fan and excellent musician himself he has put on some great blues, roots and folk nights.
Do you have any UK tour dates lined up?
Working a farm makes it hard to get away and though I plan to get around to booking a tour in the future I am keen to get back in the studio and work on some new singles! Writing and recording music is definitely where my passion lies.
Any last words for the fans?
I am immeasurably grateful and inspired by the support. I honestly never expected my music to get noticed by anyone let alone enjoyed by so many people worldwide and it means the absolute world to me! I am determined to keep it up and keep bringing better and better new music to your ears!