Festivals

[Interview] Tom Hamilton Talks American Babies, New Album, Suwannee Fests and More

tom hamilton

Tom Hamilton, founder of Philadelphia-based psych-rock fusion band American Babies, talked with us about their upcoming album titled An Epic Battle Between Light and Dark. This introspective mood record reflects on several topics like anxiety, depression, relationship issues, and healthy ways to overcome these obstacles. Though Tom says these topics are sometimes touchy and difficult to discuss, he feels it’s important to share his personal experiences with those who may also be searching for light during the dark days.

With this fourth studio release, the Babies may appear to be growing up, but Tom assures us the upcoming tour will also feature the fun tunes and classic covers we’ve come to expect of the band. In addition to several Florida stops with the American Babies, including support from Orlando’s Groove Orient, Tom will be appearing at AURA Music Festival in March and Wanee Music Festival in April. And there’s much more in store with his Grateful Dead collaborations and side project Joe Russo’s Almost Dead.

You have several shows starting this week in Florida [1/26 – 1/30]. What is your fanbase like in our region? What has the response been like?
It’s pretty good. We’ve mostly done festivals down there. We haven’t done hard ticket shows since our last record I think. It’s been almost a couple of years. We had great shows in Tampa and Orlando. And we’ve had some wonderful shows at Suwannee festivals, about an hour from Jacksonville.

Yes, I saw you are scheduled to play AURA in March. What are the differences in playing at festivals versus your own tour shows?
With festivals, the upside is there’s just a bunch of people already there to have a good time. You don’t have to worry about promotion as much. The downside is it’s not at the pace you are necessarily accustomed to. It’s a little more of a hurried affair. Whereas when you throw your own shows, you get to set the tone and performance vibe. It’s somewhat more intimate. Both have their ups and downs – I’m not really that picky.

Do you get the opportunity to sit in with your other musician friends at festivals?
Oh, absolutely. That’s always the most fun of a festival. That’s where my colleagues and other people in the scene get to hang out. During the school year is when most everybody is doing their own tours, and when the spring/summer festivals start is when we all start running into each other again. We get to catch up and the social hang is awesome. That’s when we get to talk about our current projects and inevitably it’s like, ‘Hey man, come on over to our set and play on this tune.’ I’m never one to say no to sitting in or having people sit in with us. They’re really good times.

You’re also scheduled for Wanee this year as well right?
Yes, I play Wanee in April. I play with the drummer from Grateful Dead, Bill Kreutzmann, so I’ll be in that area twice coming up soon.

What kind of vibe are you going for with the Light & Dark tour? What songs will you be playing?
We have the record coming out March 18th on the Royal Potato Family record label. We’re starting to work out this new material and are ready to take it for a walk and see what it can do. It took about 6 or 7 months to write and record this album. We were in a vacuum in the studio creating this art and we’re like, ‘this is so cool.’ For me, I never release records thinking of the live show, or thinking I can or cannot replicate it in a live setting. I just make the art I hear or see, and then figure out performing the live show. That’s where we are now – taking something from the album to the stage.

We’re definitely going to have a bunch of new material. It’s pretty fun. It’s easily the best stuff I’ve ever written. And we’ll mix in some fun covers – we’ll have a good time. It’s an interesting show and pretty adventurous.

What’s the significance of the title An Epic Battle Between Light and Dark? Talk about the theme of the record.
There are a lot of themes. I have a business partner/friend and we have a studio together here in Philadelphia. We spent most of 2014 redoing our studio and experimenting with sounds and what the possibilities were. Everyday I wasn’t on the road I spent working on the studio. We never really picked up instruments; we just talked about life shit. We both grew up in a rough neighborhood, and we’re some of the few people that got out and are doing something outside the box. So there was a lot to talk about there.

Other things that came up were personal relationships and also personalized things within ourselves. We talked about how prevalent depression is, anxiety and mental illness. These are things we’ve dealt with our whole lives. We’re almost like survivors of depression. We got through our teens and twenties, and got out of this pretty shitty neighborhood in spite of the dark days.

What made you want to explore some of those dark emotions at this point in your career?
I made the album about chicks, and the album about politics and current events. What’s next? You start digging deeper about things you’re not necessarily comfortable talking about. That’s kind of our job as musicians and artists, to go to those places most people don’t want to, to go there for them. It was kind of weird and touchy to discuss those topics, but it’s an important aspect of music so we went with it. We went down the rabbit hole. It’s about that epic battle between light and dark – people that deal with that everyday will really understand. Every day you wake up like, ‘which one is it going to be today? Am I going to stay in bed for the next few days? Or will I be able to push through?’

Do you have any personal techniques for getting through the dark days?
For sure. Obviously there is no answer for it; everybody has to find their own thing. There’s a song on the album called “Oh Darling, My Darling” and the lyric is: Oh darling, my darling / let the darkness in / and live for the light of another day. If I feel that cloud coming over me, that anxiety attack about to pounce, I just let it happen. Strap in, tape up the fucking windows. It’s a hurricane; it’s gonna pass. Accept the fact the fact that it’s a temporary situation. The rest of your life isn’t going to be like this, and if you play your cards right, the rest of the day won’t even be like this.

That’s how I deal with anxiety. For depression, I just make myself work. I’m a workaholic. I do about 200 concerts a year and I’m on the road all the time. If I’m busy, creative, or doing something productive, it leads to an even keel for me.

Obviously American Babies is your main focus at the moment, but give us an update on your other side projects and bands.
Outside of American Babies, I’m heavily involved in the Grateful Dead thing. I play in Bill Kreutzmann’s band. Over the last year I’ve played with all four remaining members of the Grateful Dead in various combinations. They’re doing a thing right now called Dead & Company, which is Bob Weir, Micky Hart and Bill Kreutzmann with John Mayer. They’ll be doing that through at least the end of the summer, which keeps me free to do my own thing. But it’s an honor to play with those guys. It’s a really fun world to be in. I grew up listening to them and they are all some of the nicest and most gracious guys I’ve ever met or worked with.

Me and a bunch of my friends, who also play with the Dead guys as well as their own bands, all got together and decided to have a band playing that music without any of the original guys. We’re doing our own younger, punk rock version of their music. It’s had some surprising success. It’s called Joe Russo’s Almost Dead. That’s about 20 or 30 shows a year, which will be sprinkled throughout 2016.

It’s seems like the juggling of bands is working out pretty easily. I was wondering how musicians that play with several bands keep from overlapping schedules during busy times.
With all of those other acts, no one is really into being on the road all that much. With Almost Dead, everyone has their own project. We can only do so much a year because we have our own shit to focus on. Some of us have families and whatever. With the Grateful Dead guys, they have their hands in so many things that the opportunity to work with them only comes up a few times a year. And they’re at the point in their careers where they don’t want to be on a tour bus anymore. So that takes care of itself too.

We’re looking forward to your upcoming album and shows. Is there anything else I didn’t cover that you want to mention?
No, you did a wonderful job and I really appreciate you taking the time.

http://www.americanbabies.net/
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http://www.twitter.com/ambabes
http://www.instagram.com/ambabies

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