Reviews

CLASSIC ROCK MAGAZINE
The new issue of Classic … Hollering Shitkicker Outlaw Country and Blistering Redneck Punk!

Yep, it must be another Sleazegrinder blog entry. This week, from the Band Most Likely To Be In Jail Right Now Dept.

Hammerlock are from San Francisco, but you would never guess that in a trillion years. You’d guess Alabama or wherever they shot the Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Texas, I suppose). They are a troublesome trio consisting of husband and wife team Travis and Liza Kenney , and the noise they make is fearsome and true, a devastating blend of hollering shitkicker outlaw country and blistering redneck punk. Hammerlock are loosely affiliated with the Confederacy of Scum, the southern riot-rock coalition spearheaded by bruisers n’ bleeders Antiseen, but, much like myself, their geographical distance from the Mason/Dixon line keeps ‘em from being full-fledge scum. Also like myself, they are just part time scum. But Christ, are they mean.
As I mentioned in a recent review of their new “greatest hits” rekkid, “True Grit” (Steel Cage Records), Hammerlock ooze such unreasonable menace that you don’t even feel safe listening to their music, never mind watching them play or, god forbid, wandering onto their property. I like that in a band.

I also like how fetching Miss Liza is, especially when you know that if you stare too long, Travis will remove your offending orb with a fork and then eat it. (By the way, check out the cover of their “Barefoot and Pregnant” record for a rather amazing photo of Liza in the last stages of pregnancy, wielding a big ol’ shotgun. Now, that’s heavy!)

Anyway, if you’re lookin’ for them, they’re usually out on the road somewhere shootin’ buzzards or hosting benefit shows for one of their down-bros in their backyard (bike wrecks, mostly. Sometimes bail). Wherever they are, you can bet Booze and brawls are not far behind. Just mosey on over to www.Hammerlock.net for the full skinny.

In the meantime, here’s my fave track from Barefoot and Pregnant, the impossibly snarly Colorado Mountain Goat. Yee fuckin’ Haw. Hammerlock – Colorado Mountain Goat

Posted by Scott Rowley
Wednesday October 18, 2006

 

Liner notes for True Grit

 This has probably happened to you… you’re watching a band and you think, “My God, how can they be this good?” And you turn towards your friend standing next to you, in a loud room wich is impossible to converse in,but you kind of stare at him with your mouth open and nod, like “Damn these guy’s are great!” And your friend looks at you as if to say “Yes, i know!”  Well, I’ve had that happen to me quite a few time’s with the band Hammerlock. San Francisco rock from the mid to the late  ’90s was starting to settle down.  Garage rock was lessening in vouge, and clubs were appearing and disappearing, boycotted, re-vamped,or yuppified. for a while , however, things would come togeather and it felt like we had something good. Like when Hammerlock played. I was an Instand fan the first time i saw them. I looked around the room, to see if the rest of the audience was transfixed as I.There was not that much “rest of the audience” at the time , but later there would be. Back then it was short-haired Travis alternating between betrating his wife Liza on stage, and launching into an anthemic blast of hard core working man’s boogie. (if that is a term.) I have never seen , nor could I imagine a band that was half  Posion Idea and half Creedence Clearwater Revival, that played country songs with out irony and punk songs without juvenility. Novelty was king in SF then, and bands were generally described by how they looked rather than sounded, so i think it would have been an easy thing for a band to pander to the hipster audience with a “hick shtick” and many did. (There not around anymore.)  But with Hammerlock it wasen’t possible. They dident dress up (or down)  for shows; act “faux white trash;” do some rockabilly moonshine dragster pinup girl bullshit; or cover hip songs. Theye covered many a song, but first theye put it threw the Hammerlock grinderand, second, you knew theye were playing a song  ’cause theye just fucking’ liked it. Theye dident play “Free Bird” but theye often played Skynyrd. The shows were allways fun and rowdy. They attracted all the rong  people and we all became  friends. Socially and politically, Hammerlock dident really belong in California, much less San Francisco. They were always consciously oblivious to the community which they lived literally smack dab in the middle of and, while they couldent be called innocent, they were untainted by there surroundings and refused to compromise. It worked, and boy was it refreshing.Learn by there example. This is true freedom rock. Pure American music; equal parts outlaw spirit and pioneering punk. Revel in it.

 By Joe Frankie of Oakland,CA www.axisrecordsandcomics.com

 

 

 

Review by Alex Henderson, All Music Guide

Hammerlock’s members have never been champions of political correctness — in fact, it’s safe to say that the trio’s risk-taking, totally infectious blend of alternative metal, punk, and country-fried Southern rock has been a rebellion against all things PC. And those who singer/guitarist Travis Kenney (lead vocals, guitar) and his wife Liza Kenney (bass, vocals) have offended in the past won’t be converted by Barefoot and Pregnant, which is Hammerlock’s first album for the Philadelphia-based Steel Cage label and third album overall. The hilarious front cover shows a picture of an obviously pregnant Liza baring her belly and pointing a rifle in the air while she stands near the kitchen sink — in other words, the Kenneys are going out of their way to thumb their noses at political correctness. But there is much more to Hammerlock than shock value. The hilarious front cover might grab one’s attention, but the excellence of the material is what keeps it. Those who appreciated Hammerlock’s two previous albums on Man’s Ruin will find that the Kenneys (who are joined by drummer Jamey Howell) haven’t lost any of their freshness; Hammerlock is still one of the most fresh-sounding bands in the alternative metal field. While other punk-minded alt-metal outfits are turning to hip-hop and industrial for inspiration, the Kenneys are inspired by Southern rock and country — and Travis Kenney proudly, defiantly flaunts his hell-raisin’ shotgun-totin’ good ol’ boy image on raucous gems like “Colorado Mountain Goat” and “I Don’t Owe You Shit.” This CD also contains inspired covers of three country classics: Ernest Tubb’s “Jealous Loving Heart,” Charlie Daniels’ “Long Haired Country Boy,” and Waylon Jennings’ “Good Hearted Woman,” all of which lend themselves nicely to Hammerlock’s alt-metal/punk/Southern rock outlook. If Anthems for Outlaws is Hammerlock’s most essential album, Barefoot and Pregnant runs an impressively close second.

 

HAMMERLOCK SAVES COUNTRY  By Holly Anderson  . Cuncussion Magazine

It’s a sunny fall day in San Francisco and a grizzly crew of bikers, scumbags, and rockers ascend upon a lonely parking lot in Hunter’s Point. Homeless crack heads emerge from their hiding spots to see what the fuss is about. A biker with a hook for a hand lurks. They’re here for the Dirtbag Challenge, a low rent chopper build off, which is a great excuse to get drunk, build bad ass choppers with close to no budget, and listen to loud rock-n-roll. That’s where Hammerlock comes in.

No band can quite appease this brutal bunch the way Hammerlock does, with their southern hard rocking, ass kicking, tooth picking, outlaw music. The stage is set on the back of a flatbed as the trio emerges to play a pumping set to the backdrop of bikes burning around the crowd on the hot asphalt. Hammerlock is home.

The San Francisco Bay Area, with it’s rainbow flags, political correctness, and left leaning populace seems an unlikely breeding ground for a band like Hammerlock, with their blend of working class, salt of the earth, redneck attitude and lyrics.

“Most of our lyrics are about living in the Bay Area,” explains Travis Kenney, the bands guitarist. “If you were raised in middle America and you have a traditional mindset there’s a lot of things to write about especially if you are writing angry lyrics.”

Hammerlock pumps out the kind of mean, country punk-inspired rock anthems that make one happy to be stomping around this soil we call America. The trio consists of Colorado native and lyricist Travis on guitar and his fabulously beautiful hard rocking wife, Liza Kenney on bass. On drums is Mikey Kingshill .
“Our music is about things that used to be here that aren’t anymore, things that are dying, that have no business dying in this country,” Travis explains. “Things like rights, personal freedom, social morality, not forced government morality, but people taking it upon themselves to keep their word, and stand by things they do, stuff like that.”

Hammerlock’s lyrics ooze with passion as much as their aggressive rock and roll riffs. Along with a few covers of Waylon, Willie, Charlie Daniels, and The Outlaws, Hammerlock’s recorded dozens of songs over the last decade, and released five full length records including their latest, Forgotten Range, out now on Steel Cage Records.

With the state of country is in the Nashville gutter, Hammerlock’s doing their part to save it with Forgotten Range. This album breaks the mold of previous albums as Hammerlock explores their country side with songs like Quick Justice Cowboy.,

“This album includes a lot more instruments,” Travis divulges about Forgotten Range. “A lot more country, we’ve always had a country influence, but it’s real heavy on this one. There’s more petal steel & lap steel, a lot of harmonica, a lot of melody. It’s a more authentic country sound, but it’s still got the heavy sound, a little bit of both.”

When Liza and Travis got together over a decade ago, playing music together came naturally and they haven’t looked back, even after raising two kids.

“It’s good, “ explains Liza. “We don’t have the problem of ‘It’s either the band or me’ or ‘you’re spending all your time with the band’ because it’s something that we do together. When we write together we come up with good stuff. We do get in fights, but other bands do, too.”

Aside from rocking out the Dirtbag Challenge for the passed four years, Hammerlock’s busted out tours all around California and the country. They’ve played shows with Queens of the Stone Age, Turbonegro, Buckcherry, and a host of other bands. They  have played Red and White events in Northern California. Their show schedule always seems to draws them back to Texas, however, where fans can’t seem to get enough of Hammerlock.

 

True Grit Review 2006
True Grit is a vital comp that collects all the tracks from Hammerlock’s first two albums, American Asshole and Anthems for Outlaws, which both went out of print after Frank Kozik sold his Man’s Ruin Records empire for blow. Or whatever he did with it, I wasn’t there. Point being, unless you were in-the-know back then, you probably haven’t heard these bruising scumpunk messterpieces of malice and moonshine, so rejoice and listen in awe and reverence. For historical purposes, I should mention that Hammerlock are from San Francisco, but they look, sound and act like hillbilly killers from Mississippi. They’re a husband and wife team – Travis and the dangerously attractive Elizabeth Kenney – and they play almost impossibly authentic outlaw rock about getting drunk and shooting people who wander onto their property. Much like Jim Goad did back in the early 90’s, Hammerlock ooze such unreasonable menace that you don’t even feel safe listening to their music, never mind watching them play or like, wandering onto their property. It’s pretty remarkable stuff, really. If you dig the outlaw country legends like David Allan Coe and hillbilly rattlers like Hank Williams III, then yr gonna love this mean-spirited shitkicker punk. Twenty Nine tracks to wade through here, every one of ‘em a bullet aimed squarely at your forehead. Approach with caution. __________________________________________________

- Sleazegrinder

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Sleaze Grinder- Compromise is for Cowards
Ok, so chances are, Hammerlock ain’t half the gator-eatin’ psychotic redneck bastards they appear to be- they’re from San Fran, f’r Chrissakes- but I’m the kinda cat that’s willin’ to believe that a little truth comes out in even the grandest put-ons. I mean, Hammerlock head honcho Travis Kenney is most likely NOT gonna slit yr fool belly with a buck-knife fer ogling his superfoxy tattooed wife n’ bass player Liz, but, ya know, you really wanna take that chance, bubba? Not after eyeing his Motorhead-inked biceps, you don’t, and certainly not after soaking in the white trash terror-train that is “Compromise is for Cowards”, Hammerlock’s 4th full-length declaration of scum-dom. I dunno the last time white people sounded this fuckin’ scary, Jack. HL’s sound is a meaty stew of shitkicker country, cock rock, and Dixie biker metal, which would all just be an ungainly squall of chest-thumping noise were it not for the Kenneys’ masterful songwriting skills. All these tracks sound like they were written at the kitchen table over a pot of coffee on an acoustic guitar, and were it not for all the extra Y chromosomes flowing wildly through Travis and Liz’s DNA (I dunno where she’s hiding them, but they gotta be there), they mighta stayed acoustic, a backporch outlaw jamboree for the crickets and the frogs, but K, K and drummer Mikey Kingshall (Hey, that’s K…K…and…yikes!) are not booze-swillin’ country bumpkins, they’re rock stars, baby. Evil ones, even, which are always the best kind. As such, maybe you don’t buy “Second Home”, the jail song, as much as you would if Travis was singing it outside the 7-11 with a crusty nose and a cardboard sign, and figure they like WRITING songs about eating Dinty Moore beef stew more than, well, eating it, and that’s all probably true, but so what? I mean, Kris Kristofferson fronting the Four Horsemen is a great idea man, no matter where it comes from. San fran fuckin’ cisco, even. Anyway, the best songs on here are the ones that really tug the ol’ hanging rope ‘tween C&W and murderpunk, like the crunching hillbilly howl of the aforementioned “Second Home” (”I just might go out and fucking kill someone/Cuz I might just get a good night’s sleep when they find my smoking gun”- Is this the Gary Sampson theme song?) and the good ‘ol boy thunderboogie of “Oldest Friend” (”Alcohol, you’re my…”). Oh, and the Marshall Tucker Band and David Allen Coe covers, of course. Elsewhere, it’s pure scumpunk blister, fulla broken glass bellow and moonshine swillin’ slide guitar and mouthy punch rock, and it’s all pretty fuckin’ sweet, bro. Can’t tell ya if Hammerlock really grow pot in their backyard and vote republican, or if they really do refuse to sell this here rekkid to the French, but, you know, probably they do. They sure as fuck sound like it, and ain’t that the point of rock n roll? Yep. I reckon it is.

http://www.sleazegrinder.com/review_1-31hammerlock.htm

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Utter Trash Compromise is for Cowards

It’s pretty easy to find out where you’re gonna stand on this CD by just taking a look at some simple facts. The band name refers to a hammerlock on a gun, not the wrestling move, the CD has 2 guns on the cover, they’re endorsed by the Confederacy of Scum, and there are covers of both Waylon Jennings and David Allan Coe. Throw in the album title and song titles like “Hate is Not a Crime” and you have a pretty good idea what you’re in for. Those of you still reading shouldn’t be disappointed by this new Hammerlock disc, their fourth full-length. Led by the husband/wife team of Travis and Liza, Hammerlock have always blown away bands like Nashville Pussy who they seem to have a lot in common with. You won’t find any calculated attempts at a redneck image or attempts to sell the band based on sex appeal here though – just tales of being broke, taking care of a family, and of course drinking. With the exception of the acoustic DAC cover, all 14 tracks here are the same hard driving rock n roll found on previous releases, and tunes like “Oldest Friend”, the piano-backed “California Highway” and “Looking for Cans to Buy A Cold One” rank up there with their best stuff. Best enjoyed with a bottle of Jim Beam nearby. (Russ Romance)

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HAMMERLOCK – Compromise Is For Cowards

Even more wrecking than their previous Steel Cage outing Barefoot & Pregnant, Hammerlock’s Compromise Is For Cowards stretches strings & skins to their limit in a demolition derby of roughneck rock n’ roll from the deep South of . . . San Francisco? Untainted by those liberal shores, Hammerlock weighs in with a heavy load of fourteen heavy tracks here, including songs about prison (“Second Home”), hatin’ (“Hate Is Not a Crime,” “Government Worker”), hurtin’ (“Looking For Cans to Buy a Cold One”), truckin’ (“California Highway,” “Never Slow Down”), gamblin’ (“Rolling Out of Reno”), growin’ (“40 lbs”), and, oddly, what appears to be a rabid anti-abortion song (“Choice to Kill”). Hammerlock even throws in a few choice covers (“Houston, Dallas, San Antone,” “Poncho and Lefty,” “Can’t You See”). Hardcore goodtime drinking music if you’re the type favoring punk in your country.

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Storm Bender
Metal Reviews

Anthems for Outlaws
Hammerlock

The first “hit” we come across features a ghastly likeness to the opening riff of Fastway’s “Say What You Will.”

And honestly, had Fast Eddie and the gang hailed from somewhere slightly Southwest of wherever, this might be them.

Hammerlock’s last record was called “American Asshole” and for that alone I had to hear ‘em-and this follow up, “Anthems for Outlaws” is as you might expect, noisy, pompous and juvenile… but it does have one saving grace for those finely skilled listening dignitaries still left among us… they’re ill-mannered.

Okay, okay, so you’re probably thinking it’s another Skynyrd meets The Allman’s meets Nashville Pussy in a dead drunk stupor after pulling an all-nighter toasting to the next hundred years of Mr. Jack…

Honestly, and as badly as I wanted to avoid any of the comparisons altogether, one out of three ain’t too bad, they fall right in, or right over as the case may be, with the last comparison-we’re talking a bunch of Jesse James Dupree school graduates of from the hellhole school of rank and fodder, overwrought in wranglers and wattage and delivering some of the most unwelcome hillbilly punk rock and vomit ever to come across these tender ears.

“Anthems…” features a full twenty tunes loaded in its arsenal of slapstick and buckshot!

Locked and loaded-the latter a very loosely hung term, Hammerlock’s “Anthems for Outlaws” is a well broken and smokin’ barrel ready to empty itself on the first unwitting target that veers across they’re path… Goddamn my luck anyway!

Storm Bender
Review by Vinnie Apicella [va85@columbia.edu]

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Anthems for Outlaws
Savage Americans blurt brutal elegies to whiskey.
ROCK ‘N’ roll sometimes sports a revolutionary social conscience, Occasionally an eye-blistering array of explosive pyrotechnics, and GOD help us-There are even some
who still choose to accentuate their own art with zebra-striped spandex trousers,Frightening.
Hammerlock, on the other hand, need no such fey and contrived gimmickry, for their chosen oeuvre is so exquisitely intense,so perfecyly defined with musical musical,and ultmately, so wholly and unashamedly rawk, that it comes complete with it’s very own special effects. ‘Hate Radio’ throws it’s substantial weight around like a baer with a sore arse and ‘Tear Um Down’ is so implausibly packed with grizzly maleviolent machismo that your CD player will grow a big-ass beard at the very sound of it. Well Mabey.
Ultimately, ‘Anthems For Outlaws’ is as vicious and uncompromising as an absinthe hangover. You’re going to love it.
Ian Fortnam
Kerrange **** KKKK

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Hammerlock are back with another album full of down and dirty ugly music
and there is one thing I notice right off the bat: Fuck, this is good!
This new record finds the San Francisco band writing stronger songs than
ever, with better production. There are a few tunes of the ugly,
grinding scumpunk that most would expect from them, but for my money
they are MUCH better when they keep it midtempo and bring in the country
influence. A GREAT cover of “Poncho And Lefty” by Townes Van Zandt! I
am, to say the least a HUGE TVZ fan and was honestly a little skeptical
of a cover by Hammerlock, but it rules! They didn’t try and play it to
the original and instead worked to their own strengths, and turned it
into a mid tempo rocker with glorious results. Check this record out!
-Mike Frame, Tablet Newspaper

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It’s pretty easy to find out where you’re gonna stand on this CD by just
taking a look at some simple facts. The band name refers to a hammerlock
on a gun, not the wrestling move, the CD has 2 guns on the cover,
they’re endorsed by the Confederacy of Scum, and there are covers of
both Waylon Jennings and David Allan Coe. Throw in the album title and
song titles like “Hate is Not a Crime” and you have a pretty good idea
what you’re in for. Those of you still reading shouldn’t be
disappointed by this new Hammerlock disc, their fourth full-length. Led
by the husband/wife team of Travis and Liza, Hammerlock have always
blown away bands like Nashville Pussy who they seem to have a lot in
common with. You won’t find any calculated attempts at a redneck image
or attempts to sell the band based on sex appeal here though ? just
tales of being broke, taking care of a family, and of course drinking.
With the exception of the acoustic DAC cover, all 14 tracks here are the
same hard driving rock n roll found on previous releases, and tunes like
“Oldest Friend”, the piano-backed “California Highway” and “Looking for
Cans to Buy A Cold One” rank up there with their best stuff. Best
enjoyed with a bottle of Jim Beam nearby.
-Russ Romance, www.uttertrash.net

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Hell yeah! Rebel Yell Southern fried punk with a street justice sound of
fast and furious hell billy rock and roll. Fans of loud and out of
control punk like ANTiSEEN, Cocknoose and Nashville Pussy will enjoy
these rebels as well.
-Billy Whitfield, Toxic Flyer

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Hammerlock–Compromise Is For Cowards
Steel Cage 2003

Throughout their recorded history, Hammerlock have never let the listener down. Each of their efforts have proven to be all-time classics. With their new album, Compromise Is For Cowards, that streak of musical excellence remains intact. Here, Hammerlock have managed to improve upon all the elements they incorporate into their sound, blend those pieces even better than before, and introduce some new things which add a greater sense of depth to the overall result. It’s no easy feat but, as usual, Hammerlock pull it off in a way that seems effortless.

For those unacquainted with the Hammerlock sound (and just where the hell have you been), this band plays a blend of punk, country & western, rock ‘n roll, and Southern rock. There are many bands who’ve tread a similar path but none of them have done it nearly as well as Hammerlock. In fact, on Compromise Is For Cowards, Hammerlock have further widened the gap between themselves and the rest of the pack. On this album, where the rocking is brutal, that brutality is turned up several notches higher than before–when the country twang shines through, it is now blinding. Essentially, Hammerlock have managed to merge the rawness of their last album, Barefoot & Pregnant, with the I-can’t-believe-it-isn’t-on-every-radio-in-the-world hookiness of the amazing Anthem For Outlaws album, sharpening both halves in the process. A good deal of this can be attributed to the rock solid timekeeping of new drummer Mikey Kingshill–this is the tightest Hammerlock have sounded since Anthems For Outlaws.

Of course, the thing that has always made Hammerlock better than every other band of their ilk is the ability to write consistently great songs. Compromise Is For Cowards boasts the best batch of Hammerlock tunes yet. This disc starts off with the sonic beatdown of “Hate Is Not A Crime.” That rough hewn ferocity continues on such tracks as “Government Worker.” “40 Lbs” keeps the rocking quotient high, though in a more laid back way. This song is kicked off by Travis Kenney’s great whiskey-drenched bellow and boasts some nice cowbell breaks. In terms of the country & western leaning material, “Looking For Cans To Buy A Cold One” is the highlight. With its great, verging on poetic, working class warrior lyrics, and “hit single” appeal, this one is an instant classic. “Mickey Free” is another song begging for the “classic” tag, though it sounds different than anything else the band has ever done thanks to a peculiar and dark sounding chord progression. Speaking of different sounds, Hammerlock even incorporate keys into a couple of numbers, “California Highway” and “Houston, Dallas, San Antone.” In fact, on “Houston, Dallas, San Antone” (a cover of the David Allan Coe song), Hammerlock manage to cultivate a vibe not unlike that of the mellower portion of early/non-suck Rolling Stones, while still managing to sound like themselves. Incredible.

Without question, you will not get this amalgam of styles any better in 2004 (or any other year, for that matter) than you will on Compromise Is For Cowards. The only chance this album has of ever getting topped is when Hammerlock finally go in to cut the follow up release. If you haven’t hopped onboard before now, shame on you. Hammerlock are one of the best bands ever and you need all their albums, especially Compromise Is For Cowards. Another essential disc from these Coors swilling outlaws. Still the kings (and queen), just somehow moreso.
Uncle Dan’s House of smut
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Hammerlock/Limecell–Venom tribute split
Baloney Shrapnel 2003

For most of those into underground metal during the 80’s, Venom were the undisputed kings of all things heavy and evil. Black metal before black metal, Venom’s Motorhead-fuelled-by-Satan onslaught still holds up and is revered, to this day (rightly so). On this split 7″ between Hammerlock and Limecell, Venom are paid tribute in a fashion fitting legends. This is as it should be.

First up are Hammerlock with their take on the Venom classic “Die Hard.” Hammerlock’s lineup is different from normal here, with Tim Green of the Fucking Champs on guitar, Baloney Shrapnel founder Jeff Skipski on lead vox, and Travis stepping back from those slots to lend background vocals. The result is an incredibly reverent take on the song that doesn’t really sound like Hammerlock–there isn’t a trace of Southern rock or country & western to be found here. Normally, Hammerlock not sounding like themselves would be a bad thing but not in this particular case. This extended lineup lays “Die Hard” down in grand metal style. It couldn’t have been any other way.

On the other hand, Limecell do sound like themselves on their version of Venom’s “Buried Alive/Live Like An Angel, Die Like A Devil.” It’s awesome, because their Motorhead-tinged hardcore style fits this material to a tee. Metallic and driving but retaining all the slop and rawness you’d hope for from Limecell, this outing closes the split perfectly. To evil, indeed.

If you like Hammerlock and Limecell, you’ll need this split, no doubt. If you’re a Venom fan who isn’t familiar with either of these bands, it’s worth picking up, as well. These two groups do a great job respecting the material without offering up boring color-by-numbers takes of the songs. Plus, it’s a platter sure to serve as a nice appetizer before slapping on At War With Satan. You can’t go wrong.

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Hammerlock–American Asshole
Man’s Ruin 1998

Ultimately, time is the best test of a truly great album. Sometimes, music just doesn’t hold up well as years go by. In retrospect, Hammerlock’s debut full-length, American Asshole, is one of those albums that does actually stand the test of time. It’s as great a joy listening to it today as it was all those years ago.

On their first outing, Hammerlock mine the same punk/hard rock/Southern rock/country & western amalgam they’ve become the kings (and queen) of over time. That said, American Asshole can be divided into two halves. The first half of the album is culled from sessions laid down in June of 1997. This material hints at what was to come on the Anthems For Outlaws album, thanks to a bigger sounding production than with previous sessions. Then, there’s American Asshole’s second half, recorded in April of 1996. The production on these tracks is much more raw than on those newer sessions and the material more punk-leaning, though still melding all of Hammerlock’s stylistic elements. It all makes for not only a raucous listen, but an interesting one, as well. American Asshole highlights Hammerlock’s progression as a band perhaps better than any of their other releases, thanks to the obvious differences between these two sessions.

Material-wise, Hammerlock was delivering top-shelf stuff right from the start. Of the album’s slicker sounding first half, highlights would include “Take Me Down The Road,” with Liza’s double-tracked vocals creating an awesome effect. Also standing out would be “Golden Nugget” which sees Hammerlock coming off as the ultimate Southern rock version of Motorhead. As for the second half of the album, it’s too blisteringly great to try and pinpoint anything. This material is more level than what was on the first half (meaning not as varied in its subtleties) which, in effect, creates one sustained front of whoop-ass.

Any way you look at it, American Asshole is killer, killer, killer–front to back. As with all bands who truly rule, you need every damn thing Hammerlock ever lays to wax. So, if you ain’t got it, go get American Asshole. Listening to this stuff will never get old.

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Hammerlock/Rancid Vat–split 7″
Steel Cage 2003

When it’s for real, there are few things in this existence better than friendship. This split 7″ from Hammerlock and Rancid Vat stands as a monument to that fact. When this stuff hits your ears, there’s no doubt the mutual admiration is genuine.

Hammerlock kick things off here with their ode to Rancid Vat leader/writer extraordinaire Thee Whiskey Rebel. This version of “Whiskey Rebel” is the electric/full band one that appeared on the Barefoot & Pregnant album (the song originally popped up in a spare piano only form on Hammerlock’s second full-length, Anthems For Outlaws). It’s a real barnburner that’s sure to keep you rockin’ and drinkin’ all night long. This electric arrangement really suits the song well.

Rancid Vat fill out the split with their cut “Jobjumper.” If you’ve ever had a crappy job with a crappy boss where you felt like you were spending most of your time being crapped on, this song will speak to you. Even if you can’t relate to the track lyrically, this is top-shelf punk rock n’ roll which you should love–unless, of course, you suck.

Hopefully, you’re already familiar enough with both Hammerlock and Rancid Vat to know this 7″ is a can’t miss. If not, it should serve as a good sampler to the joy that can be had listening to the rest of each band’s music. These two groups compliment eachother perfectly and it all translates into a very successful split–one you need to own.
Uncle Dan House of Smut

By COURTNEY DEVORES Friday Aug 12th 2005
Special to the Observer
The Charlotte Observer www.charlotte.com

Rockers use tour to teach their kids

Hammerlock couple take children on tour and hit historic sites
With their tattoos and torn jeans, flag-waving, Coors-drinking Travis and Liza Kenney may look like the hardest couple to ever rock a biker bar, and as two-thirds of the San Francisco hard-rock trio Hammerlock, they are. But there’s more to guitarist/vocalist Travis and his bassist wife Liza than bar-fighting brutality. In fact Hammerlock, which includes drummer Mikey Kingshill, is a bit of contradiction.

Southern elements blare through the trio’s songs. Upon hearing 2005’s “Compromise is for Cowards,” you expect them to hail from Alabama or Texas instead of a liberal hotbed. In fact, Hammerlock has more in common with Charlotte’s Antiseen, with whom they share the stage at the Milestone tonight, than the Grateful Dead.

“I think it’s a love of that kind of music,” explained Travis of the group’s country and Southern-rock informed punk. “I had an older stepbrother who was a biker and loved Lynyrd Skynyrd. “I was raised on country music. I wasn’t allowed to listen to rock ‘n’ roll.

“I started getting into rock ‘n’ roll through Southern rock and kept going through punk,” the Colorado native continued, “but I keep coming back to Southern rock and country.”

Those genres come across through Travis’s lyrics, which are sometimes buried beneath a wall of distortion. Like the best country writers, he draws on working-class stories, whether the subject is growing marijuana or trying to feed a growing family.

Family and the blue-collar American experience is a recurring theme for Hammerlock. In fact, the Kenneys arranged the current East Coast tour around a historical sightseeing vacation for their children, ages 4 and 17.

“Tomorrow we’re going to see the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall,” Liza said last week during the family’s first night in Philadelphia. The White House and Ground Zero are also on their tour schedule.

“Some of the kids in my son’s class don’t know any bit of American history,” Liza said. “They don’t teach that much American history, so we teach it to them.”

“We’ve got the crazy rock ‘n’ roll thing, then we’ve got the family education thing,” Travis said. “It works out perfectly.” PREVIEW

Hammerlock

Band blasts out Southern rock behind country-style lyrics.

WHEN: 8 tonight.

WHERE: Milestone Club, 3400 Tuckaseegee Road.

TICKETS: $8.

DETAILS: www.themilestoneclub.com.

Mag links to left of page check um out

Hammerlock–Anthems For Outlaws
Man’s Ruin 2000

Many times, it’s difficult being a fan of real rock; facing sometimes endless seeming droughts between nourishing releases. This is not one of those times, listening to “Anthems For Outlaws” by Hammerlock. These folks have come along and tossed a proverbial bottle of Southern Comfort on the flickering torch of rock, shooting its flame straight up to heaven. God bless ‘em for it, too.

With unbeatable songs and more swagger than two truckloads of Southern belles in hotpants sporting ten foot high hair, Hammerlock are undoubtedly the new kings of Southern-fried, punkified rawk. Their sound falls somewhere between Nashville Pussy and the mighty Raging Slab; a nice punk edge but still very accessable.

In fact, at least half of these songs are among the best ever in this genre. Standout originals include “Cold Coors,” which is so rocking and catchy, you can’t imagine having ever lived without it. “Tennessee Whiskey,” with awesome vox from Liza Kenny, as raw and rocking as it is, comes out as one of the most beautiful love songs you’re likely to ever hear. Ditto for “California,” only from an equally as great male voice. Aw shucks, they’re all essential.

The real surprise of this album comes in the form of a cover version, though. Amazingly, Hammerlock covers the old standard “Battle Of New Orleans” and it works; big time. Their rendition of this song is one of the stompingest pieces of rock, ever. You will shake your head in dumbfounded disbelief at how great this is.

People who dig any of the aforementioned bands will need this album. So too will people who like their rock fun and busting with attitude. “Anthems For Outlaws” is truly a piece of imperfect perfection. Heck, the band name is even taken from a wrestling hold! Rock is alive and well. We owe a big piece of thanks for that to Hammerlock.

House of Smut

Hammerlock–Barefoot & Pregnant

My love for Hammerlock is well-documented. With
Barefoot & Pregnant, their follow-up to the amazing
Anthems For Outlaws album, not a damn thing has
changed about those feelings. This outing is a little
rawer sounding than last time and just as great.
Hammerlock are still like a harsher version of Raging
Slab–more likely to open your forehead up with a
spork a la Abdullah the Butcher. Typically great
originals are augmented by covers of Ernest Tubb,
Charlie Daniels, and Willie Nelson/Waylon Jennings
compositions. Barefoot & Pregnant rules and if you
don’t dig Hammerlock you probably suck. Sorry to be so
blunt but honesty is the best policy.

Score this CD directly from STEEL CAGE

House of Smut

HAMMERLOCK Barefoot & Pregnant (Steel Cage)

Still the best band making redneck rock, an Fran’s Travis Kenney, Elizabeth Kenney and Jamey Howell have discovered that running roughshod over Led Zeppelin and even rougher over country music is what makes a real gewgaw of a ho-down. And rough is the grizzly bear tooth of a word here, beginning with the bad-ass Bonham drum sound to the gnarly gutter vocals coming from deep inside Travis. Finishing things off is a bunch of buzzing electric geetar, including thick slide and boogie woogie badness. Three country covers are summarily kicked around the corner, landing somewhere between Raging Slab demos and II-era Metal Puppets, best being Charlie Daniels’ ‘Long Haired Country Boy’ which sounds like Rust Never Sleeps by the time the wattage is through with it. Pretty much interesting and rocking all the way through

8.0 Martin Popoff Brave Word’s and Bloody Knuckles

Bravewords.com

 

 

 

 

HAMMERLOCK Anthems For Outlaws (Man’s Ruin)

Man, I gotta stop playing this thing over and over again and get some other stuff heard and reviewed. But I can’t, because redneck rock rules my porch reet now. First it was Amercian Dog’s debut a hunnerd times, then Nashville Pussy, but now this second from a San Fran man and wife team of all things! A shot of this and you’ll be off waving your arms into the woods after your mangy mutt after a skunk, you drunk. What makes it work is this: there’s 20 very different songs, including a bikered up, liquored up stomp through ‘Battle Of New Orleans’, ‘Cold Coors’ which lifts Bob Seger’s ‘Old Time Rock ‘n’ Roll’, punk, blues, slide, barrelhouse cowpunk, nods to Foghat, Raging Slab, Agony Column, Four Horsemen, basically Nashville Pussy cow-prodded with the succinct sphincters of the Minutemen, the drooling wobble-lips of The Replacements and the supercharged windmill guitars of Husker Du. Now let’s not have a million bands like this please. Leave it in the hands of a special few (and this big red truck trio are indeed, right some special). We all saw what happened to stoner rock…

9.0 Martin Popoff Brave words and Bloody Knuckles