Art by Sarah Fenerty
It’s Hamstank’s fantasy, we’re just living it. At least that’s the case when you tune into the Somerville-based musician and producer’s tunes, especially his 2018 EP Rise of the Giant King. On Friday, May 31st, he will release World On Fire, a follow-up EP that continues the story and themes laid down in its predecessor. His work is influenced by the fantasy genre, so if you’re looking to fill the disappointing void left by Game of Thrones, you might be in the right place.
As a producer, he’s got credits under his belt in an array of genres, but he’s found a home among HipStory, the local art and music collective spearheaded by Cliff Notez. Hamstank has worked has produced for HipStory members including Cliff, Oompa, and VQnC. “It was fate,” he says of getting connected with the crew. “I was working out of Brockton at the Sound Lab, a music education studio. I met Latrell James there, we hit it off, and I set him up with a guitarist he needed for a gig. The guitarist didn’t have a license, so I drove him to the gig. Turns out, it as HipStory House Party, and I talked to Cliff after. By my third house party I went to, I was doing sound for them. Didn’t even plan for it, but I welcomed this lovely surprise.
Hamstank describes his own music as something treading the line between singer-songwriter emo and airy hip-hop, with a dash of metal thrown in. With the allegorical narrative at play among the breezy arpeggiated guitar licks on RotGK and “Infinity Stoned,” you can even hear a bit of Coheed & Cambria’s influence. He adopts different mentalities when shifting between the roles of artist and producer. “Hamstank is like… time to get weird. He’s not even of this realm. When I’m producing for others, I’m just listening more than anything else. To what they’re telling me, to what they need.” For example, when HipStory rapper Forté comes to work, they listen to demos, then try to figure out how to build out the sounds more to create the finished product.
Hamstank in his new studio space in Somerville. Photo by Tory Corless.
On Rise of the Giant King, Hamstank crafted a narrative around the return of an ancient entity to the world. As the EP’s Bandcamp description reads:
1000 years ago existed an evil force bent on destroying the human race. Through divine intervention and the heroes of old, the evil was banished to eternal slumber. The seals imprisoning this foul beast begin to weaken. An introspective tale of loneliness, mental illness, and depression; the Giant King will rise once more.
“I love epic, high fantasy. How else can you talk about the world if you’re living in it? When you’re in this fantasy realm, that’s how you can take yourself away and look at things from a different perspective.” Like the best fantasy writing, Hamstank’s depiction of the Giant King – while magical, eldritch, and beyond what is possible in our reality – is rooted in real world problems. Throughout his work, there is a focused eye turned onto mental health issues; the Giant King represents the combined magnitude of all of the world’s griefs, pain, anxiety, depression, that often unshakable self-doubt and false belief that we are not good enough. While Hamstank is never heavy-handed when painting this picture, it’s a really scary concept to visualize: the sum of our grief taking physical form in this ancient behemoth whose rise ushers in a new age of despair. “The ability to use fantasy as a vehicle to talk about issues in our society today is what Rise of the Giant King was for me.”
He explains the concept a little more at length. “There are so many weird things working together to make the entity Giant King. I put it to music because I don’t have the words for it. RotGK is about this person witnessing this mythical beast coming back to life, warning everyone, nobody believing them, casting them off as crazy. Similar to what I’ve seen with people close to me being diagnosed with schizophrenia.” Much like the misconceptions surrounding – and even disregard for – mental health issues, the Giant King nonetheless rears his head, and prophecy comes true. If anything, the ignorance deployed to the issue makes its arrival even more marked and potent. It’s the mythological precedent set by Cassandra.
But – as it goes in these fantasy worlds – heroes rise up to vanquish evil, and this is where World On Fire will pick up. “I didn’t even realize what I had done: this is the conclusion to the Giant King saga. It’s about climbing a mountain. I didn’t realize until after that the whole arc was in my head. I thought I wasn’t going to do the follow-up, but I tricked myself.” He explains that where RotGK was about acknowledging your demons, World On Fire is about confronting them. And that’s how you overcome grief, isn’t it? To face it head-on, stare it in the eyes, and refuse its sovereign rule over your world. Grief is an ancient force; throughout history we’ve been turning to music to channel that grief into something beautiful, something magical. “It’s about learning to live with who you are. You are a strong person. You do what you can in your situation. Even if its’ three steps forward, it’s three steps forward.”
This new EP comes at a perfect time for an energized Hamstank, too; he’s just set up a new studio space in Somerville, within the New Alliance facility that recently opened up at the beginning of May. New Alliance is home to a professional recording and production studio, as well as offshoot workspaces for local artists, including musicians, photographers, graphic designers, and more.
Hamstank got in contact with the organization through his work producing for VQnC’s latest release Freedom after Nick at New Alliance took up mastering work for the project. “I’m too hands on sometimes; I have to attend the mastering sessions. It was in Nick’s home studio. I loved his vibe; he’s really energetic.” Up until its opening, the entire space had been under renovation to create the multi-room plan that exists now. “He told me how he was building a new space, and I had been looking for one. I came here, and it looked nothing like this.” He looks around with pride at the setup he’s established for himself. “It came out even better than I expected.”
World On Fire drops this Friday via Bandcamp; check out the lead single “Infinity Stoned” below.