INTERVIEW: Tune in for ‘Rock N’ Roll Radio’ with Nine Pound Hammer
Image courtesy of Cleopatra Records / Provided by Glass Onyon PR with permission.
Kentucky rock band Nine Pound Hammer, who have cornered the market on the cowpunk sound, are back with a new album of cover tunes. The Cleopatra Records release, which is now available on CD, vinyl and digital platforms, finds the rockers giving credit to the bands and songs that influenced them in the 1970s and 1980s. The new album features renditions of everything from “Gimme Shelter” by the Rolling Stones to “California Man” by Cheap Trick. They even offer an alternate take of their own hit song “Run Fat Boy Run!”
“We loved doing it,” said Nine Pound Hammer vocalist Scott Luallen in a recent phone interview. “I got to do some songs I’ve always wanted to do. We’re happy with it. We want to do another one.”
The project began when Cleopatra Records approached the band and asked for a covers album. The members of Nine Pound Hammer were able to choose the songs, and since they are children of the 1970s, they leaned on that decade for inspiration. They grew up listening to Cheap Trick, Kiss, the Ramones and the Sex Pistols.
“Absolutely wanted to pay homage to our heroes and just get to play some songs that I always wanted to do,” Luallen said. “Like ‘2000 Man,’ I’ve always loved the Kiss version, the one Ace Frehley does on Dynasty, which is a 1980 record that not a lot of people like, but that’s a great version. And we get to do ‘California Man.’ You know, Cheap Trick is a top 10 band of all time for us. It’s just a lot of fun.”
The covers on Rock N’ Roll Radio are dripping with that cowpunk sound that has become the brand of Nine Pound Hammer, but Luallen also said they are not that far off the originals. The one song that has been changed the most is Judas Priest’s “Heading Out to the Highway.”
“”We played it as best we could and sang it best we could,” he said. “Some are easier to do than others. Like doing Judas Priest, I’m no Rob Halford, but we tried and kind of punked it up a little bit.”
Luallen added this about his early influences: “When the Sex Pistols came out, I mean our AM radio station was playing ‘God Save the Queen’ because it was such a novelty thing. We were listening to the Ramones. I was more of a mixed bag. It was Ramones, Kiss, Judas Priest, Ted Nugent, Aerosmith. It all kind of blended together, whatever had loud, aggressive guitars. When the Ramones were introduced and the Sex Pistols, that kind of changed the trajectory. It’s funny because I stayed more metal rock. Blaine [Cartwright] was off into Lou Reed, Springsteen. He famously wrote a review bashing AC/DC in our high school newspaper, but now AC/DC is his favorite band. And now he loves Van Halen. We wanted to do a Van Halen [tune], but it’s just too hard to play.”
Nine Pound Hammer have been playing a few of the cover versions for live crowds. They have performed “2000 Man” and “California Man” live, and when they played a recent outlaw country festival in Holland, they brought the Stones’ “Gimme Shelter.”
“We can go cowpunk, we can go punk,” he said. “We’re pretty flexible. We’re trying to work up ‘Heading Out to the Highway,’ ‘Down, Down’ and the Thin Lizzie song ‘Are You Ready.’ We’re trying to learn as many as we can.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Nine Pound Hammer’s new album is called Rock N’ Roll Radio. It’s now available on CD, vinyl and digital platforms from Cleopatra Records. Click here for more information.
