Page Hamilton

Page Hamilton (born May 18, 1960 in Portland, Oregon) is a guitarist, singer and record producer, mostly noted for his work with alternative metal band Helmet. Most of his work has been in the heavy metal or hard rock styles, but Hamilton, who was trained in jazz guitar, has also worked in other genres.

Biography

Raised in Medford, Oregon, Hamilton moved to New York to study jazz guitar in the early 1980s. While there, he "discovered distortion" and worked with composer Glenn Branca. Hamilton then joined Band of Susans for their Love Agenda album, after which he started Helmet.

Helmet recorded four albums in the 1990s: Strap It On, Meantime, Betty, and Aftertaste. They had moderate chart success, with their last three albums reaching the Billboard top 100, but difficulty keeping his bandmates together caused them to disband in early 1998. After Helmet split up, Hamilton started Gandhi, and toured with David Bowie. About this time he recorded with Ben Neill.

He recorded Zulutime (duets with Caspar Brötzmann), played guitar on Ben Neill's Goldbug and Joe Henry's Trampoline, and wrote some music for the movie Heat. Hamilton has also made appearances on "Unbeliever" by Therapy?, "No, You Don't" by Nine Inch Nails, and "God Forbid" by P.O.D..

In 2003, Hamilton and Charlie Clouser recorded the song "Throwing Punches" for the movie soundtrack, Underworld, which marks the first time the song was credited as a Page Hamilton track - mainly because it was about to be released as part of his "solo" album. However, when Hamilton restarted Helmet with an altered line-up in 2004, the song was released as part of the band's comeback album Size Matters.

In 2004, Hamilton contributed to a KISS tribute album 'Spin the Bottle - An All-Star Tribute to KISS' with the song 'Calling Dr. Love'.

In 2005, Hamilton contributed to 'The Ultimate Tribute Album to Metallica', with the song 'Motorbreath' with Scott Ian of Anthrax.

On 18 July 2006, Helmet, with further lineup changes, released their second post-reunion album, Monochrome.

Hamilton has also been involved in music production, most notably producing "Distort Yourself" by Gavin Rossdale's band Institute, Bullets and Octane's second album, In The Mouth Of The Young, released in 2006, and the Classic Case album Losing at Life.

During the 2008 tour of Australia, Hamilton told fans that he was going to work on a new Helmet album with the band over the next 18 months. Their latest album, Seeing Eye Dog, was released on September 7, 2010.

In 2008, Hamilton co-wrote, recorded guest vocals and guitar on the Norma Jean album entitled The Anti Mother. He is featured on the eighth track titled "Opposite of Left and Wrong."

Recently, Hamilton was featured on P.O.D.'s album When Angels & Serpents Dance.

Equipment

Guitars

Hamilton has been a major endorser of ESP Guitars since the early 1990s, and is best known for playing ESP Horizon guitars with a Wilkinson Tremolo, Sperzel locking tuners, and DiMarzio Airzone pickups. It is also reported at Guitar Geek that Hamilton has used Paul Reed Smith guitars. Daniel Johns of Silverchair recorded Freak Show with a green Paul Reed Smith guitar which used to belong to Hamilton and still owns the instrument.

In 2006, ESP announced that they were producing a new Page Hamilton Signature model. This signature model differs from most standard ESP Guitars in that it uses DiMarzio pickups rather than Seymour Duncan's or EMG's.

In 2009, ESP announced an updated Page Hamilton Signature model guitar. The guitar is modeled after Page's original Custom-Shop Magenta ESP Horizon. The guitar comes with a distressed Magenta finish from the factory to emulate the original guitar's road wear and character, and is loaded with a single DiMarzio Air Zone pickup.

Page Hamilton's current tour guitars:

• ESP Horizon Custom "Magenta" - This has been Hamilton's main tour guitar since the mid 90s. It has a magenta finish with black nickel hardware. [1]
• ESP Page Hamilton Signature I - Hamilton's original signature model. It has an aluminum finish. The guitar features an alder body, ebony fretboard, black nickel hardware and DiMarzio Air Zone pickups. Hamilton takes 2 or 3 of these guitars on tour; one as a backup. [2]
• ESP Page Hamilton MG - Hamilton's new signature model. New for 2009, it is based on his ESP Horizon Custom. It is magenta on an alder body with a "relic" finish, to create a "worn out" look. [3]

In an interview with Guitar Edge, Hamilton spoke about a version of his original ESP Horizon Custom from the 1980s:

We released a version of my original ESP Horizon Custom from the late ’80s, complete with distressed magenta finish. It has a neck-thru body design with a Floyd Rose bridge, Gotoh tuners, and the Air Zone pickup designed for me by Steve Blucher at DiMarzio. The quality is outstanding and I am proud to have my name on these instruments. As for other gear, I still use my trusty 100-watt Ultra Lead heads designed by Steve Fryette as well as a couple of Bradshaw rigs. I am very fond of Tech 21’s XXL and Double Drive, as well as the TC Electronic 2290 and anything by Boss, and I use D’Addario strings.^[1]

Amplifiers & Cabinets

In the early days of Helmet, for amplification Hamilton used a complex setup including a Marshall head and Harry Kolbe Preamps and Speakers. Today, Hamilton now endorses and uses Fryette amplifiers.

Page Hamilton's current tour equipment:

• Fryette Valvulator
• Fryette Pittbull Ultra Lead Amplifier (x3)
• Fryette 4x12 Cabinets
• Custom Audio Electronics RS-10 Custom Audio Controller
• Digitech Whammy
• Z.Vex Fuzz Factory
• Boss RV-3 Digital Delay

References

External links

• Helmet's Official Website
• ESP's Page Hamilton Signature Model
• Page Hamiltons's Guitar Rig
• Page Hamilton's IMDB Page