The Akron Sound by Calvin C. Rydbom

Author:Calvin C. Rydbom
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing Inc.
Published: 2018-03-16T16:00:00+00:00

A flier for some upcoming Hammer Damage shows. The “Featuring Allison Crowley” note was because she was a guitarist from New York City and therefore “special.” Courtesy of Dick Robbins.

From 2011, the original four members along with Kal Mullens playing at Jilly’s Music Room. Courtesy of the “Akron Sound” Museum.

Today, when they do the occasional gig (but don’t call it a reunion, especially around Damage), it’s the original four plus Mullens. In their minds, the band never really broke up. Sure, they stopped playing out, but that was more because spouses, careers and kids started taking precedent. That’s one of the reasons they don’t like calling any of their gigs that happen every few years “reunions.”

Most of them still play. Mullens and Cabaniss have a band called the Bad Dudes that will release a CD soon. Damage has become much more involved in straight-ahead blues bands the last four years, and Hammer is down in Atlanta playing in some high-energy country rock bands, including one with some folks who were involved with the Georgia Satellites, who went to number two in 1986 with “Keep Your Hands to Yourself.”

I wouldn’t at all be surprised to see them playing out again someday soon, especially since they never broke up.

Band Primer

Hammer Damage put very few songs on record, but you can find several either on bootleg or video recordings if you look. Hammer felt that they never recorded well, as the energy they had as a live unit just didn’t transmit to the studio. More likely, as with a lot of high-energy bands, they tried to be too precise or perfect in the studio and lost that live dynamic they had in the process. According to Hammer, there are actually a lot of tapes they did at After Dark Studios in Parma, Ohio, out there somewhere, but they simply aren’t worthy of being released, in his mind, so they never have.

The only thing that has been released was the single “Automatic Lips.” Cabaniss’s solo about a minute and a half into “Laugh” is just blistering, especially for a punk song. The attitude, the tone of Damage’s vocals, is so punk, but the band seems to be hard rockers. “Automatic Lips” is a little more melodic, but it has no less of a punk and hard rock mesh. The single is still available, and it’s a must-have for those fans of early 1980s punk and hard rock.

“Noise Pollution” can be found on the Clone Records release Bowling Balls from Hell. It isn’t the same kind of song as the other two released tracks, but it gives you an idea of what the band was about.

Some songs are only available as a bootleg, like “4-4 Time,” written by Cabaniss as a riff-reliant rocker. It’s a great song that only a lead guitarist would write. Stiv Bators covered it later, and both versions are worth listening to.

“Mercenary Love” by Winkler is a lot more high-energy power pop that starts out with an amazing intro by Hammer. “Public Guy” by Damage is a lot harder to find but nonetheless enjoyable.

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