Hillstomp is a duo out of Portland, Oregon making raw, passionate, exuberant music. They’ve been known to cover songs by Muddy Waters, R. L. Burnside, and Rainey Burnette; their slide-guitar and homemade percussion certainly betray a debt to past masters from Mississippi, Texas, and Chicago.
Guitarist/vocalist Henry Kammerer admits to a love for the late Hank Williams. But we oughtn’t be too quick to call this roots music, as though Kammerer and percussionist John Johnson are revivalists or minstrels. Their music goes well with suds and a dance floor, but they’re no “bar band.”
While revivalists concern themselves with authenticity, Hillstomp melds old and new by playing from the heart with found objects, building a sound from the environment in which they operate. And though bar bands maintain a façade of perpetual partying, that perpetual partying follows the boys in Hillstomp because their music inspires celebration.
Their mission, if they cop to having one, is to spread the joy of music. Their most recent release, The Woman That Ended the World, is a raucous mix of covers, originals, and re-tooled traditionals, played without pretense on an ever-evolving homemade drum kit and acoustic slide guitar.
Kammerer is the type of friendly, unassuming man with whom it’s so easy to converse that it feels almost impolite to trouble him with questions. He was more than game, though, and the two of us were soon enthusing about Hillstomp’s past, present, and future.
So what have you boys been up to?
Well, we’ve been taking a few months off. We’re rehearsing some new material … actually, we’re mastering a live record. We should be selling that at shows by spring, but we probably won’t have it on sale online anytime soon. Also, we’re going to Italy in June.
Have you ever been?
No, no. We played in Ireland and England. It went really well. There’s a resurgence in interest in the music we play over there that’s like what’s happening here. Except they like music that’s NOT necessarily the same as what it’s supposed to be reviving, which works out well for us. We’re sort of accidental revivalists.
What is it like mastering a live show?
Well, in the studio, you want to make everything sound as perfect as possible. With a live show, there’s the background noise and crowd reaction that you want to leave in without letting it overpower the music. The flaws are there, and they’re part of the performance.
Is it fair to say that there’s a country influence in your music?
Oh, sure. I don’t like to cite too many influences, but I’ll always love Hank Williams. We love Lucero. [I like country music] if it strikes me as being genuine … If I see a guy with a tank top, a cowboy hat, and a washboard stomach, it’s a surefire sign that it’s gonna be crap (laughs).
Tell me about the makeup and history of the homemade drum kit.
John [Johnson] wasn’t a drummer; he was a bass player in a rock band. So when we were trying things out, he picked up a pickle barrel. And that was what we had for a while. We added a film can recently. It was a barbecue lid at one time. I think it’s less about aesthetic than about sound. We kind of use whatever’s around.
Do you think that authenticity has more to do with using resources than with region, race, or fealty to some specific structure?
Definitely. I think – and this may be different from what you’re saying – that “authenticity” is about being able to let what’s around you in and being able to let what’s inside you out.
You’ve said in other interviews that the blues need to grow and evolve. At what point does it evolve to where it’s not blues anymore?
Well, it already became rock and roll once, right? I don’t know what it’ll become.
I think music is like a shark. It has to keep moving, or it’s gonna die. A lot of bar bands talk about trying to imitate old masters, and that’s fine. But I don’t hear a lot of soul, a lot of real emotion in a lot of those bands. I see people making faces that they don’t really feel, it’s all put on – there’s not a lot of emotion behind it.
So whatever. Blues, rock and roll … Call it anything. People want to emote, and music’s the best way to [do] it. It’s the best way I’ve ever found, anyway. People want to dance, and celebrate, and share experiences. It has to happen organically.
– Lyam White