VIA PRESS RELEASE | Hamell on Trial, the musical alias of New York-based poet and folk punk hero Ed Hamell, is set to release Choochtown (20th Anniversary Edition) on July 19th via New West Records.
The deluxe edition of the album has been remastered from the original tapes and will be available on vinyl for the first time. Choochtown (20th Anniversary Edition) features 11 previously unreleased bonus tracks including the original basement recording sessions produced by Billy Nicgorski (Black Rebel Motorcycle Club) which offer a raw, new perspective of the songs that made the final record. Uncut magazine in the UK named Choochtown their #6 “Best Album of the Year,” stating “This album’s rough-edged enough to make Limp Bizkit sound like the Cocteau Twins.”
Of Choochtown (20th Anniversary Edition), Hamell offers, “20 Years! Wonderful to know that Choochtown still holds up, continues to roam the streets at midnight, spray painting slogans of rebellion on corporate store fronts. Really proud of this beautiful package New West is releasing for the 20th anniversary—and I certainly called it with Uncle Morris huh? For those of you that champion the disenfranchised, the square pegs in the round holes, those gazing from the shores of sanity and witnessing the tides of hatred and facism slithering closer to the sands, Bobby, Chooch, Nancy and all the gang down in Choochtown that refuse to be blown to the dusts of oblivion want to buy you a drink. They welcome you…and on shocking pink vinyl no less!”
Today, Glide magazine has premiered both the remastered, studio version of “Bobby Comes Down” as well as the previously unheard bonus track “Bobby Comes Down (Nicgorski Basement Outtakes). They state, “With loose-limbed musicianship maneuvering along with a righteous fury, Hamell on Trial remains one of rock’s most underrated DIY voices.”
Armed with a battered 1937 Gibson acoustic guitar that he amplifies mightily and strums like a machine gun, a politically astute mind that can’t stop moving, and a mouth that can be profane one minute and profound the next, Hamell’s caustic wit and devil-may-care attitude has long been a favorite of anti-establishment icons Aesop Rock, Kimya Dawson, Ani DiFranco and the critical elite. Rolling Stone called him “Bald, bold and superbad!” while Henry Rollins said “Hamell is a one man rock show!”
He has been described as “Bill Hicks, Hunter S. Thompson, and Joe Strummer all rolled into one” by Philadelphia Weekly and a “one man Tarantino flick: loud, vicious, luridly hilarious, gleefully and deeply offensive” by the Village Voice. His performances invoke thoughts of the great, rebellious satirists and social commentators of the past: Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor, and Bill Hicks. There’s no way around his obscenity but in that is a willingness to fight for the free thinkers of the world.
Choochtown (20th Anniversary Edition) will be available on compact disc, across digital retailers, and pink vinyl. It is available for pre-order now via New West Records.
Hamell On Trial, Choochtown (20th Anniversary Edition) Track Listing:
1. Go Fuck Yourself
2. When Bobby Comes Down
3. Hamell’s Ramble
4. I’m Gonna Watch You Sleep
5. Uncle Morris
6. Disconnected
7. Nancy’s Got A New Boyfriend
8. Choochtown
9. Shout Outs
10. The Lottery
11. The Long Drive
12. Judy
13. Joe Brush
14. The Mall
15. Bill Hicks (Ascension)
16. Bill Hicks
17. Nancy’s Got A New Boyfriend (Nicgorski Basement Outtakes)
18. The Mall (Nicgorski Basement Outtakes)
19. Hamell’s Ramble (Nicgorski Basement Outtakes)
20. Choochtown (Nicgorski Basement Outtakes)
21. Bobby Comes Down (Nicgorski Basement Outtakes)
22. Uncle Morris (Nicgorski Basement Outtakes)
23. Nancy’s Got A New Boyfriend (Nicgorski Basement Outtakes Version 2)
24. Bobby Comes Down (Nicgorski Basement Outtakes Version 2)
25. Joe Brush (Nicgorski Basement Outtakes)
26. The Lottery (Nicgorski Basement Outtakes)
27. Hamell’s Ramble (Nicgorski Basement Outtakes Version 2)
