Local musician Joel Hamilton’s record teleports listeners to a happy place
by Miranda Steadman | Contributing Writer
Immediately returning home from touring alongside American folk duo Shovels and Rope, local musician Joel Hamilton of Mechanical River is flying off to Kauai to tour with his friend and fellow musician Jeff Caldwell, who lived in Hawaii for nine years, and has lined up gigs awaiting them there.
Native to the Holy City, Hamilton grew up surrounded by Christian music. His parents played music both at home and in their church. Hamilton’s mother was a pianist, while his father played guitar. The first instrument Hamilton learned to play was percussion, which he played for his audition to be accepted into Charleston School of the Arts in 6th grade. Eventually, he learned to play the saxophone and even played guitar in the jazz band. But Hamilton found himself drawn to Christian Punk music.
“Those were my earliest memories of being really excited about music as a kid, says Hamilton, recalling the music label Tooth & Nail Records, which was big in the early ’90s punk and hardcore music scene. In high school, he performed with punk rock bands and played saxophone in a Ska band. According to Hamilton, the Charleston band Jump, Little Children, influenced him greatly with its unique sound, which unexpectedly featured the cello.
The Working Title was an early band from Hamilton that achieved some regional success and even toured with Counting Crows, Our Lady Peace, and the Goo Goo Dolls.
Later on, while touring in Europe, Hamilton found himself hopping trains and busking in Germany, Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands with a cigar box guitar. His travels served as great inspiration and he wrote the Mechanical River song “Pomelos” after carrying a large citrus fruit that he believed was an orange in his backpack while hiking in Spain. During a tranquil rest on the trail, Joel bit into the bitter fruit and regretted his mistake.
“My face turned inside out,” he says with a chuckle.
An avid nature lover, Hamilton also recalls the time when he was chased by a bear with his Baratto while visiting local musician and promoter Eddie White’s swamp house on the Echaw Creek in Berkeley County.
Hamilton has traveled around the world with that cigar box guitar, which was made by famed guitar maker Matty Baratto, whose instruments are owned and played by former Beatle Paul McCartney and actor Johnny Depp, among others.
When not traveling or playing music, Hamilton is probably out in nature or writing.
“Writing is therapeutic and cathartic in similar ways that playing music is,” Hamilton says. “It is an outlet for whatever I’m feeling at that time,” says Hamilton, whose latest album Parts Work teleports the listener to a happy place with an ethereal sound and lyrics that allude to Hamilton’s travels.
Vinyl copies of Parts Work are available at Jack Of Cups Trading Post, located at 915 Folly Road. Also, Hamilton will perform live on Sunday, June 21, at Chico Feo, along with local drummer Stratton Moore.
