Bodyhammer
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| Record Labels: | Ancient Order Of Assassins, Noise Pollution | ||
| Started By: | Andy Schanie, Mike Harpring, Corey Lyons | ||
| Based In: | Louisville | ||
| Largest show: | 300+ | ||
| Last show: | Atlanta, GA, May 2002 | ||
| Reunion show: | September 13, 2008 | ||
| Number of Members: | 9 | ||
Fuck Mike Harpring! Just kidding. Bodyhammer was not only a lineup-changing machine, they were a noisy, screamy, sometimes chaotic hardcore band in the late 90s that was kind of Born-Against-ish (in fact they covered "Mary and Child"). They did two east coast tours (1999 + 2000). In their time they played shows with the Locust, Creation is Crucifiction, Catharsis, Converge, Isis, Majority Rule, Mastodon, Murder City Devils and many more. Not that any of that matters...
The band began in 1997 as a three piece with Mike Harpring, Corey Lyons and Andy Schanie.
In 1998 (?) Thommy Browne expressed interest in playing drums for the band, the trio gave it a shot and the 'Hammer was forever changed for the better. Mike temporarily moved to bass, until he moved back to drums with the departure of Thommy. William Benton took over bass duties. The migration of Andy from bass/vocals to just vocals gave the band an added dynamic that in many ways defined their live shows and reputation for going off.
In the fall of 1999 Corey left for Antioch College, and the band was left in flux. He returned in the summer of 2000 and began to show Eric Young the ropes so he could replace him on guitar. The two hit it off and Corey quickly changed his summer plans in order to stay in Louisville and rock out with Bodyhammer. This led to a second east coast tour and the only full length album Bodyhammer officially released, Die Young Amplifiers. At the end of the summer Corey returned to Antioch, and thus laid the groundwork for a series of lineup changes that brought Chris Payne, Dave Cundiff and Brian Foor into the fold. The lineup changes lasted until the band finally called it quits in 2002, before the band could release another record that had already been recorded. Oddly enough, Corey filled in for Eric for two of Bodyhammer's last shows, in Nashville and Atlanta in May of 2002. A brief video is available at http://teamabunai.org/videos/bodyhammer.mov
A reunion show occurred September 13, 2008 at the Rudyard Kipling as part of William Benton's wedding (Seaside Panel, Tyrone reunited as well and Lucky Pineapple also performed). Harpring returned for most of the songs while Mike Clifford filled in on the rest. Corey Lyons and Dave Cundiff manned the guitars, and the set concluded with the original trio performing Gasoline.
Bodyhammer has reunited once again in 2002 and 2003 as part of the Plunder Over Louisville show series, and may reunite further, this time with the promise of some previously unreleased songs and potentially all new material.
Members:
- Mike Harpring - bass/drums
- Andy Schanie - vocals/bass
- Corey Lyons - guitar
- Thommy Browne - drums
- William Benton - bass
- Eric Young - guitar
- Chris Payne - guitar
- David Cundiff - guitar
- Mike Clifford - drums (Reunion show)
Releases:
- s/t cassette (Ancient Order Of Assassins)
- Live cassette (Noise Pollution)
- Die Young Amplifiers (Noise Pollution)
- Lost Songs - digital (2021)
Unreleases:
- So It Goes (Recorded and mixed but never officially released.)
Compilations:
Shirts/Merch:
- there were some, I'm sure...
Also Known As:
From http://louisvillenoise.com/v2/bands/bodyhammer.htm : Bodyhammer was formed by Andy Schanie, Mike Harpring and Corey Lyons in the Spring of 1998. With this three piece lineup in place, Bodyhammer began playing out and recorded a great, raw sounding demo cassette at an after hours recording session at WHAS televsion studios. The band went on to become a fixture in Louisville's punk/hardcore scene despite frequent reshuffling of the band's lineup. In the Fall of 1999, with college looming for Corey, the band's future was uncertain. The situation was stabilized with the addition of William Benton (aka Ben) on bass and Eric Young on second guitar. This lineup went on to do some touring and record their debut, "Die Young Amplifiers." More lineup changes followed the release of the CD including, most significantly, the departure of founding member Mike Hapring. Bodyhammer almost immediately began moving away from hardcore/punk toward a sound more infused with noise and experimentation. They went on to do more out of town shows and to record an album of their new material before Ben bowed out in the Summer of 2002 causing Bodyhammer to call it a day.
Links
Audio/Video