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THE TERRORISM OF EVERYDAY LIFE

by HAMELL ON TRIAL

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  • Hamell not only records music, performs live, does independent writing, he also paints. All of the images below, and many you see as the accompanying artwork on the digital releases, are Hamell paintings. These vary in size and price, but are all acrylic on canvas. Hamell paints scenes inspired by the 'underground' and 'disenfranchised' of our society. Ed uses bold and bright colors in his paintings which contrast the darker subject matter, championing the underclass, drawing you into the characters he depicts, endearing you to them and sparking emotions one might not anticipate.Hamell is also available for specific painting commissions. For serious inquiries to purchase Hamell original art contact Emily at hamelltv@gmail.com
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1.
AN ATTITUDE 02:55
2.
JOHN LENNON 03:27
True story, in eighth grade I was short, had glasses and a squeaky ass voice that refused to change. Two things dominated my thoughts: James Cartino and John Lennon. Cartino I came in contact with daily, in gym class where he beat the shit out of me at every opportunity...Lennon I came in contact with in my wildest dreams. In 1971 John Lennon spent a week in my hometown of Syracuse NY. Yoko gave an exhibition at a museum there. Some friends of mine skipped school and got hired to do odd jobs for her. I'd tell them of my day of Cartino poundings and they'd tell me about their day with John and Yoko, I was envious as hell. My friends told me there was to be a private party and I begged them to let me in. They were skeptical but agreed. I outside the museum for about eight hours, I had to piss real bad but I didn't dare leave. At about midnight the back door opened and I snuck in, I couldn't believe my luck, I'd be invisible, I'd watch, I'd wait. The room was dark and crowded. I saw Allen Ginsberg and some others I recognized but no John and Yoko. After an hour I felt I could make a much needed trip to the men's room. I made my way through the crowd, entered a hallway, took a few steps and saw Lennon approaching. A group from the party had targeted him and from behind me they rushed. I was carried as if in slow motion, straight as a bullet, closer, closer until my chest slammed into Lennon's. John Lennon looked down at me and barked, "Fuck off!". It sucked to be me, I hit the restroom. The hometown buzz from Lennon's visit lasted a month for me, of course it lasted longer. Cartino thrashed me the following Monday but it didn't seem to hurt as much...something had changed for all my life. I didn't cry when Lennon was murdered, I was angry and bewildered, I respected him so much I may even have felt guilty. Last year, while getting my baggage at LaGuardia Airport I found myself next to his son Sean. Tall, handsome like his father, with his mother's beautiful eyes, the son Lennon never got to see become a man. And now that I'm a father I understand this more than ever, it was then I noticed I was crying.
3.
FOLK MASS 01:03
4.
When you are young, when you are young, when you are young you should have nothing more than fun! You should ravish every lover, you should swim in every gutter, you should torment every mother when you're young. When you are young, when you are young, when you are young you should have nothing more than fun! you should snort until the sunrise, bleed through the whites of your eyes, you should never pause to disguise when you're young. When you are old, when you are old when you are old a thousand stories to be told. Learning how to flop right, running every stop light, making every cop fight when you're young. Now when I was 21 I had little time for fun, balancing the college with the band. Driving home one day, I saw along my way, two hitchhikers i picked up in my van. Oh, it seemed so very silly, they kept on saying 'chilly', instead saying 'cool' that was their word. Chilly that and chilly this, chilly hit and chilly miss, it seemed the oddest thing I'd ever heard. well, out came the cannabis, and let me tell you this, they rolled a joint ads bog as a Redwood tree, a shotgun on the menu, barely got them to their venue, lost in the cloud of smoke that consumed me. I was so high I was chilly blind, I almost lost my chilly mind, but I got them to the place they had to stay, I said "thanks boys it was chilly, but you nearly chilly killed me and I want you to have a chilly, chilly, day!" When you are young, when you are young, when you are young you should have nothing more than fun! you should dance until the dawn, on the hotel lawn, all your clothes are gone when you're yound. Now at 4 A.M. you lack, that substance known as crack, you've been smoking for three days and you are blind. And you fall down on your knees, scan the carpet and say, "Please! Just one more rock I'll leave it all behind!"...Well you know that it is gone, but then you stumble on, a small rock, how could you have missed it? Your heart goes patter pitter, you know it's kitty litter but you put it in your pipe you can't resist it. Now God has pressing matters the Middle East is in tatters and storms have washed cities down the drain, but you've been good all year, could he just see his way clear, to turn that litter into rock cocaine? And as you bend the flame, you call to God by name, "Lord God on high have you got my back?" Because in your fevered mind he's turned water into wine now could he just perform the miracle of the crack? When you're young, when you're young, when you're young you should have nothing more than fun! Never doubting you can fly, never pause to wonder why, never thinking you will die when you're young! I was trading toasts, on the Florida coast with a friend who told me quite the tale...although the fish weren't biting, he had an unusual sighting on a fishing trip when he set sail. Something caught his eye when, there on the horizon a suspicious box floated curiously, he glanced in each direction, and sensing no detection, he brought it home to open it and see. It was an amazing sight, all this powder just off white, he dipped a knife in, took a little snort. But much to his dismay, no reaction came his way, his cocaine was a dud, I must report. but he kept on sifting through, and what I tell is true, a crematorium medallion he did find, and he let out a great cry, see, he had snorted a dead guy, and to this day a ghost is wandering through his mind. When you're young, when you're young, when you're young you should have nothing more than fun. Learning how to flop right, running every stop light,making every cop fight when you're young!!
5.
ASHES -PETE 05:34
6.
THE TROUGH 03:26
Are you tired of the same old food chain franchises? Then waddle on down to The trough, America's newest and most exciting eating establishment! remember, IT'S ALL GOOD!!! From the moment you're blown out of the front seat of your SUV by our giant air compression guns and gently settled into your Barco-lounger feedbag chairs complete with our Lypo-suction jowl and belly leach hoses, you can put your brain and the majority of your motor skills on stand by. We pride ourselves here at The Trough you won't be using any muscles at our eating establishment. Our friendly immigrant staff will even chew the food for you and spit it back in your mouth at no extra charge...you know doing those jobs us Americans don't want to do. We start with four pounds of fatty beef, smother that in 7 kinds of cheeses and bacon,add an egg, a boneless pork chop, a waffle, our mystery sausage and we plunge that masterpiece into ranch dressing and onion rings. We accentuate with curly fries and hash browns and then we jam it all into a bread basket. Could we...Could we? COULD WE roll that all into a chicken Parmesan burrito shell? You bet we could! Smothered in gravy and garnished with a roasted quail and poodle tips it arrives at your table. Lay back and enjoy sporting events on your individual monitor screens as Enrico and Juanita shovel that delectable dish in your mouth and then wash it all down with a 64 oz mug of maple syrup...our favorite. And now, after the appetizer, it's on to the main course! We produce our own prize winning pigs right here on the premises. Good thing you're wearing that air tight bib and Senior Sanchez slaughters that swine table-side. Would you like to join in the fun but you're squeamish? We put a towel on the pigs head and call him a terrorist and hand you a razor sharp machete...you join in or you're Un-American. Do you like your chops tartar? Stick your head in the pigs belly and eat your way out...it's ALL GOOD here at The Trough. Are you feeling full? You're feeling a little bit logy? You want to continue...well we wheel you over to our vomitorium, stick our fingers down your throat and empty you out. That giant moat of bile is how The Trough got it's name, there's no need for embarrassment, and it's back to your table and you're ready for dessert. We cover you with 52 scoops of ice cream, chocolate sauce, caramel syrup, whipped cream, candied strawberries, coconut corn flakes, a kilo of cashews, douse it with cognac and light the entire thing on fire. Inside your flaming sugar igloo you'll literally be fighting for your life as you suck your way to safety. Then we wheel you over to our custom hosing den where we blast you clean with water. Let Juanita take 20 or 30 feet of your lower intestine out of your ass for a 'salt-down'. Wanna bring home some of our award winning Nachos? We'll rent you the truck to do it. So waddle on down to The Trough, an unrivaled American eating experience. It's anorexic and bulimic friendly and remember...IT'S ALL GOOD!!
7.
8.
7 SEAS 04:40
Cold bitter day, the street deserted the music store the only shop open, I stand outside my hands jammed into my empty pockets. A bunch of guitars crowd eager in the front but an old battered guitar in the back spoke to me, cracked whisper voice, "Hey Buddy! You wanna go for a ride?" I'm skeptical, this guitars almost dust I say, 'What you got in mind old timer?" and that guitar pushed it way to the front, saintly...sincere..."Go for a ride boy! Ancient faces, chariot races, forbidden places, exotic embraces, pyramid construction, camel riding, time machine gliding, white line fever believer, ride your thumb to Texaco, Mexico, gas card syphon hose No-Doz, Ride the lightning, Ride the Wild Surf, Ride a White Swan, Jenny take a motherfucking ride for God sakes!! I said 'Whoa, hold on there Chatty Baby! I said, 'How old are you anyway guitar?' And that guitar said, 'I was born in '37, on the road by 11 and I can play as sweet as an axe from heaven, but I need a partner, to start here, like the James boys, Frank and Jesse, like the Untouchables with Elliot Nessie, like Bonnie and Clyde when they get aggressie, like Romeo and Juliet when they start their carressie, like Bartles and James a pause to refreshie, like salt and Pepper like to see 'em undressie, like Sid and Nancie dead and gone God blessie, like the Everly Brothers how their voices they meshie like Jake LaMotta and his brother Joe Peschi...... i said, 'Whoa, hold on there tandem Ted," I said, 'How much you cost anyway guitar?" and that guitar said 'I'm a mere 200 dollars, " and i said, 'Well I only got a mere 10 dollars" and that guitar said, 'Well you go through that door over there and you give that 10 dollars to the man behind the counter and you pay the balance off quick, you know, when your ship comes in." So I gave that man the ten dollars and I waited for my ship to come in. I'd go down to the dock everyday with my little boating sneakers and my sailor's cap, my Thurston Howell the Third blazer, my fishsticks, I borrowed binoculars and scanned the seven seas, no ship....I launched flares, went to nautical school, I got a job as a longshoreman, I learned to walk like Marlon Brando in "On The Waterfront", I studied 'Moby Dick', I got a tattoo that read "Ishmael"...no ship, i sewed sails, drank with pirates, I yo ho hoed and a bottle of rum, I composed sea chanteys, I rented 'Jaws' , I watched reruns of the Loveboat, I collected coral, I lived in a lighthouse,I bought scuba gear, I hired divers to raise the Titanic, I took the confession of the Old Man of the Sea, I bribed Charlie Tuna, I saw three ships come sailing in, on Christmas Day, on Christmas Day, Bingo ships! But not mine! I anticipated a very cold day of ice fishing but my wife paid off the guitar as a birthday present. Epilogue: Crime and Punishment: Love Story, The Crying Game: Love Story, and all this bullshit about the guitar: ultimately it distills to a love story. Now I gotta write the hooky chorus for the big hit record and bring home the bacon. Its a love story...
9.
CRACK BAR 02:19
10.
I was visited by Angels. They rested their heads on my shoulder, they said, "You will have many bosses in this life and you will want to murder them...but don't". It had come to this, I was looking at 40, I was living in Texas, I was delivering pizzas. The manager was 19 years old. He was new, and he didn't know the rules. Rule number one: I know how to do my job, leave me alone. Rule number two: I know how to do my fucking job, leave me the fuck alone. I had a friend that worked there, a Texas native, same age as me. He had a job working for the state doing environmental law violations, righteous work, busting big corporations. He was going through a divorce so he was supplementing his income by working at the pizza shop. He couldn't understand why the boss got under my skin. The boss's name was Chris. He had red hair and a lot of pimples. You know the expression, 'Beat him like red headed step son'? They wrote it for him. He liked to imitate Ice Cube and say stuff like, 'Bee-otch' and 'Dee-ock'. It sounded really stupid coming out of his mouth. When you weren't delivering pizzas you had to do work around the store like sweeping up, folding boxes and busing tables. Chris was reading about me a little bit in the local press so he got a big kick out of trying to order me around, especially if there was a pretty girl at the register. One day I was cleaning dough trays. A chimp could clean dough trays. Not a genius chimp, not an astronaut chimp... a fucking retard chimp. Chris came up behind me and said, "The dough trays weren't clean yesterday, make sure you get the corners." My brain went hot and fuzzy like a burrito that's been left in the microwave. That line appeals to certain members of the audience more than others because they did at one time, or currently do, smoke a shitload of pot. And they're going to go home tonight and they're going to put a burrito in the microwave and they think they're going to press 60 seconds but the reality is they're going to press 60 minutes. A half hour later, when you smell something burning, think of me. I had to do something, so I grabbed Chris by the dick...and I held... hard. There's a very good possibility, in light of both his personality and his looks, no one had ever touched Chris's dick before. He was a 'dick touch virgin', and now the first person that had was a 40 year old bald guy with a red polyester pizza uniform on. I didn't stop there. I paraded Chris out to the dining room where I announced to both the clientele and my fellow co-workers, "Hey, you want to get Chris to shut up? Grab him by the dick and he'll jump like a roach from De-Con. Chris never talked to me again but my same age Texas native friend said, "Hey Ed, you keep kissing ass like that, you're gonna make management!" I worked there another 4 months. I got signed to Mercury Records the same week I got 'Employee of the Month." Chris stole a hundred dollars out of the night deposit bag and got, 'Fee-ired.' Thank the Angels.
11.
12.
HALFWAY 03:50
I see you on the cover of Rolling Stone or one of those other corny magazines that just an excuse to sell fashion or bullshit but occasionally sticks in a good writer or political story so they can ease their conscience that the majority of their readership has the I.Q. of ...well...a Creed fan. So you pucker your mouth and you show lots of thigh, coy celebrity sexy, teasing cleavage. ass in the air, selling your product, down on your knees why so shy? 'Cause you stand for nothing really, you got nothing to say it's insulting your pretense of integrity. Take the movies name, tattoo it on your labia, spread your legs for the camera, what difference would it make? (Chorus) I mean, fuck it, why go halfway? (2X) So you think you might be Jesus, let's be frank, you're the lead singer of a big rock band. Let's get the bass player to nail you to a cross, long rusty spikes, right through your hands. (Repeat Chorus) You're a World leader with your finger on the button and you're thinking that history is smiling on you. Blow the shit out of everybody that doesn't agree, do it in the name of patriotism or religion, what else should you do? (Repeat Chorus) I'm a self-righteous prick with a great big mouth but I'm sick to death of mediocrity and lies. i know I'm preaching to the choir, I know I'm yelling down a hole, I used to sing between the lines but then I got wise. (Repeat Chorus)
13.
TERRORS 00:57
14.
PUSSY 02:25
We were talking about this in Philly and it met with a resounding cheer...but I like nothing better than eating Pussy, a fact I'll make resoundingly clear. Pussy, Pussy, Pussy, Pussy, all night long. If it goes over this well in Philly, will it go over big in the Mid-West? Will different regions get territorial about their pussy, and debate as to which Pussy tastes best? Maybe we could set up a contest, have judges come lick one by one. I can't remember how the West Coast ranked but it was right on the tip of my tongue. Pussy, Pussy, Pussy Pussy all night long. If you love it why can't you admit it, is it subordinate? Not one little bit! I'm here to tell it's romantic as hell spending hours on a hardening clit. My wife had 70 hours of labor, she never wants to see the penis again, so this muscle in my mouth has so often headed South I could jack up your car my friend. Pussy, pussy, Pussy Pussy all night long. Some woman cum very delicately, the sheets moist like the morning dew, other woman cum like Niagara Falls, by the bed you can park your canoe. So give me my snorkel and goggles, I'll rough it 'til the tide recedes, that's how much I love eatin' pussy, and satisfying both of our needs. Pussy, Pussy, Pussy, Pussy, all night long. So in conclusion I highly recommend it, it's morally and spiritually top rated, it's also good to find, a significant other of like mind so you can be orally reciprocated. (Chorus until climax)
15.
PARENTS 00:52
16.
Your Grandma and Grandpa, drank and drank, now that I'm a parent, I know why. That's just a taste of my wicked sense of humor, you'd better have one until you die. You'd better laugh, you'd better laugh, you'd better laugh until you die Your Grandma and Grandpa were married 50 years, then your Grandma lost her mind. Your grandpa killed her and then he killed himself so he wouldn't get left behind. you'd better love, you'd better love, you'd better love until you die. Your Grandpa once told me, when we were drunk, he didn't know nothing as a boy. And now he was 80, he still didn't know nothing, told me to slow down and enjoy. you'd better try, you'd better try, you'd better try, until you die.
17.
18.
You got a kid, I got a kid, are you going to tell them the things you did? Tell them the truth about your sordid youth, if they want to know, did you do blow did you get high and listen to the radio? Dad? What's the first time that you did a drug crime? I smoked my first 'j' on my 11th birthday. And high school exams how'd you stay up to read? The kid across the street dealt in excellent speed. Were classes as boring as mine are today? Most of the time I was trippin' so I really can't say. Now Dad, let's see how truthful you are, were you ever high behind the wheel of a car? I though I was flying a 747, when I sold that car they scraped it for resin. And Dad you courted mom, how'd you make her your own? We'd drink a lot of vodka and do methadone. So when he asks me about my past and did I get high, I've been seriously thinking about my reply,: I'm gonna lie, lie, lie, lie, lie. Dad, did you ever do drugs? No way! Dad did you ever do it with any woman besides mom? Did you ever see that movie Satyrican? I was 13 the first time so good I couldn't speak, that should have wrapped me in a Hefty bag and drained me once a week. And dad what's the kinkiest that you ever got? There were a mother and daughter Upstate that were crazy stupid hot. There was this girl and her dog, but we won't get into that. there were 3 Dominatrices in a one room flat. Couple of times in a church pew that was a heavenly thing, there was a girl named Ruth in the booth of the Burger King. My wife's eating a hole in me with her evil eye, my kid's got inquiries, they want an honest reply. I'm gonna lie, lie, lie, lie, lie. Dad did you have premarital sex? Absolutely not! Now come the tough questions that he's gonna ask, all prosecutors save the hard stuff for last. Dad did you ever steal from the store when you didn't have the bucks? From what I can remember most of the stuff fell off of trucks.And dad, did you ever own a gun? It wasn't like I had a license for one. And Dad, did you ever steal an automobile for fun? The owners wouldn't have wanted it when we got done. And I heard you bartended in a place that dealt crack! we were just making sure I clientele would come back. He wants the truth, I look him in the eye, I set a good example because I'm that kind of guy...I'm gonna lie, lie, lie, lie, lie. Dad, did you ever do anything bad? Fuck no.
19.
PLEDGE 02:12
I will pledge allegiance to no more flags until they come up with one for the earth, a republic of humans, all races and colors,for which they stand, one planet in an endless sea of other planets and if they find life on those I'll pledge allegiance to them too. With respect to your religion as you respect mine, where liberty and justice is not determined by how much wealth you've accumulated, or your military or political power, or your sexual orientation, or how you control the media. Where no one can maintain their wealth as long as one person on the planet doesn't have adequate food or shelter or healthcare or education opportunity. This is a flag I pledge allegiance to.
20.
THE MEETING 03:33
People ask me, what's going down? What kind of stuff when I come round, it's just one guy and one guitar so it's gotta be folk, oh man how wrong they are. Gonna be a meeting, gonna be a meeting, gonna be a meeting, you me the songs the guitar and the rock and roll. If it's Kumbaya, the World Trade Center's a shack if it's Puff the Magic Dragon Picasso was a hack, this bullshit Unplugged is like a monkey on my back, unless you're talking Chuck Berry then you ain't talking jack, I'm rockin' like the Clash it's acoustic kind of meanery, I'm as bad as Nine Inch Nails but I don't need machinery, a little bit of wood and a little bit of wire call up Smokey the Bear because there's gonna be a fire and if I ain't sweatin' then it ain't no fun, I'm like the Beastie Boys except I'm only one....gonna be a meeting, you me and the rock and roll... I listen with the headphones to study the artist, I started hearing voices, not like Judas Priest, mostly from the old guys like a whisper in the back, like Muddy Waters saying, 'It's all in the attack..." Gonna be meeting, you, me the songs the guitar and the rock and roll.... I beat it in the basement, I beat it in the yard, I beat it like a band because I beat it so hard, I beat it like a flag, I beat it real proud, I got a call from Saturn says 'It's too damn loud!'...well, I won't change the world, well heck I know all that, I might stall a politician by pissing in his hat, it's a land of many paths, there ain't only one right way, and I will keep on rocking that until my dying day...gonna be a meeting, you, me, the songs, the guitar and the rock and roll.

about

I secured new management in 2006 in the hopes of bringing my show into a more theatrical arena. The Invasion Group with the management team of Peter Casperson and Steven Supporta had been integral in the breakthrough success of American comedian Bill Hicks in Europe. They helped me obtain a steady, weekly residency at a new comedy club on 14th Street in NYC named Comix. They brought out director Kate Valentine who had had much success with the Va Voom Room, an avant burlesque extravaganza and she was looking for a new challenge and it all fell into place.

She would come to the shows, take notes, we would meet and rehearse. It culminated in several sold out shows at The Knitting Factory, (see Christgeau's review below), and director Richard Hurst, at the time enjoying much success with his Bill Hicks show in London, suggested bringing the show to Edinburgh Scotland which hosts the world's largest, month long, Fringe Festival. It was there that I won the prestigious Herald Angel Award. What you are hearing here is just a random night of live recording, not the most effusive on the crowd's part unfortunately as opposed to some of the weekend nights but you get the picture. Enjoy!

The great 'dean of rock critics' Robert Christgeau wrote this about me in the Village Voice after seeing one of the sold out rehearsal shows for The Terrorism of Everyday Life:
www.villagevoice.com/2006-03-07/music/ed-s-not-dead/full/
Here was the trailer for the accompanying DVD:
youtu.be/plsJIFYeXO0

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released October 7, 2013

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HAMELL ON TRIAL Austin, Texas

Hamell on Trial is loud, fast music informed by politics, intelligence and a wicked sense of humor.
1995-Mercury Records-Big as Life, The Chord is Mightier Than the Sword.
1997- Choochtown
2003-Righteous Babe Records-Tough Love
2005, Songs For Parents Who Enjoy Drugs.
2007-“The Terrorism Of Everyday Life,” (Edinburgh Fringe Herald Award)
2012-New West Records -The Happiest Man Alive.
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