The Hamsters were a British band from

Southend-on-Sea Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in south-eastern Essex, England. It lies on the nor ...

, Essex, England. They performed their first live show at the Cliffs Pavilion,

, on 1 April 1987, and their last at The Half Moon,

Putney Putney () is an affluent district in southwest London, England, in the London Borough of Wandsworth, southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. History Putney is an ...

on 1 April 2012, exactly 25 years later. They initially played in local pubs with no ambitions to take themselves seriously or to turn professional. As the band ethos was to combine humour with musicShane Homan, ''Access All Eras: Tribute Bands and Global Pop Culture'', McGraw-Hill International, 2006, , p.112. "Elements of self-mockery in he Hamsters'presentation ..are persistent, strongly marking their distance from what they typically refer to as 'muso' culture." two members of the original band (and later all three) used light-hearted and parodying pseudonyms as stage names. The original line-up was Snail's-Pace Slim on vocals and guitar, Rev Otis Elevator on drums and Andy Farrell on

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

. Andy Billups, aka Ms Zsa Zsa Poltergeist, replaced Farrell on bass in 1988. The band's name was based on a pseudonym used by the

Sex Pistols The Sex Pistols are an English punk rock band formed in London in 1975. Although their initial career lasted just two and a half years, they became culturally influential in popular music. The band initiated the punk movement in the United Ki ...

History

Their first performances were in local pubs in and around Southend as a part of the area's well-known R&B scene which had begun in the 1960s; they initially formed for their own amusement and didn't take themselves too seriously. Their bookings quickly started to increase as an increasing number of local music fans requested venues to book them. Eventually it was decided to turn professional and slowly they started getting bookings from venues further afield. During 1988–1990 they released a limited run of four cassette releases of their music until they released their first CD in 1990, titled " Electric Hamsterland" as a parody of the Hendrix " Electric Ladyland" album. There was also a limited run of vinyl LPs of the album. The group constantly toured throughout UK and occasionally

mainland Europe Continental Europe or mainland Europe is the contiguous mainland of Europe, excluding its surrounding islands. It can also be referred to ambiguously as the European continent, – which can conversely mean the whole of Europe – and, by so ...

. Described as "Britain's most popular and hardworking pub-rock band", by March 2009, the band claimed to have performed more than 4,000 shows, including supporting Albert Collins and

Status Quo is a Latin phrase meaning the existing state of affairs, particularly with regard to social, economic, legal, environmental, political, religious, scientific or military issues. In the sociological sense, the ''status quo'' refers to the curren ...

. During 2006 and 2007 they joined Wilko Johnson and John Otway to perform ''The Mad, The Bad & The Dangerous'' tour. Their track ''Route 666'', from the album of the same name, was played over the

end credits Closing credits, aka end credits or end titles, are a list of the cast and crew of a particular motion picture, television show, or video game. While opening credits appear at the beginning of a work, closing credits appear close to or at the ve ...

of low budget British

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with Transgressive art, transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements of the genre include Mo ...

'' Stag Night of the Dead''. The Hamsters played their final two gigs on 1 April 2012, at The Half Moon,

, exactly 25 years after their first.

Musical style

The Hamsters were called Britain's leading interpreters of the music of

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time. Inducted ...

and

ZZ Top ZZ Top is an American rock band formed in Houston, Texas, in 1969. For almost 56 years, it consisted of vocalist-guitarist Billy Gibbons, drummer Frank Beard (musician), Frank Beard, and bassist-vocalist Dusty Hill prior to his death in 2021. ZZ ...

. and so were called a

blues rock Blues rock is a fusion music genre, genre and form of rock music, rock and blues music that relies on the chords/scales and instrumental improvisation of blues. It is mostly an electric ensemble-style music with instrumentation similar to electri ...

band, although they were not a tribute band : "they take the music and push it a little further in the direction originally intended". These covers made up only a small part of their playlist, the majority being Americana. Apart from Slim's guitar virtuosity, the band were known for their instrument swap during ZZ Top's Sharp Dressed Man. The band would start the song in the regular configuration, and in the middle the two guitarists would make their way from the stage into the audience, where they would swap instruments and make their way back to the stage, where Slim would swap with Otis on drums, and would finish the song with Zsa Zsa on lead guitar, Otis on bass, and Slim on drums, all without missing a beat of the song.

Personnel

Snail's-Pace Slim

The Hamsters' lead singer and guitar player, Snail's-Pace Slim (Barry Martin) has been part of the

Southend Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in south-eastern Essex, England. It lies on the nor ...

music scene for many years. He formerly played in various

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

-based bands including Dr Feelgood, the Kursaal Flyers and the Old Pals Act (with bassist Dave Bronze and

Robin Trower Robin Leonard Trower (born 9 March 1945) is an English rock guitarist who achieved success with Procol Harum throughout 1967–1971 and then again as the bandleader of his own power trio known as the Robin Trower Band. Biography Robin Trower ...

's brother Brad). He was voted one of the top 100 guitarists of all time in a radio poll on LBC. Slim also contributes technical articles to guitar magazines, and was featured in the September 1994 edition of ''Guitar Techniques.'' Slim was asked by the magazine to contribute a monthly recorded lesson on how to play the blues for inclusion on the CD which accompanied every issue. He was also included in the ''Guitarist Magazine Book of Guitar Players'', published in 1994. In 2007 Slim was interviewed as part of a 3-hour video documentary about the

Fender Stratocaster The Fender Stratocaster, colloquially known as the Strat, is a model of double- cutaway electric guitar designed between 1952 and 1954 by Leo Fender, Bill Carson, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares. The Fender Musical Instruments Corpora ...

titled ''Stratmasters'', and in August 2008 he was interviewed by ''

Guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselve ...

'' for their October 2008 issue. His stage name was selected as a parody of old time blues players such as Lightnin' Slim.

Rev Otis Elevator

Named after seeing a manufacturer's name plate at the base of an escalator in a local shopping mall, Rev Otis Elevator (Alan Parish) was the drummer of the Hamsters. He was born in Edmonton in 1951 and is largely

self-taught Autodidacticism (also autodidactism) or self-education (also self-learning, self-study and self-teaching) is the practice of education without the guidance of schoolmasters (i.e., teachers, professors, institutions). Overview Autodi ...

as a musician. Before joining the Hamsters, he worked with various Top 40 bands, as well as playing radio and TV jingles. He also provided back-up vocals and plays bass during the traditional Hamsters' finale.Homan p.114: "They routinely end their performances walking among the audience, swapping guitars while playing a ZZ Top track."

Ms Zsa Zsa Poltergeist

Ms Zsa Zsa Poltergeist (Andy Billups) was the last bass player. He had replaced original member Andy Farrell in 1988. In 1992 he left the band, after he was diagnosed with focal dystonia, affecting his right hand. He was replaced by Dave Bronze. In 1994, after having re-learned the bass using a custom-designed thumb-pick, he rejoined the band when Bronze left to join

Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English Rock music, rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s l ...

's band. In 2011, Billups released a solo album ''Afton Down'', in a more "folky" style than The Hamsters material, which does not credit any contributions by Martin or Parish. From 2017 onwards, Billups has been the bass player with the Free tribute band, Tons of Sobs. His name was based on the name of an incidental character from the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

radio comedy Radio comedy, or comedy, comedic radio programming, is a radio broadcast that may involve variety show, sitcom elements, sketch comedy, sketches, and various types of comedy found in other media. It may also include more surreal or fantastic elemen ...

show ''

Round The Horne ''Round the Horne'' is a BBC Radio comedy programme starring Kenneth Horne, first transmitted in four series of weekly episodes from 1965 until 1968. The show was created by Barry Took and Marty Feldman, who wrote the first three series. The f ...

''.

Discography

Cassette

*''Live at Kent Custom Bike Show'' (1988) *''Revenge of the Killer Hamsters'' (1989) *''The Night of the Rocking Rodents'' (1989) *''Flasher Hamsters From Hell'' (1990) *''Rodent Rock'' (1990) *''Condensed Hamsters'' (1990)

Albums

*'' Electric Hamsterland'' (1990) *''Hamster Jam'' (1991) *''The Hamsters'' (1993) *''Route 666'' (1995) *''The Jimi Hendrix Memorial Concerts: 1995'' (1996) *''Pet Sounds - 10 Years of Rodent Rock'' (1998) *'' Condensed Hamsters'' (2000) *''They Live By Night'' (2002) *''

Open All Hours ''Open All Hours'' is a British television sitcom created and written by Roy Clarke for the BBC. It ran for 26 episodes over four series, which aired in 1976, 1981, 1982, and 1985. The programme was developed from a television pilot broadcast ...

'' (2004)

Videos

*''Burnin Vermin' '' (1991) *''Band of Gerbils'' (1996) *''Verminator!'' (1997) *''Rodents Rock The Reich!'' (1998) *''To Infirmity, And Beyond!'' (2004) *''The Mad, The Bad & The Dangerous'' (2007) with Wilko Johnson and John Otway) *''Curse of the Killer Hamsters!'' (2008)

References

External links

*
The Hamsters Interview 2010
– iTalkGuitar
The Mad, The Bad & The Dangerous website
* *
Andy Billups' official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamsters, The English blues musical groups British country rock musical groups British rhythm and blues musical groups Contemporary blues musicians English blues rock musical groups English country music groups Music in Southend-on-Sea Provogue Records artists