Bad Hammer

Today, Berlin-based shadow-pop newcomers Bad Hammer have shared new single 'Call Me'. The single comes alongside news that they will be touring the UK and Europe in November and December, including dates with NY's Black Marble. Bad Hammer blends melancholic melodies with poignant guitar riffs, meandering along warm synth pads and subtly driving drum beats to dazzling effect. Thematically the songs that make up their forthcoming debut, End of an Age, are connected by referring to a state of being on hold, undetermined, between looking forwards and back, holding on to something and anticipating change. End Of An Age will be released on November 25th.

Their new single, 'Call Me' is is a song about the connection between a mother and her child. A six-minute pop epic drenched in emotion and longing.

On their new single, Bad Hammer says:
"It's about communication, through the umbilical cord, then through touch, then through words, through machines like a telephone, through thoughts and eventually through energies when one is not there anymore. There is that desire, that feeling of solitude and vastness when that connection has become ethereal.”

Bad Hammer are Lisa Klinkhammer (synthesisers, vocals) and Johannes Badzura (guitar, drums, vocals). In 2019, they released their debut EP, Extended Play, and have been touring extensively throughout Europe ever since, opening for like-minded artists including Molly Nilson, Sean Nicholas Savage, Jaakko Eino Kalevi and more.

The album’s title was inspired by a photobook of the same name by British photographer Paul Graham. The images were taken at the turn of the millennium, not long before 9/11. “Somehow we felt that these pictures captured a feeling that we were also observing in our surroundings, some kind of coming of age on our own personal level as well as sensing a change to come on a much larger scale,” explains Badzura.

Bad Hammer´s timeless pop songs take inspiration from the past. “We use analogue synths from the 80s and a drum machine from the early 90s so the sounds are kind of nostalgic but we like to subtly mix genres, like putting some dubby rim shots onto a pop beat,” says Klinkhammer. “On some of the songs we like to try and subvert traditional songwriting techniques by occasionally denying the ultimate climax. Or in some simply destroying it! Like the way our rather candy 60s song ‘Away’ is destroyed at the end with some guitar shreds,” she continues.

With backgrounds in both music and visual arts, the duos’ passion for songwriting is accompanied by a strong sense and expression for the visual side of their music. They have produced a music video for every song they have released so far, their aesthetic influenced by 90s/2000s music videos and dance choreographies, giallo movie posters, Bladerunner, the films of John Cassavetes and Chris Kraus and American artist Paul Thek.

Bad Hammer’s End Of An Age is due to be released digitally, on vinyl and cassette on November 25th via their own imprint, Italian Island.