The Hamsters were a British band from

Southend-on-Sea Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authority area with borough status in southeastern Essex, England. It lies on the north side of the Thames Estuary, east of central London. It is bordered ...

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

Cliffs Pavilion Cliffs Pavilion is a theatre and concert venue on Station Road in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, England, a town within the city of Southend-on-Sea. It seats 1,630 and offers an assortment of variety acts. Building Work began on the original Cliff ...

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

Putney Putney () is a district of 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 ancient paris ...

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 Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

. 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 were an English punk rock band formed in London in 1975. Although their initial career lasted just two and a half years, they were one of the most groundbreaking acts in the history of popular music. They were responsible for ...

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 ''Electric Hamsterland'' (1990) was The Hamsters first LP and CD release and consists entirely of Jimi Hendrix covers. This was the only time they recorded an album of totally non-original material. There was a limited release of the album in ...

" as a parody of the Hendrix "

Electric Ladyland ''Electric Ladyland'' is the third and final studio album by the Jimi Hendrix Experience and the final studio album released before Hendrix's death in 1970. A double album, it was the only record from the Experience produced by Hendrix. The ban ...

" 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 continent 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 ...

. 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 Albert Gene Drewery, known as Albert Collins and the Ice Man (October 1, 1932 – November 24, 1993),Skeely, Richard. "Albert Collins: Biography" Allmusic.com. was an American electric blues guitarist and singer with a distinctive guitar style. ...

and

Status Quo is a Latin phrase meaning the existing state of affairs, particularly with regard to social, political, religious or military issues. In the sociological sense, the ''status quo'' refers to the current state of social structure and/or values. W ...

. During 2006 and 2007 they joined

Wilko Johnson John Andrew Wilkinson (12 July 1947 – 21 November 2022), better known by the stage name Wilko Johnson, was an English guitarist, singer, songwriter and occasional actor. He was a member of the pub rock/rhythm and blues band Dr. Feelgood in t ...

and

John Otway John Otway (born 2 October 1952) is an English singer-songwriter who has built a cult audience through extensive touring. Biography 1970s and 1980s Otway was born in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire. Although his first single, "Gypsy"/"Misty Mounta ...

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 or end credits are a list of the cast and crew of a particular motion picture, television program, or video game. Where opening credits appear at the beginning of a work, closing credits appear close to, or at the very end of a ...

of low budget British

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...

'' 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 guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...

and

ZZ Top ZZ Top is an American rock band formed in 1969 in Houston, Texas. For 51 years, they comprised vocalist-guitarist Billy Gibbons, drummer Frank Beard and vocalist-bassist Dusty Hill, until Hill's death in 2021. ZZ Top developed a signature sound ...

. and so were called a

blues rock Blues rock is a fusion music genre that combines elements of blues and rock music. It is mostly an electric ensemble-style music with instrumentation similar to electric blues and rock (electric guitar, electric bass guitar, and drums, sometimes w ...

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 Americana may refer to: *Americana (music), a genre or style of American music *Americana (culture), artifacts of the culture of the United States Film, radio and television * ''Americana'' (1992 TV series), a documentary series presented by J ...

. Apart from Slim's guitar virtuosity, the band were known for their instrument swap during ZZ Top's

Sharp Dressed Man "Sharp Dressed Man" is a song performed by ZZ Top from their 1983 album '' Eliminator''. The song was produced by band manager Bill Ham, and recorded and mixed by Terry Manning. Pre-production recording engineer Linden Hudson was very involved ...

. 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 authority area with borough status in southeastern Essex, England. It lies on the north side of the Thames Estuary, east of central London. It is bordered ...

music scene for many years. He formerly played in various

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

-based bands including Dr Feelgood,

the Kursaal Flyers The Kursaal Flyers were a British pop band, formed in Southend-on-Sea in 1973. They are most famous for their 1976 single "Little Does She Know" (which was a top 20 hit) and were the subject of a BBC documentary following them on tour in 1975. ...

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 Trowe ...

's brother Brad). He was voted one of the top 100 guitarists of all time in a radio poll on

LBC LBC (originally the London Broadcasting Company) is a British phone-in and talk radio station owned and operated by Global and based in its headquarters in London. It was the UK's first licensed commercial radio station, and began to broadcast ...

. 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 electric guitar designed from 1952 into 1954 by Leo Fender, Bill Carson, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares. The Fender Musical Instruments Corporation has continuously ...

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 themselv ...

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

Lightnin' Slim Otis Verries Hicks, known as Lightnin' Slim (March 13, 1913 – July 27, 1974), was an American blues musician who played Louisiana blues and swamp blues for Excello Records. The blues critic ED Denson ranked him as one of the five great blu ...

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 and self-teaching) is education without the guidance of masters (such as teachers and professors) or institutions (such as schools). Generally, autodidacts are individua ...

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 Focal dystonia, or focal task specific dystonia, is a neurological condition, a type of ''dystonia'', that affects a muscle or group of muscles in a specific part of the body during specific activities, causing involuntary muscular contractions and ...

, 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 and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is often regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s list of ...

'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 #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

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 element ...

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 fo ...

''.

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

*''

'' (1990) *''

Hamster Jam {{Infobox album , name = Hamster Jam , type = live , artist = The Hamsters , cover = Hamster Jam (album).jpg , alt = , released = 1991 , recorded = Live at JB's Dudley club, West Midlands, 14 July 1991 ...

'' (1991) *''

The Hamsters The Hamsters were a British band from Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. They performed their first live show at the Cliffs Pavilion, Southend-on-Sea, on 1 April 1987, and their last at The Half Moon, Putney on 1 April 2012, exactly 25 years l ...

'' (1993) *'' Route 666'' (1995) *'' The Jimi Hendrix Memorial Concerts: 1995'' (1996) *''Pet Sounds - 10 Years of Rodent Rock'' (1998) *''

Condensed Hamsters ''Condensed Hamsters'' (1990) is a Hamsters album that was originally released only as an audio cassette (Music Cassette) compilation of the four original cassette only albums (recordings from 1988–1990) that were only available from the band ...

'' (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 in four series, which aired in 1976, 1981, 1982 and 1985. The programme developed from a television pilot broadcast in Ronni ...

'' (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

and

) *''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 British 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