col. bruce hampton

more websites

2006-10-01T19:42:00.000-07:00

new aru website up courtesy of bratoganibe.com. there is also another myspace account just for aru and a mailing list. there is a date left off the events list that bruce will be doing at bert's bar on sullivan's island sc. billed as "col. bruce hampton & fat chance - an evening with the colonel", this two-nite stint will feature local charleston musicians and special guests in an effort to continue to raise funds to cover bruce's medical bills. click here for more donation details.

help needed

2006-07-09T22:57:00.000-07:00

earlier this year, col. bruce hampton underwent angioplasty on 2 arteries. though hampton is in the process of recovering, he has incurred some rather large medical expenses and is unable to tour fulltime with the codetalkers. friends and fans wishing to support the singer can contribute to hampton's medial needs account at any bank of america (account number is 334-647-6925) or online (click here for electronic transfer information). the funds are in a controlled trust and are only used to pay medical expenses. one of our community's most important voices, hampton helped lay the groundwork for the modern jamband scene through his offbeat wit and work with the aquarium rescue unit. despite his poor health, hampton performed at bonnaroo with the codetalkers in june. hampton will also join the aquarium rescue unit at masontown, wv's all good festival on july 16 and atlanta's variety playhouse on october 31.

the daddy of us all

2006-06-11T00:10:00.000-07:00

col. bruce hampton has been there, done that and got the t-shirt. he’s an avid reader, a film buff, and a musical enigma. from the hampton grease band to the aquarium rescue unit, the fiji mariners and the code talkers, hampton has explored musical stylings that blended one part frank zappa, two parts charlie christian, one part john lee hooker, and two parts captain beefheart, with more than one pinch of allman brothers band tossed in for flavor. he is a writer, a singer, a guitarist, an actor and a film maker. but more than all of that, he is the organizational master, and if derek trucks, jimmy herring, and oteil burbridge are young jedi’s, col. bruce is their yoda. no small wonder he has been referred to as “the daddy of us all.”

check out the remainder of this great interview with the colonel by michael b. smith.

and "now"...the codetalkers

2006-06-10T18:22:00.000-07:00

“it's crazy. i got put into the jam-band scene by my association with bruce hampton. i play a lot of guitar, but i really focus on songwriting. that’s what’s lacking in the jam-band scene. we need a lot of writers out there. that’s what made the grateful dead really great – they had hundreds of songs. the more songs we can get into a genre, the better off the genre’s going to be. the more tunes we have out there, the more we can raise the scene to a really high level.”

--bobby lee rodgers

the latest installment from the camp of hampton will drop on june 13th with the release of the codetalkers' new studio gem - now. while visiting with honest tunes radio on kxua in fayetteville, arkansas, the colonel and bobby talk about the new release amongst other items of business like the concept of a concept, the average rainfall in hawaii, and addictions to crystal math.

click here to listen to the full webcast from 04-08-06 (31 min.) and here to listen to the first installment with daniel gold from 02-12-05 (14 min.).

"ike stubblefield", "million dollars", and "sound sister" are currently in high rotation on radioioJAM.com. tune in 24/7 to hear these selections by the codetalkers from their brand-new studio release - now.

...and another great article on the new release by brian baker of the cleveland free times.

we're getting the band back together

2006-06-02T12:50:00.000-07:00

on january 20 & 21, 2006, bruce got the boys back together at the fox theatre in boulder and proceded to spin heads. the prime time ARU line-up (sans matt mundy sub bobby lee rodgers) shredded through timeless classics such as "fixin' to die" and the timeless "time is free".

click here for pictures, download and streaming audio from night number one.

our man in zambiland

2006-05-27T19:10:00.000-07:00

our man in zambiland:

how col. bruce hampton and the aru helped start the jamband revolution

by rob johnson

click here for the full story.

discography

2006-05-27T18:31:00.000-07:00

hampton grease band

music to eat (columbia records) 1969

col. bruce hampton

outside looking out (terminus records) 1980
isles of langerhan (terminus records) 1982
arkansas (terminus records) 1987

col. bruce hampton & the aquarium rescue unit

self-titled (capricorn records) 1992
mirrors of embarrasment (capricorn records) 1993

col. bruce hampton & the fiji mariners

fiji (volcano entertainment) 1996
live (capricorn records) 1998

the codetalkers

bootleg live 2000
deluxe edition 2004
now 2006

compilations

one ruined life of a bronze tourist (terminus records) 1978
strange voices: a history 1977 - 1987 (landslide records) 1994
the best of mountain stage vol. 6 (blue plate) 1994
wintertime blues: the benefit concert (evil teen records) 2000
bonnaroo 2002 vol. 2 (sanctuary records) 2003

special guest

cedell davis - best of cedell davis (capricorn records) 1994
various artists - mucho mojo: best of fat possum (capricorn records) 1997
kevin kinney - the flower & the kife (capricorn records) 2000
project z - project z (terminus records) 2001
medeski martin & wood - uninvisible (blue note records) 2002
widespread panic - live in the classic city (sanctuary records) 2002
mike gordon - inside in (ropeadope records) 2003
blueground undergrass - faces (landslide records) 2006

the origin of the codetalkers

2006-05-27T01:55:00.000-07:00

col. bruce hampton and bobby lee rodgers both knew upon first meeting that they were destined to work together. it has now been 5 years since the pair formed the code talkers, and once again col. bruce hampton has managed to bring us music will tickle your fancy and kick your ass, as he has been doing for over 30 years now. after starting acts such as the hampton grease band, aquarium rescue unit (where he helped start the h.o.r.d.e. tour), and the fiji mariners, in 1999 he formed his most accessible group yet. along the way, col. bruce appeared with billy bob thornton in "slingblade" and in phish's mike gordon’s movie “outside out,” which features bruce as a guitar instructor who teaches "how to play out." the film won best picture at sxsw 2000.

hampton seemed to be astrologically attracted to rodgers, as he immediately guessed his birthday, and went on to discover both shared the same major planetary influences, as well as the same unique sense of humor. hampton also saw a great song-writing and musical talent and set upon the mission to get rodgers' music heard. the band these days consists of hampton on guitar and vocals (and occasionally harmonica,) rodgers on guitar, banjo and vocals, tyler greenwell on drums, and ted pecchio on bass. this line-up has been intact since last spring (when pecchio re-joined after a brief hiatus,) and have really gelled over the past months into one of the tightest jam bands on the scene, thanks in part to this rock-solid rhythm section which keeps things “groovy and neck-nodding as hell (jambands.com).”

hampton grease band reunion

2006-05-27T01:47:00.000-07:00

the infamous hamton grease band will be playing at the variety playhouse in atlanta on saturday june 2nd. the band, of which our very own bruce hampton was a founding member, came to being in 1967, after bruce declared that he was "going to be the world's best vocalist" in response to glenn phillips' declaration that he was going to be "the best guitar player in the world." well, after such seemingly innocent and ambitious statements were made some 40 years ago, the band that holds the record of having one of the worst-selling records in columbia records' history will come together again. any band who can both claim fame to the former accolade and to the fact that the legendary bill graham (who booked the band to perform the same night as frank zappa and the mothers of invention) said that the hampton grease band "went over better than any new band that had ever played there" is surely a band worthy of notice. be there to honor the beginning of the man we call "colonel." visit the band's myspace page by clicking here. a lengthy history of the band written by glen phillips is available there.

the legacy continues

2006-05-27T01:28:00.000-07:00

tonight marked another chapter in the rich musical history of the legacy of col. bruce hampton. yet another jamband supergroup descended on charleston this evening and some of bruce's brightest and most talented disciples comprised the majority of that ensemble. jimmy herring, jeff sipe, neal fountain and bobby lee rodgers have all performed with the col. in the past and tonight they got together along with mark van allen to rock the charleston pour house in their very first gig. much of the evening featured the songwriting wizardry of bobby lee with some incredible string picking from bobby, jimmy and mark. jeff and neal did a fantastic job of laying down the groove and the crowd bobbed and weaved to the jam the whole night. the group is going on to play a handful of dates in the south including smilefest and the jerry garcia birthday bash.

click here for more informaiton on herring / rodgers / sipe.

setlist for this inaugural performance:

deep end
niagara falls
going through the motions
miles ahead
mr. kellum
lord
see you
fresh
beggin'
revolutionize
animal people
broken home
all we wanna hear
blow my brains

encore:

i remember