Evan Hammer

On stage, Evan Hammer is a barefoot dancing, riotous bass player. Offstage, he has made a name for himself as a songwriter, crafting his tunes while isolated within his piano room during marathon songwriting sessions. He integrates diverse modern rock songs that vacillate between Killers fever and Elliott Smith resignation, with a strong connection to expressive Bowie-esque melodies and driving Kings of Leon motion. Bright Day for a Frog’s Rebellion, Evan Hammer’s debut album, is a self-proclaimed “Eclectic Rock collection of disenchanted yet celebratory surrealistic visuals, garage rock tones and energy, a battery of longing and loss, and explorations of loving and lunatic worlds.”

This Brooklyn based musician has spent the last few months traveling up and down the East Coast with his band, Bury Me A Lion, playing shows from Atlanta to Boston, including the Khyber (Philly), the Bitter End (NYC), and the Middle East (Boston). He performed for the Nuthing Summer Collaborative Music Festival in Charlotte, opened for Fun at Northeastern University, and participated in VH1’s Break N Through at NYC’s Highline Ballroom. In addition, Bury Me A Lion recently released a self-titled EP.

Hailing from Syosset, New York, Evan played string bass in NY’s All-State Orchestra and bass guitar in local rock and jazz bands. He reflects that “there is nothing like plucking through Respighi [the orchestral composer], along with 15 double bassists and 60 cellists, to give you some perspective on how your performance is entwined with the larger ensemble.”

Evan didn’t start writing music until his sophomore year at Brown University in Rhode Island, during which he shifted his academic focus to pursue Music Theory. He recalls: “That Autumn I bought a Beatles song book and tore it apart looking for chord patterns, melodies, phrasing, singing and playing parts, and trying to write song fragments that were modeled after particular Beatles songs but didn’t sound like it on the surface.” Inspired to delve into the core of songwriting, Evan boxed himself inside a small piano room for hours every day. Down in this underground lair, he discovered a balance between considered form and free flowing inspiration, and created the songs for Bright Day for a Frog’s Rebellion.

After graduating, Evan moved to New York City to find musicians to play on Bright Day for a Frog’s Rebellion, which he released in 2008. Evan wrote the music and lyrics, played bass guitar, and produced the album; he worked with a variety of singers, musicians, and engineers to create the record including Ben Miller (the Low Anthem), Guy Benny (Locksley), Jack Gauthier (Dispatch, John Hammond), and John Mailloux (Dispatch, Leah Stargazing). Since the album is replete with various singers and bands, the music employs distinct rock styles - modern garage rock, acoustic folk, British rock, and even a little rockabilly. Evan Hammer also has a second Bury Me A Lion album scheduled for release in 2010.