Page Hamilton of Helmet discusses Beethoven, jazz and and hard rock

If someone brought up Page Hamilton and his rock band Helmet and you didn't think about jazz or classical music, he wouldn't blame you.

"I don't know that Helmet fans give a s*** about Beethoven or Charlie Parker," Hamilton said, laughing. "But those are my influences. It is in there."

As someone who still grins upon hearing the band's sophomore album "Meantime," it's fascinating that Hamilton practices jazz standards every day or that he's on a "Beethoven kick." What follows is a portion of Hamilton's interview. Answers have been edited for brevity and clarity.

You first trained in jazz. How do you go from that to playing hard rock?

I started playing guitar because of hard rock. The band that made me fantasize about being a guitar player was Led Zeppelin. I was probably 15, I heard “Black Dog,” and I wanted to do that.

It was accidental that I got into jazz. My first guitar teacher wouldn’t teach me “Stairway to Heaven.” He said, “It’s too difficult.” I said, “Well I have to learn ‘Stairway to Heaven,’ so you’re fired.” I got this other guy, and he was like, “Of course I can teach you ‘Stairway to Heaven,’ but check this out.” Then I got into playing jazz.

Jazz is such a logical, enjoyable study. I wouldn’t call myself a jazz guitar player, but I still play the music everyday. I fumble around. Sometimes, I do jazz gigs for dinner and two drinks.

You mention jazz. I look at your credits, and you worked on the soundtrack to "Heat." You played guitar for David Bowie. Do you think a lot of people are aware of that versatility?

I didn’t have any kind of master plan at all. I never had, and I still don’t. I’ve been really fortunate. I work hard and here I am at 57. I still enjoy practicing. I know a lot of guys in rock bands, their influences go from Sex Pistols to the Ramones. It’s like, "Wow, that’s pretty diverse."

There’s nothing wrong with that, but on a recent Saturday night, I saw the L.A. Philharmonic Orchestra do Beethoven's ninth (symphony). It was the greatest live musical experience I've been a part of in my entire life. And I saw Talking Heads' "Stop Making Sense" tour on ’shrooms. I can't imagine any musician who does this for a living not being interested in that.

It’s funny, people’s perception of our music over the years. Musicians get it. (Bassist) T.M. Stevens said to me, “Helmet’s like a big ball of ice cream, but you dig into it and there’s spinach inside.” He gets it.

(Helmet is) not supposed to sound complex. Even though it’s in 5/4, you can still bang your head to it. Even though there’s an extra beat in this measure or this chord is a major seventh sharp eleventh with a sixth on top, it just sounds different, interesting and cool.

It’s all fun to me. Duke Ellington is the one who said there are two kinds of music: good and bad. Sometimes, I have to hear AC/DC. Other days, I have to hear Beethoven.

What I always caught onto with Helmet were those musical breaks where you're soloing or there's a drum fill. Do you write that as precisely as it's recorded?

When I had John Stanier on drums for songs like "Unsung," I had this phenomenal talent. I wanted to hear him. It’s like Jimi Hendrix's "Fire." The use of space has always been important to me. I’ve always cited the B.B. King influence. He plays two notes and you're like "Whoa, what’s he gonna play next?" There was always this musical tension of addition by subtraction.

There are so many bands where it’s just a wall of guitars. Not to take away anything from them, but that was going on in New York in the late ’80s. There were cool elements like those noisy, out-of-tune guitars. I loved a lot of that stuff, but I missed the funk, the space and the groove.

All the musical forces collide, but the biggest part of jazz is listening. It’s not just learning guitar scales and arpeggios. It’s about listening and responding. It’s conversational. Music still has to be about that.

Are you surprised that Helmet is still touring and going strong?

At this point, I'm not surprised. I’ve always felt that it was good. We weren’t trying to keep up with any trends. It wasn’t a thing of the moment. I’m still progressing and pushing forward. My favorite Helmet albums are the last two, “Seeing Eye Dog” and “Dead to the World.” If I haven’t progressed, I shouldn’t be playing music.