The Road Hammers: All Your Favorite Bands

By Kerry Doole

The Road Hammers - All Your Favorite Bands" (Open Road):  The Southern-rock inflected sound of The Road Hammers has brought them serious success in Canada, plus a Juno Award in 2006, shortly after their formation. Their material is mostly loud, raunchy and often witty, but a softer side comes through on this new single, taken from last year's album The Squeeze.

"All Your Favourite Bands" was first recorded by US band Dawes in 2015, but the Hammers have made it their own. In a label press release, guitarist/singer Clayton Bellamy explains that “We perform it in our live show and when we saw the reaction of the crowd, we knew our cover needed to be on the album. Whether you’re a musician or a music fan, this song immediately connects with you on an emotional level. It quickly became one of our favourites.”

Bellamy delivers a convincing vocal performance on the song, the only ballad on the album. Strong vocal harmonies and soaring guitar beef it up, and there's a real emotional resonance in lines like "I hope the world sees the same person that you've always been to me, and may all your favourite bands stay together."

The Road Hammers take a few liberties with the lyrics, substituting Charlottetown and Thunder Bay for the original's place names of Charlottesville and Santa Fe.

Two earlier singles from The Squeeze, “Crazy About You” and “Your Love is the Drug,” were Canadian country radio hits, and look for this to follow suit.

Joining Bellamy in the group are Jason McCoy, who has enjoyed a successful solo career, and Chris Byrne. Last year, the trio won the CCMA Award for Group of the Year.

Jessica Leach at Hype PR is handling press.