PREMIERE | Richard Hamilton, "Real Neat", "Have It All the Time"
The legendary Richard Hamilton live; photographed by Las Joyas de Plástique.
Cult DIY pop boutique imprint Quality Time Records’ flagship artist, founder and operator Richard Hamilton and company have remained steadfast in perfecting the perfect pop rock sound. Continuing collaborative work with John Alberty of Roobydocks, Bulsch, and Bogus Genius they present the grand debut for “Real Neat” b/w “Have It All The Time” that is a love letter to all the beloved 90s underachievers of great promise that were the envy of major label record executives everywhere during that halcyon era. Announcing news of a vinyl reissue for their album My Perfect World via Greenway Records and a new album in the works tentatively titled Yellow Datsun Car; Hamilton revealed some of their inside baseball trade secrets on constructing the sound of that sweet slacker suave:
[We] pulled out every songwriting trick in the book to craft these songs starting with an intention and working backwards to actualize it…we channeled [our] deepest pop leaning proclivities into two perfect nuggets of alternative pop listening pleasure with this new single.
“Real Neat” celebrates the sound that marks the point where the independent artists and bands of yore made the jump from the mom & pop imprints and to the big wig big time. Hamilton and company craft a tune that symbolizes the subterranean suburb bummed blues of youth with wide-eyed romantic dreams. From the pronounced chord play, the 70s nod of sparse handclaps, 80s/90s music magazine obsessions and her picture on the shelf aspirations and more; Richard sings a love sick story of a star-crossed scatterbrained loser and a love interest from another class who is organized, well-to-do, attractive and more with a cool car. A tale as old time, it is delivered like a radio pop sonnet of modern amour replete with opposites connecting from across different parts of town, different neighborhoods, planning out their futures together like an electric strip mall symphony of hormonal sentimentality in excess.
“Have it All the Time” might be the greatest sludge, chug and churn ballad that Anton Newcombe or the Dandies never penned. It’s the bored and ignored homage to the ennui of having everything at once constantly, the spitting cool testament to the idea that less is more. The counterpoint to the A-side, “Time” leans hard into the dive bar grunge avatar of the rock & roll star of Viper Room and the Troubadour lore that has it all and at the same time wants next to nothing at all. From Richard’s own disaffected delivery, it is a cautionary tale to the inflated ego that is inundated with all the Dionysian delights who would trade it all to feel something on a deeper, visceral level. If this single was a biopic or mockumentary of an iconic rocker, the B-side would serve as the the second act sendup of an either real or imagined icon enveloped and engulfed in the flames of their own mind, hubris, whilst still wanting more by way of less all at the same time.
Behold the debut of the snazzy and fuzzy electric visual pop art for “Have It All the Time” courtesy of Polish artist Cult Nug.
Richard Hamilton provided us with some generous notes on the band’s creative processes at work:
John [Alberty] and I started working seriously on pop music together shortly after I produced the Bogus Genius record at Joe Trohman’s studio in 2018. We were hanging out a lot and listening to successful songwriters like Sheryl Crow that would obviously get us funny looks from the DIY punk scene and whatever worlds we had both been in for a long time. We both were at an age in our musical careers that we didn’t care anymore. We were so disillusioned with the state of DIY we decided to try and sell out. Really, our love of a well written hook, catchy lyrics, prospect of money and material goods, and willingness to admit that we wanted to sell out brought us together. After many warm smoke-filled days crafting songs together, we made what became Richard Hamilton — My Perfect World. That record really proved to us that we could combine resources and create an album that plays like a polished shimmering 90’s KROQ staple, which is admittedly exactly what we wanted.
On “Real Neat”, we returned to Pale Moon Audio to record with Alex Estrada who engineered My Perfect World before sending it for mix and master at Artifact Audio NYC by Sasha Stroud. For the follow-up 7”, we wanted to juxtapose the unabashedly west coast feel of our debut release and bring out the darker aspects of our favorite 90s major label indie pop. We decided Alex Estrada would be ideal to engineer and mix the two tracks before sending them to Jack Shirley of Atomic Garden Recordings in the Bay Area for mastering. The artwork featuring model Clare Foley was initially shot for My Perfect World by Rhylli Ogiura before being replaced for a warmer west coast album cover directed by Vinny Zazzero and photographed by Kiyo Vigliotti. When that decision was made, it was well known [John] Alberty was moving back to NYC so the two held onto the photos without knowing it would become the artwork for “Real Neat” b/w “Have It All The Time”, but knowing we wanted a darker sound for the follow-up and NYC imagery fits that much better than LA.
Cover art featuring Clare Foley, photographed by Rhylli Ogiura.
In recent months, we started performing with a west coast lineup of the group featuring: Sean Ellwood formerly of Fancy Space People and Outrageous Cherry on bass, Mary Animaux of Jail Weddings and White Murder on keys, backing vocals and percussion, and Reuben Michael Kaiban of Die Group and Bataan on drums. The plan for the group is to hold down the west coast and continue work on
If this all sounds like a lot of moving parts don’t worry because it is! This group has always been a transformative and unique blend of talents. Since the initial inception of the band at a pop-punk legends recording studio, to the tremendous last-minute decision to feature Miss World and Roxanne Starnik on backing vocals throughout much of the My Perfect World LP, to the name itself which often lends promoters and first time engineers to believe only one person is showing up to perform is me, Richard Hamilton.
Richard Hamilton’s album My Perfect World will be reissued for the first time ever on vinyl courtesy of Greenway Records in 2022. The next album Yellow Datsun Car is in the works now.