Tracks
- As I Turn Away
- The Top
- Lamenting In The Rain
- One For The Angels
- Brown Horse
- Shallow Grave
- Anger Is Me
- Blues Home
- Devil’s Arm
- Diana
- Wasted Time
All songs written by J.S. Martin & Jake Gunn, except The Top (Moonshine Lee & Jake Gunn), One For The Angels (Raymond Smith & Jake Gunn) & Diana (J.P. Botha)
Musicians
- Johnathan Martin: Lead & rhythm guitars, acoustic guitar, vocals, piano (Wasted Time)
- Jake Gunn: Lead & rhythm guitars, acoustic guitar, vocals, piano, harmonicas
- Tertius du Plessis: Bass guitar
- Paul van de Waal: Drums and percussion
- Gerry Robinson: Acoustic guitar on Lamenting in the Rain, Brown Horse, Wasted Time
Recorded at Wolmer Records and produced by the Jack Hammer Band, Lanie van der Walt and Moonshine Lee.
Release information
CD: 11 November 2022
Download: TBC
Press Release
New Album from Jack Hammer Band: Second Chapter
9 November 2022
“Second Chapter” by the Jack Hammer Band does what it says: without any pretences, the album blasts straight into the driving rock sound that has come to define the longest-standing South African rock band.
You immediately find yourself at a Jack Hammer gig, with Duke steady behind the kit, Bean towering over his black bass like a watchkeeper, and Johno and Jake Gunn wringing rock ’n roll out of their guitars as if their lives depended on it.
There is also the tall presence of the man of myth and his Stratocaster that goes by the name of Green Mamba – it would be difficult to imagine Piet Botha laying down the guitar after departing.
The album, co-written by Johnathan Martin, member of Jack Hammer since 1996, and Jake Gunn, who joined the ranks in the 2010s, was initially set out as an impulse to craft ten songs out of the kinship shared between the two. It soon became what had been called for: an album for Piet. The album’s path was led by an eleventh track – a reworked, never-before recorded version of ‘Diana’, a song Piet Botha left behind.
Raymond Smith, Piet’s brother-in-law, urged the band to write and record as Jack Hammer again and helped to bring it all together. He also wrote ‘One for the Angels’, a song inspired by one late-night party with Piet Botha.
Through songs shared and learned on stage, the band are creating a living archive, not only by telling Piet and Jack Hammer’s musings and stories in musical form, but also by revisiting undocumented material and channelling an immense discography.
Come celebrate the official album launch of “Second Chapter” on 11 November at the JARR Bar & Restaurant, Pretoria’s home of sound.
The Jack Hammer Band are: Johnathan Martin (vocals, guitars and piano), Tertius du Plessis (bass guitar), Paul Van de Waal (drums and percussion) and Jacques Groenewald (guitars, vocals, piano and harmonicas). Gerry Robinson, honorary band member (acoustic guitars).
“Second Chapter” was recorded at Wolmer Records and produced by the Jack Hammer Band, Lanie van der Walt and Moonshine Lee.
~ Written by Jannike Bergh, 2022.
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