Text by Bruce Gallanter (Downtown Music Gallery, October 22nd, 2021)
“Halifax” By the Hampton Grease Band
From ‘Music to Eat’ – 2 LP Set on Columbia (rel in 1971)
Wouldn’t you like to come to Halifax
Air mass is moving eastwardly
Wouldn’t you like to come to Halifax
Air mass is moving eastwardly
The land is fertile and filled with life
We wish you would come there and spend some time
Yes, We wish you would come to Halifax
You like to spend some time there
We wish you would come to Halifax
Come and breathe some of our air
You can worship at the church of their choice, the church of your choice
Colonel Edward Cornwallis
He founded the home of Englishtown
He established a civil government
He brought strength to the English position
He established a civil government
We wish you would come to Halifax
You like to spend some time there
We wish you would come to Halifax
Come and breathe some of our air
We have many refreshments and entertainment…
We have the largest ships and vessels also
Six thousand six hundred thirty eight miles of grated roads
Six thousand six hundred thirty eight miles of grated roads
And alot of gravel too, and alot of gravel too
Every city has an airport and alot of gravel too
The telegraph stations, their owned and operated
By the federal government.
The telegraph systems, their owned and operated
By the federal government.
There are no TV stations,
First radar is to protect
Set up as the engine number two
To maintain the level of the dew…
From the fall of 1969 until it closed in June of 1971, I attended nearly 20 shows at the Fillmore East. It was located at the corner of 2nd Ave & 4th St, right around the corner from the first location of DMG on East 5th St (1991-2003). It was my favorite rock music performance venue ever and I’ve been to hundreds of others (places & gigs) since. There were usually three bands starting at 8pm (and later at 11pm) and the ticket prices were $5 (orchestra), $4 (mezzanine) & $3 (upper mezz)!
If you want to see a list of who played there, check this out: http://www.fillmore-east.
Photo by Michael Weintrob
Opening for the Mothers in June of 1971 was a band called the Hampton Grease Band from Atlanta, GA. Nope, I had never heard of them either. Their set started off with a pudgy guy in a suit standing stiffly at the mic, the band had two guitars, piano, bass & drums. There looked like there was someone’s grandmother sitting in a wheelchair on the side of the stage knitting for the entire set. The singer/frontman was someone named Bruce Hampton (later known as Colonel Bruce Hampton) and he had a strange voice & on-stage presence.
After every song he took another piece of his suit, acting weirder as the set progressed and by the end he was in his underwear and ran around the stage like a crazy man. I took my young sister and we were both flabbergasted by that set! They opened their set with the above song, “Halifax”, so read those words and you will see what I mean. Rumor has it that when the band was in the studio recording this song, Hampton found a pamphlet from the chamber of commerce in Halifax (Canada) and read the words from the pamphlet. The song is very long and the middle section has some astonishing double guitar playing by Glenn Phillips & Harold Kelling.
The band ended up getting two encores, something nearly impossible for any opening band. Mr. Phillips is still with us & playing, check him out, he is still an incredible guitarist! I caught him once at CBGB’s in a trio and later at Tonic with Henry Kaiser & Elliott Sharp. Word is that their one & only album, Music to Eat, is the second worst selling album on Columbia Records. It figures! It remains a personnel favorite to me and many other Weird Music Freaks around the world.
Colonel Bruce Hampton went on to have a long solo career and worked in a few other great bands like the Aquarium Rescue Unit (with Jimmy Herring, Oteil Burbridge & Jeff Sipes), the Fiji Mariners & Code-Talkers. I caught Hampton & the Aquarium Rescue Unit at Wetlands & at the Ritz with the reunited (Dixie) Dregs (yuck!), both ARU sets were incredible, best fusion band of the 90’s!
Bruce Hampton’s longtime goal was to die on stage still performing and you know what? He did just that on May 1st, 2017, after just finishing a performance. All hats & headbands off to Bruce Hampton, a true American original!
