The Curse Of K.K. Hammond – Heart Shaped Box

By starrymag | November 30, 2023

By: Sammi Turano

 

 

Q) How would you describe your sound?

 

A) I describe it as contemporary Delta Blues, Swamp Blues or Dirty Blues, though many refer to it as Horror Blues, which is kind of a genre coined for me! I’m not complaining, I think that is incredibly cool! I take many of the elements and chord progressions of vintage roots blues and combine them with a modern twist in terms of musical approach, lyrics and vocals. I even add a little subtle synth for a fuller and darker sound.

Q) Other than Nirvana, who are some of who are some of your musical influences?

 

A) I very rarely do cover songs and a Nirvana cover was very much an outlier for me. While I have a great deal of respect and admiration for them, my main influences are the Bluesmen of yesterday including Skip James, Charlie Patton, Son House, Robert Johnson, Blind Willie Johnson, Lead Belly and many, many more! In terms of more contemporary acts, I am a big fan of Tom Waits and Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds.

 

Q) You covered an iconic Nirvana song “Heart Shaped Box.” What made you decide to revive this song, especially in such a unique way?

 

A) I was hanging out with my good friend and fellow Blues musician Kaspar ‘Berry’ Rapkin one night and we decided it would be fun to do a little short of a popular song for social media. We casually happened upon “Heart Shaped Box” as it was a song we both knew and who doesn’t love Nirvana! Kaspar played the banjo, and I played slide resonator guitar and we dressed up in some crazy costumes and masks for fun. The video ended up going viral across social media and, due to popular demand, we decided to do an official studio recording along with our friend Ian Davidson on cello.

 

Q) The music video for the “Heart Shaped Box” is incredible and the inspiration from Midsommar is ingenious. How did you decide to come up with that concept and use this specific movie for inspiration?

 

A) Thank you so much! It’s great to know it is being enjoyed. We bounced off the vibe of the short we made for social media in which we were wearing costumes and pagan themed horror masks in order to maintain a familiar theme. The song is very sweet and soulful but also quite dark and mournful and we wanted to translate that to the music video. Nirvana’s original music video for the song had a similar juxtaposition of ethereal and dark/macabre themes and we took a little inspiration from that, too.

The music video was to be shot on my farm and around the backwoods where I live in the height of summer and, in my mind’s eye, I saw a creepy but beautiful funeral procession bathed in soft sunbeams through a mystical forest, being watched by woodland creatures. I wanted to pack it full of elements of nature to suggest the characters had a special, deep connection to the land they lived on. This spiritual connection is further pressed home in the funeral scene in which a spirit of the forest (AKA Spirit Walker UK) makes an appearance to pay his respects! Not to give too much away for people who haven’t seen it but, of course, the video ends with some serious woodland magic created via stop frame animation!

With all this in mind, we realized there was a huge amount of similarities in theme to Midsommar, so we borrowed even more stylistically from the movie in the way of the stunning golden hour color palette, floral themes and of course fire scene! The music video is certainly one of my proudest creations and I couldn’t have done it without the magnificent team of talented people around me. It’s quite a challenge taking dark horror themes and even a bit of gore and making it truly, breathtakingly beautiful but I’d like to think we gave it our absolute best shot and made something quite special happen on that front!

 

Q) What was the biggest challenge of taking on “Heart Shaped Box” and making it into your own song?

 

A) It’s always a huge challenge covering a massively popular song and making it your own and, I think, when it comes to other people’s music, the biggest challenge is finding a manner to approach it respectfully so that it pays homage to the original artist.

Most notably, we changed it from a grunge rock song into a blues song which is quite a dramatic shift in tone, but I would like to hope that Kurt Cobain would approve as he was a huge blues fan. In fact, “Where Did you Sleep Last Night” was a cover song (most commonly known as “In the Pines”) that was very famously sung by the late blues artist Lead Belly, of whom Kurt was a big fan. I thought it would be incredibly apt to put my cover of In the Pines on the B side of the single for this reason, a lovely connection to Kurt and the blues which adds to the spirituality of the whole project.

 

Q) Did you collaborate with any of the surviving members of the band for the song or go to them for advice before taking it on?

 

A) No, we didn’t! I’d love Chris Novoselic and Dave Grohl to hear it!

Q) If not, have you heard from any of the band about your version of the song?

 

A) We haven’t heard anything from them yet. I’m not sure it’s made it to their ears yet, but it would be an absolute honor if it did. I hope they will dig it!

 

Q) Are there any plans for a full album or EP of cover songs or new songs in the works?

 

A) My debut album Death Roll Blues came out in March this year and was a labor of love that took me many years and blood, sweat and tears to put together. I will be releasing singles for a while as I work very slowly and would not be very prolific with releases if I just did albums and I want to keep my fans happy. I am currently in my studio working on a few new single releases for 2024.

 

Q) Your debut album Death Roll Blues set a record for being the third bestselling blues presale of all time. What does it feel like knowing you achieved such an incredible record?

 

A) It feels entirely surreal and I could not put into words how profoundly honored and amazed I was, especially as this early stage of my career!

 

Q) In addition, your album debuted at #7 on the Billboard chart! Did you expect it to gain such instant success?

 

A) It was a massive privilege and something I hadn’t anticipated happening at all, I really couldn’t believe this happened. I have been working hard to bring my music to an audience, not only incorporating, but beyond just the blues crowd and am so happy it resonates so well with people who typically don’t listen to the genre!

 

Q) Your performance of “Nothing Else Matters” was shared by Metallica! What did that accomplishment mean to you to have them celebrate your
music?

 

A) It was a childhood dream realized and I’m still in shock! When you are a kid staring at posters of musicians on your wall or attending huge stadium gigs you feel entirely insignificant! I never imagined I could end up on their radar. If childhood me found out this would come to fruition, I don’t think she could contain herself!

 

Q) What would you like to say to everyone who are your fans and supporters?

 

A) A massive and heart felt thank you for the support! It means the world and I simply couldn’t be more grateful! I speak to my fans a lot on social media, and they are a truly great bunch of people with many of the same tastes and hobbies as me. I am so happy to have them along for the ride with me and am very excited to see what the future brings!

Thank you so kindly for the interview! I really appreciate it! 😊