Photograph by Chad Kelco

Doc Hammer brings the party to you!

“We wanted to be called Brock Samson,” says Doc Hammer guitarist Clayton Word, “but the band wasn’t heavy enough to accommodate such an epic killing machine as our avatar,” As fans of the animated series The Venture Brothers, the band felt that they lacked the requisite musical heft for such a name (Samson is a bodyguard who often forgoes weapons, preferring to feel the crunch of bones under his knuckles). Instead, the band settled on taking their moniker from the Ledyard, Connecticut-born Venture Brothers writer Eric “Doc” Hammer, a musician and voiceover actor who co-created the series for Cartoon Network in the early 2000s. Hammer subsequently gave the band a virtual thumbs up: “We’ve had one digital run-in with the dudes [who work on the show], who are obviously genius artists and creators. He gave us his blessing, and we told him to come party.”

The word “party” gets used on the band’s social media, in its conversation, and as part of its promotional materials with such frequency that it borders on self-parody. But perhaps that’s fitting for a band that is enamored of a cartoon that was born from comedic riffing on adventure animation like Johnny Quest. Now, much like The Venture Brothers, Doc Hammer has grown into a artistic force of its own, with no reference points necessary to “get it.” As multiple journalists (and the band themselves) have pointed out, they don’t take themselves too seriously. Happily, this doesn’t result in shoddy musicianship or a cynical approach, though it’s fair to say they don’t take too much else seriously, either: they mock everything from old guys in the pit to the American pilgrims. A typical invitation to one of their shows reads, “Let’s get together and make normal situations weird.”

They don’t always have to bring the weirdness; sometimes, it’s waiting for them at the venue, and they merely provide the soundtrack. “In Cincinnati, we were tripping on mushrooms in an art gallery, playing under what might be the brightest lights to ever have existed — the face of God — and then the band after us got low lights and lasers. It felt weird. Baton Rouge had whips, banjos, Daisy Dukes, and a boat in the parking lot of the venue from the get-go. Someone told us we ‘needed gills to breathe here.’ It was the hottest show ever. We’ve also played in a roller rink with people skating around us — bizarre and cool. You name it, we’ve seen it by now.”

The most jarring juxtaposition comes when venues actually ask the band to dial it back. “We’ve played in a wrestling ring, super bouncy, where they told us to ‘keep it calm.’” If “party” sums up the sextet’s performances, “calm” would be their antonym, as their live shows resemble nothing so much as an old toy commercial for WWF wrestling rings. And the preparation for what can only be described as an athletic display is not surprising, but slightly amusing. “The only pre-show ritual we all do is stretch, stretch, stretch. We’re old. We used to do a shot with the crowd, but now we just stretch. Badass.” Then what they do is engage the audience — whether they like it or not — by running into the its midst while playing their respective instruments, or singing in people’s faces. Vocalist Josh Ravin started the antics when Word joined, giving the group a second guitarist. The two had played together previously in Kodiak. “When we got two guitars, Josh just started doing it unconsciously. It’s whatever, it’s more fun. Would you rather have less fun? C’mon.”

Despite playing to masses of people of various attitudes and degrees of inebriation, they find that patrons almost universally accept the escapades as part of the experience. But Word grants that there can sometimes be some confusion as to exactly what is occurring. “People just try to have weird conversations with Josh while he’s in the crowd, like ‘Hey, man, last week I was working...’ and he has to be, like ‘Hey, I’m busy right now, bud,’ or, ‘One moment, please.’”

New bassist Ryan Marino will be featured in upcoming recordings, and immediate plans (subject to change) involve the release of new material that sounds heavier than previous offerings. “We’re about 15 songs into writing a new record, so we’re laser-focused on that right now. Trying to have it recorded by the end of the year for your little earballs. Maybe we’ll hop on a bill this month as Brock Samson and play the new stuff. Also, remember to party. If you haven’t seen us live, you haven’t lived.”