"We
formed the Hamsters at the tail end of the eighties solely
for fun, taking for our name the pseudonym the Sex Pistols
used when performing secretly. At one of our first gigs,
we threw in a hurriedly arranged medley of four Hendrix
songs - to an overwhelmingly enthusiastic response. So we
learned some more.....
For our first CD release in 1990 - the 20th anniversary of Jimi's
death - we decided it had to be an album of his music
, and much to our delight, that album - Electric Hamsterland -
was universally acclaimed in the music press. We toured nationally
in the Autumn with our friends Doctor Feelgood, and this together
with the awareness the album created helped spring us from the
South-East onto the UK circuit. In the following years we earned
a reputation for being the hardest working group in the UK, (whether
we are or not remains to be seen, but people believe it so it must be
true), until we found ourselves suddenly in 1995 and Jimi's 25th anniversary
looming large...
What should we do? Well, we did the obvious things - this time
it'd be the Electric Hamsterland Tour,
and we'd record and film it for posterity...well the bank manager
anyway!
Those of you who have seen us perform our regular show will know
that Hendrix is only part of what we do, and being regarded solely
as a 'tribute' band by some sections of the media hasn't helped
us to be taken seriously as a band in our own right, but hell,
we never set out to be pop stars anyway - let alone playing 2000+
gigs and building a mailing list of 17,000 and rising...
All this has taken us by surprise, but after periods of thick and
thin, rabid enthusiasm and complete depression, total elation and
a little tragedy, we still enjoy doing it - and as long as you're there,
so will we be."
Slim,
Zsa Zsa and Otis - Summer 1996
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