Regional popularity of the blues runs in cycles, according to long time blues guitarist Joey Castriota. Given the soulful pain of the sound (and after a five-year absence from any band), it may not be a coincidence that Castriota is back in the blues-making business with the weak economy. Nonetheless, Joey Hammer(as he’s known in local blues circles) says, “You don’t get a cost of living increase.” But his Hammer Blues Band won’t be held back by depression–be it musical or economic. 

“It’s mostly that we just want to play,” he says, and Connecticut will find the four-man Chicago blues band out and about at locales such as the Lumberyard Pub in Georgetown, the Black Duck in Westport and Riders Café in Waterbury. Born mostly out of a long connection between Joey and drummer Nick Longo, the band came together four months ago as availability aligned itself in time to hook bass player Mike Wise and harmonica player Corrin Huddleston.

At this point in their professional lives, having it down, practice and rehearsal are mostly things of the past. All get a recording of the songs they need to know, “and everybody is just expected to get it down,” Hammer says. Over time, he’s sure they’ll get tighter and tighter, and since playing the blues comes naturally by now, improvisation will come just as easily. 

The same goes for their originals, which amount to about 30% of the playlist, but any aspirations of taking those songs toward anything musically and financially permanent is also of another time. “That passed us by a long time ago,” Hammer says. 

All with families and lives, playing two or three times a month will suffice–especially since their day job meal tickets have no interest in sponsoring any upcoming tours or new CD releases. “This is strictly moonlighting,” Hammer says.

The moon only sheds light on the music these days when the sun can be shut out by his shades on the weekends. “I can’t stay out until three in the morning anymore and then go to work,” says the frontman.
Fortunately, the mindset coincides with audiences who are also more closely aligned with AARP and the constraints that the early morning can put on them. “It’s mostly people in their mid 30s through their 50s,” Hammer says.

Still, their audiences do have a sprinkling of 20-year-olds in attendance, and allegiance to the brand helps blur the actual age differences into the type of motion that the Hammer Blues Band is after: “What we truly want is people who are really into the music and when you’re moving with the music, it makes them want to dance.” 

As for the genre and generation gap that does seem to exist in terms of the blues, he can’t help but point out that ignoring this American art form translates to a certain level of musical illiteracy. The blues are foundational root of all popular music. “If you side step that, you run from point A to point E without ever seeing B, C and D,” Hammer concludes.

Look for The Hammer Blues Band on April 10 at the Lumberyard Pub. For more info, go to HammerBlues.com or e-mail Joey at jrcastri@yahoo.com.