"It’s probably as far out of my wheelhouse as I have ever gone as an artist, so I’m very excited about it."
Clayton Bellamy, local singer/songwriter and member of The Road Hammers, is taking a step out of his comfort zone.
“I’m a big believer in reinvention, and personally over the last few years I’ve had some reinvention and I needed to do the same thing artistically. I really hung my hat on a David Bowie quote in the last few years. It’s ‘if you’re not swimming where your feet can’t touch creatively, then you’re not doing your best work,’” described Bellamy.
His soon-to-be-released album Welcome to the Congregation takes a completely different spin on Bellamy's classic country-rock style.
"I just felt like I had stagnated doing the singer/songwriter thing for so many years and The Road Hammers is also in that wheelhouse in terms of their country-rock. I just wanted to do something that was fresh, new, and exciting,” he told the Nouvelle.
Bellamy's latest creation is "a mash-up of all of my favourite styles of music: blues, rock, and soul."
In order to make his vision a reality, Bellamy created an entirely new band to make it happen. Known as The Congregation, the band carries a lot of common themes such as love and inclusiveness.
"When you think about a congregation, at least I think about a large group of people, a gathering, making a joyous noise, and that’s exactly what this music and this band is all about,” explained Bellamy.
The whole idea of The Congregation came about when Bellamy was spending time with his producer in Nashville. They had just wrapped up The Road Hammers' latest album, The Squeeze, and were listening to some classic artists.
"We were listening to old records, talking about next steps, next moves, and I pulled up this album from the 70s by Joe Crocker, called Mad Dogs and Englishmen. I fell in love with that when I was a kid and I rediscovered it and I hung my hat on that as being a compass point for me, as a concept, because that’s what Mad Dogs and Englishmen was, it was a crazy cast of characters that was touring like a giant circus. I wanted that kind of feeling,’" recalled Bellamy.
The Bonnyville-native said this album "has a lot to say," and that he really drew from his personal life for inspiration.
“Trying to take something I was going through that was painful and actively seeking to cover it in love, because knowing that’s the only way to get through it and to the other side. That’s the basis of the album,” he detailed.
Writing a completely different style of music didn't come easy.
In fact, Bellamy said, it was a long process because writing blues, rock, and soul is very different than writing country music.
When writing country, the artist starts from a lyrical place, whereas this new genre was "a lot more based on drum grooves, guitar rifts, and things that create a feeling and emotion musically first and then lyrically delving into whatever you want to say."
His favourite songs from the album, which will be released Sept. 20, are The Healing and Undercover Lover.
“I think The Healing’s message is universal and it was really pulling from the flesh for me… I think we all need a little peace, love, and understanding. We need to remember to get back to that," noted Bellamy. “Undercover Lover just screams fun. It’s spunky and it’s groovy, and it’s loud.”
