Glass Hammer

Not to be confused with The Glass Hammer.

Glass Hammer
Glass Hammer performing at the Rites of Spring festival in 2015 Glass Hammer performing at the Rites of Spring festival in 2015. From left to right: Babb, Bogdanowicz, Raulston, Groves, Shikoh, and Schendel.
Background information
Origin	Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States
Genres	Progressive rock, symphonic rock
Years active	1992–present
Labels	Arion Records/Audio Resources
Members	Fred Schendel Steve Babb Susie Bogdanowicz Kamran Alan Shikoh Aaron Raulston
Past members	Michelle Young Walter Moore Carl Groves Jon Davison
Website	www.glasshammer.com

Glass Hammer is an American progressive rock band from Chattanooga, Tennessee, created and led by Steve Babb and Fred Schendel.

History

They formed in 1992 when multi-instrumentalists Steve Babb (then known as "Stephen DeArqe") and Fred Schendel began to write and record Journey of the Dunadan, a concept album based on the story of Aragorn from J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. To their surprise, the album sold several thousand units via the Internet, TV home shopping, and phone orders, and Babb and Schendel were convinced that the band was a project worth continuing.

Babb and Schendel were at this time also members of a band called Wyzards, which Babb formed in 1980. One album was released called The Final Catastrophe in 1997. Wyzards disbanded in 1998.

While many musicians have appeared on Glass Hammer albums over the years, Babb and Schendel have remained the core of the band. Both men play a variety of instruments, but Babb mainly concentrates on bass guitar and keyboards while Schendel also plays keyboards as well as various guitars and drums (until the addition of live drummer Matt Mendians to the studio recording band in 2004). They also sing, although a number of other vocalists (most notably Michelle Young, Walter Moore, Susie Bogdanowicz, Carl Groves, and Jon Davison) have also handled lead vocal duties.

Lyrically, Glass Hammer is inspired mostly by their love of fantasy literature (most notably Tolkien and C. S. Lewis) and by their Christian faith. Although by their own admission they have tried to avoid becoming an overtly Christian band, their 2002 release Lex Rex was a concept album based on a Roman soldier's encounter with Jesus.

Musically, their most apparent influences are Yes, Kansas, Emerson, Lake & Palmer and, to a less noticeable extent, Genesis. While Glass Hammer has, for the most part, combined those influences into a characteristic style of their own, they made much more direct references to the aforementioned bands on their 2000 album Chronometree, which told the story of a drug-addled progressive rock fan who becomes convinced aliens are speaking to him through the music he listens to.

In 2012, Jon Davison was selected by Yes as their new lead singer, while remaining a member of Glass Hammer; he left Glass Hammer a couple of years later.

Discography

Studio albums

• Journey of the Dunadan (1993)
• Perelandra (1995)
• On to Evermore (1998)
• Chronometree (2000)
• The Middle Earth Album (2001)
• Lex Rex (2002)
• Shadowlands (2004)
• The Inconsolable Secret (2005, re-recorded in 2013)
• Culture of Ascent (2007)
• Three Cheers for the Broken-Hearted (2009)
• If (2010)
• Cor Cordium (2011)
• Perilous (2012)
• Ode to Echo (2014)
• The Breaking of the World (2015)
• Valkyrie (2016)

Live albums

• Live and Revived (1997)
• Live at Nearfest (2004)
• Double Live (2015)

Live DVDs

• Lex Live (2004)
• Live at Belmont (2006)
• Live at the Tivoli (2008)
• Double Live (2015)

Others

• Love Changes (1995) – collaborative album by Tracy Cloud featuring Glass Hammer
• Harbour of Joy (1996) – collaborative Camel tribute album by various artists; provided the song "Air Born"
• David & Goliath - the Musical (2002) – Babb and Schendel
• One (2010) – old recordings by Babb and Schendel from 1991-1992
• Do Not See Me Rabbit (2011) – Schendel solo album, released under the name Trurl
• The Stories of H.P. Lovecraft (2012) – collaborative album by various artists; provided the song "Cool Air"
• Untold Tales (2017) – compilation of previously unreleased Glass Hammer material from 1993-2017

Personnel

Members

Current members

• Fred Schendel – keyboards, guitars, backing vocals (1992–present), lead vocals (1992-2004, 2015-present), drums (1992-2004)
• Steve Babb – bass, keyboards, backing vocals (1992–present), lead vocals (1992-2004, 2016-present), percussion (1992-2004)
• Susie Bogdanowicz – lead vocals (2000-2009, 2013-present)
• Kamran Alan Shikoh – guitars, electric sitar (2009–present)
• Aaron Raulston - drums (2013–present)

Former members

• Michelle Young – lead vocals (1992-1997; guest: 2013)
• Carl Groves – lead vocals (2007–2009, 2013-2016)
• Jon Davison – lead vocals (2009–2014)

Session musicians

• Walter Moore – vocals (2005–present; full-time vocalist and guitarist: 1995-2005, full-time drummer: 1995-2000)
• Bethany Warren (Susie Bogdanowicz's younger sister) – vocals (2004–present)
• Flo Paris – vocals (2004–present)
• Matt Mendians – drums (2004–present)
• The Adonia String Trio – string trio (2005–present)
  • Rebecca James – violin
  • Susan Whitacre – viola
  • Rachel Beckmann/Hackenberger – cello
• David Wallimann – guitars (2007–present)

Former session/guest musicians

• Brad Marler – lead vocals (2000)
• Terry Clouse – guitars (2000)
• Sarah Snyder – vocals (2001)
• David Carter – guitars (1992-2005)
• Randall Williams – drums (2009–-2013)

Timeline

External links

• Glass Hammer Official website
• Allmusic band description entry
• Glass Hammer Discography on Amazon.com

Interviews

• Feature article and interview in Pathways to Excellence's Winter 2005 and Spring 2006 issues