Biography All Music Guide Wikipedia
Group Members: Jeremy Chatelain
All Music Guide:
Like many influential bands, Helmet were born out of an unusual set of influences. Oregon-born guitarist and founder Page Hamilton had actually moved to New York City to study jazz, but found inspiration in the late '80s through post-punk acts Sonic Youth, Killing Joke, and Big Black, and envisioned a group that combined then-unusual tunings (particularly dropped D) with uneven and jazz-like time signatures and harmonies. The result was Helmet, the East Coast's answer to Seattle's then-underground sensation Soundgarden. Hamilton recruited bassist Henry Bogdan from Oregon, along with Australian guitarist Peter Mengede and Florida drummer John Stanier for the group's first incarnation. Helmet's independent label debut EP, Strap It On, showcased the group's raw power -- both instrumentally and in Hamilton's growling vocals -- through tracks like the mocking "Sinatra" and rocking "Bad Mood."
Signed to the Interscope label soon thereafter, the same lineup released its breakthrough 1992 CD, Meantime. MTV aired three videos by Helmet, then the only band close to the Seattle grunge sound on the East Coast, in "Give It," "In the Meantime," and the distorted, stop-and-start showcase "Unsung." Hamilton, Bogdan, and Stanier collaborated with Irish rap group House of Pain on "Just Another Victim" for the 1993 film Judgment Night, after Mengede left the band. The popular soundtrack (with its unorthodox mix of rappers and alternative bands like Ice-T and Slayer, Sir Mix-a-Lot and Mudhoney) created even more of a demand for Helmet's next CD. Replacing Mengede with guitarist Rob Echeverria on 1994's Betty, Hamilton crafted an album even more versatile -- and at times even heavier -- than Meantime. The song "Milquetoast" appeared on the soundtrack to the hit film The Crow; Stanier's unrelenting drumming drove tracks like "I Know," and Hamilton's jazz background showed on the cover of Dizzy Gillespie's "Beautiful Love." Yet Betty proved to be a critical success but a commercial failure, its versatility relegating it to the cutout bins.
Echeverria left Helmet in the mid-'90s to join Biohazard, and the band bought time to refocus by releasing the Born Annoying collection of B-sides in 1995. Hamilton played all the guitar parts for 1997's Aftertaste -- but his vocals sounded like his heart just wasn't in a group in which he couldn't keep a rhythm guitarist, and the album proved a disappointment. After touring with Orange 9mm's Chris Traynor on guitar and much deliberation, Helmet disbanded in 1999. But the Helmet influence was heard throughout rock, whether by Hamilton's involvement with industrial groups (Nine Inch Nails) or indirectly through metal acts (System of a Down), and even the atonal distortion of rap-rock hybrids such as Korn and Limp Bizkit.
Helmet returned in 2004 when Hamilton recruited Traynor and a new rhythm section consisting of drummer John Tempesta (Rob Zombie, Testament) and bassist Frank Bello (Anthrax); signed to Interscope, the group released Size Matters in October of that year. The lineup would change with following albums as well. Drummer Mike Jost and bassist Jeremy Chatelain joined Hamilton and Traynor for 2006s Monochrome, released on Warcon/Fontana, and guitarist Dan Beeman and drummer Kyle Stevenson rotated in for 2010s Seeing Eye Dog.
Wikipedia:
A helmet is a form of protective gear worn on the head to protect it from injuries.
Ceremonial or symbolic helmets (e.g., English policeman's helmet) without protective function are sometimes used. The oldest known use of helmets was by Assyrian soldiers in 900BC, who wore thick leather or bronze helmets to protect the head from blunt object and sword blows and arrow strikes in combat. Soldiers still wear helmets, now often made from lightweight plastic materials.
In civilian life, helmets are used for recreational activities and sports (e.g., jockeys in horse racing, American football, ice hockey, cricket, baseball, and rock climbing); dangerous work activities (e.g., construction, mining, riot police); and transportation (e.g., Motorcycle helmets and bicycle helmets). Since the 1990s, most helmets are made from resin or plastic, which may be reinforced with fibers such as aramids.
Design
All helmets attempt to protect the user's head by absorbing mechanical energy and protecting against penetration. Their structure and protective capacity are altered in high-energy impacts. Beside their energy-absorption capability, their volume and weight are also important issues, since higher volume and weight increase the injury risk for the user's head and neck. Anatomical helmets adapted to the inner head structure were invented by neurosurgeons at the end of the 20th century.
Helmets used for different purposes have different designs. For example, a bicycle helmet must protect against blunt impact forces from the wearer's head striking the road. A helmet designed for rock climbing must protect against heavy impact, and against objects such as small rocks and climbing equipment falling from above. Practical concerns also dictate helmet design: a bicycling helmet should be aerodynamic in shape and well ventilated, while a rock climbing helmet must be lightweight and small so that it does not interfere with climbing.
Some helmets have other protective elements attached to them, such as a face visors or goggles or a face cage, and ear plugs and other forms of protective headgear, and a communications system. Sports helmets may have an integrated metal face protector (face cage).
Baseball batting helmets have an expanded protection over the ear, which protects the jaw from injury.Motorcycle helmets often have flip-down face screens for rain and wind protection, and they may also have projecting visors to protect the eyes from glare.Hard hats for construction workers are worn mainly to protect the wearer from falling objects such as tools.Helmets for riot police often have flip-down clear visors and thick padding to protect the back of the neck.Modern firefighter's helmets protect the face and back of the head against impact, fires and electricity, and can include masks, communication systems, and other accessories.Welding helmets protect the eyes and face and neck from flash burn, ultraviolet light, sparks and heat. They have a small window, called a lens shade, through which the welder looks at the weld; for arc welding this window must be much darker than in blowtorch goggles and sunglasses.People with some medical conditions must wear a helmet to protect the brain, due to a gap in the braincase, e.g. because of cleidocranial dysostosis or in separated craniopagus twins.Mixed martial arts helmets have ear pads to prevent serious injuries to the athletes, who do not usually endure such force to the ears.Materials
Types of synthetic fiber used to make some helmets:
AramidTwaronIn former times lightweight non-metallic protective materials and strong transparent materials for visors were not available. In Greece in ancient times helmets were sometimes strengthened by covering the surface with boars' tusks (= their canine teeth) laid flat.
In Britain in the 18th and 19th centuries gamekeepers, for head protection in fights against poachers, sometimes wore helmets (perhaps more describable as thick bump caps) made of straw bound together with cut bramble.
Types of helmet
Military
See Combat helmet for a list of helmets worn in (ancient and modern) battle combat
Fighter pilot helmetPH helmet—actually a flexible hood: early types of British gas masksLeather helmet—aviator and tank operator headgearMotorcycle and bicycle helmets
Motorcycle helmet—protective helmet for motorcycle ridersBicycle helmet—protective helmet for bicycle ridersSports
Cricket batsmen wearing helmets.Cricket helmet—protective headgear worn by batsmen in a game of cricket A helmet is also worn by a wicket keeper and some fielders close to the batsman.Equestrian helmet—protective headgear worn by horse ridersBatting helmet—protective headgear worn by batters in a game of baseball or softball catcher's full face helmetBull riding helmetFootball helmet—for American football and Canadian football Eyeshield—a type of visor for a football helmetHockey helmetGoalie maskLacrosse helmetPith helmet (a.k.a. sun helmet)Ski helmet—protective helmet for skiersAssociation football headgear—protective headgear worn by some association football (soccer) playersA helmet is worn in bobsleddingA helmet is worn in the Gaelic sport of hurlingA helmet may be worn whilst wakeboarding. These helmets must be waterproof and may come with ear protectors to reduce the chance of a burst ear drum after a bad fallSafety helmet for scuba diving. Not air-holding. May have a built-in forehead light. Images at [1].Helmets are routinely worn in most forms of auto racing in both driver and pit crew forms.Work
Diving helmet—worn by professional divers engaged in surface supplied divingHard hat—often seen on building sites; may have a visorMiner's helmetSpace helmetWelding helmet—worn by weldersProtective and emergency services
Custodian helmet—symbolic British police headgearFirefighter's helmetF1 helmet—French type firefighter helmetMerryweather helmets—Victorian-era fire helmet in Britain and Hong KongLifeboatman's helmet. The lifeboatman's helmet depicted below (seen at Southport lifeboat station in England on 7 September 2008) covers the same area as a motorcycle helmet including all of the ears, Its casing is thinner, and nearer to the size of the head, and has lengthwise ridges. It has a transparent visor to keep sea spray out of the eyes. It has a chinstrap. Its lining is not padded but inflatable; it has an inflation tube ending at the red nipple (at the bottom of the image), to inflate the lining by mouth to fit it firmly on the head. It has a microphone and an intercom lead.Riotsquad helmetSWAT team helmet—mostly PASGT typeOther helmets
Pith helmet—sun protection helmetMahiole—Hawaiian feathered helmetWinged helmet—fictional Scandinavian helmetBalaclava helmet—not really a helmet, a woollen face covering against cold, sometimes used for concealmentTarnhelm, mythical helmet that makes its wearer invisibleProtective helmets for mentally disabled persons.Heraldry
ShieldFieldSupporterSupporterMotto (Scotland)CrestTorseMantlingHelmCoronetCompartmentOrderOrdinariesCommonchargesMottoAchievement elementsAs the coat of arms was originally designed to distinguish combatants on the battlefield or in a tournament, even while covered in armour, it is not surprising that heraldic elements were often also used for the decoration of knightly helmets, while it was also possible to use different elements than on the shield, but equally standardized.
Furthermore, it became common to use a helmet (or some other headgear, e.g. a crown or coronet) as part of the coat of arms, above the shield, a practice maintained long after helmets themselves ceased to be used. In some systems, the rank of the bearer was reflected in the model of the emblematic helmet, e.g. the metal and the number of bars in the visor, as in France. The rank can be denoted by a coronet or wreath placed on the helmet (often instead of directly above the shield).
The heraldic convention in the United Kingdom is as follows:
Sovereign: a barred helm of gold, placed affrontéPeers generally: barred helms of silver decorated with gold, placed sideways and showing five barsBaronet's or Knight's helmet:Esquire's and Gentleman's helmet: closed helm or visored helm with visor down, Steel, placed sidewaysGallery
Jousting helm c. 1498, study by Albrecht Dürer
Pith helmet
Vietnam War Era Marine Squadron VMA-311 Flight Helmet
PASGT helmet
CG634 helmet
Hockey Helmet—Goalie
baseball batting helmet
full face and open face motorcycle helmet
Leather Firefighting yellow Helmet
Lifeboatman's helmet, Southport, England.
Helmet for nurse going into chemical-hazard situation, Wythenshawe Hospital, 26 September 2010
Safety helmet for medical personnel, Wythenshawe Hospital, 26 September 2010. The visor goes between two layers of the helmet.
A custom painted Arai GP5 racing helmet
helmetGold Visor
