Evil Nature is a post punk creation headed by New Jersey singer/bassist Dasher Hammet. The band released their debut full-length album How and When to Prune Roses on June 21, 2022 on all streaming services. The story of the band begins inside the heart of the legendary recording studio Big Blue Meenie in Jersey City - the place where bands like Thursday, Taking Back Sunday, Bouncing Souls, Mighty Mighty Bosstone, Agnostic Front, and many more were creating their best work.
Dasher recruited his favorite people with whom he came across over the years. Greg Wilkens, formerly of Asbury Park's Last Perfect Thing, joined on guitar. Fabio Amato, who was the Big Blue Meenie house drummer and played on records for countless artists, came on board for drums. Dasher even enlisted Big Blue Meenie studio owner and renowned producer Tim Gilles to play keyboards. Evil Nature's debut full length would tragically be the last record Tim played on. He passed away of a heart attack in January 2022 before he could complete recording his keyboards on the album.
The band, still in shock and grief, knew one thing for sure, they must press on and complete the record. In swooped Joe Darone, another Big Blue Meenie alumn, to complete the keyboards. Joe, a former member of the Fiendz, the Rosenbergs, plus the creative mind behind Suit of Lights, was the perfect man for the job.
While drawing influences equally from the dance-punk of Gang of Four & Talking Heads and the anthemic punk rock of bands like Bad Religion & the Offspring, Evil Nature delivers an album that is forward thinking and ambitious.
Dasher's distinctive vocals characterize the record much the way Tom Waits does for his own records, a quality of tone and timbre that is unmistakeable. With lyrics that broach religion, science, technology, and politics all through a very existentialist tongue in cheek slant, Evil Nature has brought us a record about the human experience in a dystopian preset. The album is available on Bandcamp and Spotify.
