Like numerous musicians, Tom Hamilton used the covid pandemic to dig through his personal music archive refamiliarizing himself with old projects and passions. Like several of his peers, he found music from his early days that lit a spark not to be extinguished. The result is his latest musical project MORE!. The lineup is the first incarnation of Hamilton’s band Brothers Past. It includes his older brother and guitarist Jim along with bassist Joe D’Amico and Tom McKee on piano/keys.
The band spent the late 90’s touring and trying to keep the wheels rolling. Ultimately, Jim and D’Amico moved on before 2001’s debut “Elements.”
Hamilton broke the news of MORE!’s reformation to Slideandbanjo.com in 2021 proclaiming, “I got my old band back together. It’s one of the first bands I loved. Right before Covid hit, a friend from the band came by and gave me all these tapes from when we were young. He wanted me to digitize them.
I was going through all these tapes from 1998 and 1999. It was a great band and the songs were great. I called up the guys in the band and said let’s get together and play. We all got together except for the original drummer (who doesn’t play drums anymore) and put MORE! back together.”
The band added Ghost Light’s Scotty Zwang on drums and played a couple of livestreams from Hamilton’s Ballroom studio as Covid lingered on. Amazingly, the band landed a spot as a supporting act for Dead and Company’s 2023 Playing in the Sand. Their performance was so well received it was immediately released by Royal Potato Family on all streaming formats.
MORE!’s momentum continued last weekend with a raucous hometown show at the Ardmore in Philadelphia. Although it’s an understandable third on Hamilton’s list of priorities behind Ghost Light and JRAD, there will definitely be more MORE!.
Slideandbanjo.com covered this weekend’s concert and will have the story on the long and winding journey the Hamilton brothers took to reconnect musically. From touring with Derek Trucks to Phil Lesh changing their career path, it’s a unique and incredible tale. Stay tuned.
