Helmet, a band which made its name in the early ‘90s off the strength of a driving, forward-thinking take on alternative rock is set to have Betty, a cult classic album from 1994, repressed to vinyl in an anniversary package, releasing June 1 via the Interscope Vinyl Collective. The reissue will feature five additional tracks and new artwork by Derek Hess. It was pressed at Third Man Records in Detroit. The special edition is limited to 3,000 individually numbered copies.
Helmet founder Page Hamilton explained that Betty was a deliberate exploration of wildly varied musical styles, like jazz and blues, in order to push on the boundaries of the band’s sound. The recording of it was, similarly, a break from what came before: “We decided,” Hamilton says, “to try something different. We knew the LA Motown studio Neve 8078 console [a highly prized, hand-wired centerpiece of the studio] was owned by Donald Fagen of Steely Dan, so we ended up at his upper, Upper East Side studio, River Sound, in NYC.” The result is a seemingly simple but compositionally complex collection of songs that has drawn praise for its experimentations ever since its initial release – Helmet is currently planning a fall tour at which they will definitely be playing some selections from Betty.
The reissue comes via the Interscope Vinyl Collective, which is a monthly subscription that “celebrates the legacies of Interscope’s most essential acts while introducing timeless albums to a new generation.”
Join the Interscope Vinyl Collective here.