Jerry Hamm has watched the East Coast music scene evolve and change over the last 40 years, and he’s brought his camera along for every step of the way.
Hamm, also known by his YouTube channel name Harry Jamm, has attended roughly 4,000 concerts in his life and he’s videotaped many of them, documenting and archiving a crucial piece of the Maritime music scene.
“I was doing it on full-size cameras, sneaking them into concerts,” Hamm told CTV News Atlantic’s Katie Kelly during an interview on Thursday. “I couldn’t play so I figured this would be my way of contributing to the scene, I guess. We need to try to preserve it.”
Hamm has recorded all kinds of acts live and posted their songs on YouTube. His library includes big name acts, up and comers, and important moments from the past, such as Razor Boy performing the last show at the Crazy Horse Lounge in Dartmouth.
Hamm has even played a pivotal role in the careers of acts such as the Rankins.
“They came to the showcase at the Maritime Music Awards…but they had a snowstorm that day, so they expected a bunch of record rep people to show up and they didn’t make it,” Hamm said. “So Raylene asked me for a copy of the tape and they ended up giving that tape to somebody in Toronto and got a record deal and they went from there.
“I felt a little bit of, you know, I don’t know if I want to call it pride, but it was nice to be in the right place at the right time to help that happen.”
Hamm, who has gone through roughly 15 cameras over the years, is surprised at the success of his videos on YouTube and the response from the music community.
“People started watching and before you knew it, 10,000 hits, 50,000 hits and it’s recently five million,” he said. “I still can’t fathom five million people watching anything I made, but there it is.
“Now I’m getting actual people who I admired and grew up listening to asking me to shoot rather than me having to sneak the camera in, so it came full circle.”
