Home is where the Hammer is.

You must be wondering why I compare Hamilton to all the places I've travelled?  Mostly I just think it's interesting how distinct certain places can be. London has Big Ben, Paris has the Eiffel Tower. Hamilton has my life. To me Hamilton is home, as much as I may complain about certain aspects of it and even dream about taking off and travelling the world troubadour style, I know I will always come back here. I am literally nailed to the Hammer (okay not literally, but you get the point).

There may be things I don't like, stereotypes I wish I could break but there are so many wonderful things about my city as well. Things I wish I could share with other people. I hate when I meet people in other countries and they ask where I'm from and I say, "Hamilton". They have absolutely no idea where I'm talking about until I say, "oh it's near Toronto".

Hamilton is awesome on its own. We have a lot of talent, arts, culture and nature happening here. I mean we are the waterfall capital of the world (sigh). That's got to count for something right? Unfortunately most people sneer at our steel city but I think and hope that people will start to take notice of our citizens. Hamiltonians are awesome. I don't know if there's something in the water but in the past five years we've had at least four or five bands really break onto the Canadian and world music scene. People are bound to wonder what we have here that inspires all these artists.

I want to travel. I want to see new places, meet new people. Experience new and exciting things but I also always want to come back home. Come back to Hamilton.

Arkells, a band that was born and bred with steel in their blood.