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Vic and The Hammerheads

Vic Polyik and The Hammerheads

About Me


Vic Polyik and The Hammerheads are quickly emerging to be one of Sydney’s finest practitioners of American west-coast blues today. Longtime Canadian blues exponent, Victor Polyik (now a “Sydneysider” once again) fronts “The Hammerheads”. Dubbed by many as a “harmonica ace”, Victor is firmly entrenched in vintage Jump Blues and he’s definitely got the sound and spirit down. Victor moved to Vancouver in 1994 where he honed his skills as a harmonica player and vocalist. Over the years, he’s built-up his own trademark tone that can be heard on numerous elite Canadian blues recordings.Jeff Simmons (Formerly of Frank Zappa’s Mothers), frequently asked Vic to perform and record with him on various off the cuff sessions. Other, revered blues performers who have also used the harmonica services of the eager Aussie include: Shuggie Otis, Jack Lavin (Powder Blues), Guitar Shorty, Amos Garrett to name a few…Back on home ground Victor has been performing with Australian music icon Don Walker on occasion, supplementary to The Lemon Squeezin Daddies as a guest and featured regularly with The Shuffle Kings.Recently Victor teamed up with Newcastle’s own stunning guitar champ Dino DeVitis, AKA (Jimmy Dean). Dino has also backed many legendary artists both here in Australia and overseas. Together, they are keen to capture the authentic and electrifying sound of the fifties and more. These boys know how to lay it down - pure and simple!


My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 9/27/2006
Band Website: fat-tone.com.au
Band Members:

Band Members (2005-2007, Australia):

Vic Polyik (Harp, Vocals)
Dino Devitis (Guitar)
Rory Brown (Double Bass)
Dave Harding (Double Bass)
Joel Davis (Drums)
Dave Plenty (Drums)
Don Hopkins (Piano on occasion)

Past Band Members (1999-2005, Canada):

Guitar-Greg "Junior" Demchuk
(Rockin' Highliners, Twisters), Guitar-Double D, Guitar-Rene Hein, Guitar-Steve
Kozak, (West coast Blues Revue, Bad Habits) Guitar-Paul Pigat, (Cousin Harley,
Neko Case) Guitar-Scott Smith, (Terminal Station, Bughouse 5, Bottleneck) Bass-Jeremy
Holmes, (Terminal Station, Loose Acoustic), Bass-James Taylor (R.I.P.), Bass-Pete
Turland (Ray Condo) Bass-Ken "Bull Fiddle" Wilson, Bass-Sam Shoichet(Ray Condo) Drums-"Hollywood Jimmie"
James Badger, Drums-Rene Hein, (Ray Condo), Drums-Liam McDonald, (Terminal
Station, Loose Acoustic), Drums-Sandy Smith (Sandybone, Twisters) Drums-Steve
Taylor, (Ray Condo), Piano-Alex Stevenson.


Influences: Little Walter Jacobs, Sam Myers, Little Junior Parker, Bobby Bland, Sonny Boy Williamson, Muddy Waters, Jimmy Rogers, T-Bone Walker, Otis Rush, Magic Sam, Eddie Taylor, Buddy Guy, Junior Wells, Johnny Guitar Watson, Johnny Little John, Snooky Pryor, The James Harman Band, The William Clarke Band, The Hollywood Fats Band…and many more..
Sounds Like: Chicago Blues, West Coast Blues, 50's Specialty label, a touch of rockabilly with some western swing thrown in for good measure.
Record Label: Fattonerecords (Canada)
Type of Label: Indie

My Blog

2004 'Hypnotized' CD Review

Cd Review By Issue #29 of REAL BLUES Magazine. VP & THE HAMMERHEADS: HYPNOTIZED   VP stands for Vic Polyik, an Australian-born Vancouver-based singer/harpman, who is firmly entrenched in Wes...
Posted by Vic and The Hammerheads on Thu, 05 Oct 2006 02:36:00 PST