Hammer lived in Algiers (Algeria) and Washington DC (USA) as a child during the 70's. He then moved to Reading (England) at the age of 12, and grew up there with a real passion for music.He has played electric guitar, bass guitar and acoustic guitar in bands since he was 15. During the mid 80s, he played with Reading based bands Cloud Nine and Surgi Gurdip.
As well as this, he started working in the music industry in 1987 as the manager at Our Price Records, Reading's no.1 record shop (at that time), and has worked in the music industry ever since, both in the UK and the US.
He joined RDF (Radical Dance Faction) in 1987 and enjoyed touring all over the UK with them. His favourite RDF tour was with legendary psychedelic rockers Hawkwind in 1991 (Hawkwind's 25th Anniversary UK tour). The Climax of that tour was the finales at London's Hammersmith Apollo/Odeon and Brixton Academy.
After leaving RDF in 1991, he started recording and developing his own music in a home studio environment, collaborating with varoius Reading-based musicians, including the Reading based Ska/Dub Reggae band Duburbia, as well as Ade Wilkinson which resulted in the world techno rock outfit Crimelab.
In 1996, he teamed up with Yazid Fentazi and Karim Dellali to found London's exciting Anglo-Algerian World Funk/Dance/Jazz band FANTAZIA www.myspace.com/fantaziahackney and recorded on the band's debut album The Lost Place.
In 1999, he moved out to Los Angeles to set up a USA Head Office for the world famous guitar/bass string company, Rotosound Strings www.rotosound.com Whilst out in LA, he played guitar and bass with two different LA based rock bands, recorded with one of LA's most established world music bands, Incendio, and continued to develop and record his own music in his home studio.
He returned to the UK in 2005, and Fantazia were very happy to welcome him back to the band. As well as Fantazia, he's also a member of the London-based The El Andaluz Band www.myspace.com/elandaluzband , and continues to develop and record his own music in his home studio (i.e. the music on this Myspace site ;))
