Dan Whitehouse & Max ZT – Hammerhead: Video Premiere

At The Barrier

1 year ago

Dan Whitehouse and Max ZT release a live version of Hammerhead, a track from their Ten Steps album. We have a premiere of the new video.

Release Date: 18th April 2025

Label: Want To Know

Ahead of their third UK tour in June 2025, Midlands/Tokyo based singer-songwriter Dan Whitehouse and Grammy-nominated hammered dulcimer player from New York Max ZT release their meditative new live single.

This very special take on Hammerhead is a live version of one of the tracks from the duo’s critically acclaimed Ten Steps album released in September 2023 recorded at Peter Gabriel’s iconic Real World Studios.

The intimate and delicate performance reveals the duo’s talent for crafting evocative, soul-stirring music laced with raw honesty, poetic nuance and instrumental mastery.

For some inisght into the piece, Dan tells us: “Hammerhead is the name of a huge crane at Yokohama port, forged near where I grew up in England’s industrial heartland, then transported to Japan in 1914. It offers me a link to my homeland of the Black Country and sits in stark contrast to the gentrified cafes restaurants designer clothes shops and 5* hotels now in its vicinity. It’s in a nice part of the harbour and I like to sit in its shadow to drink coffee and write.”

“My young son lives in Japan, with his mother. I remember watching him playing in the shadow of Hammerhead, not long after I’d returned to Japan after a long time apart.” He continues: “I wrote these lyrics with gentle brushstrokes, as I watched my boy play in its shadow, feeling the unbearable weight of being apart and the tenderness of reconnection.”

Dan and Max tour details here