Guitarmy Of One

Scott Helland’s Guitarmy of One creates an amalgamation of cinematic soundtrack music, punk, surf, spy noir and Spanish guitar styles all played on an acoustic electric hybrid Godin guitar. This veteran of the Massachusetts punk scene (Deep Wound, Outpatients) layers and live-loops rhythms and melodies with driving beats to create an original take on instrumental guitar music. Helland got his start playing bass guitar in the hardcore punk scene in the 80s with the band Deep Wound that he formed with J Mascis and Lou Barlow. He also performed and released several albums with East Coast hardcore and crossover thrash stalwarts Outpatients as well as School of Violence and Darkside NYC. He went solo in the mid nineties releasing numerous eclectic instrumental albums that touched on Ambient, Celtic and experimental music. In 2005 he formed the post punk dark pop cabaret duo Frenchy and the Punk with French born singer Samantha Stephenson. The duo continues to release records (6 full lengths at last count) and tour the US, Canada, Europe and have even played in West Africa. Helland began releasing instrumental guitar music again in 2017 with the driving, melodic all acoustic ‘Never End the Rocket Century’ album. In keeping with his punk roots the title (NETRC) is a mashup of 2 different Ramone’s album titles. In 2021 Helland, under the moniker Guitarmy of One released ‘The Spy Detective Collective’ album, inspired by his childhood immersion of TV detective and spy shows ala The Man from Uncle, I Spy, Rockford Files and the like. The 10 song album got rave reviews sighting the album’s plethora of Spanish and Surf guitar riffs and melodies mixed with its driving cinematic overtones. "Scott Helland's Guitarmy of One will strike a chord with those schooled in '60s-era surf rock and Henry Mancini themes." PopMatters "Helland adds colorful, complementing guitar lines that hint at flamenco almost as often as they do at Ventures-style surf-rock." PopMatters "This is a joy-filled and oddly flirtatious little record from start to finish. Helland has tapped something interesting and, dare we say, magical on The Spy Detective Collective." PopMatters "[Scott Helland] never fails to surprise with his continuous evolution as an artist." Ghost Cult Music Blog "Helland’s prolific songwriting has yielded him over 30 records since the ‘80s, ever since that fateful flyer fell into the hands of lo-fi heroes, J Mascis and Lou Barlow." Grateful Web "Dick Dale meets Keller Williams." "Outlandish, playful and mysterious... like the soundtrack to an old detective television show." Alt77 Music Blog Fans like this writer, of Spy and 60s detective movie and TV show themes have itches deeply scratched here, along with components of surf (occasional echoey fret runs) and strong Spanish flamenco stylings and intricate blues-folk patterns that Django Reinhardt might admire.’ The Big Takeover Magazine