GOLD HILL — Dr. Philip Hatfield, a nationally known author/historian and former Rowan County resident, is also a musician. His band, Under Surveillance, will perform at the 25th Annual Gold Hill Founder’s Day event on Saturday at Gold Hill Mines Historic Park.
Hatfield, who has written several books and scholarly articles on North Carolina and West Virginia during the Civil War, lived in Salisbury from 1992 to 2002 where he worked as a full-time psychologist and was also compiling a great deal of historical data for use in his research.
Hatfield authored “The Rowan Rifle Guards: A History of Company K, 4th North Carolina State Troops, 1857-1865” that was published by Createspace.com in 2010, and also published “The Other Feud: William ‘Devil Anse’ Hatfield in the Civil War” in 2010, which is related to his ancestor’s Confederate military service before the famous feud.
Although he was primarily involved in historic research and writing during his Rowan County tenure, Hatfield was also quietly writing music that he one day planned to record. He began taking piano lessons at age 8, but later took up guitar which quickly became his primary instrument.
Although his musical passion was little known during his residency in Rowan, he had previously recorded and performed with the internationally known 1980s New Wave band, The Score. In spite of his rather diverse academic and artistic interests, Hatfield relates that music has always been his main passion. “After serving in the military 2004-2007, and going through a difficult divorce in 2012, I knew I needed to reconnect with my first love, which has always been writing and playing music,” he said.
Hatfield was living in Fayetteville in 2012 and had been playing acoustic music in local coffee shops when he decided to return home to West Virginia. He quickly contacted two childhood friends, drummer Randy Brown and bassist Phil Crace, both from his hometown of Hurricane, W.Va.
The three lifelong chums not only went to school together, when they first started performing live, but had also previously played in several bands and recording projects across the years, including The Score. In spite of not being directly involved in the music industry for many years, Hatfield and the others quickly realized little was lost after not having performed together since the 1980s and began recording in earnest in June 2012.
After roughly a year and a half of recording, they released their debut CD, “Between the Lines,” in December 2013 on Revolution Records. Under Surveillance blends solid 1970-’80s influenced rock sonic with unique, hook-laden pop melodies, creating a distinct power-pop rock flavor.
Critic Rudy Pannuci (Pop Cult, Charleston Gazette) recently described the band as “… a pure delight. … Their sound is solidly in the power pop school of Moon Mullins, Cheap Trick and The Knack … they sound like a very hard-edged version of The Shoes … This CD has a timeless quality.”
Under Surveillance now performs throughout the Southeast and Midwest, and they are also recording their second album, to be called “Savannah Moon,” due for release in 2015. Hatfield says he still feels deep roots in Rowan County and will always think of it as his “other” home, and is very excited to perform at Gold Hill on Saturday. You can learn more about Hatfield and follow Under Surveillance by visiting the band/artist Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/#!/wvundersurveillance
Their music is available on Amazon, iTunes and major digital outlets. They will have CDs available at the 25th Annual Gold Hill Founders’ Day event.
The park is located at 735 St. Stephens Church Road, in the historic gold mining town of Gold Hill.