Well ladies and gents….they’re at it again! Without throwing in the same old overplayed Willie Nelson lyric (no offense Willie) The Humms are back on the road and blazing a five mile wide fiery path of rock and roll vengeance leaving nothing behind but the remnants of a party’s past and a resurrected need for their high energy, timeless, we don’t give a shit, rock and roll. This past week I rode along with the band for a three day tour in
North Carolina. The Humms crash-landed and busted through the music scenes of Chapel Hill,
Greensboro,
Durham, and the radio waves of
Duke University’s WXDU (fm 88.7).
I was able to see not only the performances of The Humms, but I was also able to experience many other remarkable bands through out the extended weekend. Those bands included: Pinche Gringo, also a band with a raw and refreshing throw-back to Tom Waits (sorry for not catching their name), as well as a band reminiscent of Velvet Revolver (sorry again about the missing name), Spider Bags, and NoBunny.
Our first stop in North Carolina was the Cave. The Cave, locally known as the oldest bar in Chapel Hill, is an underground, basement style bar smack dab in the middle of down town. The flow of drinks and good times were equally matched by the outpouring of good old foot stomping, heart felt, slap a stranger, underground rock. The mix of Pinche Gringo’s garage like grit and blues-like lyrics brings a retro nostalgic punch to the gut to any listener including myself. Along side Pinche, The Humms brought their trio of Zeke, Jackie, and Jess to rip through my perceived thoughts of “so called music” in order to kick, stomp, and torture my mind into reinventing it’s auditory abilities. From the foot stomping, leg slapping sounds of Jupiter to the moral doubting abrasive lyrics of Jesus lied, this set kept my body in constant motion and my brain craving more.
Our second night was spent at Seven Day Weekend in Greensboro with two other bands, one that was able to lyrically and musically move my mind in the same way in which Tom Waits did, and still does. The other band that was suggestive of Velvet Revolver deserves recognition in my eyes. One week before playing the Seven Day Weekend show they lost their lead guitarist and still went on with the show.
Our third night was heaving with amazing music, first-class people, and outstanding food at the Layabout in Durham. I was able to watch The Humms play alongside Spiderbags, Pinche Gringo, NoBunny, and many more. Needless to say, this whole weekend was to-the-brim overflowing with continuous great bands, amazing music, awesome hospitality, unforgettable times, and new found friends.
-Special thanks go out to Ashley, Hank, Jason, Liz, Rob, Allyson, Craig, Serra Ferguson, and Pinche Gringo. We couldn’t have done it without you guys and your hospitality!
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