Hum would prefer to play wherever and whenever it damn well pleases

In the era of the ’90s reunion tour, it is often hard not to wonder: Are these bands reuniting due to reasons artistic or financial? Hum, the Champaign, Illinois, indie quartet whose fame peaked in 1996 with the radio hit “Stars,” doesn’t have to answer that question. The band hasn’t released an album since 1998 and hasn’t toured since 2000. But it also never really broke up. Hum still quietly plays occasional shows to a small but strongly dedicated fanbase.

“It has to be the right gig, right place, at the right time,” Matt Talbott, lead singer and guitarist, tells The Pitch. “There’s no set criteria, but we like for them to be kind of ‘events.’ So we’ve done a variety of festivals over the last few years, and then we usually add a few shows around the main gig.”

A festival date is what’s bringing Hum to Kansas City this Friday. The band is playing Austin, Texas’ Fun Fun Fun Fest on Sunday, where it will be sandwiched between dance-pop auteurs Architecture In Helsinki and comedian Brian Posehn. A show at RecordBar on the way was a nice routing fit.

But it’s not a mere layover; Hum has ties to the opening act on Friday’s bill, as well as the venue itself.

“We are so very, very happy to finally be playing KC again,” Talbott says. “The bar owners and the guys in the Life and Times are longtime friends of ours, from the days of Season to Risk and Shiner. Kansas City has been kind to Hum from the very beginning, and any success we’ve had here has everything to do with a core group of like-minded folks inviting us out and being kind to us. So I look at this gig as a sort of homecoming for Hum, one that I’m looking forward to with great enthusiasm.”

As is Kansas City — the show sold out so quickly that RecordBar added a second show, which also sold out. RecordBar owner (and Season to Risk member) Steve Tulipana has a long history with the band.

“Hum are old friends,” Tulipana says. “When they first started, they used to sleep on my couches. I’ve been trying to get them to play at RecordBar since we opened, but the schedules have never worked out. When I got the call that they were headed to Austin to play Fun Fun Fun Fest and they wanted to play here, I was ecstatic — so excited to see the guys and hear them tear up our room. Twice!”

Back to Talbott. So is Hum kind of a side project, then, or what?

“When we have gigs, Hum is the main thing, and everything else takes a back seat, including my studio, my label, my marriage and, to some degree, my golf game,” Talbott says. “But our gigs are sporadic enough that I eventually have ample opportunity to reinvest myself in those other things.”

Of course, what fans really want Talbott to invest himself in is new music. It’s been over a decade. “We do sense that there would be enthusiasm for new material,” Talbott says. “The problem with that is that we have, to some degree, lost our mojo when it comes to writing new songs. I think it was stolen by that guy from Creed.”

Despite the lack of new music, fans do have the opportunity to hear new Hum-influenced tunes on a new tribute to the band. Miami’s Pop Up Records will soon release Songs of Farewell and Departure, which lends yet another local connection to Hum — Lawrence’s the Esoteric covers “Iron Clad Lou,” a song from Hum’s 1993 album, Electra 2000.

Talbott currently has his hands full recording with bands like Open Hand and Centaur and operating his long-running recording studio, Earth Analog. (He also has recently launched a record label, also called Earth Analog.) Meanwhile, guitarist Tim Lash and bassist Jeff Dimpsey play in other bands — Gazelle and Alpha Mile, respectively.

So what’s the draw of playing in Hum? Why do a bunch of middle-aged gents still play on bills that feature really angry bands singing songs about raining blood?

“Well, middle age can get kinda routine and boring sometimes,” says Talbott. “I always come away surprised how much fun [Hum shows] are. I think it’s that simple.”