Spicy noise-rock boys Bummer release their first LP, Holy Terror — and a special hot sauce
One by one, the three shaggy, twentysomething members of Bummer trickle into the band’s practice space, looking every bit the part of the amps-to-11 noise-rock band that they are. The space is in a nondescript brick building just off Main Street, not far from Westport, and the setup is unglamorous. The lobby’s all torn up. I have to dance around patches of waterlogged carpet to reach the bathroom. The band apologizes. They were all late to arrive for the interview. They apologize for that, too.
The guys in Bummer have a collective inclination for deprecating humor — self- and otherwise — but on this abominably humid August afternoon, they seem to be on their best behavior. Guitarist and vocalist Matt Perrin later tells me that six years of dogged touring together as a unit has taught them to learn how to deal with each other the way a family does. When I point out that six years is a long time for a DIY rock act to stay together, though, bassist Mike Gustafson brushes it off.
“Ten years will feel weird,” he says. “Six doesn’t feel like anything.”
Still, Bummer has packed a lot into those six years. The band has released four EPs and a 10-inch split, played local gigs almost every month, and toured to nearly every major city in the continental United States. It has played dive bars and basements and opened for some of the members’ major influences — acts like like Unsane and Big Business — and formed alliances with other young, like-minded noise-rock groups.
All that — but, until recently, no LP. As of this month, though, we have Holy Terror, recorded in two-and-a-half days here in KC by Justin Mantooth at Westend Studios.
“I think when bands talk about doing a full-length, it’s just a whole lot different than an EP,” says drummer Sam Hutchinson. “It just makes me way happier.”
The songs on Holy Terror aren’t a reinvention of Bummer — maybe that’ll come with album three or four — but these ten tracks represent the band’s most potent recordings to date. Musically, the members have tightened their signature, sludgy sound. Perrin’s throat-shredding vocals and crunching guitars are pissed as ever, Gustafson’s slides and grooves hit at just the right times, and the thundering gallops produced by Hutchinson keep things moving at a brisk pace.
Lyrically, Perrin continues to reflect on his struggles with mental illness while Gustafson maintains his knack for ridiculous and often arbitrary song titles. (“Dimebagged” skewers the clichés of weed culture; “HeXXX Games” is a sex joke.)
“I feel bad ‘cause he’s serious,” Gustafson says of Perrin, acknowledging that his song titles aid in masking the agony beneath the surface.
Holy Terror is off to a pretty good start. Minnesota’s Learning Curve Records is handling its vinyl release, and several national websites like Metal Injection, Punknews, and New Noise have been writing about it. Gustafson says he used to take the punk-rock approach of not caring about outside criticism, but with age, he says he’s genuinely excited to put the band’s music in front of new ears and hear their thoughts.
Are the members of Bummer letting this uptick in attention go to their heads? That question is answered as we discuss the upcoming release show for Holy Terror.
“I don’t think we wanna play over 25 minutes,” Hutchinson says.
“Fuck that,” Gustafson agrees. “Just assume people hate your shit and want you to get off stage.”
♦
Holy Terror is available now online and in physical form via Learning Curve Records (vinyl) and High Dive Records (CD, cassette). Bummer will play the Replay Lounge’s 25th anniversary bash with Appleseed Cast and Hips Replacements on October 26.
SPICY BOIS
To coincide with the release of Holy Terror, Bummer has teamed up with Roeland Park-based Zim’s Sauces to present the Holy Terror Mild Hot Sauce. To commemorate this holy union, we asked each Bummer member for tips on how best to enjoy the sauce.
Matt Perrin: “It’s a weird combination, but I always put it in my alfredo. When you’re grilling? And you’ve got a hot link and a grilled bun? Put a bunch of that hot sauce right in the bun and add a tad of mustard. Also goes really well on burritos.”
Mike Gustafson: “Let your meat sit in it. I don’t know if people do that with that kind of sauce, but I’ve been letting my shit sit in it. I’ve been doing salads, too. Like a caesar salad or something.”
Sam Hutchinson: “I did put it in a grilled cheese. That was nuts. It blew my mind.”
There you have it. Drop the needle on the new record and get to cooking.
