Our first gig - December 2012
Birth of The Hummers
The Hummers were formed at a Bondi restaurant in late 2009 when founding members John Stanton and David Rosen had pasta, pizza and too much wine and the ethos of the band has remained the same ever since.
"John is the backbone of the band" a now sober David Rosen said in a recent interview, "we decide on whose songs we are going to copy, I find all the difficult riffs, and then he learns to play them. I'm really just a passenger with a Les Paul." Whilst his honesty was much lauded, unfortunately the interview in question was for a Visiting Medical Officer position for the South Eastern Area Health Service and went mostly unappreciated.
Once the name "The Hummers" was suggested by Stanton after a line in the Aussie classic "Boys Light Up" the band took shape through rehearsals in lounge rooms, band members coming and going, mostly going and finally a shot at the big time - a 40th birthday party for well over 39 guests (including the band) with the current line-up (see "Meet the Hummers" Page). Since then, it's been all one way for The Hummers - mostly left.
The Hummers trace their influences squarely to August 1966. They will play anything by any band as long as the band name starts with "The ..." and contains 2 guitar parts. Unlike most groups, who play music in the preferred vocal range of their singers, The Hummers prefer to push the envelope, finding singers to fit the original key of the song.
After that, it's a long and highly professional process. The guitar parts are played over and over, and over, again, largely because that is the amount of time needed to get it suitable for public consumption. Then the drums are brought in for a few weeks and they realize they are playing too slowly. Finally, a week before a gig the Bass turns up and, if they can be bothered, the singers arrive, read their lyrics into a microphone, figure out who is best suited for which song, disregard that and go home.
It's the dedication of this true group of musical fanatics that make The Hummers the band they are!!!