February 2000 - TUMMLER
Hailing from the US-American mid-west, TUMMLER's first demo delivers an excellent load of fuzzed-out Heavy Rock. There's also a slight psychedelic undertone, but mostly they unleash a solid pack of heavy riffs in combination with strong grooves. This is the stuff, one can also find on Man's Ruin Records. Here's an interview with Dr. Hill about the latest actions in the TUMMLER camp.
At first, I would like to ask you the typical question about the history of the band. Have you played in other bands before
We first started as a jam band just for fun, not really writing any songs or anything ... not taking anything really seriously ... just playing music we love. As time went on, songs started coming together and so the band was named TUMMLER. The name comes from a character in the movie Gummo. We felt he would best represent the person that would enjoy the kind of music we were doing. As far as playing in other bands previously, we've all had past projects that we'd done but this is the band we all felt best expressed our our musical direction. This was the only band that took influences from all the bands we grew up on.
Your Demo CD-R is a fantastic packag; the whole artwork, the production and of course the music. How much time have you spent in the rocket launching area to make a good lift-off? is Matt Talbot (producer) a good friend of the band?
Before entering the studio, we picked the songs we wre going to do and locked ourselves in the practice room for months to make sure everything went smooth in the studio. For this particluar demo, we kicked it out in one weekend with Mr. T. He knew exactly what we wanted to accomplish, so working with Matt made everything run smooth. He's easy going and has a good ear for the type of music we play. We hooked up with another good buddy of ours, Scott Draeger from Small Unmarked Bills, who collaborated with our bass player, Steve, on the layout and packaging of the CD.
Let's talk about the cover artwork. Is a rocket something like a metaphor for your music or is everyone just interested in the technology of rockets and spaceships?
The band is definitely intrigued by technology in space exploration. We've all been big fans of 2001, STAR WARS, NASA, BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, KARL SEGAN etc., but as far as it being a metaphor... we'd have to say yes and no. Musically, we feel our songs are long and flowing and make a good soundtrack to go along with space exploration. As for the lyrics, we leave the interpretation up to the listener.
It seems as if the universe plays a big role in your concept. Does it have any specific or spiritual meaning for you?
The cosmos represents all that is space and all that we have not experienced (with the exceptions of astronauts and drug use, of course). So it does interest us, but we wouldn't say that it represents a specific or spiritual meaning pertaining to the band.
Is a term like Doom or Stoner important to you? Do you like 'em? What do you think about the future of heavy music?
We've heard everything under the sun... from Doom to Stoner to Desert to Sludge. There are just a lot of different interpretations of what people hear and how the songs come across. These tags are fine as long as they don't becoming limiting and binding. But currently what people call Stoner Rock runs the gammut, so this isn't a real problem. When it all comes down to it ... all that matters to us if it's good or bad.
It seems as if there's a good connection between a lot of the US Heavy Rock bands. You have also good festivals like the SHoD or the upcoming festival in Texas at May 13/14 2000. What is your opinion about that situation?
Yup... there are a lot of great heavy bands in the US. All of the bands we have played with and met so far have been really cool and helpful to us. A lot of people know about the whole West coast scene and the East coast scene ..... but being from the Midwest, getting our name out is a lot harder being that the bands are spread out more . There are a lot great bands in the Midwest such as RED GIANT, MEN OF PORN, CUDA, BONGZILLA, SHUTEYE, THE KEEP, WICKERMAN, MUSTACHE, REDNECK EXORCIST, BOULDER, REBREATHER etc. We're all for fests ... they bring together a lot of like-minded people who are into the same music, you get to meet people who travel from all over, and it`s also a great way to see a bunch in one setting ... a bunch of bands that may not make it through one's town when they tour. A great time is usually had by all. 3/4's of TUMMLER traveled last year to see the MAN'S RUIN South by Southwest showcase .... one year later we're honored to be playing that same showcase.
How did you get the deal with Frank Kozik's Man's Ruin label?
As soon as we pressed the demos, we sent CD's to a bunch of labels, radio stations, and 'zines ... one of which is MAN'S RUIN. A couple of months later, we did some shows with a couple of MR bands (GAZA STRIPPERS, ALABAMA THUNDERPUSSY and SOLARIZED) all of whom put in a good word to Frank and Jami about us. A few weeks later, Darrin (GAZA STRIPPERS) had talked to Frank and Frank had mentioned that he had heard and liked the demo. A couple of weeks after that our bass player e-mailed Jami to get some info and she also had mentioned that Frank had liked the demo. Shortly after that ... Frank e-mailed us and asked if we'd like to record a record for him/then we wet ourselves. Of course this is a dream come true because this was number # 1 on a list of labels that we wanted to be on.
What are your influences?
There's definitly too many to name. We don't want to turn this into a Death Metal "thank you" list soooooo ... just to name a few bands that we ALL are currently listening too . . . . LEAFHOUND, LYNYRD SKYNYRD, ALABAMA THUNDERPUSSY, GOATSNAKE, CUDA, AC/DC, HELLACOPTERS, TURBONEGRO, and the MELVINS.
Ok, here's the last question. Any future plans?
We're currently gearing up to do some touring, after which we'll take some time off to write and rehearse for the MAN'S RUIN album and then its off to Brooklyn, NY to record with Joel, Matt, and Dave on Pete Townsend's board (awww yeah!) at Mission Studios. After that we plan on some more touring hopefully either on the East or West coast. . . and we're itchin to go to Europe.
Thanks man! Keep it in the cosmos!
Thanks again for everything Klaus, we'll keep in touch...
(KK)