Bumbleween

good afternoon those of you living in this time zone, and to those who are not, I bid you a fine time of your day. This week had me in the same room with the guys from Rums & Bumbletons to hear their latest rehearsal and recording effort.

The week began with Catcherye returning from a retreat into the mountains of northern Maine. Stoney had gone to visit some family and unplug from “the mainframe” if you will.

The rehearsal began as scheduled with Catcherye and I (Pace Truth) setting up all the cords and microphones to record the rehearsal with. For a while Catcherye was practicing every night, day in and day out, covers, covers, covers. Ever since they decided their live season had come to an end and they would return to just practice, Stoney seemed to start slacking. I’m not even sure when the last time he did was.

Mit was the second Bumbleton to arrive, also not dressed in any Halloween costume. He strolled in casually carrying a sixer of Sea Hag (NE Brewery…need a good cover band?). Stoney & Mit quickly dove intro pre-gaming. Dabs, bowls, joints. oh my. Stoney then received a text from the infamous Dick Syn, aka The Sinner. He’d be late. Which isn’t really anything new, I’m pretty sure Dick’s been late to everything they’ve ever scheduled as a band, ever. The how late part is the key. This time wasn’t bad, The Sinner was only about 10 minutes late.

Dick arrived carrying a music stand, a guitar, a mini amp, a backpack and a cooler filled with mixed beers. He was ready to rock. While they stood outside by the fire ring, while Mit finished his cancer stick, Sinner posed a question to Stoney….something about if he had any giant rocks in his woods that the Sinner could pillage. Apparently he’s making a fire ring of his own and he wanted stones from Stone. Stoney said the only rocks were in the rock wall and Sinner was ready to take them from the wall until Stoney told him he cannot have those rocks. We all know now if there’s missing rocks in Stone’s wall, it was Dick’s doing.

The three got to work. Everything was recorded. It wasn’t the best I’ve ever heard them, but they were having fun and tried a few new tunes out. A minor disagreement about a song in a different key, but no trainwrecks. Mit was slippety-slapping the hell out of that Djembe. staying in time, doing his thing, I also thing he pulled out a foot tambourine and a shaker. Multi-talented.

Dick Syn was rocking that acoustic like it was a les paul. I’m sure he must’ve bled a little from his fingertips after the night was through. I was digging the acoustic shredding. He did though, turn up during the recording and got yelled at by the engineer. Notorious for turning up after they’ve already set a level. The result, although ignored by Dick, is a peaking acoustic which never sounds good to the ears.

Stoney was not his best this eve, and I’m gonna say it’s cause he’s slowed his practicing regiment down. I heard flubs and bad notes. He also started drinking earlier than normal and I’m sure that didn’t help the cause. He sounded great, but I think I’ve heard him sound even better.

Heard a bunch of great covers by these three and we had a good time while it happened. They even let me drink with them this time. Stoney was on a mission, think he tripled his normal alcohol intake this evening. Mit said he knew Stone was in trouble when he cracked a fresh beer at 12:30 am. well after Dick Syn had left and shortly before Mit departed.

Stone was in for the long haul, telling me he had planned on having some Pesto Chicken as a snack.

If you couldn’t imagine, it didn’t end well, the next time I heard from Stone, he was nursing his stomach with some ginger ale and was smack dab in the middle of a hangover. He said it’s been a while since he’s felt this bad.

I will be back soon with more Rums & Bumbletons. Hope everyone has a safe and happy Halloween! I will be setting things on fire safely with Catcherye this year….

Tick or Treat?
Rums & Bumbletons (& P.Truth)