I met the members of Rums and Bumbletons in the dimly lit bar at Torrington’s Yankee Pedlar Inn one Wednesday evening. We ordered our pints and gathered in close as I asked the group to explain exactly how they came to be.

The band began in 1993 with singer Stone Catcherye and guitarist Dick Syn playing open mics and coffeehouses. After jamming together for some time, the pair parted ways for a few years: “Syn was living on the other side of the state, doing his own thing and I was doing my own thing,” remembered Stone. Syn and Delphi then reminisced about the night, three years ago, when they bumped into Stone at a Tool show, reconnecting the original Rums duo after their brief hiatus: “We realized that our own things were incomplete without each other,” Stone recalled, producing an all around “awww” from the table. After some debate, it was decided that the group took on its current amalgamation “Spring-ish 2007,” this time including both drummer Delphi Finn (whom Syn played with in B-Side) and bassist Kramwell Ellavalled (Stone’s cousin and former Zamboni bandmate).

When asked to describe their music, Delphi explained it as “definitely original, but if you had to add some flavors to it, probably Blind Melon-ish, Led Zepplin-ish.” Kramwell noted that people have told him the band “should’ve started way back in the nineties.” One can definitely hear these influences while listening to such songs as The Perfect Oz, Rats and Head Tax. Heavy on the electric guitar, one track you might involuntarily bang your head to the beat, while the next produces a swaying motion of the shoulders and neck. Syn explained that their music is “hard to define. One week we might write a song that’s like one thing and the next week it will be something totally different.” Stone then said half kidding that between the four of them, their tastes are so different, “sometimes we write like, a polka song.” Syn concurred, “Yeah, we’ll do a free form polka.” All jokes aside, the group listed influences such as Tool, Muse, The Beatles, Mars Volta, Rush, Sound Garden, Jay Z, Primus, ACDC, Guns and Roses and Alice and Chains. In fact, Rums and Bumbletons is to be featured in a book coming out about the recording history of Alice and Chains.

While influenced by many, Rums and Bumbletons write their own music and describe it as a collaborative effort. Syn explained: “I don’t think you can write a complete song by yourself; I don’t think it can really come alive until everyone puts their two cents in.” Kramwell noted that there is never any shortage of material as “Stone’s got like years of lyrics written down.” Stone then shrugged humbly and admitted to being a “wannabe poet.”

In fact, their lyrics are often quite poetic and on several tracks, strong imagery is enhanced by the accompanying music. For instance, in Rats, the music and lyrics work together to create an overall feeling of being lost at sea. As the lyrics in each verse repeat with subtle changes, the music plays in circular patterns. Stone’s haunting voice pulls us in, “Rats can’t swim the sea that you swam for me,” and the track itself seems to build like the gradually rising swells of a misty ocean tide.

While discussing how they write their songs, Syn noted, “You never know where you can pull inspiration from”:
“One time I was gonna be late for practice… I had car trouble, let’s put it that way. I called Dave and I was giving him an excuse for why I wasn’t showing up and Chris ended up recording it and putting it into a song.”
Stone then added, “That’s actually called The Sinner’s Excuse.” Their songs touch on a variety of themes, including, but not limited to, love and apocalypse, friendship and violence.

After having recently finished their first EP, the self produced Ahrenbe, the band plans to start booking gigs soon. While Stone bemoaned Connecticut’s lack of enthusiasm for its musicians, the band has nonetheless already played at several local venues such as New Haven’s Toad’s Place, Hartford’s Webster and Webster Underground, Cheshire’s CJ Sparrows and more. Rums has also been featured on WCCC Homegrown, 106.9 The Rock. Syn announced with a smile: “2010 is gonna be a big year for the Rums and Bumbletons!”

As I sat around the table with this charismatic foursome, it was impossible to miss the brotherly kind of friendships shared between them. Syn put it well: “The bottom line is we have a great time. We love to make the music and we love hanging out with each other,” which sent up a teasing chorus of “I love you mans,” joking hugs and loud back pats. Keep your eyes open Connecticut, for we will surely see more of both the Rums and the Bumbletons this year!

To find learn, see and hear more, please visit: www.rumsandbumbletons.com

“Passionate” perfectly describes the members of Broken Glow. The band formed in 2008 after carefully selecting their line-up. Brenner says they were “very picky” about their personnel and refused to compromise quality for convenience. For the first few months, the group played without a baseline as they patiently waited for bassist Alec to graduate from college. The quintet’s heavy rock sound mixes flavors of classic rock, 90s rock, jazz, and blues to create a whole new dish. While they started out playing house parties, they earned their first official gig at Sully’s Pub in Hartford. Since those earlier shows, they’ve played all around the Hartford area at venues like The Warehouse, Zen Bar, Main Pub, and Up Or On The Rocks. From time to time, they make the trek to Brooklyn to play some NYC shows.

While they love playing live, the group also enjoys the recording process. They released their self-titled EP, a six-track compilation of grungy, guitar-driven tracks, in 2008. Brenner and rhythm guitarist Garret Deming push the pace while drummer Paul Burba slams the skins and bassist Alec Giggi ties up the loose ends. Jon’s explosive vocals echo forth from the musical mix to complete each track. Jon explains, “I always love working on recordings because it gives us the opportunity to really explore the possibilities of a song. We can reach out and take the time to listen to our work as songs, outside of a band rehearsal.” Brenner adds that the group recently began working on their first full-length record, a project they hope to complete by this coming spring.

In the future, the Broken Glow guys hope to generate more buzz about their sound. “We’re always trying to set up cool shows with other local bands,” Brenner explains. “We do the original thing and are just into meeting other people doing the same thing.” Being in a band can be challenging, but there’s no lack of drive in the bunch. In his spare time, Jon frequents local shows to check out other bands. Brenner works at Planet Of Sound Studios in Hartford while teaching guitar lessons and serving as a sound tech at local shows. “Motivation comes from all over the place: looking forward to a show, being excited about a new song or riff.” No matter where they are, Broken Glow is on a mission to move you. Jon insists, “I don’t have a preference for where we have the party. We just try and keep the party happening where ever we are!”

Website: http://www.myspace.com/brokenglow

“I guess we can part with these now,” says Tory with a wry grin as he scoops the bottles into a big black garbage bag.

While setting up in the usual spot, Drummer Dave Sherwood discovers a deceased mouse from under his double bass pedal, announcing it jovially as the band’s “first casualty” before disposing of it. Lead guitarist Aaron Cox moves a few derelict chairs and tables in place of the amps while the band’s bassist, newcomer Alex Auger arrives to round out the lineup.

There is a necessary hardness to their practice space, an inherited, collective rock and roll squalor to it all that has contributed to the sound and energy of the band since their formation in early 2006.

An energetic, modern hard rock act with roots in the grunge and alternative music scenes of the early to mid 90’s infused with a touch of metal, Xen has played all over Connecticut, frequenting both Toad’s Place New Haven, and the Webster Theater in Hartford, once opening on the venue’s main stage. They have been featured twice on radio station The Rock 106.9’s Home Grown segment, a weekly block devoted to notable up and coming talent from around Connecticut, Massachusetts and parts of Rhode Island.

Back in the basement under a few dim, sodium yellow basement lights, Tory belts out the opening lines of the song Enlightenmentality in preparation for an upcoming tune-up gig at The Cherry Street Station in Wallingford.

Steinbach’s voice cut through the damp, musty air, combining forceful, clean vocals with a touch of guttural yelling. Boasting a range somewhere between rockers Scott Wieland and Chris Cornell, he teams with Cox’s aggressive, heavy guitar style, Sherwood’s thunderous unrelenting drumbeats, and rounds it off with Auger’s bass to provide gravity and melodic intensity reminiscent of such bands as Alice in Chains and Tool. The group however is reluctant to settle on labels or anything else that could pigeonhole their sound or any other band’s

“You just can’t,” Steinbach says. “Describing your sound to people is, to me, like trying to describe an orgasm. ‘It feels really good.’ That just doesn’t quite do it justice, does it?”

Creatively, Xen is also weary of falling into the same trap so many bands through the years have of conceptually recycling and exploiting conflicts such as teen-angst, renewed with each new generation and sung it seems in the exact same voice and context. The bands get older, while their songs stay exactly the same.

“I don’t buy into that at all,” Steinbach says. “That’s one of the clearest signs that you haven’t grown as artists. It’s stagnancy.”

The group strives to encapsulate difficult emotions with their lyrics, which range conceptually from enduring personal loss, rising above the elitism and pettiness of people, to seeing through and liberating oneself from imposed artificial hierarchies inherent in society. As the members of Xen change and grow, so too does their music

“It usually starts with the lyrics; some I have written already and I try and match them up thematically with the intensity of the music Aaron writes.”

This symbiosis has provided the group with the root of their creative process, and had worked notoriously well in the creation of Dog, arguably the band’s strongest, and most popular song. Penned furiously without interruption or revision by Steinbach after a less than positive day at work, the song is a potent, defiant grievance against those that who would cast a judging eye from an elevated seat in an attempt to strip away one’s sense of importance and worth. It was quickly passed on to Cox where it struck a shared nerve.

“The song was Tory’s, but it just became mine right away too,” Says Cox, whose musical composition for the song came just as freely as its lyrics had, from the opening solo to the jarring breakdown in the middle.

Though having written and experimented with many songs, the band’s perfectionism has led them currently to six original tracks they have the most faith in playing, four of which can be found on the band’s own EP. They continue to work to develop their catalogue to piece together a full length album, and look forward soon to taking their energetic and challenging, however accessible music to out of state venues.

Information about the band, upcoming shows, and more on can be found on
Myspace:http://www.myspace.com/xenband

Alongside Hart at the helm are bass player Talya Goodman, drummer Matt Mello and Laura Robida on lead guitar. “We’re playing music for the masses” states Robida. “We’re not playing down to anyone, you don’t have to like metal to like us and you don’t have to like pop, you just have to like music.” As individuals, the band finds influence in a wide array of artists from The Beatles and The Donnas to Tool, Nine Inch Nails and everything in between. This sensibility has provided She Eats Planets with a fan base just as diverse as each of the band members themselves. From high school aged listeners to rock scene veterans fifty and up, SEP attracts a wide crowd with their classic rock grittiness and catchy, pop-infused melodies.

This past Spring, the band found itself performing for a crowd of three hundred at Toad’s Place in New Haven. Hart’s view on playing the legendary venue? “That was an amazing experience, it was intoxicating to play to such a huge crowd, we can’t wait to play more shows like that one!” Such an opportunity didn’t go to their collective heads as they’re not above playing to crowds considerably smaller. According to Hart “We don’t really consider anything we’ve played “small scale” because even if we’re playing to one person that enjoys us, we count that as a huge success.” The band is also vying for a position at the upcoming SXSW (South by Southwest) festival in Austin, Texas.

You can’t help but hear the rock, pop and even at times classic metal impressions on original songs like “Shut Up (I Love You)”, “Push Your Luck”, and their live cover of Pat Benetar’s “Heartbreaker.” When asked how involved the entire band is in the songwriting process, Sara states “Someone will start messing around at practice and the others will just jump in.” She adds, “Usually when the three of them pick up on something I get easily inspired and start writing, before you know it we have a song.” Hart and Robida have even gone so far as to record riffs or verse and send them to each other online. They do this in order to compose music when they can’t physically be together to write.
Drummer Matt Mello states “We’re all pretty good friends so we have lots of fun when we hang out, including during our writing sessions, recording time and at gigs.” Adds Mello “We’re all really laid back people and we enjoy each other’s company whether we’re working or hanging out.”

This dedication and sense of togetherness has no doubt been part of what makes She Eats Planets a powerful band with a sound that, while mainstream, still holds it’s own brand of uniqueness and charm. “Overall, we’d like large scale notoriety but right now, we’re really focused on expanding our fan base, meeting people who like our music and just connecting with them.” Says Robida “Of course we’re always looking to the future and the ‘next step’. It’s so easy to get lost in the what-ifs but we try to focus on what we’re doing here and now.” She adds “We want to share our music with people who love listening as much as we love writing it, that’s what music is about, it’s uniting people and just letting them have a good time. I like that.”

Official Website: www.sheeatsplanets.com

Official Website: www.myspace.com/plutogang