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Z eke Sayer is no shady character. He
might look like a spiral-eyed mad
man on a rampage, projecting bleary
lasciviousness, but he's really just a
friendly musician with both feet in tee blur of
the weirdo side of Athens' band scene. As the
lead singer, guitarist and main songwriter in
the trashy-but-snappy rock band The Humms,
Sayers also one of the town's more distinctive
garage-punk champs. ~ ^
SayeKs joumey with The Humms has been
a stop-and-start affair, though. Two years ago/
he and his bandraartes—drummer ZZ Ryder,
bassist Dave Martin and guitarist/organist
Matt Garrison—were stompin' around town
armed with a raunchy, self-produced, 18-song
collection of reverby rockers, anthems and
punkish ditties titled Lemonland. They'd
released it on their own label Gypsy Ranch
Records, and the townies went wild for it
Flagpole scribe David Fitzgerald called the
band's debut "a mixed Halloween bag, full of a
few tricks, a lot of treats, and not one lemon
in the bunch." Others in the indie music press
also made a fuss over the band's creepiest ele
ments: the songs involving zcaibies, devils,
vampires and haunted houses. The ghoulish
themes in the lyrics played a major role in the
theatrics of their live shows as well.
"A few years ago, we were playing at the >•/
Rye Bar, and we were painted up like a bunch
of white-faced spooks in dirty black suits,"
Sayer remembers. "We arrived out front that
night in our black van, an ex-funeral home
van I might add. That started all of that I
suppose." ...
Their Cramps-esque B-horror flick shtick
was noticeable, but there was another side to
the band's music and personality, a side rooted
more in vintage psychedelic lo-fi pop (k la The
Troggs) and Gothic blues-rock (think Rat Duo
Jets) than in greasy ghoulabilly.
*lemonland is jaggedly weaved with softer
numbers like 'Tour Ears' and When I Wake,"*
Sayer says. "We hardly ever play those softer
ones unless someone wants to hear them.
Things are always changing. Lemonland was
mostly myself on all of the selections, but the
songs have an obvious sound of their own
when played through our trio of scoundrels.
It's a bare-boned approach live, and we dig
it* r -’fe $
After tiie release of temon&wd, The Humms
operated as a quartet for a while before taking
a hiatus. In 2011, the death of Saver's father,
longtime Northeast Georgia bluegrass musi
cian Gem Sayer, put a hold on touring and
recording. Sayer reassembled the band with
various lineups after that
"We've been from four to three to one to
none," Sayer says. "And now we're back at
three. I think my favorite lineup has been the
trio, though."
Sayer and Ryder recent^ enlisted Zeb
on bass, or, as Sayer calls the instru
ment, the "doghouse." Garrison has swapped
his electric four-string for a full-sized upright
bass on occasion. Meanwhile, Sayers sticking
with the reverb knobs and distortion
that give his old guitars their
Tve grown to like the drier, piercing tone,"
he says. "Some effects are coot I useifto do
the whole pedal board thing, but I realized I
was just covering up the fact that I needed to
work on my playing more." n
The Humms have fired things up this year,
bouncing back into action with a pile of new
tunes. Sayer has collaborated with pals in
other bands through Gypsy Farm Records, too,
including The Rodney Kings, The Ghost Lights,
Unde Skunkle and The Scarecrow Family Band.
"Our main drain at the moment is our third
release, a compilation entity
Sayer says. "It features a handful of fan- t ;
tasticaUy freaky music from garage-rock»
Scooby-pop and poppirt' punk bands that
have recorded at the Gypsy Farm studio.
We've released two new songs this year, not
including a Christmas recording we did last
year called 'Santa Claus Is Watching You' by
Ray Stevens. Tve been up to a bit of writ
ing for other little musical mistakes like The
Ice Creams, Shoal Creek Stranglers and, most
recently, The GypSINettes, a '60s ghost-girt
group."
It remains to be seen and Ireard if The
Humms will reach full potential this year or
next but Sayer hints that he has "some ideas
creepin' around." He seems less interested in
developing a new style or a new sense of raw
ness or refinement and more into the idea of
bashing out joyous gonzoid rock 'n' roll for as
long as he and his bandmates can stand it
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JUNE 13,2012 ■ FLAGPOLE.COM 15