Since October 2001, playing, touring, and writing has been our lives. Everything else has pretty much run a close 2nd or 3rd. Aside from a few short breaks a couple times a year, we have done these things non-stop. Time with family, friends and significant others, as well as other personal interests have been sacrificed- and rightfully so when you look at our accomplishments.

In the Spring of 2010 Chris and Yorg, while recording demos for the new BUMP record, noticed that their musical ambitions had changed and the styles were not melding into a cohesive sound.  During this time of uncertainty Clint Carpenter was asked to replace the drummer for the national touring artist Uncle Kracker.  We fully supported Clint’s choice to try out for the band and he has toured with Uncle Kracker for the past two months.  After 9 years, we have come to the decision to call this last tour BUMP’s farewell tour.

The tour will kick off this Friday night at 8:30 PM at New Center Park in New Center - Detroit, MI.  The show will mark Clint’s last show performing with BUMP.  We look forward to this run of Midwest shows, especially our final show at the Magic Stick in Detroit, MI on Saturday October 2nd with our good friends My Dear Disco.  We have some big things planned for this night so stay tuned for those announcements in the coming weeks!  To all of you who can’t make it, have no fear, you can catch Clint playing with Uncle Kracker all around the country.  Yorg and Bryce are gearing up to announce their new secret electro/pop duo and Chris is set to announce his new project.

It’s hard to believe sometimes that with all the amazing success BUMP has had it wasn’t enough to catapult us into a position where we could financially sustain the vision we tried so hard to fulfill.  We truly believe that BUMP was just a jumpstart to an even more fruitful decade in our music careers. 
 
So, to all of our fans in cities that we can’t make it to, please check out the schedule and try to come out for one last party with us.  As October 2nd approaches, its hard to put into words the ups and downs, accomplishments and dreams left unrealized; the physical injuries, the emotional and financial successes and hardships, all of the amazing people we have met in 47 of the lower 48, and being able to live our dream day in and day out. However, looking back, it was worth every millisecond, and looking forward, the future is as bright, ripe and luscious as the first flower in spring.

Love always,

Yorg, Chris, Clint, and Bryce

—————————————-

BUMP FAREWELL TOUR

9/3 - New Center Park :: Detroit, MI

9/4 - Red Dock :: Saugatuck, MI

9/10 - LIVE :: Ann Arbor, MI

9/11 - Mac’s Bar :: Lansing, MI

9/17 - Stanley’s Pub :: Cincinnati, OH

9/24 - Elbo Room :: Chicago, IL (w/ The Ragbirds & Josh Clemens)

9/25 - Founder’s Brewing Co. :: Grand Rapids, MI (Prospecto Music Showcase)

9/30 - Bell’s Brewery :: Kalamazoo, MI

10/2 - Magic Stick :: Detroit, MI (w/ My Dear Disco)

1.9.10 - Yorg @ Majestic Cafe, Detroit MI by Bumpband

Thanksgiving Night at Fishbone’s…Food induced coma, no problem!  Come drink it off with Yorg and Sterr.

The road is coming to an end … NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

It sucks. I absolutely hate it when tour ends. Even if I feel like I couldn’t stand another second of it I still hate it when it ends. The road is an addiction in of it’s self. Plenty of bands have gone down the long, hard road of addiction but, I’m talking about something else … . .
Our terrific audio-engineer, Jay Minger, once described loading our equipment in and out of shows as part of the physical rhythm of the night. I got on board immediately. That’s what being on the road is … perpetual motion. There’s no stopping on tour. The moment we’re done playing Stone Cellar and sleeping through a light show we’re getting gyros and haircuts in Neenah with Rhonda … … and, icing our faces in the morning with our coffee.
(Sidenote: Icing your face is our new “wake up and get going” technique that I kind of concocted as a product of being a bit of a night dweller. Simply wake up, hungover or not, get an icepack or a bag of frozen veggies and slap it on your face. It’s cold but, extremely effective.)
Maybe we think Aberdeen will be chill on a Monday and we can haul up at a hotel and relax … instead they pack the Eagle’s Club and have a huge blowout for us afterwards. Then a quick face icing and a short truck (for us at least) to Fargo finds us a sweet radio show and a great crowd. Followed quickly by meeting the lovely Chelsea Ray and her wonderful roommates. We didn’t have a show that next night after The Nestor and they didn’t see us so we (constantly moving of course) found a coffee shop, grabbed the acoustics and did it to it. Oh, but the nights not over … . with one high-octane acoustic set under our belts, great new friends and a few sodas all we needed was a piano at Chelsea’s place and we were right back at it with what must of been three or four more hours of sing alongs … …
From bar to venue to theater to coffee shop … good, bad, fun, shady, plus show or empty crowd it ends up being what it is … . constant. I don’t actualize those details in myself from show to show. I don’t know if Chris, Clint, Jay or Yorg do. I’ve come to realize that once my blinders go up and my focus is on game time that every show, every night and every crowd (big or small) deserves the same passion, focus and drive as the next. That’s what makes the road monotonous and perpetually new all the time. That’s why I hate it when the road finally ends … . .

BACK DOOR live and Acoustic

On Tuesday we were lucky to head into KFGO in Fargo, ND before our gig to hang out with Jason Spiess on his show Night Time Live.  A whole hour dedicated to us!  Here is an acoustic version of Back Door that was done on the show and a couple of photos taken.

It was a really good time at the awards, a real good time.  You know, we spend a ton of time on the road and away from Detroit, so sometimes it is real easy to feel a disconnect with the local scene.  People always ask us what it is like to be from Detroit and we always have a tough time explaining it.  I think Sterr has said it before that you don’t realize how great Detroit is until you get away from it for a while.  Our own self image isn’t a very accurate one.  Detroit is truly a special place unlike any other city we’ve ever been to.  One of the things that makes Detroit so special is the diversity and strength of the music scene, and it was definitely on display on Friday night.

We were nominated for two awards, “Outstanding National Single” and Pop/Rock Artist/Group.  We lost to Kid Rock’s protege Ty Stone for Pop/Rock Artist/Group and then Kid Rock himself beat us out for National single.  What are you going to do?

We were very lucky to have the opportunity to have a number of special guests up on stage for Apollonia, our greek goddess meets brazillian dance number.  The awards show asked if we could perform the song and invite those who helped record it for the Motor City Horns new album.  We were joined on stage by Liz Larin, Janice Franco, Evan Perri from Hot Club of Detroit, Larry Frantangelo from Kid Rock, Mike Shea and Tyler Duncan from My Dear Disco, and the percussion player from Mae Ray.

The Motown Revue was spectacular, and it was a treat to see Ted Nugent and The Amboy Dukes in person, considering Chris’ Dad’s band opened for them back in the 1960’s.

We have some video from the night, so stay tuned!

Joe