Bummer

Westend Recording Studios Presents Amplify KC Vol. 1

(Photo by Todd Zimmer)
 
“Heavier punk or metal is aggressive and comes from a need to tap into that primitive feeling inside of you,” says Justin Mantooth. Mantooth is the house engineer at Westend Recording Studios, a state-of-the-art recording facility tucked into the West Plaza area of town. Westend boasts professional recordings from some of KC’s most well-known rock lineage, from Shiner to Frogpond to Season To Risk, and current groups like Shy Boys, Radkey, and Making Movies. On Monday, the studio released a compilation called Amplify KC Volume 1, featuring some of the city’s heaviest acts.
 
Eleven forceful tracks make up the album, ranging from noise rock to punk to metal to hardcore, skillfully recorded, produced, and mixed by Mantooth and mastered by Mike Nolte (Eureka Mastering). Read our Q&A with Mantooth and get it as a free download here.
 
The Deli: One of the goals of this compilation was to highlight heavy-minded artists. Why do you think these artists tend to be overlooked? 
 
Mantooth: It's not for everyone. It’s less approachable than your electro-pop hipster thing might be to a casual listener. 
 
The Deli: This compilation also showcases the production quality from Westend. Tell us more about the facility.
 
Mantooth: Westend owner Mike Miller has built a professional environment that has a vibe of a time before streaming and MP3s. A time when it was more about the music and not YouTube views. We try to push for "real"-sounding records rather than slick overly produced ones. I take full advantage of new digital tools, don't get me wrong, but my goal isn't to quantize performances into robotic perfection. One thing that may set us apart from other studios is that we still use analog tape often, something that isn't really happening in most studios today. 
 
The Deli: How did you select these particular artists? Highlight a few of them.
 
Mantooth: We put the word out that we wanted to do this compilation and had bands submit to take part. From there I chose the bands I thought I could make a solid production with in a day’s worth of studio time. That wasn't easy to narrow down! I wish I could have recorded 20 bands, but you know it's a lot of work. I'll just highlight the first 3 tracks on the comp because I enjoy everyone on there. 
 
Hyborian: These guys can play and write very slick songs yet keep it heavy. The mix of smooth vocals over raging guitars and big drums is just excellent. 
 
Walking Oceans: Just listen to their entire track. It is a rollercoaster ride of badassery. Instrumental music that doesn't leave you wondering when the vocal section is going to start. Really good band. 
 
Bluehealer: These dudes are young and they play like it. With no fear at all. They throw down. Taking somewhat simple chords and ideas and just thrashing them hard. They remind me of some of my favorite bands and I enjoyed getting that sound for them. 
 
The Deli: What can we in the KC music scene do to support bands in the hardcore/metal/punk/heavy rock scene? What should bands do to get their name out there? 
 
Mantooth: That's a good question. The biggest thing is go out and see bands live. Buy their merch. We live in a time when there are a million reasons to just stay home. We don't have the same attendance at shows that was the norm 15 to 20 years ago. I think one good idea is having more diverse lineups at local shows. We don't need to see 5 similar metal bands at 1 show. I played a show on NYE with Jorge Arana Trio, Sharp Weapons, Sundiver, and Bummer. All very different, but it went really well. People like to hear diversity and sometimes bills are stacked with too much of the same. And usually half of the lineup is terrible just to keep the genres the same. 
 
The Deli: Name a few must-see KC bands that people may not know about. It doesn't have to be limited to bands on this compilation; perhaps even some that didn't make the cut.
 
Mantooth: All of these bands are bands I want people to know about. Bummer is a must see. They always bring the beef. Hammerlord didn't work out as far as being on the compilation, but they are great. 
 
Check out Amplify KC Vol. 1 on Bandcamp!
 
--Michelle Bacon
 

 

February 05, 2016    

Best of 2014 for Emerging KC Bands: FINAL RESULTS! BUMMER, The Philistines, Katy Guillen & the Girls

Deli Nation,

Our Year-End Poll for Emerging Kansas City artists is now complete! Kudos to grungy punk trio BUMMER (photo above by Crystal Faye Photography) for winning the poll!
 
 
 
And congrats to our runners up, the enigmatic psychedelic six-piece The Philistines and the compelling roots rock trio Katy Guillen and the Girls (who took second place in 2013)!
 
The Philistines
 
 
 
Katy Guillen & the Girls
 
  

-----

Here is how it all went down: first, we let the local bands submit their music (for free), and got our Deli editors to pick the nominees. Then we polled a list of 15+ KC scene experts (our jury) and asked them to nominate 3 more bands of their choice each. Then we polled our writers, then we polled our readers. We tried to keep things open for each single genre, from Indie Rock to Roots Music to Hip Hop.

If you are a geek interested in all the subtelties related to how this poll works, you can read its rules here (happy reading!). But if all you care about is the awesome new music KC produced in 2014, this list is all you need. Enjoy!

BEST OF 2013 POLL FOR EMERGING NYC ARTISTS
****** FINAL RESULTS ******
 
 ARTIST
J
OS
W
R
TOT
  
1
 Bummer
15
 
 
0.01
15.01
2
 The Philistines
12
 
1
0.008
13.008
 icon
3
 Katy Guillen and the Girls
8
 
1
0.023
9.023
 icon
4
 the sluts
6
 
2
0.006
8.006
 icon
5
 The Conquerors
6
 
 
0.007
6.007
 icon
6
 Your Friend
6
 
 
0.006
6.006
 icon
7
 Yore
4
 
 
1.5
5.5
 icon
8
 AY MusiK
5
 
 
0.057
5.057
 icon
9
 The Thunderclaps
5
 
 
0.015
5.015
 icon
10
 Yes You Are
4
 
1
0.012
5.012
 icon
11
 Hembree
5
 
 
0.004
5.004
12
 Scruffy & The Janitors
3
1
 
0.034
4.034
 icon
13
 Jorge Arana Trio
4
 
 
0.021
4.021
 icon
14
 Westerners
3
1
 
0.013
4.013
 icon
15
 Kangaroo Knife Fight
1
 
1
2
4
 icon
 
 ATLAS
 
3
 
1
4
 icon
17
 The Gorlons
2
 
1
0.017
3.017
18
 Nicholas St. James
3
 
 
0.014
3.014
 icon
19
 Monta At Odds
3
 
 
0.009
3.009
 icon
20
 Folkicide
3
 
 
0.006
3.006
 icon
21
 Stiff Middle Fingers
3
 
 
0
3
 icon
 
 The Sexy Accident
3
 
 
0
3
23
 Miry Wild
2
 
 
0.5
2.5
 icon
24
 Admiral of the Red
2
 
 
0.164
2.164
 icon
25
 Riddles
2
 
 
0.018
2.018
 icon
26
 Madisen Ward and The Mama Bear
 
 
2
0.013
2.013
 icon
27
 Sharp Weapons
2
 
 
0.01
2.01
 icon
 
 Storm Circus
 
2
 
0.01
2.01
 icon
29
 Wet Ones
2
 
 
0.007
2.007
 icon
30
 La Guerre
2
 
 
0.002
2.002
 icon
31
 The Blackbird Revue
 
1
 
1
2
 icon
 
 Morningglories
2
 
 
0
2
 icon
 
 Chris Meck & the Guilty Birds
2
 
 
0
2
 icon
 
 Wick & the Tricks
2
 
 
0
2
 icon
35
 White Girl
 
1.5
 
0.001
1.501
 icon
36
 El Rey-Tones
1
 
 
0.42
1.42
 icon
37
 The Souveneers
1
 
 
0.084
1.084
 icon
38
 Many Moods of Dad
1
 
 
0.012
1.012
 icon
39
 Shy Boys
1
 
 
0.002
1.002
 icon
40
 Forrester
1
 
 
0.001
1.001
 icon
 
              
  Scott Hrabko & the Rabbits
1
 
 
0
1
 icon
  Janet the Planet
1
 
 
0
1
 icon
  The Uncouth
1
 
 
0
1
 icon
  Dolls on Fire
1
 
 
0
1
 icon
Legend: J = Jurors, W = Deli Writers,
R = Deli Readers, OS = Open Submissions

Jurors List: Barry Lee, Bill Brownlee, Brenton Cook, Britt Adair, Canyon McClung, Chad Freeman, Chris Haghirian, Clint Hoffmeier, Dedric Moore, Hank Wiedel, Joel Nanos, John Todd, Judy Mills, Justin Mantooth, Mark Manning, Michael Byars, Michelle Wyssmann, Nathan Reusch, Neill Smith, Scott Easterday, Sondra Freeman, Steve Tulipana, Tim Finn.

You can browse these artists in lists organized by genre here:
ALT ROCK/REVIVAL ROCK - ELECTRONIC - HIP HOP/OTHER - INDIE POP - INDIE ROCK/PSYCH - NOISE ROCK/POST PUNK - ROOTSY

Hope you'll find some awesome new artists you weren't aware of!

The Deli's Staff

February 20, 2015    

Bummer "wayisound"

Bummer has released a new single called "wayisound". The new track has a '90's - early 00's sound with deep roots in the world of Weezer. It a great garage-pop tune.

March 04, 2014    

Bottle Breakers' first KC show tonight

Tonight, punk rockers Bottle Breakers will make their KC debut at Vandals (in the back room of Black & Gold Tavern) with support from Steady States and Bummer.
 
Bottle Breakers is a three-piece collective of St. Dallas & the Sinners’ frontman Chris Kinsley and drummer Nick Talley (also formerly of Gentleman Savage), rounded out by the low end of Mike Farren of The Big Iron. With a heavy emphasis on the massive rhythm section, ballsy punk progressions, and influences ranging from Chuck Berry to Social Distortion, an entertaining, raucous night is ahead.

Steady States recently released its latest album EEEPEETOO. Read our review on it here.
 
Bummer also recently released a cover of “Cars” by Gary Numan at Element Recording, and will be performing at Middle of the Map Fest in April.
 

The show begins at 8:00 p.m. Facebook event page. Don’t miss the debut; we hear they might have some pretty rad t-shirts for sale too. 

--Michelle Bacon

Sell music on Amazon at ReverbNation.com
February 22, 2014    

Bummer

Newly formed band Bummer is gearing up to released their first EP later this summer. The band is fronted by John Rossiter of Young Jesus and consists of Shawn Nystrand (Young Jesus), Jordan Thomas (ex-Canoe Canoe and Totally Wrecked) and Eric Shevrin.

Their first single is called "Low" and they recently released the track and the video.

August 02, 2013