Richmond’s psychedelic punk outfit, SLUMP, has recently released a punishing two song debut EP.
Richmond’s psychedelic punk outfit, SLUMP, has recently released a punishing two song debut EP.
Self described as “sonic fuckery,” the four piece band consists of three Virginia Commonwealth University students, Hector Miranda (guitar/vocals), Will Fennessy (bass) and Nick Yetka (drums) as well as RVA local Rusty Scott (electronics).
The first song of the self titled EP,“Peace Freaks,” is a phaser heavy, psychedelic head banger that features a powerful driving guitar with noisy, frayed musical dismemberment.
According to the group’s Bandcamp page the sole lyric to the four-minute song is, “I followed the law and look where that got me” which Miranda said is about “civil disobedience.”
The final number called “Night of Stray Dogs” begins as a sinister, dripping jam which then suddenly jolts into a riff intense number that glides over Miranda’s inciteful vocals.
The song then edges into a heavy breakdown that exhibits the skill level of all the members, especially Fennessey’s thick bass tone and Yetka’s precise drumming. This short EP is then closed out by an explosive, digital clamor.
SLUMP began the recording process last spring with Bob Quirk at the local Ground Up studio. Following the initial recording sessions, the songs entered some months long journey of mixing and mastering as well as the addition of a new member.
Although completing the record took a few months, Miranda said the actual process of recording the EP went smoothly.
“The recordings went fast actually, everything was sort of spontaneous,” he said. “Bob is really good to work with, he knows what he’s doing.”
It took SLUMP nearly a year of existence before entering the studio. Multiple lineups since the band formed pushed back studio time. The only remaining original member is Miranda.
“The lineup changed entirely,” Miranda said. “It started off with ideas of distortion and delay being combined with punk music, but none of the original guys could share that idea with me to a point that was growing it. Everyone who’s in it now kinda just showed up at the right time and place with an authentic input that I guess is working out.”
Fennessey joined the group last September on a whim.
“I drunkenly met Hector at a house show on Broad Street a year ago and he told me that his bassist at the time was being kind of flaky,” Fennessey said. “That quickly turned into me practicing with SLUMP the next day and playing a show with them the following weekend. The show was a catastrophe and it was my first show ever.”
SLUMP does not have any social media, meaning that their existence relies on word of mouth, event pages for concerts and the occasional fan graffiti. The band was also recently featured in Maximum RocknRoll’s weekly segment “New Blood” which highlights groups that the publication considers promising new talent.
The next time you can catch SLUMP playing in Richmond is on Nov. 17 at Strange Matter with NIK TURNER’S HAWKWIND, CLANG QUARTET and HEDERSLEBEN. Tickets are $12 advance and $15 day of, you can purchase them here.
