BUM (photo: Jason Schreurs)
The ’90s were a wonderful time when pop-punk bands could saddle alongside and pogo dance with skate punk bands, and thrash bands could hang out and mosh with grunge rockers and hardcore bands. Okay, maybe things weren’t that ideal back then, but bands like Victoria’s BUM sure made us think they were.
Comprised of three guys from British Columbia’s capital city on Vancouver Island and one guy from nearby Nanaimo, BUM were the kind of band that everyone could agree on: blazing pop hooks, harmonized vocals and lyrics we could all sing along to (the lyrics to “A Promise Is a Promise” still give me goosebumps whenever I hear them).
When BUM reformed last year after not playing together for nearly 20 years, it was a pretty exciting thing. When it was announced that they were playing a show in Nanaimo and that I could actually attend the show, having never gotten a chance to see the band in the ’90s, my excitement levels flipped into overdrive. This is the band, after all, whose 7″ records I had spent many a night listening to, flipping from A side, to B side, to A side, and back again. Now I would finally get to see them live?!
From the opening chords of “Debbiespeak,” it was clear that BUM are a stellar live band, which was quite the thrill to learn. Guitarist/vocalists Rob Nesbitt and Andrew Molloy, bassist Kevin Lee and drummer Graham Watson didn’t skip a beat the whole set, and I was surprised to discover that I knew practically every word to every song that they played (who knew?).
Perhaps it was their longtime link to the small city of Nanaimo (many of their releases came out on the local record label Lance Rock Records, and drummer Graham Watson is a resident), but BUM seemed completely in the zone on this night. An upcoming string of shows in Spain with Redd Kross are sure to please the Spaniards, who absolutely love BUM, and who can blame them?
I was already in my happy place through their whole set in Nanaimo, but when the band scorched through “A Promise Is a Promise,” I really went there. Thanks BUM.
No Comments