When you see or hear rock/punk band Ume, the best word to describe what you’re seeing and hearing is passion. Not only is their music full of energy and drive, but when the music starts, the seemingly unassuming blonde girl in the front turns into a blur of flailing hair and heavy guitar riffs.
The passion of Ume extends beyond the music itself; a van breakdown in Nebraska caused the band to arrive late for Saturday’s Westword Music Showcase, affording them only time to set up and play two songs—and yet, for those two songs, Ume left it all on the stage, captivating the audience and leaving them wanting more. And for all their troubles, Ume was still excited to play a last-minute house party late that evening.
That’s passion.
“It’s got to be a passion with all the struggles we've had to go through over the last year,” laughs vocalist/guitarist Lauren Langner Larsen. “It's been tough…like, we drove 17 hours to get here, and are still thrilled to play two songs for the people. It's definitely our passion.”
Headed by Lauren (i.e., the unassuming blonde girl in the front) and husband Eric Larsen on bass, Ume’s energetic sound draws from a wide range of influences—the band members admit to listening to everything from Blonde Redhead to old-school jazz—and yet, “as far as our sound specifically,” says Lauren, “we’re never trying to channel any certain kind of sound.”
What does get channeled, though, is passion—and Ume’s hard work on and off the stage is apparently paying off. After several years of a heavy DIY tour schedule, and starting off 2011 with a new drummer (Rachel Fuhrer), the band was recently acknowledged by Rolling Stone as one of the top unsigned bands—and now they’ve been signed to Modern Outsider, who will be releasing Ume's new full-length recording Phantoms on August 30.
Meanwhile, the band continues to maintain a busy schedule. “We've got a lot of really cool festival dates coming up,” says Lauren. “We'll be playing Milwaukee Summerfest coming up, LouFest [in St. Louis] with TV on the Radio, Deerhunter, a lot of great bands... a big festival in Portland and San Diego, we've got a Kansas City festival with Muse…we're also centered on writing a lot of new stuff with Rachel, and hopefully can get into the studio pretty soon.”
Obviously, the passion continues.
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