by Geno Thackara
‘Humming House’ isn’t just a band name, it’s a mission statement. If it’s not clear enough, their latest live recording is simply titled Party! Their studio release, Revelries, arrived on March 23rd. No doubt you’re starting to see a pattern here – this is an infectious high-energy experience, even with barely an electric instrument to be heard. If you can sit calmly through one of their albums or walk away from a show without bouncing off the walls yourself, they haven’t really done their job. The band is currently preparing to barrel through the northeast again (including a return visit to Philadelphia’s World Cafe Live on Friday the 27th), and That Mag luckily managed to grab a quick chat with singer/percussionist Leslie Rodriguez while they packed the van for the long haul.
“We definitely added the bells and whistles, but we also tried to keep it as true to our live sound as possible,” she tells me about the newest studio effort. “The live performance is so defining for who we are as musicians, so we didn’t want to stray too far from that when it came to this new album. It still tries to capture that party atmosphere and that moment of being excited and happy.”
That attitude has been a core of the band since their start back in 2011, when Justin Wade Tam recruited a few friends to record some of his songs and subsequently took it on the road. Since then they’ve only grown collectively as everyone brings something different to the table.
“Oh, we all have such eclectic tastes and we try to bring it out as much as we can,” Rodriguez laughs. “Justin brings in that Celtic vibe and we cover a couple Celtic pub tunes. Josh [Wolak] grew up listening to punk music and he’s from Detroit, so you get some vibes from that now and then in arranging our songs. Ben [Jones] and Bobby [Chase] are both classically trained. Sometimes we kick off a set with Bobby doing a classical riff on his violin. We have a lot of fun playing with those unexpected turns. We also all grew up listening to pop music and hip-hop.” Jones even writes classical music in his spare time. Well, they probably needed something to keep him off the streets.
Photo by Melissa Madison Fuller
It’s quite a mishmosh of flavors, but she says they’re enjoying mixing it into a recipe of their own. “It’s definitely been a process for us. The first album that we released was all Justin. He wrote all those songs, although the band arranged them. On this new one, it’s much more of a collaborative co-writing and arranging effort. Justin is still our primary songwriter. He comes up with a good catchy hook and he’s definitely an amazing storyteller. Then we all help arrange the songs, and we’re sort of experimenting with figuring out what the best combination is in terms of writing together.”
After all, combinations are what this quintet does best. Revelries shows that their kitchen-sink mix is as varied as ever: danceable folk, a touch of cool jazz, some smoky blues, a pretty love song, a taste of bluegrass, all topped off with a sea-shanty singalong. Traveling also naturally makes a frequent theme in numbers such as “Hitchhike”, “Freight Train” and the first single “Great Divide” (which fittingly comes with the video equivalent of a scrapbook from the road).
The surprises also extend to the stage, where they love to cover tunes from unpredictable sources – Whitney Houston, Moby and Willie Nelson aren’t unheard of, to name just a couple, and there’s no telling what current chart-toppers may pop up either. Anything is fair game. It’s all about finding ways to connect with the crowd and get the place hopping, winning over one city and one audience at a time.
“If you had asked me a month ago, I would have said the west coast,” Rodriguez continues when asked what new places they’d like to go, “but we have that for April, so we’re really excited to get out there. I think what we would really love to do is get over to Europe and play abroad.”
But even regardless of travel plans, they’re having enough fun tossing around new ideas that they won’t let a busy tour stop them. “We’ve already started writing new songs for our next one and it’s even more collaborative. There are a couple Justin and I have written together lyrically. It’s going to be a lot of fun – definitely an evolution.”
Of course nobody knows quite where that evolution will take them, but they’re ready to have a great time finding out. Hop on and they’ll be only too happy to bring you along for the ride as well.
