the Hummers began when Joel Shane approached Joel Klaverkamp at a Skingerbreadman gig and told him that he needed to be playing "real" funk music, with him.

Then Joel, Joel and Craig Bjerring started jamming in Craig's basement. This would have been in 1996 I think. Then Joel K asked Mark Hoeppner to jam with them and Joel S. asked Matt Lawrence to jam with them.

by 1997 they were gigging fairly steady and had recorded their first cassette "ecoute". Craig Bjerring asked Paul Durant to play saxophone and Joel K really wanted to work with Tyler Sneesby a.k.a. DJ Hunnicutt. Before long Tyler was fronting the band and Paul was also a regular in the band. Then Joel Shane moved away.

Upon reccomendation from Monica Guenter, Jason Banman became the new hummers drummer. Jason jumped on board a moving train and thus began their acid-jazz years.

Their first CD release party was halloween of 1998. Joel Shane played on the recording but Jason Banman played the release party. This line up got pretty solid and was constantly writing new material.

Their second CD release was halloween of 1999. They began touring and getting album reviews about how they didn't name their songs and named all their CDs "listen" in non-english languages.

Then Joel K went to school to study computer programming. They started in on their third CD, also called "listen" in a non-english language. This one had Darcy Ataman at the board and was heavily influenced by Craig Bjerring.

After the third CD, Hlusta, the band lost Mark Hoeppner and Paul Durant, the keyboard and sax that were the heaviest jazz influence on the band.

Mike Germain, who had been instrumental in producing the first 2 records, joined as keyboard player. The group went in on purchasing a bunch of recording gear and started on Save the Jets... the first properly titled hummers record with song titles and everything.

Save the Jets was mixed by Joel Klaverkamp and was more "electronica" than "acid-jazz". This record went on to chart the highest of any hummers record.

During this time Matt, Jason, Mike and Joel all had children and were raising families. Craig Bjerring became active with other musical projects and eventually moved to Berlin.

Modern Entrance, the last Hummers record, was made possible because of the talented Benoit Morrier, who took Craigs spot as guitarist when Craig left.

The Hummers remained active until the Summer of 2007, where they played the Calgary Folk Festival and the coveted Winnipeg Folk Festival. (read less)

the Hummers began when Joel Shane approached Joel Klaverkamp at a Skingerbreadman gig and told him that he needed to be playing "real" funk music, with him.

Then Joel, Joel and Craig Bjerring started jamming in Craig's basement. This would have been in 1996 I think. Then Joel K asked Mark Hoeppner to jam with them and Joel S. asked Matt Lawrence to jam with them.

by 1997 they were gigging fairly steady and had recorded their first cassette "ecoute". Craig Bjerring asked Paul Durant to play... (read more)