Bummer Hill, a three-piece Atlanta emo rock band, is set to release their debut album on May 10 via Chillwavve Records, followed by an East Coast tour beginning on May 17.
Originally a solo project headed by Jack Kern, Bummer Hill grew into a three piece outfit over the course of the past three years. After Kern released “Greetings from Bummer Hill” in 2021, bassist Dawson Beck and drummer Ruy Tobar would join the project alongside Kern on guitar for their 2022 EP, “City Limit.”
“It was the first kind of project we did as a band. That was the first project that had the three of us on it, and then Far Removed is our debut project,” said Kern. “Everybody was involved in the whole process, from songwriting to production, so we are calling it our debut.”
“Far Removed,” a collection of seven songs spanning roughly 30 minutes, is said to be “a showcase of all the different directions we can go,” said Kern. Citing bands like Remo Drive and Origami Angel as major influences for the album, the band seems to be leaning into emo and pop punk for their debut. However, the band suggests that they have much more in store. Think of the record as a main course of emo, with a lot of multi-genre side dishes.
“When we first started going into the studio for this project, we had a much larger batch of songs. The goal was to make a full length album. We wanted it to be a big first record with a lot of music on it,” said Kern. “We ended up weeding out a lot of stuff from it, just because we knew this was going to be a step up for us. We wanted it to be no skips, tight, only the best shit on the project. And what we were left with was this eclectic little group of songs.”
For the band’s tour, they will play seven dates in cities along the East Coast. Beginning in Atlanta on May 17 and running through May 24, the band will be visiting cities like Nashville, Philadelphia, Charleston, and Baltimore.
The band is no stranger to touring, but “this is definitely going to be our longest tour to date and our most cohesive one,” said Kern. “The other two runs we’ve done were either very short, or a lot more spread out over the course of a month. This is our first ‘tour’ tour.”
While touring can seem intimidating to young bands, the Bummer Hill crew insists that it really isn’t that bad. Aside from long drives, no sleep and being stuck in the car, the band makes it seem like touring can be pretty fun.
“It is a test of whether you can be in a band with these people or not. You really don’t know if you can hack it with your boys if you’re not locked in a car on a nine-and-a-half hour drive that you have to make in one night, and not kill each other on the way,” said Beck. “I consider myself very lucky to be in a band with people that I don’t want to murder, and who don’t want to murder me.”
“Besides being crammed in the car for like 10 hours a day on average, the experience itself was great. Just being able to see all the different places, being able to play and meet all these new people,” said Tobar. “I think that for that tour in particular we organized it pretty well because we had a place to stay pretty much every single night. Everyone was just so welcoming and so warm and nice.”
The band will be releasing “Far Removed” through Chillwavve Records, a record label that specializes mostly in emo releases. The band will have two cassette variations, a blue and green splattered version and a blue and gray version, both of which are available on the Chillwavve Records webstore. The band has partnered up with Chillwavve for a one-time record release.
“For a band of our size and position, that’s exactly what we needed,” said Kern. “We just needed a label that could help us get a platform bigger than the one we already had.”
The album was recorded at Toast & Jam Studios by Dom Maduri, and mixed by Drew Portalatin. According to Beck, the upgrade in the band’s sound was largely due to Maduri’s help and Portalatin’s mixing. “It was such a fantastic experience working with him not only because the audio quality has obviously improved, but because he’s got much better gear and a much better space for recording everything,” said Beck.
“Dom is the kind of producer where, especially if he is very invested in the work that you’re doing, he will not settle for a shitty take. If you biff a vocal take, he’s going to tell you,” said Beck. “He lets you know that it wasn’t good enough, but not in a way that makes you want to die. He’s very respectful about it.”
On their experience with Portalatin, Beck states that the band jumped at the opportunity to work with him because of his recent work on an Origami Angel project.
“When we heard that we could possibly mix with Drew, we were like, ‘We’ve got to,” said Beck. “We got a test mix back from him for Ladybugs, our first single, and we were like, ‘He just gets it. He gets what we’re trying to go for.”
“Far Removed” will be available on streaming services on May 10, and the record release show will be at The Masquerade’s new venue, Altar, on May 17.
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