Rumpke Mountain Boys

The Rumpke Mountain Boys are small local band that has not gain a lot of recognition yet. They have phenomenal musical abilities and are slowly gaining a following. It is clear by Rumpke's music that the members draw their influences from a variety of styles such as bands like the Grateful Dead to the classic old timey bluegrass that typically consists of banjo, mandolin, stand up bass, and acoustic guitar.
 

 

Band members: Jason Wolf: banjo,dobro,harmonica,slide whistle,washboard,rattles,random jiberish,vocals; Ben Gourley: mandolin,vocals; Adam Copeland: guitar,harmonica,vocals; Travis Gates: bass,face,vocals

 

I had the pleasure of seeing this group live at the Beachland Ballroom in Cleveland for just five dollars. I arrived half way through the opening act (who I can't remember the name of) and I was able to walk up to the stage due to the lack of people. At the end of the opening band I saw the Jason Wolf who is the banjo player from Rumpke standing in the audience with his banjo. I went up and talked to him about his custom banjo and his music for about thirty minutes before Rumpke went on stage.

Wolf was the most impresses member of Rumpke in my opinion. When I saw them live he played banjo through the first half of the show then dobro for most of the second half of the show. On top of his fantastic abilities on the banjo and dobro he can play slide whistle, washboard, rattles and countless other random instruments to add to the bands sound.

The band covers many various genres of music along with their original music as seen below.

 

Rumpke Mountain Boys cover of Eyes of the World by The Grateful Dead:

 

The Rumpke Mountain Boys now have their original album "Trashgrass" available on itunes.

 



Primus

Primus isn't the typical bluegrass, folk, or rock band that typically uses a banjo but Les Claypool finds a way to incorporate almost every style available into his music. Claypool doesn't use the typical five string traditional banjo, or even a six string banjo like most people but instead he uses an extremely rare bassjo. It is tuned like a bass with the drum head like a banjo and has a sound that cannot be replicated.

Les Claypool and his bassjo shown below:



 

Primus has been around for since 1984 and started out of California while releasing six albums including one just two years ago (Green Naugahyde:2011). Probably their best known song is the South Park Theme Song but most people aren't even aware of the fact that it is primus.

 

This is one of the examples where Claypool uses his banjo. The band generally falls under the an alternative or funk genre. They have won platinum albums for their albums Pork Soda 1993 and Sailing the Sea of Cheese 1991 and also have won a gold album for Tales from the Punchbowl 1995. Primus has weird music videos which were created to get an audience's attention and in my case it worked. Primus has had several of their weird music videos appear on MTV such as Mr. Krinkle which is shown below:

Along with Claypool's music career he has done some minor acting roles along with writing a book. His book South of the Pumphouse tells a tale of two brothers that go on a fishing trip for sturgeon in California which he uses some of his childhood experiences to write from and the book is worth a read.