"The Drummer Conundrum"

Ahhh... Drummers... where shall we begin...

Based upon our collective experiance, Drummer's are fantastic to have... if you are indeed lucky enough to find one that is Dedicated, does their homework, loyal, with no monkeys on their backs ;-) and with minimum baggage, if at all possible...

That would indeed apply to all musicians of course, when  trying to form a band and to keep the band together long enough to perform and do shows together.

We unfortunately, so far... have not been so lucky when it comes to drummers... We have, over the past 10 years, had more than 14 drummers in the band and have yet found the drummer who at the very least, has met the simple criteria above and has met our needs. 

We found ourselves having to start all over each time, from the beginning, breaking in a new drummer each time, and then again, had to learn all the songs in our set list which we were playing. This of course, kept us from getting out and playing shows and became very frustrating for us, as well as setting us back from our goals as a band. 

There can end up being so many other factors and variables, thereby creating dynamics which sometimes can be very difficult to even overcome; always trying to make it all work together and for one reason or another, there is always going to be something beyond your control.

We were fortunate at one point last year and very lucky indeed, to have found a great drummer Jim, who was the perfect fit for the band and indeed fit all the simple criteria above. We were lucky enough to have had him in the band for 7 short months...

Jim was from Los Angles and moved here to Florida for a new change in life. After being here for less than a year,  mis-fortune struck for him... He had a very close family member pass away and his family needed him back home in California and would not be returning :-(  So he did returned to his family, understandably and rightfuly so. 

We are strong believers in family first and we completely understood, along with our heavy hearts to see him have to go and leave the band. Going back to square one again without a drummer, was a very depressing prospect once again! I then came up with a great idea that may save us from this dilemma once and for all...

Which leads us up to now and currently... we as a band, have decided what to do about it and eliminate for good, being once again without a drummer!

We have now successfully tried and tested a new approach to our never ending search for a drummer for the band... a choice which has given us the best results we could hope for so far in this long on-going situation of what we call "The Drummer Conundrum"...

Before "Jim", our drummer from California left for back home, He did us a huge favor as a parting gift to us, Jim record all his acoustic drum tracks in the professional "MOF Studio 127" for all the songs we play! They came out awesome!!! 

The Stumble Bums now have and now use the live recorded acoustic drum tracks from Jim, in all our shows, until one day we can find a drummer who measures up and becomes our live drummer. He is always on time, plays perfectly consistant every time, with no issues, drama or worries about not having a drummer!

This was a huge life saver for us and for our band and we give him great thanks, as well as all the credit for doing that for us before he left. Jim has also agreed to do any new additional tracks we my need in the future and send them to us from his studio in California any time we need more live drum recordings.

We are also doing the same for him whenever he needs Guitars, Vocals and Bass tracks. A win win situation for all of us!!! We are still a band together in a sense, despite living on separate coasts.

Jim is still with us on the drums, performing with us "virtually" So in essence and thanks to modern technology, we still have a great drummer and a great band, which now means we do not have to keep starting over every time we do not have a drummer!

Close your eyes and you can picture him behind his kit playing drums and you would never know he is not physically there with us.  Jim has asked us not to post his actualy picture and instead sent us the picture of the monkey playing drums as a joke for us to post. He had a great sense of humor just like we do and was a perfect fit. Thanks Jim! We are forever grateful!!!

So come out to a show and hear what a great band Stumble Bums has become! Coming to a stage near you!

By the way, If you are a drummer and you can measure up, contact us, who knows, you may become the next great drummer for Stumble Bums cover band and also their alter ego the original band MIRROR OF FATE ...