Biography

> Transmission received

Subject: Hum
Origin: Champaign, Illinois
Active since: Stardate 1989.0 (Earth year: 1989).
Sound profile: Large, fuzzy, weather-like, warm at the core.
Lyrical content: Space, science, and love going slightly sideways.
Explanations: None provided.
Evaluation: Excellent. Recommended for repeated listening.

> Archive log, 1990s

Albums: Four recorded: Fillet Show, Electra 2000, You'd Prefer an Astronaut, Downward Is Heavenward.
Radio: "Stars" detected on modern rock radio.
Label: Relationship concluded.
Status: Band powered down around 2000.

> Power-up sequence

2003: One-off reboot.
2011: A handful of shows.
2015: Two tours.
2020: New album, Inlet, with zero warning, twenty-two years after Downward Is Heavenward.
Note: Consistent with prior behavior.
Crew files: Below. Operatives welcome. Security clearance: a pulse.
Corrections: If any data is incorrect, file a correction.

Matt Talbott

Vocals/Guitar

Other Affiliations:
Centaur
Honcho Overload
We Ate Plato

Born 1967. Matt has been involved with Hum since the beginning, in 1989, and has sung and played guitar on all five of its albums. He met various members of the band while working at a cafe called Treno's. He co-produced Inlet with Tim Lash and James Treichler at his own studio in Tolono, IL, formerly Great Western Record Recorders and now called Earth Analog, which is also the name of his record label.

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Before Hum, he was in We Ate Plato, and in Hum's early days he also played bass in Honcho Overload. In 2000 he started Centaur, whose debut album, In Streams, is well worth tracking down. He once made a guest appearance on Space Ghost Coast to Coast, and he is married to Sue, the woman shown inside the You'd Prefer an Astronaut cover.

Tim Lash

Guitar

Other Affiliations:
Alpha Mile
Glifted
The Grand Vizars
Love Cup

Born 1974. Before Hum, Tim was in The Grand Vizars, a fast and complex metal band, and after seeing Hum play he told them to give him a call if they ever needed a guitarist. He joined right out of high school, before Electra 2000, as the lead guitarist after Andy Switzky (of Fillet Show-era Hum) left the band. He has played guitar on every Hum album since, and he co-produced, engineered, and mixed Inlet.

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After Hum called it quits, he enrolled in college, and in 2001 he started Glifted with Love Cup bassist TJ Harrison. Their debut album, Under and In, came out in 2002 on Martians Go Home. Glifted's sound is far from Hum's, but if yr a big fan of My Bloody Valentine and the like, yr sure to love it. The band has since called it a day.

Jeff Dimpsey

Bass

Other Affiliations:
Gazelle
Honcho Overload
National Skyline
Poster Children
Bad Flannel

Born 1967. Jeff joined Hum on bass after Balthazar left, before Electra 2000, and has played bass on every Hum album since. In 1996 he started National Skyline with Jeff Garber of Castor, built around a 45-minute song he wrote during a lull in Hum's touring. The band released two full-length albums, one self-titled and the other This=Everything, plus an EP. Jeff later formed Gazelle with Adam Fein. The band’s debut, Sunblown, came out in 2008.

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Jeff met Bill Johnson of Honcho Overload in 1985 in a UIUC dorm, and the two soon formed Bad Flannel with Gordon Pellegrinetti, Chris Green (later Hum's tour manager), and Balthazar De Ley. Around 1989 he joined the Poster Children as a second guitarist and appears on their album Daisy Chain Reaction. He also played guitar in Honcho Overload, which released two albums, Smiles Everyone and Pour Another Drink, on MUD Records.

Bryan St. Pere

Drums

Other Affiliations:
Castor
Amblare

Born 1969. Bryan was Hum's second drummer, taking over from original drummer Jeff Kropp. He joined in 1990 and played on all five of the band's albums, from Fillet Show through Inlet, including the hit "Stars." He also filled in as the drummer for Castor for a short stint. He was back behind the kit for the 2003 Furnace Fest reunion and the 2011 shows.

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Legend has it that Matt overheard Bryan playing along to songs by the Police or Rush and asked him to join the band. Away from the kit, he moved to Indiana for a pharmaceutical job, raised a family there, and played in an Indiana band called Amblare. The band remembers him as a dear friend and an incredible musician.

Jason Gerken

Drums

Other Affiliations:
Shiner
Molly McGuire

Jason has played drums for Kansas City's Shiner since 1999, after time in Molly McGuire, alongside Allen Epley, Paul Malinowski, and Josh Newton. Shiner came up in the nineties alongside bands like Hum, Jawbox, and Failure. Jason first sat in with Hum on the band's 2015 tour, and in 2026 he took the drum stool for Hum's Slide Away shows, the band's first since 2019.

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Shiner started out in Kansas City in 1992 as a band called Orchid, split in 2003, and reunited in 2012. Its albums include Splay, Lula Divinia, Starless, and The Egg, with two more following the reunion: Schadenfreude in 2020 and BELIEVEYOUME in 2025 on Spartan Records, led by the single "Asleep in the Trunk."

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Transmit Tip

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