HUMb, a musical trip through funk, hip-hop and soul, with musicians that made name with bands such as Zap Mama, Brazzaville, Cookies and Cream,…
The HUMb-story begins in the late nineties when the teenage Van Leuven-brothers and their nephew decide to start a band. Pieter (drums), Thomas (guitar) and Hans (DJ) decide to play a rock/HipHop crossover and eventualy end up on the ‘DebutAntwerpen’ compilation album. Through the years, the occupation of the band grows, along with their style of music.
In 2003, the Belgian national radiostation Studio Brussel chose them to be on their compilation-cd for the best demopoll winners.
Jan Hautekiet (former CEO Studio Brussel): “These white guys perfectly know how to catch the soulgroove. Black souls: the world can’t have enough.”
Nationally, they reached the semi-final of Belgium’s biggest contest for quality unknown bands Humo’s Rockrally, became laureates on national contest such as Debuutrock (Ghent), and they won Latent Talent (Antwerp) and RedRockRally (Bruges).
Today, HUMb have no less than ten musicians on stage: Thomas, Pieter, Hans, Jan (keys), Stijn (bass), Kevin (MC), Rik (MC), Oljana (singer), Sven (sax) and Pieter (trombone). HUMb plays infectious funk/hip-hop, with soul, jazz and pop-influences.
Their impressive live-reputation has brought them to various large stages throughout the country. Over the last few years, HUMb has played at HoveLive, Rivierenhof, Cactus Club, Vooruit, Hof ter Loo, Nijdrop, N9, Bruksellive, Maanrock, AfroLatino Festival, Mano Mundo, Zuiderkroon,…
HUMb has also played as a support act for many artists, such as Relax (the Netherlands), Delinquent Habits (USA), Cartel Deluxe, Starflam and Sven Van Hees.
Soon, foreign interest came, and so HUMb played in Luxembourg, several clubs and festivals in The Netherlands, and had 2 Balkan tours, with a place on the mainstage of the Socha Reggae River Splash festival 2005 in Slovenia as a climax.
In 2005-2006, HUMb tries to catch their sound on track for the first time. The mini-album that results from these recording-sessions is well-received, and gets some airplay on national radio. Of course, all of this made the band urge for more.
They decorated a rehearsing room of their own, and decided to concentrate on making a full-album in own management. At the beginning of 2010, it’s released: ‘Wet Sponge in A Dirty box’ is ready to conquer the audience.
Keyboardplayer Jan Willems (ex Zap Mama, Dirk Blanchard, Lize Accoe, Brazzaville…) steps up as bandleader, writes the music, and sets the vision for a debut-album with a fresh contemporary feel, combined with a solid soul sound. Guestmusicians such as LIZE ACCOE (De La Vega), AMEL SERRA (Zita Swoon) and many more feature on the album.
After all those years of rehearsing, recording and mixing, HUMb is excited to get back on stage, and show the world that their strong live reputation has even improved.
A tight funk/hip-hop/soul set that will blow your socks off.
Hip-Hop Hurray!
