Coveralls shed covers to become umanoSumana
by Jesse Morton
It's been three years since the break-up of Subbluecollar, a four-man rock act that in the late-1990s made its mark on the Knoxville scene with catchy melodic ditties distinguished by unconventional guitar work and inspired, emotional vocals.
Three years is time enough for wounds to heal and memories to fade. It's time enough for a student to get a master's degree. And it's time enough for three former members of Subbluecollar to serve a sentence in rock purgatory and—after finding their pulse, their identity and a keyboardist—reemerge onto the scene with a new sound and a new band called umanoSumana.
Some of the many trace elements forming the sound of umanoSumana are of an era predating SBC. Some take the listener all the way back to the lipstick and hairspray of the '80s. Others hearken to Bach and Beethoven. But when band members reminisce, they cite their experience playing in the cover band The Coveralls as a vital leaning experience.
After the breakup of SBC, which drummer Dave Campbell compares to spontaneous combustion, options were limited. One solution was to form a party band and play music that has already been perfected. Along with guitarist Chris Canada and former SBC members bassist Bryan Garvey and guitarist Joe McLemore, Campbell started booking dates on a strenuous schedule that had them performing at bars, frat-parties and even the occasional wedding reception.
Dressed in suits and drawing from an abysmal pool of songs, the Coveralls are crowd favorites. Though not an outlet for creativity, it has kept the musicians active and fed.
"We had put so much into this original band, and it sort of blew up in our faces," Garvey said. "We decided to say, 'Forget it, let's go the complete opposite direction. Let's find the lowest common denominator.'
"We did it to see if we could make a little money and have some fun," he added. "It's impossible to have creative differences when you are playing 'Crazy Train.'"
Also impossible is to feel fully satisfied while covering rock mega hits, says McLemore.
The routine began to wear on the musicians, all of whom at one time studied music at the University of Tennessee.
"The emotion was lost," says Campbell, who holds a bachelor's degree in music.
"Nobody learns to play an instrument to be in a cover band," Garvey says. "We weren't getting out of it what we were when we were playing original music." Out of boredom and frustration, side projects were formed.
Campbell, Garvey and McLemore began searching for a fourth musician to bring completion to one of their ongoing projects.
In the meantime, Christina Horn, a keyboardist from Chattanooga, was completing her master's degree in music at UT. Classically trained and filling her days as a piano teacher, she sought to expand her mediums of expression by joining a rock band.
Shortly after graduation, she was recruited by Campbell, whom she knew from UT and the local scene.
"I'd always wanted to be involved in playing live music, because my whole experience up to this point has been playing classical music in sort of a stale university setting," Horn said.
She opted to sit in on a rehearsal. Immediately her ideas were incorporated, and her contribution galvanized what was formerly a recreational side-project. She had found her outlet and given it a name, umanoSumana.
Disassembled, umanoSumana's sound is a cacophony of the many styles that each band member has at one time or another studied or played.
"We wanted songs that are interesting but not without simple melodies," Garvey says. "If anything we want to think of it as the Pixies on one end, the Beatles on the other, and we are what happens" at the juxtaposition.
"Because of the Coveralls [routinely playing pop-rock hits], we have three-part harmonies...which makes for a thicker sound," Campbell said.
Perhaps also because of the Coveralls, three-years of pent-up creativity has finally found an outlet.
February 12, 2004 • Vol. 14, No. 7
© 2004 Metro Pulse
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