One competition win is great, but two is even better!
That’s exactly what Pemberton-based band The Zummers were able to achieve less than six months after launching their band.
The indie folk-rock group took out the Battle of the Bands competition at a jam-packed Brackendale Art Gallery: Café & Culture Centre on Jan. 31.
“It was packed and had such great energy,” The Zummers frontman Tom Csima told The Squamish Chief.
“The crowd was amazing for every band. People were out there and supporting, but definitely, when we came on, it got funky, it got groovy, people were really dancing.
“And you know, for me as a musician, that means more to me than the amount of applause we get, or the prizes, or the accolades. For me, getting someone in the zone and grooving and dancing to my music, I guess, just kind of feel like I'm connecting with them.”
The Zummers went up against Squamish local bands Shiny Red Button and Zombie Roof.
The band
Csima formed The Zummers in Pemberton during the summer of 2024 alongside bassist Jessie Richards, percussion man Mikey Muscat, and guitar player Alex Drapeau.
After doing a handful of gigs in December 2024, the group decided they’d try their luck at the Whistler Music Search—an annual competition that showcases Sea to Sky bands and solo acts.
Little did they know they’d end up being crowned as the winners and taking home the $1,000 cash prize and an even larger fan base.
It was this experience that made Csima decide to roll the dice at the Battle of the Bands just over a month later.
“Right after the Whistler Music Search, someone sent me the Squamish event, and we were kind of um-ing and ah-ing about it, thinking, do we want to go down? It's a bit of a long drive, and we had just done a competition,” Csima said.
“Obviously, being a new band without any recordings yet and without any material to kind of send to festival promoters, it's hard to show how good you are
“So, I thought, could you imagine if we won two of these things? That'll at least be something to put on the resume and show that we're the real deal.”
The multi-week series kicked off on Jan. 10, with the winners of each round getting to perform at the finals on Jan. 31 in the hopes of scoring the prize of a headline gig at The BAG later this year.
The sound
When describing any band, it can be difficult to nail down a specific genre that the music fits into, and The Zummers find themselves not wanting to lock themselves into one specific sound.
“I always have trouble with that one, just because I don't like to pigeon hole us,” Csima said.
“I do think that's kind of what's cool about The Zummers. It’s a bit of an eclectic mix of genres; it's definitely like a folk-rock kind of sound, but then we have some psychedelic elements and some jazz-infused into it.
“When people ask me, I like to say that it's music that you can rock out, groove, trip out or bust a move to.
“Because you see people in the crowd, some are just standing there with their eyes closed, just bobbing their head, grooving, and then some people are really shaking their booty.”
What’s next?
After a jet-fuelled few months, the band plans to take some time to focus on recording music.
“After this competition, we wanted to take a little bit of a breather and focus on recording music because we really want to do some festivals this summer and maybe even tour around B.C,” Csima said.
“In order to do that, we need to have some recordings. We're kind of pooling our money from all the gigs we've been doing ... to go towards recording studio time.”
The group haven’t set a date for their BAG headline show but expect it will be in the next few months.
“I think that's going to be our focus the next couple months when we might play the odd gig, but we are really focusing on getting our music out there and then hitting the summer hard,” Csima said.
Follow The Zummers on Instagram to see where they’ll be performing next.
~With files from David Song/Pique Newsmagazine
