Sumac

Sumac is a rock n roll band from Troy, NY. The band is Jeff, Justin, Rob Daryl and Ron. The band began in 2006 with Jeff as a solo singer / song writer / guitarist. Within a few years the band developed into a five piece featuring two guitars, bass, keys and drums with all members singing and writing. As of May 2009 they have released countless CD-R’s and are working on their first official release for early 2010…………………………….. Boring right? Well here’s the long version pictures will be added later……… Sumac is a rock n roll band from Troy, NY. They have been labeled things like alt-country and freaky folk, which the band finds bizarre. Are things like “alt” and “freaky” needed to describe Sumac? We don’t think so…….. Sumac features the following players: Jeff Burger – Vocals and guitar, Daryl LaCasse – Guitar and vocals, Justin (Jman) Birk – Electric bass and vocals, Rob ‘Elton John’ Jonas – Keys and vocals, Ron Burris – Drums, percussion and vocals …………………………………. Sumac began in the summer of 2006 as a vehicle for song writer Jeff Burger. After working the local radio show “Sunday morning coming down” for WRPI 91.5FM Jeff rolled up his sleeves and began working on songs that he would play for some shows under the moniker Mr. Chesterfield and Jackinany along with Key boardist Rob Jonas, playing with such bands as Hayseed, The Coal Palace Kings, Lucky 57, Ware river Club, The Pernice Brothers, Fred Eaglesmth, Luther Wright and the wrongs, The Delafields, Tiger Mountain and Warren Zanes . This went on for a few years. I guess it ran it’s course. That was until Jeff crossed paths with Justin Birk a brassy sax player for the band Slick Fitty who dabbled in playing bass guitar………………………………………. The duo began writing songs and seeking a drummer so they could now play their new material. The duo also felt that they needed a new moniker or name. Feeling that monikers were not what they were looking for, they imagined that they were in a band and should think about band names instead……………………. One night Jeff and Justin were drinking, writing and discussing how they could make this new project grow. Feeling that the songs were new, yielding tasty riffs that were scrappy in nature and in that moment it dawned on Jeff. He remembered back when he was a kid there were these trees that seemed to sprout up all around that grew fast but also were poisonous much like their new songs they were called Sumac trees. So that was it from that day forward Jeff and Justin were in a band called Sumac, they just had to find band mates………………. Playing with several incarnations over the years with help from all sorts of talent Jeff and Justin found them selvesstill looking for more to add to their folksy sound. Adding keys to the mix would surely do this So Jeff and Justin embarked on a search for just the right key boardist. Thats when they reenlisted Rob Jonas on the keys, and no he is not a Jonas brother but we think he might be their uncle. Still the band of Jeff, Justin and Rob dreamed of making their unique sound even big with more of a rock edge. So in the summer of 2008 Sumac added guitarist Daryl Lacasse who the group met while he was doing his intership for teaching in the same school were both Jeff and Justin also worked as teachers. Sumac was now playing standing room only shows with bands like “Frog Holler” from Philly and the “grainbelt” from New York, but something was still just not right……….. In April of 2009 Daryl contacted his fried Ron Burris who he knew had played drums in the past for heavy rock bands but felt that his playing might be what the group was looking for. After a few jam sessions they agreed to finalize the band by adding Ron on the drums…………… In June 2009 Sumac will begin recording their first effort to be released in early 2010. I was there where the hell were you!