Humble Bumblebee

Humble Bumblebee is music by Heather Stewart-Ahn recorded on a Yamaha AW1600 (portable digital 16-track console). She has spent the majority of her life around the Puget Sound region where she has now returned to her hometown after surviving 10-years in Olympia, WA minus 10-months in Oakland, CA. At 28-years old and in the throes of her Saturn return she has returned to her roots in order to purify and hone her phoenix prowess.

H. Stewart-Ahn's branch on a musical family tree creates connections between: The Vells (featuring Jeremiah Green of Modest Mouse), The Gossip, The Need, Kicking Giant, Peaches, The King Cobra / Twin, The Scarling, Nomy Lamm, Zachary Cale / Illuminations, Foreign Milk, Liarbird / Kanako Wynkoop, and countless others.

Humble Bumblebee's legacy began when H. Stewart-Ahn was 15-years old. At the time it seemed there was an obscene dearth of other musicians (especially other lady bards) in the Pierce County, WA region with whom she could form a band. These initial home recordings would amount to the extremely rare Pierce County Explorers / Sped tapes issued in the most limited edition of roughly 10 cassettes. This was a deliberate move to not only ensure their imminent future value as nostalgia for the 1990's gains momentum in 2007, but she was also trying to spare the ears of disapproving audiences.

During these adolescent years H. Stewart-Ahn was also a freelance music reporter and photographer for The News Tribune of Tacoma, WA. She wrote many cover stories for the Soundlife entertainment section in the YAP (Young Adults Page) that appeared every Saturday. Through this work she was able to interview many of her favorite bands at the time including Superchunk, Belly, The Breeders, the Spinanes, Sebadoh, and Pavement. Other features she wrote addressed topics such as the diffuculty of putting on all-ages shows, straight-edgers, and the heroicism of writing zines.

In 1997 H. Stewart-Ahn went to The Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA. By 1998 she became a member of a band named Iommi (after guitarist Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath). With Zach Ginnett on guitar (now performing as Zachary Cale, NYC) and Ryan Holman on bass (now recording as Foreign Milk, France) she took the seat of drummer.

The band formed because of a series of amazing house parties held at the Witch House by the three girls residing there at the time: Robin Crane, Leandra Gil, and Biz. They came up with the idea of allowing any band to show up and play three songs, but one of the songs had to be a cover song that correlated with the evening's theme. Iommi debuted during 80's night and played Gary Neuman's "Cars."

After working the graveyard shift as package handlers at RPS, practicing constantly, and spending too much time together Iommi disbanded. Soon thereafter H. Stewart-Ahn was initiated into Olympia's queer culture and was imposed with the regrettable nickname of "Dude" after being recruited to replace the original bass player in the short-lived drag king party band The Teenage Ho-Dads (Nomy Lamm - vocals, Radio Sloan - vocals, Rachel Carns - drums, & Rickey Lime - guitar). The last show they played was to a sold-out crowd during the Drag Show at the first Ladyfest. H. Stewart-Ahn also taught a drum workshop that week; attendees were entranced with learning the traditional disco beat.

For her next project H. Stewart-Ahn played mostly bass and sometimes drums or guitar in a band named Ibobuki with Betsy Kwo (aka Ghost Bear) on guitar and Nick Bindeman on drums and sometimes bass. The name Ibobuki somehow meant "It'll Be Over Before You Know It," and after playing for a year and recording some songs (self-released as the CD The Evolution of Water) the band attempted to tour the West Coast at the invite of fellow Olympians and PDX musicians The Intima; they broke up at the Stork Club in Oakland, CA. At one point they were well-appreciated in Eugene, OR where it is rumored that some songs were given airplay on the local college radio station until that DJ graduated.

Upon arriving back in Olympia, H. Stewart-Ahn was asked to be an interim member of The Gossip whose original drummer Kathy Medonca was her housemate. For less than a month she replaced guitarist Nathan Howdeshell while he visited his hometown in Arkansas. She had the honor of playing two shows (Seattle & Portland), and according to the audience she flawlessly recreated Howdeshell's atonal tuning. In fact, she learned the band's entire catalog at the time in the course of an afternoon (and would gladly tell anyone most especially girls how to replicate Nathan's tuning, the key to which lies in the profundity of simplicity). On the Arkansas Heat EP she was a back-up singer on "Revolution" along with Tami Hart.

After her stint in the Gossip, H. Stewart-Ahn returned to the insular world of home recording. She would produce very few songs from 2001 to 2006. Trying to keep up with the times and rekindle her passion for recording, she reluctantly embraced recording onto digital format which brings us to the current era of Humble Bumblebee.

Humble Bumblebee is grateful to have the internet serve as a means for people to distribute and listen to music for free. Thank you to anyone who listens to the songs, and even more gratitude for anyone who enjoys them. May these efforts serve as an inspiration to anyone in the world who is afraid to go after what they hearts command of them, whether one is able to do so with the help and grace of friends, or has to face the task all alone.

Humble Bumblebee hopes most of all to encourage girls and boys to never be afraid to make music because art saves lives and to make art is the most honorable way to celebrate life.