Each month, we invite local artists to Greeny’s rehearsal space to lay down a stripped-back live session. One take. No do-overs. This month features Danny Lowe, bassist and founding member of Sheffield cult favourites Rumpus – a band whose chaotic energy and boundary-pushing sound helped shape a generation of musicians that followed.
At the turn of the millennium, Rumpus stood out as one of the city’s most original outfits. Emerging from a group of friends who’d relocated from Chesterfield to Sheffield around 1999, their blend of warped punk, twisted rock and stream-of-consciousness lyrics marked them as oddballs in a scene that hadn’t yet found its footing. “We just wanted to do something eccentric and fun,” Danny laughs. “It was chaotic, and that was the point. We weren’t trying to fit anywhere.”
Their anarchic edge caught the attention of producer Alan Smyth at 2Fly Studios, the man who’d go on to capture the first recordings of Arctic Monkeys, Milburn, and Reverend & The Makers. But before any of that, Rumpus were the ones experimenting under Smyth’s red lights. “Alan came to see us supporting Ozric Tentacles in Chesterfield,” Danny recalls. “He loved it, said he wanted to record us. The song ‘Woods’ came out of that session – it was one of the first things we did with him.”
That song, with its lurching riff and dark humour, turned out to have a much bigger legacy than the band ever expected. “Alan used to tell me loads of groups went to him because of Rumpus,” Danny says. “I’ve even heard Arctic Monkeys used to sing lines from it to each other at school. It’s weird – we never got big ourselves, but I think we ended up influencing a lot of what came next.”
The band fizzled out in the mid-2000s after years of near misses and industry indifference. “We were constantly told we didn’t fit anywhere,” Danny says. “Labels would say, ‘It’s great, but change all the lyrics,’ which just killed the fun. It ran its course. But we did it our way.”
Since Rumpus, Danny’s continued to make music across various projects – including long stints with Babybird and collaborations with artists like Jody Wildgoose. His own more recent venture, Heads Off, saw him reunite with former Rumpus members Dave and Ian for a run of punk-driven recordings with Smyth once again behind the desk. “It’s always evolving,” he says. “I’ve never stopped writing or recording. It’s just therapy for me now.”
For his Red Light Session, Danny dusted off the bass for the first time in a while, joining Joe and Tom Rowley for a one-take rendition of Rumpus’ “Woods” and a cover of System of a Down’s “Toxicity”. “I was nervous,” he admits. “I’ve been doing more drum machine and sampler stuff with Babybird lately, so I hadn’t picked up a bass properly in ages. But once we got going, it felt right. It came back.”
Even decades later, the Rumpus influence keeps resurfacing. Local newcomers Femur recently surprised him by performing “Woods” live, introducing the song to a new crowd entirely. “That blew my mind,” he grins. “There’s always some little connection back to Rumpus. It’s nice that it still lingers around Sheffield in some way.”
Watch the full session now over on the Exposed Instagram channel (@expmagsheff).
Danny still performs with Babybird and continues to tinker with solo material under his Heads Off moniker, balancing life, kids, and the strange modern world of algorithms and Instagram gigs. “It’s mad now,” he says. “Promoters just want to know how many followers you’ve got. We came from a time when you sent off a demo CD and hoped someone listened. It’s different now, but I still love making music. I probably always will.”
Rumpus may never have cracked the mainstream, but their fingerprints are all over Sheffield’s musical DNA. And hearing “Woods” ring out once again under the red glow of Greeny’s studio lights, you can’t help but feel things have come full circle.
