Formation and early years (1997–1999) Kumm were formed by guitarist Eugen Nuțescu (also known as Oigăn) and keyboardist Kovács András, after the disbanding of their former musical projects, Short Cuts and
Talitha Qumi. Kovács wanted to form a new band, which was supposed to be, musically speaking, a fusion between
jazz,
rock and ethno and asked Oigăn if he was interested to be part of his project. Shortly after, they were joined by saxophonist Meier Zsolt (a former member of Short Cuts), drummer Pap Joco, and a girl named Cilu who sang lead vocals. Their first demo was recorded in December 1997. Some of the songs from this release (such as "Listen to My Songs" and "Dancing On the Wires") were to reappear later on their debut album, while a re-recorded version of the song "Red Coffee" was included on their third studio album,
Angels & Clowns. After the recording of the demo, Cilu decided to quit the band. In February 1998, the band was invited to play in a club from Cluj, called Music Pub. At that time, the band did not have a name, so the members were forced to come up with something. They chose the name Kumm, which is based on a wordplay ("kumm" means "sand" in
Tatar, and its phonetic pronunciation means "how" in
Romanian). On 4 January 1999, the band was invited to play for the first time in
Bucharest, at Lăptăria lui Enache. In March same year, after their second concert in Lăptăria lui Enache, the band met Ernesto (Mr. Scarecrow) Bianchi, who later became their manager. After finishing the recording phase, saxophonist Meier Zsolt left the band and was replaced by Petö Zoltán. During the recording, Oigăn played guitar as well as bass guitar, but, as this was impossible during live shows, Kumm were soon joined by bassist Keresztes Levente. which later peaked at number ten in the MCM Romania chart. On this album, Kumm started to make the transition to alternative rock, The first months of 2003 found some of the Kumm members involved in other projects. Kovács was invited to play on Luna Amară's debut album,
Asfalt (
Asphalt) (on a track called "Roșu aprins"), while Byron and Domi formed a new band, called
Urma, with Mani Gutău as lead vocal; shortly after, they also released an album,
Nomad Rhymes. In the spring,
Moonsweat March and
Confuzz were distributed worldwide by the
French label
Musea Records. In April, Kumm participated at the Iuliu Merca Festival, making their first cover of a Romanian song,
Semnal M's "Râul" ("The River"). Autumn brought them a contract with the
Italian label Cramps Records.
Angels & Clowns and departure of Byron (2004–2005) At the beginning of 2004, Kumm finished composing the songs for their third studio album,
Angels & Clowns. The band spent the first month of spring in the studio, recording the new album. This release included the English version of "1000 de chipuri", called "Million Faces" (later the band also recorded an Italian version, "Mille Facce"), a new version of "Dictionary", a song from their debut album, with Byron singing lead vocals, and a rewritten and improved version of "Red Coffee", one of the songs from their first demo. After performing at
Peninsula Festival and Stufstock, the band returned to Germany for another concert, which was their last concert with Byron as lead singer, as he left the band in September. In November, Kumm were joined by the actor and singer Cătălin Mocan, formerly the lead vocal of the band
Persona from
Timișoara.
Different Parties and the tenth anniversary of the band (2006–2009) The first concerts of Kumm with the new lineup took place at the end of January 2006. In March and April the band entered the studio and recorded a fourth album,
Different Parties. It was considered their most diversified album to date. In December, bassist Uțu Pascu left the band, and was replaced in January 2008 by Sorin Erhan (
Firma,
Urma). On August 16, 2008, Kumm performed at the Sziget Festival, being the only Romanian band invited. It was their second performance at Sziget. The official release was celebrated with a gig at Silver Church. Mihai Iordache, Csergö Dominic, Alexei "Alioșa" Țurcan (ex-Travka), Andrei Filip (Timpuri Noi, L'Orchestre de Roche, The Mono Jacks, RedRum) and Forrest (ZOB) appeared as guests. The album received favorable reviews. On 12 March 2009, Kumm received the prize for Best Rock on 2008 from the magazine
Actualitatea Muzicală (
Musical Actuality). Later, Oigăn talked about how they acquired their new drummer: "We made a list with several drummers we liked, we saw him at a live concert, and after that, due to the Mafia that exists on Romanian music scene, where everybody knows everybody, we got his phone number, we met in a bar, he came to an audition and we chose him because he's really talented and very funny."
Far from Telescopes (2009–2011) On August 14, 2009, Kumm released the video for the song "Morsa" (translation: "Walrus") during a concert in El Grande Comandante. The English version of the song, "Man in a Can", was to appear on their fifth studio album. On October 22 the band announced in a press conference at Clubul Țăranului Român the release of their fifth studio album,
Far from Telescopes, which took place on October 30, 2009, at the Silver Church Club in Bucharest.
Far from Telescopes was produced under their own license. The recordings were made at the
Vița de Vie studio, with Gabi "Pipai" Andrieș as sound engineer. The mastering was made by Mastervargas Studio,
New York City. The album appeared on iTunes on January 11, 2010. The title was explained by Oigăn in an interview: "It was really difficult for us to find a name. We broke a lot of deadlines, the album almost failed to be produced, yet we couldn't decide. At the end, right when we were playing the lo-fi songs, Cătălin sang that line and we all felt that this was describing the serious part of the album as well as its playful part." In December, the first single, "Pop Song", peaked at number 1 in
Radio Guerrilla's Top Show. At the beginning of 2010, Kumm changed their lineup again. On 17 February they announced bassist Sorin Erhan was replaced by Alexandru Miu (
Go to Berlin). In March their song "Police" was aired on Radio Guerrilla, entering on seventh place in Top Show and reaching first place two weeks later. In April, Paul Ballo and his ex-bandmate from Go to Berlin, Matei Țeposu started a new
electronic music project, called Trouble Is. On April 22, 2010, Kumm released their sixth video, "Pop Song", at a concert held in Silver Church Club, Bucharest. On September 25, drummer Paul Ballo announced on his
Facebook page that he was not part of Kumm anymore. His statement was confirmed indirectly by the band two days later, on September 27, when the new Kumm site was launched. A new lineup appeared on the site, with new drummer John Ciurea (formerly with Tep Zepi). The next day, on September 28, Kumm announced the lineup change on their Facebook and
Twitter pages. The first gig with the new drummer took place in Lăptăria lui Enache, on October 2. In an interview which appeared on October 5, Ballo talked about the whole situation, explaining that he knew that at a certain point he would have left the band, but he didn't expect to be fired. He cited as a possible reason for separation the fact that he was also involved in other projects, so his bandmates believed that he was not paying enough attention to the band. The ex-drummer said that he thought at certain moments that, musically speaking, the band was somehow stagnating, adding "I did not have time to get involved in the (album) production, especially the sound of my drums. That was a reason for me to complain, because I wasn't quite satisfied with the drum sound, and they disagreed with me." In the same interview, Paul Ballo also talked about his own musical projects, specifying that he wanted to release a video with Trouble Is and continue as a drummer in Go to Berlin. In December 2010, Radio Guerrilla started to air the song "Beautiful Country", which soon reached the first place in the Top Show. In March 2011, Kumm announced on their Facebook official page the departure of Alexandru Miu and the returning of Uțu Pascu, stating: "Our new bassist is our old one". No further explanations were given.
Fifteenth anniversary of the band, departure of Cătălin Mocan and A Mysterious Place Called Somewhere (2011–2014) On June 3, the band released a new song, called "Foul Play", during a concert in Clubul Țăranului Român. The song was aired for the first time at Radio Guerrilla, on June 7. "Foul Play" was also launched on the internet, as a free download. In October 2011, the band toured
Germany and
Switzerland. In November, Kumm released a new single called "Eskimo", during a campaign entitled "Where Do Broken Hearts Go? By Kumm". The campaign debuted with a contest for fans, who had to send an email with the answer to the question "Where do broken hearts go?", thus having the chance to win a special prize offered by the band. A national tour followed soon after. In 2012, Kumm celebrated their fifteenth anniversary with a national tour, "Kumm 15 ani" ("Kumm 15 Years"). The first two concerts were held in Cluj (October 19, Flying Circus Pub) and Bucharest (November 1, Silver Church). Both concerts featured
byron as opening act; ex-members of Kumm Dan Byron and Csergö Dominic performed as guests with the band. The Bucharest concert also featured Mani Gutău from
Urma and Artanu'. On January 22, 2013, the band announced on their Facebook page the departure of their lead singer Cătălin Mocan and their decision to continue as a five-piece band, with Oigăn assuming Mocan's vocal duties. Kumm also confirmed that they were working on their sixth studio album. The first concert with the new lineup was held in Flying Circus Pub, Cluj, on February 1; the band performed with Călina Curticăpean as guest vocalist, and kept touring with her for a while. On May 17, Kumm released a video for the song "Să nu spui nimănui" (Romanian for "Don't tell anyone"), produced by Kovács András. The song featured Călina Curticăpean at vocals and was the band's first song in Romanian since "Morsa". During the summer of 2013,
jazz musician Ana-Cristina Leonte joined the live lineup of the band, replacing Curticăpean as guest vocalist. On November 28, the band released a video for the song "One in a Million"; the video was directed by Vlad Gliga. On November 29, Kumm were invited by Radio Guerrilla to perform at the event "9 concerte pentru 9 ani" (Romanian for "9 concerts for 9 years") organized by the station in order to celebrate their ninth anniversary. In December, Oigăn released the first album of his new project, Moon Museum; the release was accompanied by a concert at J'ai Bistrot, Bucharest. On February 6, 2014, Kumm released their sixth studio album,
A Mysterious Place Called Somewhere. The concert took place at The Tube in Bucharest, and featured former lead singer Dan Byron, singer Luiza Zan, Cristi Csapo from Grimus, Ana-Cristina Leonte and Călina Curticăpean. The band began a national tour in order to promote the new album; the tour included Timișoara, Oradea, Iași, Brașov and Târgu Mureș. The reviews were positive, the album being described as a "reaffirmation of an important band for the Romanian musical scene" and "a sonic medicine for the soul". In April 2014, the song "Să nu spui nimănui" was nominated for The Best Indie / Alternative Rock at One Air Music Awards. Kumm continued to tour in April and May, visiting Baia Mare and Constanța. On June 16, Kumm concerted during Guerrilive Radio Session at Radio Guerrilla and on June 30 they opened for
Billy Idol at Cluj-Napoca along with Les Elephants Bizarres and RoadKillSoda. During autumn, Oigăn was confirmed as the new bass player for Robin and the Backstabbers. Kumm continued their live concerts, performing at Focus Festival (Sibiu) along with Omul cu Șobolani, Coma and Gojira and at FILIT (Iași).
Anniversary of Confuzz, hiatus and return of Cătălin Mocan (2015–2024) In January 2015, Kumm announced their intention to celebrate 150 months since the release of their second album,
Confuzz, with a small national tour featuring Dan Byron, their former lead vocal between 2001 and 2005. The tour began at the end of January, continuing in February, and included Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, Iași and Galați. On June 12, Kumm performed at Arenele Romane, during Street Delivery Nights, sharing the stage with Robin and the Backstabbers and byron. On July 3, the band appeared at the fifth edition of Rocker's Challenge, at Sasca Română. On August 15, 2015, Kumm concerted at Grădina cu Filme in Bucharest with a different line-up which included Anghel Mailat (Brum) at bass guitar and Tavi Scurtu at drums, replacing John Ciurea. Following the
Colectiv nightclub fire, Kumm posted on their Facebook page a message of support for the victims and their families. The band was in hiatus for most of 2016, with the exception of a concert in Cluj-Napoca during Rocking the city. On June 1, 2017, Kumm performed three songs during the first edition of Caritabil Fest, a festival organized for three young
cancer patients in remission. The concert marked the return of Cătălin Mocan as lead vocal after an absence of four years, and also the return of John Ciurea as drummer.
Oigăn's departure, a new line-up (2025-present) In August 2025, Kumm announced the departure of founding member Oigăn, as well as the departures of long time members Dan Georgescu and John Ciurea. The band subsequently completed their line-up with Mihnea Ferezan (guitar), Ionuț Deliu (bass) and Casian Vlad (drums), and confirmed plans to tour again in 2026 and to release new songs.
Additional projects Many of Kumm's former members, as well as the current ones, have additional musical projects. Csergö Dominic and Sorin Erhan are part of
Urma, a band in which Dan Byron sang as well. Oigăn released a solo album, called
Sex with Onions, while Iordache released two albums with his funk jazz band. ==Discography==