bio

herm's long bio...

There were these three really strange girls that called themselves the Squawking Monkeys. (They were really named Robyn Casey, Jackie Dubois, and Jenny Davidson.) They sang "Lean On Me," "The Rose," and "Yesterday" in three-part harmony and in that order. This entertained them and everyone on many a bus trip all throughout their middle school athletic carrers.

Later they met Ashley Pulis, and the four rode to Great Bend together all summer long to play basketball. Somewhere along the way they all began to dream of being in a band. (I think this idea was rooted in Ashley's head and it sprouted and matured and then the seeds fell off in the slight summer breeze and traveled to the other three, where they stuck and sprouted and so on...) So they began the intense search for a name. They started with the Rand McNally road map. They visited numerous band-o-matic sites and surveyed their families. In the end it wasn't Tramps With Amps, Milk Toast Russell, or Pale Ghetto Birds that got the prize, although those were all close seconds. herm took the cake. That's h-e-r-m, all lower case. NOT like the rapper.

***small side note: It was actually "herr" to begin with, but then they wanted Sheldon to be the bass player and that presented a gender problem. So, it was changed to herm. Get it?

Of course, later Jenny got a bass and became the bass player and Sheldon was kicked out of the band. (It's okay, he was kind of insane anyway.) But it still worked, you see, because Jackie's parents parents plucked her from her nice home in Russell and took her away to Lawrence and so the three were in need of a drummer...

Well, Jenny and Ashley quickly learned how to play the guitar and before long they joined Robyn and began practicing one of Ashley's personal favorite songs..."Animal Instinct" by the Cranberries.

They then went on their first tour called Robstock... The Press Release can be seen at the bottom..

The girls had once anticipated premiering at their school's varitey show, Solid Gold, in 2001, but it looked as if that date would move up a year. All they lacked was a drummer...

Meanwhile, Brian Elam conveniently rocked at the drums and just happened to be in Russell, Kansas. He graciously decided to play the drums for the three at the variety show. (Just as long as they wouldn't make him wear a wig.) He drummed. They jammed. They rocked!

So, after that there was pretty much no stopping them. Brian said he would stick with herm as long as he stuck around Russell. And the rest is history.

Except then there was one more part. Jenny and Ashley started hearing talk of some guitar playing chick who was coming into high school and they thought...hey...an addition! So, they asked Katie McCartney to play in the band. And she did. And she still does.

herm's short bio...

Jenny, Ashley, and Robyn wanted to be in a band. Ashley got a guitar for Thanksgiving. Jenny got a bass for Christmas. Robyn always knew how to sing. So they learned a couple of songs and borrowed Brian from his other band and started calling themselves "herm" and people thought they were joking because they did that a lot. Then they played Solid Gold and they ROCKED!
Then Katie came into high school and she already knew how to play guitar so she was hooked up. Now they are the best band ever.

the press release...

The band known as "herm" began their career on the road on Tuesday, January 18th, with the open (and close) of the Robstock Primal Tour. Members Robyn Casey (vocals), Ashley Pulis (lead guitar), and Jenny Davidson (bass guitar) performed the rock and roll hit, "Animal Instinct", first performed by the Cranberries. There were four major stops. These included: Cindy Drive Russell, Kansas; W. 4th Russell, Kansas; S. Main Russell, KS; and Kansas Street Russell, KS.
The tour drew record crowds, for them anyway, and was also the largest grossing concert since their formation...that same day. They took in three heaping bowls of double fudge ice cream.
Unlike Woodstock, there were no major incidences that took place. The only problems reported by the members were worn out fingertips and a case of laryngitis. The dream of forming a band has been with the girls since the days of summer basketball leagues, where they would discuss posible names and design album covers. Thanks mostly to the wealth of support they recieved from their families and the community, that dream was made a reality. The trio felt it was time to give something back to the community, and what better way than to go on tour? These three spunky ladies are on their way to stardom, already having composed three songs entitled Brutis, untitled, and untitled. Look for their gig wagon, a light brown 1985 Toyota, in a city near you.