Shirlette Ammons, stumP's lead vocalist and bass player, officially met       Merritt Partridge, stump's guitar player, on stage one night at the Humble Pie in downtown Raleigh.  At the time Merritt played drums ina three-piece jazz improv goup called Standard Combo.  Shirlette's arrangement of players known as museovamusak, loose fusion of jam music and poetry, were invited to share the stage with Combo that evening.  Shirlette know then that music making and community building are inseparable.  She says, "Folks meet each other over cool drinks, friendly conversation,  and tight grooves.  People can't deny their differences, and if the music's good enough to bring them together, maybe they won't run away." So, Merritt and Shirlette, along with a host of talented cats, played together.       After that night at Humble Pie the two met each other again and again, over music, over coffee, over conversation.  They stayed up odd hours bouncing ideas off each other--most of those ideas based on personal struggles, perceptions of the world, loves, hurts, and healings.  Finally they recorded a rough demo that was a collaborative effort to free themselves of their own creative proeconceptions.  That was the whole point--to feel free. Then Merritt introduced Shirlette to Marshall, a wide-eyed pocket-hugging drummer with more rhythm than a lil bit.  At first Shirlette was skeptically excited about the life Marshall could add to the tunes she and Merritt had doctored up.  Fate was inevitable, they developed a trusting friendship that translated into                        the funk trio called stumP. Now, when you see them play, imagine they are meeting for the first time out in the country on somebody's front porch.  They are all lounging on that porch looking out over a wide-open front yard.  Playing together in this yard, they invite you to enjoy the music and each other because that is what stumP has encouraged them to do. Feel free to acquaint yourselves.  Feel free to rock to the music.  Feel free to witness to the word.  The stumP EP is called, the intoxication of makedo funk. That's basically what stumP is and what stumP does... they feel free and that is the source of their intoxication. ############