John Denver was known at times to look out past his back yard at the massive Rocky Mountains for songwriting inspiration. The Beach Boys scored hit after hit while writing about the California sand beneath their feet, and Lou Reed penned songs after becoming mesmerized by the filth and tender beauty of New York City.

But for the rock band Hum, the endless flat fields of corn surrounding the Champaign-Urbana area didn’t offer much in the way of scenic inspiration. Luckily, the local music scene encompassing the town and the University of Illinois was strong enough to get the band’s musical career going.

I think it’s just a matter of hooking up with the right people. If you want to be a musician and be in a band, it’s easy to do that here, guitarist/vocalist Matt Talbott said. There’re venues that will book bands before they’re any good, and we needed that. Along with the parties, it’s all kind of conducive to getting the whole thing started.

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As far as inspiration, [Champaign] is just a nice town. It’s good for your mind to live in a town like this.

Hum is the headlining act in a three band showcase tonight at the Copper Dragon Brewing Co., 700 E. Grand Ave. Also on the bill are the Kansas City natives Shiner and the opening act Cruces. Although Hum garners anywhere from $8 to $12 for club shows, the rock showcase tonight will be only $5.

Hum released its fourth full-length album, Downward is Heavenward, earlier this year. The band’s last record, You’d Prefer an Astronaut, in 1995 sold 250,000 copies in the United States.

Selling massive amounts of records, getting radio airplay and having a video played on MTV are major accomplishments for a rock band. But it also means that the music is getting heard by an immeasurable amount of people, all with differing opinions.

It was really flattering to hear our stuff on the radio. It was an easy way for a lot of people to hear our music, Talbott said. I certainly like that we play shows to a lot of people as opposed to hardly anyone.

But it also makes the whole notion like, Sh. People are hearing this stuff, and I wished this was better or that was better maybe more pronounced. You start having to deal with the idea of people writing about your band and critiquing your band. All that stuff is a little hard to swallow when you bust your ass to make a record.

The effort on the latest release was well worth the butt-breaking. Hum sticks with guitar-driven rock, molding fuzz tones, effects and the electronic fury of a two-guitar attack. Talbott’s vocals take on a subtle approach that submerge his voice deep within the intertwining guitars.

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I think the way the two guitars work together make them sound like one guitar, Talbott said. They kind of weave and dance around each other.

Clarity isn’t really a big issue with Hum, and that’s fine with me.

Taking up the middle slot of the night is the rock band Shiner who comes from the hopping Kansas City music scene. Like Hum, the trio is driven by the electric guitar.

While some independent bands look for adjective-laden classification terms such as alt-rock, agri-rock or indie-punk to specify just how different their music is from everything else, guitarist/vocalist Allen Epley sticks with the broader term rock band even if it sometimes applies to other bands far away from Shiner’s style of music.

Rock band’ connotes Twisted Sister and Aerosmith, but that’s not what we are, he said. Ultimately all this indie sh in the last 10 years is just rock when you really break it down.

I think some people would really think we’re indie if they heard us, but that’s not what I’m really looking for.

What Shiner is on the lookout for is to take the next step into making music a full-time career. Judging by the strong sound of the band’s latest album, Lula Divinia, with its well-rounded, elastic mix of the core rock elements, Shiner may soon be on the road to major-label status.

We haven’t signed with a major label to where we can just do this. I think it’s possible that will happen because I don’t want to work at restaurants anymore, Epley said. We still have to work jobs, so it gets difficult. Motel rooms are definitely needed because I can’t stay on people’s floors forever. That sh gets old.

Factoid:There will be a $5 cover. Cruces will get the evening started at around 10 p.m.

For information, call 549-2319.