Umphrey's McGee

General Info
Members: Brendan Bayliss - Guitar, vocals; Joel Cummins - Keyboards; Ryan Stasik - bass guitar, killer mustache, not vocals; Andy Farag - percussion; Jake Cinninger[/] - guitar, vocals; Kris Myers - drums, vocals;

Biography: The band formed in South Bend, Indiana in 1997, but now makes their home in chicago. Much like many of their "jam" contemporaries, they built their reputation on relentless touring and improvisational prowess. Unlike the typical "jam' sound of Phish or the Grateful Dead, Umphrey's McGee incorporates a lot more heavy metal and progressive rock influences in their sound. They are known for playing extensive or lengthy sets (see: bonnaroo '04 and '12 late night sets that went until sunrise). They are a staple of the festival circuit (roo, waka, lollapalooza, mountain jam, bisco, etc) as well as hosting Summer Camp Festival with moe. every year and a destination show with STS9 and Disco Biscuits in Mexico. this will be their 8th appearance at bonnaroo, having played in '02, '04(LN), '05, '06(LN), '08, '10, '12(LN)

Major Discography: Umprehy's McGee will be releasing their 8th studio album later this year (Similar Skin), though they are best enjoyed through their live music. Anchor Drops is probably their most popular album, full of concert staples, but I personally really enjoy Mantis a double album that gives them room for lengthened, non-typically structured songs with the studio polish and production (strings, lots of layers, clear and crisp percussion). But, what is really cool, is they release FREE podcasts of recent and archived live material, often curated by theme, through their website (http://umphreys.com/music/podcasts/) This will satisfy nearly all your thirst for new (to you) umphreys, or through the internet archive (https://archive.org/details/UmphreysMcGee)


a metal fan, a psychedelic/prgressive rock, and EDM fan fighting over ipod control. they are equally at home melting your face with wicked fast guitar solos or making you shake your ass with a bit of the untz. They use nonstandard song structures and arrangements, and songs can often transition through multiple genres
Genre: progressive jam, jam, improg, have all been used but (IMHO) all fail to really classify their sound.
Similar Artists:Frank Zappa, Disco Biscuits, moe., King Crimson. I guess I can hear elements of all of these bands in their sound, but looking at that list doesn't really fully encompass their sound.
Similar Bonnaroo Artists: no real easily comparable bands on the lineup

Suggested Listening
Live from Bonnaroo 2008. A bit of fun time dancy grooves

Again from '08. this shows more of the metal influence

uploaded you youtue by inforoo's own willsfc





Physical Reaction/Live Show
The live show is where Umphrey's McGee shines. Personally I think they are the best live band around these days. Everyone in the band is extremely talented and they just bring it. I've seen them 20+ times, and have not left a single show disappointed. As you can expect from most "jam" bands, the songs are usually much longer than their studio counterparts with heavy use of improvisation and seamless transition from one song to the next. Songs are often reinterpreted (in 2010 they played one of their songs in a dub/reggae fashion, and did a dubbed version of Pink flyd's Breath in '12 as well) or cut and spliced with other songs during the show. sometimes they will start a song, play about half of it, disappear into an improv section, and not "get back" to the original song until much later in the show (late night 2012 for example they started JaJunk about an hour into the show, and finally finished the song at the end of their set ~3 hours later).
They often play diverse and eclectic covers, such as Flock of Seagulls, the Beatles, VanHalen, the Who, Radiohead, they covered Get Lucky about 2 days after its release. They also "tease" songs within their improvised sections, using recognizable melodies as the jump off point, or even the climax of an extensive instrumental section.


Their halloween shows are full of live mashups of both cover and orginal songs


they have a "song" known as Jimmy Stewart that is entirely improvised on-the-spot and differs from night to night. they've developed on stage hand signals to help cordiante their playing during shows. Often the band will go back to these jimmy stewarts and use pieces of them to build new songs. There is somemore background on Jimmy Stewarts here

Jefferson Waful does the lighting for the band, providing excellent, complementary visuals to the on-stage musical action. The light show really is top-notch, and we should hope they at least play as the sun is going down this year.

Umphrey's McGee I think also are pushing the boundaries for their fans when it comes to their live shows. They do a couch tour, where you can get live HD webcast, with user-selectable camera angles of certain shows from their tour. they also have been offering what they call headphones and snowcones, where for a few extra bones, concert goers can get a pair of HQ headphones that have the direct-from-soundboard audio of the show. I had the opportunity to check this out at a recent show, and it was amazing. Each instrument was beautifully mixed, the crowd noise was blocked, and I could still shake my ass without worrying about the headphones coming off.

Also, if you go check see them, keep an eye out for the Star Wars figures that join them onstage.


Interesting Facts
The past two year, they have offered sUMmer school, where musicians can go and spend a week with the band, jamming, workshopping, hanging out, and seeing some private shows. It seems like a great way for fan/students to learn the ways of the Umph.

Personal Notes
If you can't tell, I love these guys, and I tried to keep this write up somewhat short. I recommend these guys to everyone, from my friends to my grad school advisor. their live shows are always a blast and they are probably one of the most talented group of musicians you will have the opportunity to see on the farm.