A Conversation with Umphrey’s McGee’s Brendan Bayliss & Joel Cummins – HuffPost 8.29.14
Mike Ragogna: Rumor has it there’s this Umphrey’s McGee album titled Similar Skin, but until I hear it from you guys, I’m not believing a word of that.
Brendan Bayliss: Well, 85% of the time, rumors are true. We released the new album on June 10th of this year.
Joel Cummins: It’s our first album on our own label, Nothing Too Fancy Music. The new album, quite simply, is incredibly rockin’. Possibly even more so than Dokken.
MR: Ooh, more rockin’ than Dokken. So you sold out Red Rocks. Now what? Observations? Comments? Predictions?
BB: Playing to a sold out crowd in that venue is like standing in front of a giant tidal wave…it could either be the ride of your life or the end of your surfing career. That would be both an observation and a comment. I won’t make any predictions.
JC: Observation: Selling out Red Rocks still doesn’t feel real to me a month later. It seems like we’ve been trying to get to the point of just being able to headline Red Rocks for so many years. Comments: Red Rocks is my favorite venue, bar none. There is magic in the air, and the audience and musicians know it. Predictions: This won’t be the last time we sell out Red Rocks.
MR: Umphrey’s McGee has recorded many albums. Why create another?
BB: When you write music, some of it gets officially released, some of it only makes it to the stage, and some of it goes unheard entirely. When you put it on an album, it definitely gets heard by more ears.
JC: As artists, we’re always trying to push to the next idea that will represent our sound and who we are. We’ve made our name as a live band, but more and more people are being surprised by what Umphrey’s McGee has created in the studio over our career. I’m incredibly proud of our most recent albums and Similar Skin is certainly the best album we’ve ever released top to bottom. The studio can be a challenging environment so why not challenge ourselves to make a cohesive rock and roll record. There’s a lot of work left to be done for us. I think there will be many more Umphrey’s McGee albums after Similar Skin.
MR: How did the creative process differ from how you approached previous albums?
BB: With this album, we specifically wanted to stay in the rock and roll world. We didn’t want any sad “woe is me” ballads and we didn’t want to throw a dance party. Usually, we try to cover a lot of genres, and this time we stayed more focused on a specific goal.
JC: We took inventory of what our best new material was and at the same time made a conscious effort to write a few new pieces of music that fit the “riff rock” vibe ofSimilar Skin. We got together a few times for preproduction days to work out new songs we hadn’t played live like “Educated Guess” & “No Diablo.” So, this album was a mix of about 4-5 new pieces of music combined with some of our more recent strong newer material. And then we threw in “Bridgeless,” which might be the composition I’m most proud of in our catalogue. We tried to record “Bridgeless” for both Safety In Numbers and Mantis but those versions weren’t hitting home. We finally nailed it.
MR: Beyond the name of the band, what is it about Umphrey’s McGee that keeps your fan base growing and prevents all imposters from jumping into your musical space?
BB: I like to think that most bands improve over time, and now we have over 16 years experience playing live shows. We mix it up nightly, and we are very involved with our fan base. If someone wants to “jump into our musical space”, they are more than welcome. Every band is influenced by bands that came before, so we can’t really claim to own our own musical space. We are currently renting.
JC: The unique mix of personalities that the 6 musicians bring to this band will always keep our sound as something that exists in it’s own space. And I think most people know an imposter when they see one. In all seriousness, we continue to try to push musical boundaries and that is what the fans want most. New material, new improvisation and keeping in touch with who we are and how we change is the most important thing we can do. Yes, we connect a lot with the fan base using various technologies to our advantage, but that doesn’t mean anything if the music is not good.
MR: What is your advice to new artists?
BB: In the immortal words of Yoda: “Do or do not, there is no ‘try.'”
JC: Focus on your music. Create something that is unique to you or your group and work on your sound. Practice. Listen. Woodshed. Write. Perform. Don’t worry about social media or hire someone to help spread your music. The more time you can spend on music, the better off you will be. Also, there are no long-term short cuts. You have to be willing to give up everything if you really want a career in music. Make sure you’re willing to do that before you jump off that cliff.
MR: Your music is referred to as “improg.” How would you classify it and do you do more or less of that during concerts?
BB: We are a prog rock band that likes to improvise, it’s what we do every night. There are a lot of composed parts, but plenty of moments where we don’t know what will happen next.
JC: I would say that “improg” is probably the most accurate term as far as trying to describe our music in one word. We also skip around other genres live, so we may very well go beyond that term too. Some nights we veer more toward hard rock, some nights things are funkier, some nights things are more electronic. That’s one of the most fun parts of being in Umphrey’s McGee, the unpredictability.
MR: What does the future hold for Umphrey’s McGee?
BB: It seems to me like we are hitting a good stride, and finding ways to tour that allow the dads in the organization some time to get home to be with family. It’s an impossible balance but we are getting better at it. By playing a few less shows each year, I think you give a band a longer shelf life. I’d like to think we have a few more albums in us, and I see us touring until our children’s band, Strawberry Switchblade, makes it big.
JC: I could let you know, but then I’d have to kill you. And that might actually screw up the future.
MR: Uh…