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Listen to Umphrey's McGee's Safety In Numbers on JamBase Rhapsody!
By Forrest Reda
Umphrey's McGee |
Umphrey's McGee has been touring heavily for seven years, averaging 150 shows a year and logging thousands of miles around the country. Bands together for that long usually drift apart when they get back from tour, yet the guys in UM all live within 15 minutes of each other in the Windy City, where they moved after college. Jake Cinninger lives in the shadow of Wrigley, and he's watching the Cub's season opener on TV when I phone him to talk about all things Umph.
Umphrey's McGee seems like a perpetually happy band, and Cinninger talks about the other guys like brothers. When he answers questions, he always uses "We" to emphasize the band's plans, dreams, and beliefs in Safety In Numbers. He is soft-spoken but extremely intelligent, especially when it comes to music and life. The band's new album is a mature, big-sounding record and a statement from a band dedicated to making music for the long haul.
The past year has been an introspective and reflective period for the band. Throughout the album, the theme of passing, or death, is present in reaction to the untimely death of one of the band's close friends and fans, Bryan Schultz, who was killed by a drunk driver following the band's 2004 NYE show.
Cinninger notes, "There are a lot of points and references lyrically. We didn't want it to course through the record too heavily, but we had to pay homage to one of our best friends. It's obvious that it's going to come through the studio sessions because it happened right as we were going in. We were very much in the middle of dealing with it all at the time, so the album did come off serious in that sense."
Umphrey's McGee went into making this album by collectively brainstorming, beginning in first draft mode, then second draft mode, then final draft mode. "Then we tore it all down and started over again," Cinninger says. "Everything on the record is very carefully put together. There is no excessiveness to any of the songs; it's all pretty much to the point, not a lot of jamming. I don't think it comes off as a 'jam band record.'"
Huey Lewis with Umphrey's McGee by Lisa Sharken |
Originally, the band had about 24 songs and was going to put out a double record. "Then we were like, 'Well, there's no producer in the group,' so we needed to take a producer role, as far as going, 'OK, what are the gems here? And all feelings aside, let's plow through this material and figure out what is the best 45-50 minutes of material.'"
UM added texture to the album by adding strings and employing the help of some friends, recruiting saxophonist Joshua Redman and Huey Lewis, the latter being a more obvious choice then UM fans might realize. The Umph was privileged to share the stage with Lewis after being nominated for a Jammy (and winning Song of the Year for "In The Kitchen") in 2004. "They asked us who we wanted to play with, and his name came up. Doesn't everyone love Huey?" Cinninger asks. "Sports was one of the first albums I bought when I was a kid, and of course there's Back to The Future."
Umphrey's McGee by Chris Monson |
Since the collaboration, the band and Lewis have remained close. "He's so gracious a story teller," Cinninger says. "We ended up getting a great rapport going with him and it's lasted ever since, so we were like, 'Hey, do you want to play on the new record?' and he said he would love to. So we flew out to NYC where he was doing the lead in the Chicago play, and he had the evening off so we recorded his voice for 'Women, Wine and Song.' And it's great, when he comes into town with the News, he's like, 'Come on out guys. You can sit in on the last three numbers.' It's really crazy to rip some Chicago blues with him and his band, and it's great to play for that crowd that we wouldn't normally be exposed to, especially the lovely middle-aged ladies."
"Women, Wine and Song" lifts the mood of Safety in Numbers. Cinninger calls the song "the light in the tunnel of dark." "It's kind of the peak of the record, in terms of energy. It's like a record - 'Nemo' is the end of side A, and then you flip over the record and you are still in that same vibe with 'Women, Wine and Song.' Then we go back to the concept of the record."
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We really appreciate our fan base, they're so loyal. They come out and spend the time and spend the money and fly everywhere to come see us... I mean that's pretty much the secret to our success, the hardcore fans.
-Jake Cinninger
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Photo by Brett Saul :: NYE 2005 > 2006
The concept of the record starts, or in this case, finishes with the album cover, designed by Storm Thorgerson, who is responsible for some of the greatest album art of all time. In fact, he probably designed your favorite cover, as is the case with Cinninger. "Led Zeppelin's Presence album is one of my favorite records. There's this family sitting around this like black statue in the middle of the table, and everyone is just reeling from it. It's the thing that gets them through the day."
Storm Thorgerson At Work |
Thorgerson's secret is that he stages the photos, using real objects instead of computer-generated imagery. "That's why it looks so real, so true and translucent, because it's actually what it is. You can see the quality in all his work" explains Cinninger.
"We were able to meet Storm when we played the Mean Fiddler in London. He came out with his crew and we hung out and chatted a bit, and he said he wanted to work on our next record. We were like, 'Hell yeah! Of course!'"
"You can take the name of the record and apply it to anything that's going on in the photo. The idea of counting sheep, but the sheep is sleeping, actually in the human realm rather then being outside grazing. The people that should be sleeping are in his position, as being the sheep. So it's reversed dream-state photography. Even if you can't put your finger on it, you definitely have the flavor of what we're going for."
The band gave Thorgerson an early copy of the album and lyrics, and when he came back with sketches, they reacted instantly. "We were like, 'That's perfect,'" Cinninger says with excitement. "It's cool that he had time to listen to the record and to read the lyrics while he was sketching."
Umphrey's McGee at Bonnaroo 2004 by Adam George |
Boosted by four years playing the Super Bowl of festivals, Bonnaroo, Umphrey's McGee has emerged from the shadow of Phish, but the current field of "jam bands" are not runners in a race that one band will win. Umphrey's McGee has played the Jam in the Dam festival twice in a row with friends The Disco Biscuits and Particle, two bands that, along with UM, have experienced shakeups in their lineup. For the Biscuits and UM, it seemed like something from a rock comedy.
"They are dissing rock & roll for medical school. It has an American Spinal Tap quality to it. It will be a trend now, a shockwave throughout the drumming community where drummers now have to go to medical school to fulfill their obligation in life. There's like some connection between pounding the skins and working on someone's heart; it sort of connects. I think that's a good preface for a movie" laughs Cinninger.
All jokes aside, Jake revealed that he thought the band might be finished when founding drummer Mike Mirro followed his calling to attend medical school.
"It was scary" says Cinninger. "We thought the band was pretty much over. It was like, 'Who are we gonna teach 80 songs to and have a family vibe with,' and keep our momentum rolling as a band, because we'd already put so much time and effort in with touring and sort of establishing a name. It's like, 'Oh no, what are people going to think?'"
Kris Myers by Robert Massie |
"So, either we could take that role and worry about it, or right out of the gates jump on finding a drummer instantly. The instant we heard he wanted to do medical school, in order to save our asses, we had to get on this and find someone. So we got the word out, scoured some of the music conservatories and areas unknown, and we ended up finding Kris [Myers] right across town. And he was one of the first packages out of 300 we received in the mail. We had a stack of them, and he was right on top. It was like 'Oh, look at this. This guy, right out of the gates, is killing.' We auditioned about ten drummers and kept on coming back to Kris. He seemed to have it all. He really has a solid sense of theory, jazz, classical, and he's a team player. He has studio prowess and live prowess, ya know. He's very anal about the way the drums sound, down to everything. He's a total drummer and totally involved in his profession. This is what he has to do, so we knew right away that this was our man."
"Any band that's in that position, like Disco [Biscuits] or us, it's kind of a point of hopelessness, like, 'How are we going to find someone else?' So it's a scary feeling when there's no drummer there in that position. Someone's got to take a lot of abuse in order to fill that role. For Kris, he had to learn so much in such a little amount of time because financially, we couldn't sit on our asses. We had to go play gigs. We had bills to pay, and we had mouths to feed. It's the same with the Biscuits guys. They had to really find a guy quickly and to find someone that's going to fit in the chemistry and be a brother and be able to handle the load of life and handle all of the success and the weirdness that comes with it. Kris is a valiant soul and he put in the true effort. He really showed his true colors in the early phases when he joined, and he really worked hard to achieve all that music and let it soak in his head and spit it out through his hands."
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There are a lot of points and references lyrically. We didn't want it to course through the record too heavily, but we had to pay homage to one of our best friends [who had recently passed away]. It's obvious that it's going to come through the studio sessions because it happened right as we were going in. We were very much in the middle of dealing with it all at the time, so the album did come off serious in that sense.
-Jake Cinninger
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Photo by Sam Friedman :: Jam in the Dam :: 2006
According to Cinninger, the fact that he didn't listen to Phish was even better.
Brendan Bayliss by Brett Saul |
"Everyone seems to be influenced by Phish in the jam band scene because they were the kings. But to bring another world that really didn't apply to Phish, in the drumming, seemed to be important to our sound. Of course there are elements of Phish in our music, but it gets us that much further away from their particular sound. To really make or break a band, you have to get away from your influences and then come up with your own DNA or chemistry."
The success of Cinninger and Umphrey's McGee stems from a childhood that involved music. "I was definitely into searching out everything, as early as five or six years old, since I could look into record bins. It started there. Now, 3,000 records and 2,000 CDs later, it's my library. The bigger the record collection you have, the better musician you are."
Another tip for parents who want their sons to grow up to be guitar players? Get them a drum kit instead of a pacifier. Cinninger took nine years of rudimentary drums and jazz drumming before he even picked up the guitar.
Jake Cinninger by Brett Saul |
"I was a drummer since I was three. That was my first real, gut impulse instrument. As a child, I used to keep time to records. My parents had a great record collection, and I used to drag the drum set out to the living room and keep time to records. So right there it automatically taught me how to hold solid time at like four and five years old" says Jake. "Because I was playing along to these records, you can tell when you are slipping out of time. It was kind of like my metronome. Also, I was imagining playing with these rock bands through the stereo and dropping the needle, and all that good stuff. That kind of establishes that ictuses (definition - stress on syllables), that clock in your body, that mental clock. Once you have that, then it becomes automatic - it's in you. You don't have to think about the time. So it's best to worry about that internal clock before melody or anything. It really gets down to the simplicities of music, which is rhythm. Once you have that first, then everything can follow."
Besides an early appreciation of music, the guys in Umphrey's McGee built a grassroots fan base by playing often.
Umph Crowd by Brett Saul |
"We really appreciate our fan base, they're so loyal. They come out and spend the time and spend the money and fly everywhere to come see us and hop on a leg of a tour, wherever it may be in the nation. I mean that's pretty much the secret to our success, the hardcore fans."
Either coast has cities full of transplants from the Midwest, which works well for UM.
"They might have been in the Midwest for their college and high school years, and they might have grown up with us. Now they are off in the big city doing their own thing, and when we come around, they seem to come out of the woodwork in all corners of America" says Jake.
The hallmark of a band is when people care enough about them to give music to their friends, as is the case with UM.
"They believe in the music enough to tell everyone else around them to check us out, and that's another secret to the success. There's no way that we alone could have done all that networking. It really takes the fans, the true believers in what we do, to spread the word and to convince people to go and check us out when we come to town. It's a slow, steady process, but it works. It's the long way around, but it's the most gratifying way of being a professional musician; slowly creating a fan base rather then out of the gates, like 'Oh, you're Fall Out Boy. You go from not even really playing any club gigs, to selling out two nights at the United Center.' It's kind of funny how it works."
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Of course there are elements of Phish in our music... but to really make or break a band, you have to get away from your influences and then come up with your own DNA or chemistry.
-Jake Cinninger
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When bands rise that fast, they don't have the catalog to play varied shows and relationships haven't been forged within the band.
Cinninger & Bayliss by Brett Saul |
"There's not enough mystique there with the repertoire that they have. They only have maybe 20 songs they're grinding out every night. You're pretty much going to see the same set because it's a safe set that they're used to playing. It's actually what they can play, and there's no risk-taking in the live aspect. It's all about the studio record or that single or that next single that the record company is demanding. I'm glad that we don't have that kind of pressure. We try to make it different every night, and that's what creates fans wanting to come out and see something different night after night, or to catch ten shows in a row when they know they won't see the same thing twice."
Not having to worry about a top 40 single or a video means your record company supports the album. This is one of the reasons the band is signed to SCI Fidelity.
Umphrey's McGee by Brett Saul |
"SCI Fidelity gives us all creative leeway. They are good friends of ours, and they are really into what we do and supportive. They really try rather then go, 'Well, we only have this much to work with. Who are you? Oh, you're Umphrey's McGee. OK. How many records have you sold? Oh, not enough. Well, I don't know how much we're going to be able to help you guys out this year.' It's not that sort of scenario. We're all on a first name basis, and we hang out whenever we can hang out. And there is sort of that friendship role that they play with us. It's comfortable, and it makes art fun, rather then a job. It's not like we have to crack out a hit anytime soon. They are more concerned about the flow of the record. And they're like, 'Hey, it's nice you got something we can push like 'Women, Wine and Song' or 'Nemo'."
Umphrey's McGee is very capable of writing singles, but I'm not sure SCI Fidelity is into payola, so for now, the songs will just have to be played on satellite radio and Rhapsody. But it's a safe bet the band will walk home with some more Jammys at this year's show.
Jake Cinninger in Amsterdam by Sam Friedman |
Cinninger is more excited about playing CBGB's as part of the inaugural Green Apple Festival taking place in conjunction with the event. "It's a complete honor" states Jake. "When the word came through that we actually could play there, we got the management right on it and said, 'Let's make sure this happens,' because really, the history of underground rock in America started there as far as separating from pop culture and the big record label moguls. That's where a lot of the new talent was shining. It's really an honor to play there before the walls crumble, and to be one of the last bands to play."
The highlight of the summer may be Lollapalooza, which will feature Umphrey's McGee playing to a hometown audience at the massive festival. Cinninger is excited but nervous about the gig.
Jake Cinninger by Brett Saul |
"Usually, I don't even know what date it is, and usually I don't find out until the week of the performances, but it's like, 'Oh yeah, Lollapalooza,' and then I start worrying about it."
This will be his first time to the festival. "I had seen all those bands so I didn't go, but I was a product of the grunge era and heavily influenced by it. Soundgarden was my favorite, outside of the first three Pearl Jam records. I was the first kid in my town to get the Ten tape. And you know, that was cool. It was cool to have people say, 'Yeah, Jake was the one that turned me on to that one,' ya know? And then they took over the world. I waited in line to get tickets to see them at Purdue University Auditorium, in a 1,500-seat venue, even before 'Alive' hit. They were just playing these small places on campus on their first tour. It was cool to see them in their early stage, and that sort of solidified the fan base too. In the same turn, that worked well for us, playing these small venues around the nation in 2000, 2001, gathering all these kids that say, 'Ah yeah, I saw them before they went to that next level.' And that has sort of stuck with us also. It's kind of the way things are in a grass roots mentality like that. You hit all the small spots and you gain everyone's trust before you blow up to the next venue, and so called 'sell out'."
As a final question, I asked Cinninger if Umphrey's has sold out by joining Lollapalooza?
"Of course not. Once you see us pouting with our guitars in videos, then you'll know we've sold out."
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