Umphrey's McGee is one of the Midwest's most successful touring bands. When I had the chance to meet up with them, they had already played over fifty shows that year alone, touring both the East & West coasts, as well as the band's first Southeast tour. Highlights included New York's IrvingPlaza (opening up for Deep Banana Blackout), Texas' South By Southwest Festival, & a New Orleans Jazz Fest show filled with special guests. After a busy four months, the band decided to reward their loyal fans with four shows (an early & a late show two nights in a row) in the intimate setting of Schuba's (a venue that only holds 225 people). I solicited a few questions from The Bort (Umphrey's message board located on the fan site Umphreaks.com) and met the band at the Harmony Grill (owner Mike Schuba's adjoining restaurant) in the middle of this run, right after sound check for the early Friday night show. Joining us for the interview were Vince Iwinski (manager), Jake Cinninger (guitarist/vocals), Brendan Bayliss (guitarist/vocals) & Joel Cummins (keyboards/vocals). Ryan Stasik (bass) showed up halfway through the proceedings, Andy Farag (percussion) & Mike Mirro (drums) could not make it.

RL:What about Schuba's?
You guys are doing this thing, it's great. I'm sure you know all the fans are so pleased that you would do shows like these. Now is this something strictly for the fans or
do you think you enjoy it as much as they do?

Brendan: "For the fans by the fans, by request."

Joel: "It's definitely enjoyable for us, too, being able to come somewhere & play for two nights. There is a lot of daily stress, with setting up & tearing down and the whole responsibility of it all- to show up once & be able to leave everything all set up..."

Brendan: "And stumble home drunk...we all live like 3 or 4 blocks away."

RL:So do you all currently live together?

Joel: "Um.. not really, some of the band live together."

Brendan: "There's a band house."

Vince: "It's for rent, by the way."

RL:So you guys don't have any problem hanging out together all the time?

Brendan: "We don't have a choice."

RL: Are there times when you are like, "I wish this guy would leave?"

Brendan: "No, we're all friends first."

RL:So, on a trip out west, you're all cluttered in one van?

Brendan: "When you have friends or even relatives, after 48 hours in a row, your gonna snap at somebody for like, eating your french fries or something, but nothing out of the ordinary for a brotherly relationship."

RL:What are your plans, for the growth as a national touring band for this early summer? You have Bonnaroo, Hookahville, Big Wu Family Reunion, High Sierra. Now are these shows mainly for exposure?

Joel: "Yeah, at this stage in the game there are still way more people who haven't heard our music, than i would say have."

Brendan: "It's always, "Umphrey's McWho?"

Joel: "Yeah, no one really knows who we are. Its just great to be able do festivals like that, anytime when there's something put together really well & there are a bunch of great musicians there. It's really exciting-you kind of feed off the energy."

RL:So, being with all of these great musicians, that has to almost be a reason to do these festivals in itself?

Joel: "Definitely, we really got a feeling for that at last year's High Sierra. I don't think any of us knew what to expect. Vince, have you been there before? Was that your first time, too?"

Vince: "High Sierra? That was my first time."

Joel: "So I think that was everybody's first time there. It was really cool to wake up & go see music from noon until 5 am every day."

Brendan: "It was also cool waking up to see Victor Wooten leaning against our car." (laughs)

RL:So you guys get to hang with all of these people?

Brendan: "Well, I think it was everybody, at a place like that where the artist & the people that paid to come are all in the same spot. Like, you'll be in line & Bela Fleck will be next to you getting a hot dog. Well, I don't know if he eats hot dogs..."

RL:Do you guys get star struck being around anybody like that? I mean like Jazz Fest? You guys were just there.

Vince: "We hung out with everybody. The guys from moe., the guys from Galactic were all just chillin'. There is no, "Your band is bigger than ours." We met Les Claypool, & we're just hangin' out. It's kind of like a guild, once you're part of the scene everybody just hangs out with everybody."

Brendan: "I would still be star struck if Victor Wooten walked up, though."

RL:So, how about the opposite. There are tons of fans who listen to your music every day & would probably pull a "Oh dude, you guys played this version of this song, this set of this show" & you would be like, "Oh, we did?"

(Joel laughs)

RL:Do you ever run into someone when you're out west, or somewhere far away from here, who is into it like that?

Joel: "It's pretty rare. I guess maybe after the shows, that's when you talk to the most people. I don't think we've run into too many people randomly. It doesn't happen that much."

Brendan: "Here and there. I've been to Great America, waiting in line for a roller coaster, and get asked about a version." (of a song)

Joel: "We ran into one kid at Cedar Point & then like, the next week, saw him again in St. Joseph, MI."

RL:So you do get the random fans,
that are star struck?

Joel: "Occasionally."

Brendan: "There is not much to be struck about.....
.....you're about to be star struck."

(Bassist Ryan Stasik walks in)

Joel: "When Ryan walks into the room, that's when I get star struck."

RL:Are you guys ready for the critics to start paying attention? You guys played SXSW (South by Southwest) & Jambase made a mention of how great you guys were & there were other write ups like that, but at the same time (at home) the Chicago Tribune & the Sun Times both had coverage of the event, but made no mention of you. Are you ready for people to start talking about you,
or do you even care?

Ryan: "My mom always says you can't please 'em all."

RL:So, is that your goal, as a band, to please people, to make money, to be rock stars or what?

Ryan: "That doesn't hurt."

Brendan: "I want to be a critic when I grow up."

Joel: "We really want to make music & make a living, be able to pay the bills."

Ryan: "Joel's lookin' for respect."

Brendan: "And lazy treatment."

RL:So have you thought about releasing any songs to radio stations?

Vince: "The new album, coming out, has some radio-friendly songs, so we'll see what happens."

RL:Any word on a single?

Brendan: "We're doing a re-make of the Backstreet Boys' "Larger than Life."

Joel: "We had Brendan change some of his lyrics to say some more stuff about love."

Brendan: "Well, dealing with the loss of Britney & Justin..."

(The guys collectively look for their waitress so they can order)

RL:So who writes most of your lyrics?

Brendan: "I write them all about him." (points at Ryan)

Ryan: "They're all songs about me."

RL:Well, that's part of the question, your songs seem to be about friends.

Brendan: (pointing at Jake) "He writes some too, he's got some malt liquor lyrics."

Jake: "I write like one song lyric. There are like 60 originals. I'm not really a lyricist."

Joel: "I write some scratch lyrics."

Brendan: "I basically sit at home & think about Pony (Ryan) in different variations of dress."

(The waitress comes by and the boys order)

Joel: pesto melt Brendan: chicken quesadillas Jake: pesto melt

Vince: "What's the soup du jour?"

Waitress: "It's New England clam chowder."

Vince: "I'll have a cup of that."

Ryan: "Me too."

Vince: "And do you suggest the meatloaf or the chicken with dumplings?"

Brendan: "I have a question for you. (Matt) Are you going to (the shows) today & tonight?"

RL:Yes, I am going to both shows today & I went last night (late show).

Brendan: "Aren't you going to be bored?"

RL:No, I am very excited to get to see you guys play at such a small venue. I really enjoy your music & I see a lot of live music anyway, so...

Brendan: "Who is your favorite?"

RL:I can't say that I have one. Les Claypool is someone I have been listening to since grade school so I definitely enjoy seeing him perform. You guys are one of my favorites, but i like MMW & Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey are amazing.

Brendan: "Have you heard Ray's Music Exchange?"

RL:Yes, they always seem to be opening for someone & I feel that they should be doing shows on their own.

Brendan: "Yeah, they're the hidden gem, everyone's going to be like, "wait a minute."

RL:Okay, so how about song titles, especially instrumental songs, how do you come up with titles?

[everybody laughs]

Vince: "Random paths in our lives."

Joel: "I think one that we were struggling for, up 'til the last minute, where we were ready to go on stage was... "DumpCity." That was inspired by two things- us driving by all the big garbage dumps. You know you see these big mountains on the side of the road of trash, that's like the Midwest mountains. And then, the Tower of Power has a song called "BumpCity." So that's how we kind of came up with that one."

RL:How do you guys find time to write these intricate songs that have many changes, and are amazing? And you practice them & get them so tight-but you guys are touring all the time & playing all the time. When you play a new song for the first time, it sounds perfect.

Ryan: "I like him." [laughs]

"We actually steal them from people you haven't heard of, so they're already done, you know?"

Joel: "I kind of feel like we have gotten more efficient with learning stuff. I think your ear kind of grows with time. And you're able to pick up more & more, just hearing what someone plays and you're able to play it back. So, I think that has a lot to do with it. I remember 3 years ago we were trying to learn "Der Bluten Kat." It took us like 2 months to get through it and get it tight enough to even play it live."

Brendan: "Can we curse?"

RL:Sure.

Brendan: (pointing at Jake)
"Well, he shits music, he'll go home & just shit out four songs."

Joel: "He'll come over with a CD, "Alright here's seven new songs I wrote yesterday."

Brendan: "It's just something with practice
you kind of get."

RL:And you guys are probably so familiar with each other.

Ryan: "That's what makes it work, the six
of us are good friends, like to hang out."

Joel: "At the same time, I think we all get together with different poeple, when we're not practicing all as a band. Ryan & Jake will get together, or Ryan & I, or Ryan & Brendan or me & Jake too, all of us get together & just sit down & work on stuff. You know, "It's time to write music."

Brendan: "And it sucks not to have new music."

(All) "Yeah..."

Joel: "I mean, the worst thing that happens is you write something shitty & it's a good exercise, trying to write."

RL:How about setlists? You guys use setlists, right? How do you decide what to play?

Brendan: "Usually, just get a song list that everyone wants to play and whoever's still there after the song list is together, puts it in order."

RL:Does the setlist change sometimes, if you just get a feeling up there?

Ryan: "One time we did an alphabetical setlist."

Brendan: "We played a couple of non setlist shows & those are either really, really good or very, very bad."

RL:So what about the cover songs you play?

Brendan: "Everybody listens to something & says, this would be good, or sometimes people will suggest songs."

Vince: "I had a good suggestion today...it's the first song on the "Blow" soundtrack. It's a (Rolling) Stones' song."

Jake: "Oh, it's "Can You Hear Me Knockin'?"

Vince: "Yeah, the middle part's good. A lot of people suggest stuff, and some of them are great suggestions. People burn CD's & say "hey, try to learn this."

Brendan: "My problem is every song that I hear on the radio, I'm like, oh let's do that."

Jake: "When it comes down to us progressing, I think that covers would be off to the side. It's kind of like that's what we played when we were on the bar circuit. Now I would rather play originals."

Joel: "I think now, covers are more useful to us when we play someplace new, when maybe half of the audience hasn't heard our music before. So they have something they will be familiar with. As opposed to 120 minutes of new music."

RL:I know with a lot of people, they can really be into something new they are hearing, but it is always nice to hear something you already know.

Brendan: "We kind of sneak in, steal them with some fake music, then when you get their attention you play the real music."

RL:So, it's all a plot you guys have?

Vince: "We were on the road and one or two of us was reading the book, "Motley Crue's Dirt," it's all about Motley Crue & all the crazy shit they did & then all of a sudden they're like "Let's do Dr. Feelgood." [Laughs] So, it's kind of circumstantial."

Joel: "And "Home Sweet Home."

Vince: "Well, that was when we were going home."

RL:So, when you play covers, are you in the mind set that you shoud play a song the way the original artist played it or would you rather throw your own flavor into it?

Jake: "Some (covers) sound better really nailing the studio version. Certain songs like a jazz standard or something funky, it's nice to put your own twist on it. Like "Cissy Strut", we don't really play that song anymore because everyone plays it, but if we did ever play it again, I think that we would try to make it a little different or rock it out harder or..."

Brendan:"Play it with popsicle whistles."

Jake: "Yeah, there you go."

[Laughs}

Joel: "We actually had a really good version of "Cissy Strut" with Jake. I think the very first time we played with him like April of '99 & Rich Cohen, who plays with us ocasionally, a sax player from South Bend, sat in on it too. We just completely ditched the form, it's like one of our first group improvs that we ever did."

Brenden: "I think Joel had a moment."

Joel: "I did, seriously, that was my moment."

Brendan: "He had to go change his pants."

Joel: "I was sitting at the Rhodes & to go to the bathroom you actually had to crawl under the Rhodes, it was messy."

RL:So what is the reason for retiring a song?

Brendan: "Because they suck."

Joel: "Songs that are not in our best 60 originals."

Jake: "Strong is the word."

Joel: "It doesn't have to be that good to be
in the top 60."

Ryan: "The majority of the songs that we
hate, are real crowd pleasers."

RL:Like what?

Brendan: "Front Porch."

Ryan: "Yeah, "Front Porch." No, we didn't retire that."

Brendan: "Yeah, but it's..."

Jake: "I like "Front Porch."

RL: (to Brendan) You don't like "Front Porch?"

Brendan: "I'd like to sell it."

RL:To uh...

Brendan: "Creed."

RL:I thought it was TLC.

Brendan: "Yeah, but we bought it back."

Joel: "I don't mind "Front Porch," but I'm not as responsible for it as Brendan is."

Brendan: "Hey, we're equal, its half & half."

Joel: "You wrote the words."

Ryan: "I think you need to please the crowd & make sure they want to come back."

Joel: "As a musician, I go & hear stuff other musicians do and I'm into it. But I think sometimes there might be different things that people appreciate. Like someone who is not necessarily trying to be analytical, but someone who has had a lot of experience & can digest a little more. I notice that sometimes, I feel like, this is a song that we play that a lot of musicians play, or this is a song I would probably like more if I were 17."

RL:So, do you guys take into consideration where you are playing, as far as what songs you play?

Ryan: "Yeah, when we were in L.A. we were like,"We've gotta do Guns-N-Roses (from Indiana) meets Motley Crue (from L.A.)." We did "Dr. Feelgood" into "ParadiseCity."

Jake: "L.A.'s the kind of town where you don't want to play a lot of happier, hippier kind of stuff. You save that for San Francisco."

Ryan: "But, if someone passes away or its someone's birthday..."

Jake: "So, if you die, we will cover one of your songs."

Ryan: "Well, we were in Seattle when they found Layne Staley, even though he had been dead for two weeks, so we played some Alice in Chains."

Brendan: "And we gave out mad love to "Left Eye" Lopes, George Harrison, Waylon Jennings."

Ryan: "Yeah, who's next? We had a lot of people die on our last tour."

Brendan: "People die though. If we had stayed home, they would have died too."

Joel: "That's true."

RL:Who would you call some of your big inspirations? Or maybe not inspirations, but just someone you're listening to, when you're not listening to yourselves?

Vince: "Nate Dogg."

Jake: "Old Scorpions."

Ryan: "Sade."

Joel: "I had a really good time, at Jazz Fest, with the Fareed Haque Group. I really like what they do and from Chicago, I'm really into Tortoise, Chicago Underground Duo, Isotope (217) & Creed."

Jake: "I like the Wilco stuff, it's just the opposite of what we're doing. They're real minimalists."

Vince: "People are really surprised when they look at our CD's."

Joel: "We're into good music & also really shitty music."

Brendan: "Jake brings the worst."

Jake: "I have like 5,000 records & 2,000 CD's, so I kind of have everything on file. I make my own little mix tapes, that are really scary. It's called "Dare You to Put in Mix 530." [Laughs] It's kind of like my hobby when i go home, try to make music that will make these guys piss their pants."

Joel: "My favorite song right now, since 1987, is still "In the Still of the Night," by Whitesnake. That song really does it for me."

Interview by Matt Kanable