RR: Does that fall in line with how cover songs are selected? How does that process work for the band at this point in time?
JC: Usually, we’ll do that earlier in the day. The reason for that is that most of the time we won’t have played a cover for anytime between three or four months to a year. Those are things that we like to review before we get up to play. I don’t know if it is something a little simpler, but, yeah, we wouldn’t go out there and play King Crimson’s “Red,” without rehearsing it. (laughter) Maybe something like Marshall Tucker Band’s “Can’t You See,” we could go up there and do a nice version of that without having to run it. For the most part, that is something that we’ll look and see what we’ve played in the area, what we’ve played recently, and try to pick something that will be fresh and exciting.
RR: Are there other issues with these shorter runs? You have the lead up to the run, then you go out on the road and play for about three weeks, you come home and decompress, and, then suddenly, you get used to being at home (you’re recently married, too), and you have to start thinking of going out on the road yet again? Or, do you balance both worlds and focus on one or the other when you need to do that?
JC: My wife works in the music business, so there’s really probably less of that back and forth for me than there is for a lot of people. (laughs) For instance, I’m at home right now, but she’s out on the road. (laughter) I don’t know if there really is anything that I would consider a normal pattern of a day. For me, it’s like everything is different. I love to travel, on top of that, and so does she, so there is really a natural flow with my life at this point going back and forth between being on the road and playing shows, and not being on the road.
The big thing for me…(laughs) it’s always a little bit hard. The first day is the hard day when you get back off the road because you’re exhausted, emotionally and physically, and you’re trying to get back in that mode where you can wake up tomorrow and say, “Now, it’s a clean slate, and I can go do whatever it is that I need to do like go into the studio, or work on some music here, or take care of the plumbing at my house.” (laughs) But, yeah, I love being on the road, and I love being out with my guys. Occasionally, I’ll be out, and I’ll be working with Dasha, too, and so I enjoy that part of it, as well. I’m in a really good and healthy place in my life right now where I am doing a lot of things that I want to be focusing my time on. I think that’s the most important thing—no matter what, whenever I’m home, I’m making time for music, and putting aside a couple of hours a day to do some things that are creative with that.
RR: Let’s look at the next year or so. What are some of the things you’ll be working on away from Umphrey’s, and when will the new studio tracks be released?
JC: I’ll start with the second part of that which is the studio stuff for Umphrey’s. We’ve been going in and out of the studio the past eight or nine months putting some stuff down. I think we’ve got probably six or seven songs that are almost done, studio version-wise, and things that we’ve never done studio versions of before. A couple of them are older tunes; a couple of them are newer tunes; some of them are things that people haven’t heard before.
That’s a good question because we’ve discussed putting things out…I mean, doing something in the traditional format where you’re (laughs) stocking stores with lots of product that’s not really that much of a reality anymore. There aren’t even places to do that. The record stores are going away. So, one of the things we’ve been looking at is “how do we want to put this stuff out? Do we want to put these things out in the form of an album? Do we want to do them in a couple of EPs, and release them as, basically, iTunes singles? Do we want to do a subscription service right now?” Right now, I think we are probably leaning towards putting out a couple EPs over the next year. Only because, again, that will allow us to do things the way we want to do them, and we’d also have a few different versions of some of these songs, and different things that we could put out with them that would make sense. That’s definitely something that’s on our radar. Some time in the next couple of weeks, I feel we’ll have a more concrete decision about what we’re going to do with this stuff. We’re almost there.
As far as the other side projects—I’ve been really focusing on OHMphrey [featuring Cummins, Jake Cinninger, and Kris Myers from Umphrey’s McGee, and OHM guitarist Chris Poland, plus bassist Robertino Pagliari], and I’m hoping we’re going to get a couple more Yacht Rock performances. Jake is about to have a baby at the end of August, so we’re really letting him focus on that. It seems like most of the stuff I do, I end up doing with him, so I might be a little bit toned down on the side stuff more than I have in the past couple of years. I’m also going on a honeymoon at the end of the year. We’re going over to Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, and Cambodia, and over to that area, and spend some time with my wife there, later in November.
So, obviously, 2010 is really looking to be an Umphrey’s-centric year, at least from my end. I know that Brendan and Jeff [Austin, as 30db] just put out their album and they did a little tour, but, yeah, we’re all full steam ahead, and putting together our end of the year tour at this point. Actually, we’ve already been working on 2011, and putting some stuff together for that, too. Things are going well for us right now, and we want to keep capitalizing on that.
RR: Speaking of future plans, over Labor Day weekend, in Chicago, Umphrey’s McGee will be headlining the inaugural North Coast Music Festival.
JC: We’ve been trying to find an event, or something that we can do. We’ve obviously been doing New Year’s here in Chicago for a while, and then, we had Summer Camp on Memorial Day weekend, which is essentially an extended Chicago play. So, we’ve been looking. We’ve done a few different things over the summers like Lollapalooza, or the show at Northerly Island, or, back in the day, we’d do shows at the Skyline Stage, so this year, Labor Day weekend is just wide open in the Midwest. There is really no big event, but there’s land here, so these guys talked to us about wanting to put on this event. Had to be a little more electronic-focused, but they really wanted us to bring the rock element of that to it. It’s going to be at Union Park where they do the Pitchfork Festival, and I think one of the things that is really going to make this a huge success is the price point that they’re able to do tickets at, which is $35 for a single day, and $65 for a three-day pass.
Having some of the people that we’re good friends out there—the Disco Biscuits, and Pretty Lights; we know those guys—and, also, to have some really big names like the Chemical Brothers, Moby, and Nas and Damian Marley—being able to share the bill with that, I feel like we’ve got a really strong party lined up, and it’s going to be a blast. It’s really going to be our first proper closing headlining date at a Chicago festival that we’ve ever done, outside of events that we’ve produced ourselves. I think it’s going to be a big hit, and I can’t wait for that one either. It’s going to be great to be back in front of a hometown Chicago crowd in the summer, and be able to give the fans something of value for their money.
RR: In the meantime, it is a little staggering—you’ve got the Wrigley Field gig, Summerfest, Nateva, and Red Rocks all coming up. It’s a fairly good time for you.
JC: (laughs) Yes, it is. I’m looking forward to those gigs. It’s like the anti-Spinal Tap tour. Things are getting better.
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