RR: I’ve read many stories where the musicians used to play the mixing board as an instrument, almost like another instrument, to be able to get the right sound, and someone could stand back and watch this performance going on. Now, of course, that art of the performance has been lost in time.
JC: It has. There’s really no compromise for the sound of 32 tracks being crunched through an old British mixing console. You can’t really fake that sound with a plug in, or a digital program. I have an old Soundcraft British console from the late 70s, and that’s the sound that we’re going for. It sounds dated before it’s really old. It’s kind of funny, but everyone wants to sound like it’s 20 years old, and it’s brand new. (laughter)
RR: A couple of instrumentals are on Living Room —“Guilt,” which is a slide-infused piece, and “Armadillo,” which has been in the ABT catalogue for some time. It has a bit of that glorious prog sound about it, too.
JC: Yeah, it’s kind of like a Police mixed with prog. It’s got a little bit of that Andy Summers, big guitar chords, with that sort of choppy Stewart Copeland sound with a little odd meter in there, which makes it prog world.
“Guilt” was something that we recorded at like four in the morning. It’s actually Karl and I on acoustic guitars, and that’s basically the track. I did all the treatments later. The first beginning sessions it was Karl and I playing through the thing on acoustic guitars, and I added everything later. That was a total treated, multi-track freak out. That’s about as unnatural as you’re going to get on the record as far as treatments.
RR: “Ringo Likes the Velvet” has my favorite whimsical lyrics on the record.
JC: “Ringo” goes back to 1998, I think. Karl had written that song way back, and we’d just never really gotten to playing it live, but we had a nasty little four-track version of it, and I came across it and played it for him. He said, “Oh, yeah—I totally remember this cut,” I said, “Let’s try it,” and we did, and it ended up really gelling, and it had that really relaxed swamp-y feel to it. And, again, the lyrics paint a crazy picture.
RR: “Altitude” has a beautiful David Gilmour-like interlude passage.
JC: Yeah. Yep. We wanted to go for that—sound like you’re going to the dentist or something. It has that phase-y, swirl-y thing going on, again, in the mixing process, trying to emulate the feel of the song through the mixing process. It’s like helium in the dentist’s office. (laughs)
RR: “Rollin’ On” is an acoustic travelogue piece that concludes Living Room.
JC: Again, at the end of a session, we were just trying to get as much down to tape. I said, “Hey, Karl, I’m going to put this mike in front of you, and give you this acoustic guitar.” He said, “Really? We’re not going to use that.” I said, “Just trust me. Try it.” I stuck a 58 on his face, and put a Road MPT-1 on the guitar, and, again, it’s all about the mixing at that point; later, trying to really make this simple thing, maybe, larger than life. It’s such a great way to end the record—a light-hearted goodbye, in a way.
RR: ABT has three live dates in September. What is the plan for those shows?
JC: We’re definitely going to try to do a week of rehearsal, which is really crucial for these shows to really pop. We have so much in our catalogue. There are 60 or 70 tunes. Right now, we’re getting a list together, and going through it. We want to play some of the old stuff off of Hopi Champa, and some of the stuff when Kahlil [Smylie] was playing bass; just comb through our whole history: “what’s going to be the songs that are going to pop?” With having more personnel on stage, with keyboards and a bass player and Karl plays guitar, too, we can flesh these songs out a little bit more.
RR: You also play in a side project called North Indiana All Stars with one of my favorite musicians, bassist Tony Franklin, who played with Jimmy Page in the 80s.
JC: I love Tony. He’s my favorite bass player of all time. So whenever I get a chance to play with that guy, I do it. He’s amazing. We’re all so busy right now, so it’s like when the schedule opens up, we can maybe fit a few in there. We always keep in touch. He’s actually the bass rep for Fender, so he’s really busy in his own right.
RR: And, let’s see, you have another side project with a band called Umphrey’s McGee. I believe you just played a low key gig at Red Rocks.
JC: (laughs) Yeah.
RR: What was the first headlining experience at Red Rocks like?
JC: Oh, man, it was kind of frightening. I never really get nervous before a show, but I was really nervous on that night. I don’t know why. There was so much expectation. It was a really great show for us because of the turnout. The night was beautiful. We had 6,000 people there. It was like the energy was festering up, and I was so nervous going out there. I don’t know what it was. I felt like maybe a Native American was poking the back of my head the whole time I was up there playing. (laughs) I really felt like there were spirits and presence around me while I was playing. I can’t tell if they were good or bad at the time, but I was having a good time. It was just so intense to play up there because it’s like a vortex of energy. You can really feel it when you step on that stage.
RR: You spoke of expectations upon you. What are your expectations of Umphrey’s McGee going forward as you continue on in your second decade as a band?
JC: Well, we’re all getting along better than ever now, which is all you can hope for as you toil through the years. It’s like we’re all brothers. We’ve been doing this for years, and we still all hang out together. For example, yesterday, we all go to Cedar Point together and freak out on rollercoasters. It’s stuff that’s really healthy for us.
We’re looking forward to doing some more writing when we have some time off. I’ve got a little bit of time off with the baby coming up, and that’ll give me some time to write, and it’ll give [Brendan] Bayliss some time to write, and we’ll get back together, and see where we’re at. We’re touring our asses off, and trying to get home when we can. (laughs)
RR: Yes, your first summer headlining tour, as well.
JC: Yep. Yep. It just gets more intense—that’s the thing. (laughs) It never really slows down. It just gets more crazy and bigger. It’s nuts.
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