It’s January 20, 2013 and Umphrey’s McGee is killing it at their sold-out 15th birthday show at New York City’s Brooklyn Bowl. The midpoint of the second set is approaching and the Umphreaks are going nuts as they hear the first few notes of “Bob,” a song that the band hasn’t played in nearly a decade. Then suddenly, after just a few seconds, it all stops. The music, the lights, everything. As perplexed fans look to one another, the truth starts to become clear. The guys have cut the power to their own show on purpose. The whole thing is a joke, a reference to the band’s first show at Bridget McGuire’s Filling Station in South Bend, IN exactly 15 years earlier, when the power abruptly cut them off in the middle of the very same song.
Did I mention that Umphrey’s McGee likes jokes? Well they do. Their music may have a bit of an edge but no one would ever accuse these prog-jam wizards of taking themselves too seriously. Bassist Ryan Stasik certainly embraces this spirit. The man and his most illustrious mustache will be making a stop at The Handlebar, a mustache-themed bar in Austin, TX, on April 20 to pregame before the big Umphrey’s McGee 4/20 show at Stubb’s BBQ later that evening. Fans who attend the event—appropriately billed as Stasik’s Stash and Bud Bash—will be able to enjoy some Umphrey’s themed drinks like the Drunk Bayliss (Irish Car Bomb), the GoldLikeJoel (Goldschlager shot with optional Jolly Rancher), Jimmy Stewart (bartender’s choice) and more.
We spoke with Stasik recently about the Umphrey’s 15th anniversary tour, playing with John Oates and Huey Lewis, getting his face printed on a hat, Nate Dogg covers, UMBowl, golf and much more.
So Umphrey’s McGee have been on their 15th anniversary tour lately. How has that been going?
Ryan Stasik: Yeah, can you believe that? Fifteen years, Jesus Christ. It’s been going really, really well. It doesn’t feel like it’s been that long, to be honest.
You guys played your official 15th anniversary show at the Brooklyn Bowl back in January. Whose idea was it to revisit the sort of fiasco from your first gig during that show?
I think like a lot of our ideas—just sort of sitting around, reminiscing, talking about the funny Spinal Tap moments that we’ve had in the past, and it just got brought up in conversation, we kind of all talked about it, and said, “Yeah, maybe we should do this.” It would be kind of funny just in case anybody was there who was there actually fifteen years ago at the little black hole Bridget McGuire’s that we played that first night.
Can you share some particular memories from this 15th anniversary tour so far?
I mean the whole year has been pretty overwhelming. It’s been a lot of fun, we’ve had a lot of sold out shows, the playing has been really good. What I’ve noticed the most is after fifteen years of improv-ing and jamming together, there’s definitely that nice sense of ESP. It’s like being with your brother, you know what the next move is going to be sometimes before they do it.
You guys played with Stanley Jordan recently at the McDowell Mountain Festival and you played with him a few times last year. How did that relationship start between you guys?
Actually, I believe it started when we played in Austin, Texas. It might have been South By Southwest. There was a more jamband-type room where he was playing the early show, maybe like 7 o’clock. I think we were doing the later show, and our guitar player/singer Brendan Bayliss has always been a huge fan. He actually turned me on to Stanley Jordan in college, and I think he went up to him and just said, “You’re my favorite guitar player. I would love to do some stuff if possible in the future.” Gave him his phone number. I think he called him and set up some dates and it was just as simple as that. And then we established quite a rapport over the years. He participated in our Summer School program, he sat in with us at moe.down and now at the festival in Phoenix, so there’s been almost double-digit appearances with him.
So speaking of guys that you’ve performed with, you’ve now played with John Oates and Huey Lewis. Are there any good stories from those collaborations?
Oh man, there’s tons of good stories from those. I don’t know if you can print some of them though. Those guys can still party.
Alright! [Laughs] Are there any plans right now for a new Umphrey’s album? Anything in the works?
Absolutely. We’re actually going back into the studio mid-May to really crack down and get a solidified group of numbers that make sense to go together. You know, we kind of feel like our last record, our last attempt, was a little all over the place as far as trying to take a group of songs and do something different, like three four-minute songs and kind of lump them together. We want something that kind of is the same feel and genre and a nice flow to a good record this time around.
Let’s talk about this upcoming event at The Handlebar on 4/20 that you guys are doing down in Austin. Is the moustache connection there for you?
We’re not playing. It’s more of a backyard gathering. We’re playing at Stubb’s that night. I think this is more of a meet-and-greet kind of hangout at the bar. I believe everyone at this bar is required to have a moustache, at The Handlebar. My friend CJ called me up and asked if we wanted to do something to help promote their bar, help promote our show, and pretty much give everybody who wants to get down a little early on April 20 a place to meet and hang out and have some fun.
So you guys have a special Grassroots hat with the moustache. Whose idea was that?
Well, this one has a good back story to it. You’re familiar with our festival Summer Camp that we do with moe. every year? I’ve been hosting/organizing a morning kickball game that we kind of carried from High Sierra Music Festival on the West Coast. I kind of wanted to bring it to the Midwest and make it our own there. So I’ve been doing that for the last four years. I’d like to note that I’m currently undefeated. So two years ago Ryan Connolly, whose lifeblood is Grassroots hats, made a bet with me. We were both getting pretty cocky and I told him that if I win, I want my own hat of me wearing a hat. And sure enough, he didn’t even show up to the event but my team won anyway. So I kind of had forgotten about it to be honest, and a good man, a good man of his word, he called me up about eight months later and he’s like, “Hey, I promised you that I owe you a hat.” So I was like, “Well, let’s make a hat of me wearing a hat.” [Laughs.] And sure enough, he did it. So that’s how that came about.
You recently moved out to Charleston. How are you enjoying the Southeast?
I freaking love it, man. I just built two beach cruisers for my wife and today I took a cruise out. I had the top down, it’s like golfing weather twelve months of the year. The food, the people, everything down here has just been so welcoming and hospitable that it feels like home.
Photo by Chad Smith
You spoke about Summer Camp earlier. You guys have two festival events coming up this summer with that and sUMmer School. Can you talk a little bit about those?
Well, Summer Camp, I mean, if people have not been to Summer Camp, that’s my favorite festival of the year. I highly recommend you get a ticket and come out for that one. It’s a ton of fun, it’s a great area, it’s not too big, tons of great acts and pretty intimate. You get to hang out with a good core group of people and musicians every year. Now sUMmer School is a little different, that’s something we took on last year for the first time. It’s basically an Umphrey’s McGee summer camp where we teach what we do, what we go through, how we perform, what’s personal to us. Not just guitar lessons, not just bass lessons, drum lessons, but group lessons as well, vocal lessons, improvisational lessons. And then there’s a lot of hang time too, you know. People are camping out there, people are in dorms, there’s jam rooms that we frequent and go through and everybody gets to play with each other. We have kickball tournaments there, we have a disc golf course, so it’s a little bit of everything and it was highly successful last year. Going into it I didn’t know what to expect and I felt very rewarded and very pleased with the overall event at the end. Stanley Jordan was also a special guest so we always have a special guest each year for people who don’t just play the instruments that are in Umphrey’s McGee. So we’re doing that in June this year and looking forward to it again.
This past weekend you guys busted out a new tribute to Nate Dogg in Los Angeles. What was the idea behind that one?
We’ve all been a big fan of Nate Dogg for years and years and I think our drummer, Kris Myers, actually suggested it in an e-mail. He was like, “Hey man, I’m really big on this tune, I think I can sing it, maybe we should play it in L.A.” And I don’t think anybody was against that vote so we made it happen. That’s usually how it happens in our organization. I mean all band members have very different influences and different styles, what they’re listening to. Like our percussionist Andy [Farag] is into hip-hop, very much into hip-hop, where Kris is into electronic and jazz, and then Jake [Cinninger] and myself are more into the metal and the heavier stuff, and Brendan’s more into like Indigo Girls and The Beatles, stuff like that. So when you run the gamut like that, everybody makes their own suggestions from different backgrounds and allows us to keep it fair and democratic and also really widen the spectrum of music that we play as far as covers go.
I saw that Umphrey’s is going to be playing at Red Rocks with Delta Spirit and Dr. Dog. I thought they were kind of interesting openers for you guys. Have you all been listening to their music a little bit lately?
Yeah, I mean like I said, we listen to everything. We’re actually friends with some of the Dr. Dog guys. Eric Slick the drummer is a good friend of ours because he was playing in the trio with Adrian Belew while we were touring with a short stint with Adrian Belew. So he’s a good friend and they were just at the festival we did out in Phoenix so we got to see them as well. I’m just catching on to Delta Spirit, I had not really listened to them before but I like what’s going on there and I like the pairing of the three of us for Red Rocks. It’s going to be a pretty special night. We’re all just fans of all music, as long as it’s good music. Actually that’s not completely true, I like some really bad music as well.
Can you give us any examples of the kind of bad music that you’re into?
You know, I’d hate to say that it’s bad music because I consider what other people may consider bad, I consider good. So icons like Wesley Willis, perhaps. Are you familiar with Wesley Willis?
No, not really.
Check him out. He has passed on but he is an underground Chicago legend.
How about your old side project the Omega Moos [in which Stasik and Bayliss have perform with The New Deal keyboardist Jamie Shields and drummer Darren Shearer]? What’s the status of that right now?
[Laughs.] Gosh, we all want to play so badly. Unfortunately, with having babies and losing our drummer and being intercontinental, it’s been tough to schedule some gigs but I do promise, mark my words, that we will be touring in 2014 at the latest if we don’t get some fall dates in here in 2013. I know Jamie’s up and ready up there in Canada and our new drummer, Kris Myers, so it’s three parts Umphrey’s here. We have yet to rehearse anything but we’ve definitely had e-mail dialogues, discussions of new song choices and direction that we want to go with. Talk about a really fun time, I really, really enjoy that project. It’s always a good time.
How did the idea for UMBowl ever really come into being? It’s a very interesting concept.
I wish I had exact specifics on how and when it came to day, but just like a lot of things that happen with us, our core group and management, we hold meetings regularly so we’re always popping up new ideas. You either keep up or you get passed behind when it comes to technology, we feel. There’s a lot of opportunities out there and a lot of other groups are doing, and we thought it’d be pretty special to model something maybe after the Super Bowl, around the Super Bowl, musically and make it an experience. And we really wanted the fans to be interacting throughout the entire evening. So we decided we’d model it after four quarters with a halftime and an overtime with the encore, and we even go out as much as to get to the video and comedy aspect of it too.
Obviously if anybody knows anything about Umphrey’s McGee, they know that we’re freaking hilarious and we don’t take ourselves too seriously. Humor is definitely a big part, all of the Frank Zappa influence as well. So we try to make parodies, videos and we’re always joking around, we’re always pranking with each other and stuff like that, so we try to show that lighter side as well as a serious side when it comes to musicality during the show. So we’ve broken it up into four parts where fans can either vote on some of our best-of stuff and choose exactly what we do, we also have interactive sets where fans can text and make up phrases, ideas or thoughts and we’ll improv live to them on stage as they go onto a projection screen live in the audience. It’s just different ways of us coming up with ideas to try to keep things new, keep things fresh, keep us on our toes, keep us challenged as musicians and have the fans go home and be like, “Wow, I really was a part of that,” instead of just being someone in the audience. It does take a lot of hard work and a lot of planning, not only for the musicians but from behind the scenes guys with Kevin Browning and Vince Iwinski our management, and all of the people working on our home team at the office. It’s something that we work on pretty much half the year around just to prepare for.
I do have another thing I wanted to mention that we just started and it’s been hugely successful, we call it “Headphones and Snowcones.” And right now we have wireless headphones, I think there are sixteen available per show, if people want to get a soundboard mix on good, custom headphones and it’s out of a package deal where you can be in the theater and experience the concert differently. A lot of times I’ve gone to shows and you get the Chatty Kathy next to you who’s just like, “Oh did you hear that? Do you know the score?” And you’re like, “Man, I just want to hear the music.” Well this actually puts you in your own world and you hear the concert in a completely different way. So we’ve been running that a lot lately and I think we’re going to continue to do that in the future as just another way to experience a concert live in a different setting and a different environment. It’s been pretty neat. Some of the venues have been small enough too where people can wander around the entire venue and still have perfect sound from the soundboard mix. So it’s been pretty cool.
So now that you’re living in the Southeast, do you and Andy ever meet up to play golf or anything like that?
We’ve got a tee time tomorrow, 10 AM. We play a lot. We actually bring our clubs underneath the bus. Andy and I, I think we played four times out on the West Coast; we played in Vegas, we played out in Oregon, we played in California. So yeah man, we’re trying to get the single digit handicap as the goal for the end of the year. I want to be at 9.
