Photo credit: Shervin Lainez
Earlier today, Umphrey’s McGee dropped an entirely new record of original tunes, just five months after the release of their album it’s not us. The group recorded the material on it’s you in November 2016 at IV Lab Studios in Chicago, IL, during the same sessions that produced it’s not us. The new record presents 10 original compositions, seven of which the group has not yet performed live. it’s you is not a collection of outtakes but rather a series of songs that the band had intended to appear on a separate album.
Here the group’s Joel Cummins, Brendan Bayliss and Ryan Stasik discuss some of the tracks on it’s you. For more on how the album came about, check out the story on Relix.com.
it’s you is now available.
“Triangle Tear”
Brendan: I think “Triangle Tear” a strong opener. I’m a big fan of that one because it sounds fresh to me. But it’s funny, I don’t know how it’s pronounced, whether it’s tear [“tir”—rhymes with beer] or [“ter”—rhymes with bear]. Jake [Cinninger] and Joel came up with that instrumentally and I put vocals over it. The last time I asked Jake, he was like, “I don’t know, what do you think?” So when you speak with Joel, you should ask him.
Joel: It’s tear [tir]. Jake actually named it that. We wrote it at his studio, Boondock. I go there a few times a year and we have these mammoth songwriting days and sometimes they stretch into a day and a half or two. The original piece of music is like 12 minutes long and there were all these other sections that went with it. This was right after Chris Squire passed away, so it was a little bit of a tribute to Yes. And especially the second half of it—that is no longer with the song—had this really cool, sort of acoustic, vibey thing.
We wrote it in one of these sessions and I think, out of all the new songs that we wrote, it was the one that took Brendan the longest to come up with a vocal thing that he was comfortable with. It’s pretty dense, and it’s pretty harmonically complex, and there are some weird changes in there. So it ended up being this really sort of cool idiosyncratic thing. I also told Jake after he came up with the part with the big guitar hits that he’s got to do some Pete Townshend windmills.
The end section which is this kind of a really weird out progression, was something we came up with at Boondock. We had this keyboard that was malfunctioning and was making these weird kind of Super Mario sounds, like when you do the jump and get the coin. We kept some of that from the original demo because we weren’t able to figure out how to recreate those malfunctioning sounds, and we thought they were just so cool and weird.
For the last part of that puzzle, after we do the big group session together, we sort of have various breakout sessions. In my case I got together with Greg Magers, who’s one of our co-producers and engineers and I had two days to do extra keyboard parts and vocal stuff. That last vocal section is actually all me singing the vocal parts. I came up with this four-part, really angular vocal section, that kind of mimics what’s going on with the chords underneath it. I think that one, for me, is a nice thing to have. I come from a vocal background, and we don’t do a ton of really complicated harmonies, and this one is definitely the most challenging thing that we did—with a lot of minor ninths in there and notes up against each other that eventually resolve. It really does kind of emanate this eerie, dark, spooky sort of vibe throughout and that’s something that I was really excited ended up being on the album.
“Attachments”
Brendan: That song kind of started with the chorus. On the original demo of the song, it was just those four chords and that chorus and I thought the chorus was strong enough that I’d show it to the other guys. And when we went to Jake’s studio to work it out, my version was super stripped down and basic. Jake came up with what I would call it the AC/DC intro which kind of kicked it up a notch and brought it into a rock-and-roll world. Then Ryan came up with the progression at the end, just to make it a full song. So we had a beginning, a middle and an end, although it started with the middle.
Once we had the form, we started playing it live and then it just sort of solidified quickly. So we went into the studio and I think we were able to get that in two or three takes.
Joel: When it’s not us came out, a lot of people asked us about things like “Upward” or “Attachments” that we had played before. They wanted to know “How could you not put those on there? What are you guys thinking?” [laughs]
We have a Japanese friend who really loved “Attachments.” My wife and I went over there and snowboarded and skied with her for a little while, in April of 2017, and I played her the recording of “Attachments.” I guess we still didn’t know what we were gonna do at that point because [after it’s not us was released] she said something on social media: “I heard ‘Attachments,’ where is it?’
I was like, “Oh shit!” So I think I told her, “Yeah, not everything could make the album.” So she’s been sad for like a year now and I felt really bad about it.
“In the Black”
Brendan: That one was initially a Joel and Jake demo called “The Fizz.” Then I put the vocals over it, and once we had that, we started playing it live. We used to play the middle section twice—so it would be a verse, bridge, back to the verse. Then when we got in the studio, Greg Magers said, “I don’t really believe the repeat of the bridge is necessary. Do you guys wanna do a take where we cut that part out?” So we did that and it kind of condensed the song, so it had a better flow to it. But then when we started playing it live, we messed it up a couple of times because we were going back to the way we used to do it. So I think we did it once or twice, then we just put it on the shelf and we were like, “Let’s just bring it back when the album comes back out.” The album that as far as everyone else knew, didn’t exist.
”What We Could Get”
Joel: I really love this tune and I’m happy that we got it on there. Jake has a catalog of probably 200 different original tunes that he’s recorded. And he was like, “If you wanna listen to these and think any of these sound good, we could try ‘em.” So this is one of the ones that jumped out at all of us as one of his stronger tunes. And he agreed with us, which is also nice. It’s cool to have.
Jake, vocally, can do so many different things. He’s got kind of the R&B soulful vibe of “Booth Love” or “Deeper.” Some of the more recent stuff, “Dark Brush,” “Hindsight” is really heavy, dark stuff and this one is just letting Jake belt vocally and to me, it has a little bit of hints of “Spires” from Mantis with these big unison riffs that the guitars and keyboards are playing. It’s also a lot of fun for me and I’m excited for people to hear it.
“Push & Pull”
Brendan: When we started talking about going in the studio, we began compiling a list of stuff that we had previously looked at or talked about, or touched in rehearsals. I think maybe it was the week leading up to it that I started combing through old songs of mine just to see if there was something I forgot about or something that might just hit at the minute. And I stumbled across that one and I thought it was good enough that maybe it had a shot.
I think we did it last after we had tracked everything else. That one and “You & You Alone” were probably two of the last things we did. I just wanted to make sure that we got everything done that everyone wanted to do and once I saw that we still had a half a day, I brought those back up again. They’re simple enough and the guys in the band are so good that I think four chords and 4/4’s they can do in their sleep. So we probably tracked it twice and got it. I was very surprised and happy because it’s a nice breath after so much heavy stuff.
“Hanging Chads”
Ryan: I made a promise after Zonkey, half joking, that I would only sing in a British accent from now on for studio recordings. As “Hanging Chads” will attest, I am a man of my word. And this time we got the whole team to follow suit. After another long day of recording more serious material, we decided to lighten the mood and lay down this short, comedic punk tune. The studio becomes home for us for over a week while recording and it’s important to work hard but also have fun. Hanging with your best friends and making music may be the greatest job in the world. The song originated backstage at Hulaween 2016 killing time after rehearsal. I do my job on the stage, but I really shine backstage. Only Farag has been lucky enough to witness most, if not all of my classic backstage ditties, gems if you will, ranging from punk rock to jazz ballads. He is a not only a great listener but an honest critic too.
