The evolution of Umphrey’s McGee is an infinite loop, with the band seemingly reinventing itself with each record, show and tour. As we catch up with drummer extraordinaire Kris Myers shortly after the release of their latest twist, ZONKEY, a record comprised of past Halloween mashups, he confirms that the group is indeed evolving constantly and already looking to their next turn.
“I feel like some of us have really gotten back to the basics of working on our craft individually,” Myers says when assessing the band’s year. The back to basics approach allowed the band to mature, according to the drummer, and will carry them into the new year with all sights set on a new album of originals that lean more towards the band’s progressive rock influence.
That will all come after a triumphant return to Chicago for New Year’s Eve, which is sure to come complete with a few “Go Cubs Go” teases and jams, something the drummer notes as definitely nostalgic.
Read on for more musings from Kris Myers, including a reflection on the late Sharon Jones.
When you first started to explore these mashups in the studio, what did you learn about them and what did you set out to do that couldn’t otherwise happen on stage?
Really polishing them up because this was a recording so we were able to spend more time on it. We also were very happy about the experience and we learned a lot from it because it was a lot of simple pop tunes that were big hits back in the day.
Playing and writing that sort of thing you can sort of tell how effective simple riffs and simple ideas can be. So we were blown away about how fun this record was after producing it.
It’s unfortunate that a lot of it wasn’t our own original stuff but we learned a lot about it that way and you get a better scope of how to apply that to your own songwriting. I think we captured the vocal moments. We were hoping that we could be versatile enough to do that.
As far as applying it to your originals, what aspects do you think you can take back to the Umphrey’s canon?
Certain tones and certain articulations and phrasings. Also, taking pieces of little phrases that we would normally put together in a variety of forms—learning how to simplify things a little better and minimize a little bit because it’s easy to create a long strand of ideas but then when you actually try to arrange it, that’s where the good stuff comes out.
We learned a lot from that and of course not being afraid to make a big rock sound and production and be able to pull that off live. That’s kind of a new direction for us we’ve continued to evolve.
I have to imagine rapping Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage” and playing drums at the same time is one of the hardest things you’ve ever been asked to do in this band.
(Laughs) It’s not as difficult as you would think. It’s difficult in that you have to push out a lot of air to do a screaming kind of vocals to rap like the Beastie Boys rap. We are more of an alternative band mixed with old school rap tendencies. They were literally shouting their lines and not smooth. It’s a real high voice range and you really have to push a lot of air so it takes a lot of physical dexterity. You have to play and take really deep breaths and carry on through it and try to hit those notes and make it so that your voice isn’t too taxed to do it either. You can’t be cracking a lot of notes.
One of the unique things about this record that I don’t think many people have touched on is that you all more or less contributed some form of lead vocals to the project.
We were grateful for the opportunity because it actually was a character building experience for us in a way. This was a great opportunity to have a little fun in the studio in a nice, high-quality recording environment and to take turns giving each other a challenge to sing the vocal parts, because this is an experimental record and it’s more of a party record. It’s a little more tongue-in-cheek and it just lends itself to doing this sort of thing and having different guys sing. It was fun. We had a great time doing it.
Shifting to Umphrey’s originals, you guys booked some studio time after Halloween. What can you say about how this new batch of songs are coming along?
I’m not sure what is going to come about of these recordings but we just went in with bare bones ideas that we’re going to compose later as we go on. We actually have full bodies of work that we finally agreed to in the moment and then rehearsed them and recorded them.
I don’t know if we even have a release date yet or if we have an album name or anything like that in the works. What we do have is little sections and takes and we’re going to eventually make something of them in the next six months I’d say and then hopefully we’ll have a better answer for you down the road.
Is it important to get into the studio after a long stretch on the road to get those ideas recorded that may have revealed themselves on stage?
Absolutely. Just get it out there, get it documented, and then arrange around the form we created. We had a little help from our engineers Manny Sanchez and Greg Majors, who is someone I worked with regularly on editing not only this band but my own music. He helps with editing and is really great to work with, total ninja on the Pro Tools software, so it makes it a lot faster and easier.
You’ve got to have someone who is very capable with the technology so you don’t have to worry too much about that but I think the whole idea with this one was to get the skeletons of the forms and then create a little feeling in it. You don’t have to overthink it and then everyone will overdub little things here and there as we go along and really bring out the nuances.
How would you characterize the musical direction of these songs based on what you have so far? Similar Skin proved to be a decisive rock record and Death By Stereo was more compact and concise. Is there a thread between these new tunes?
I lean towards progressive rock on this one. A little more classic progressive a la Rush, King Crimson and then some songs are a little more Beatles-esque or Todd Rundgren. It’s not necessarily poppy, maybe there’s a couple songs that are a little more contemporary. I don’t throw around too many names because people will be like, “Oh it sounds like this. It’s going to sound like that.” We don’t really know yet.
I can tell you it’s definitely more rock, a little less of the dancier grooves but it’s definitely fun and danceable but it’s progressive in nature and I like that the most. It’s more interesting to me.
Bringing New Year’s back to Chicago after a few years away must be nostalgic in a lot of respects.
I think that everyone would agree with that it’s nice to come back and see where we are now and where we were then with the memories of playing in the same venues that we were quite a few years ago. It’s a reminder that this thing just keeps growing and it’s really great. We’re very happy to come and go with our home crowd. We’ve missed them very much and we’re looking forward to raging with them.
The memories from past Chicago runs are almost endless. What jumps into your head when you think about it?
Some of the guests we’ve played with—Buddy Guy, that was interesting. Or Taj Mahal. And remembering some of the conversations, it’s really another thing that we’re thankful for, being able to have that opportunity. We’ve had a lot of great interesting artists play with us from Tortoise to Prefuse 73 to Los Lobos and it’s been incredible that we’ve had such a variety of different acts come and play with us. It’s been amazing looking back at what we were able to do and what kind of shows we were able to throw at that time.
Looking ahead, what does 2017 hold for Umphrey’s McGee?
We’re a very consistent band from year to year. We usually tour in the same areas consistency, maybe just a few changes here and there. Maybe some changes in festival plays. We’re going to definitely see when our new record will come out. Again, I don’t know any of that information. All we do is tour frequently from the beginning of the year until about May and then we continue to work through the festival season and then maybe lighter touring in the fall.
I think what’s more important is that we continue to evolve and play interestingly enough to get people back. We don’t want to get into a stalemate situation or an autopilot we always want to mix it up. Our fans don’t let us get into autopilot anyway, so we’re grateful for that.
Speaking of continuing to evolve, how would you assess the band’s evolution this year?
I feel like some of us have really gotten back to the basics of working on our craft individually and listening to the shows, the recordings, and getting back to that again, which we used to do pretty regularly. I think there have been years where we just don’t have the time. But we’ve been able to listen back and reflect on what we did in past shows in recent time and just improve on things. Our communication level is getting better and better. We’re able to communicate with respect to each other’s thoughts and ideas and not be too selfish in any way. We’re trying to work this out diplomatically and as a team and that’s something that’s important. So it’s maturing, I guess, if you want to call it that.
The recording sound, the production quality is getting better and better thanks to our engineer Chris Mitchell who is like a mad scientist with the recordings and he’s always looking for new sounds, new microphones, new concepts. We have a great marketing team of people always looking for new ways to engage with the fans in our social media ideas. It’s continuing to grow and be fun and that’s what I thought about this year. I think our merch has gotten better. Out shirts are cooler.
One final question—Sharon Jones sat in with the band this year in Augusta, GA. What do you remember about your time with her?
She was such a nice, happy and positive person. She seemed like a very strong person, was very sharp and focused. It was just very surprising to me to hear this news. It just goes to show how precious life really is. She was just a remarkable talent. She had a strong voice and I know she was iconic in certain genres and I could just tell regardless of knowing any of the history of her music when you meet her in person she’s a class act and was really cool. I enjoyed it. I enjoyed meeting her and my warmest regards and sincere condolences go to her family and friends.
