Don’t Miss Umphrey’s McGee, Playing Red Rocks This Friday, June 7
Shorefire Media
“Umphrey’s McGee stand revealed as consummate musical alchemists, deftly reconfiguring sounds from rock’s vast panoply of styles.” (Entertainment Weekly).
Fans who have followed Umphrey’s McGee for any period of time know that there are only two guarantees: you never know what you’re going to get, and Umphrey’s always delivers.
The latest expected twist arrives in the form of their newest studio album Death by Stereo (9/13), the follow up to 2009’s Mantis. ‘Mantis’ surprised fans with a collection of music never before played, and surprised the music industry with an innovative marketing campaign that catapulted the album PAST the Heatseekers chart, debuting at #62 on Billboard’s “Top 200” chart without any radio play or television appearances.
Death by Stereos concise melodic approach and accessible songwriting is everything fans had hoped for, but not what anyone expected. Death by Stereo is disarmingly straightforward. Sure, you can dance to it, but the clever arrangements, meticulously crafted chordal interplay, and virtuoso instrumentation put Umphrey’s McGee in a category all their own.
“Our live show is malleable and every night is its own thing, where you never know where things are going to go,” keyboardist Joel Cummins explains. “People aren’t used to us playing three-and-a-half to four-minute songs back to back, so this album is a completely different experience than our live show, which is certainly something we were trying to do.”
Whereas this band’s stellar reputation is based on marathon concerts that mix original, technically demanding tunes with complex epics and, playful covers (ranging from Toto to Metallica), it has chosen the same kind of attention to melody, songcraft, and musicianship that make those artists stand apart. Umphrey’s chemistry, however, is something all its own, built upon a relentless live schedule of 100-plus shows a year.
“I can’t believe that we are 13 and half years in,” Bayliss points out with a mix of wonder and pride. “If someone told me that I would have been thinking: ‘No way! But sign me up. I’ll take it.’”
Catch Umphrey’s McGee at Red Rocks THIS Friday, June 7, 2013. Tickets available at Ticketmaster.com
Category: Don't Miss This
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