On Thursday, August 30, Umphrey’s McGee will perform at Joy Theater with special guests the Nth Power featuring The Spirit Horns (Jennifer Harstwick & James Casey). The progressive rock outfit will return after performing here in 2017, though this time armed with music from It’s Not Us, released in January of this year (plus new music from a second 2018 album). Ahead of the show, keyboardist Joel Cummins spoke with OffBeat.com about Frenchmen Street, Rodney Dangerfield and more.
Tell us about you guys and Lettuce at LOCKN’ Festival. How did it all happen was it spur of the moment? Planned? It was truly amazing.
Lockn’ is a unique festival for many reasons, the rotating stage being the most unique feature. Festival impresario Pete Shapiro is a good friend of ours and the vision of the Lettuce and Umphrey’s McGee segue was his idea. It was basically drawn up as “Can you guys find a song you both know and then play it together as the stage rotates?” I believe the idea of picking two different originals and having a battle was also discussed, but ultimately, we decided that could get complicated and confusing. Our respective crews discussed the logistics of it, decided this sort of combo rotation was a technical possibility and then it was up to the bands. I reached out to Lettuce and suggested Herbie Hancock’s “Hang Up Your Hang Ups” for a few reasonS. tt’s a great, funky danceable tune. both Lettuce and UM have played it live before. And, the sections are fairly open-ended and flexible in case something went awry. So I sent an e-mail to the Lettuce & UM guys with the idea and they were all into it, which is a pretty amazing accomplishment in and of itself, considering there’s something like 13 musicians who had to agree on one tune. Schmeens, Lettuce’s guitarist, then came up with the vision to let the drummers trade 4’s while we were grooving on it with the stage turned half-way. Before the show, both bands had a group pow wow and we laid out the plan in person just a couple hours before it happened. We had hoped Nigel would come over to the UM side for the piano solo, but we didn’t have the ability to get a monitor up there so I ended up taking the solo to end the song. It was really cool to make happen, and probably something that has never before been done at a major festival. Both bands tackled the idea with aplomb and a fun, creative energy, so it turned out great.
You’ve been to New Orleans a whole heck of a lot. What are your favorite eats?
My wife and I have had the good fortune to visit many of the city’s historic eateries over the years. It’s really impossible to pick one favorite place to eat in New Orleans, so I’ll choose three. In the new category, Restaurant Rebirth was really amazing when we were there a couple months ago during Jazz Fest. Cool twists on traditional New Orleans fare. Amazing flavors. I also visited Mosca’s for the first time and am still dreaming of the oyster casserole. It was our good friend’s birthday and he not only got happy birthday but a rousing rendition of “When the Saints Go Marching In”…from the nearby patrons! Finally, Peche delivered a seafood lover’s feast to us…. and my good friend Ivan Neville showed up to hang out with us just after we had ordered. The service was great until Ivan got there, then we essentially became royalty. Cochon, Coquette, Jacque Imo’s, Borgne, Bayona and Brennan’s could all be on this list depending on what mood I’m in. There is truly no shortage of great good in New Orleans.
What about your favorite New Orleans experience, overall?
Frenchmen Street after dark during Jazz Fest feels like you’re at the center of the New Orleans universe. With clubs like the Blue Nile, d.b.a, Maison and Snug Harbor all within tw city blocks, there’s music on the streets and in the clubs until sunrise. I’ll never forget jamming on a Rhodes on the street as the sun came up back in 2002 with Brian Haas from Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey. Non-musical experience, the World War II museum was a stunning and an incredibly enlightening education. The concept of battling a war on two fronts on the other side of the earth without modern communication left me speechless. Give yourself an entire afternoon for that one.
Favorite section of New Orleans?
I can only pick one part??? That’s just not fair! Of course I will go with the French Quarter, but I will say get away from the heavily touristed areas of it to get a better idea of what the local life is like there. I’ve made it up and down every single street in that area over the years and that’s been a lot of fun. Garden District would win second place for me for all of the great walks, houses and foliage along the way.
I know a few of you guys are triathletes, do you feel that being at peak physical fitness improves your ability to perform?
Being in good shape certainly doesn’t hurt performances. Being on the road can be a very physically challenging lifestyle so I think staying healthy in general is only going to extend your life as a performer. We are all in at least decent shape and we have all have different interests as far as staying in shape. But at this point, 20 years in for the band, you’re more likely to find us in a hotel gym at 9 a.m. as opposed to winding down the previous night.
On the new album you cover a wide range of musical styles. Why not just stick to a rocking theme?
With Similar Skin we pretty much did the entire “rocking” album, so in a way, getting back to the mixed stylistic approach is a return to what truly makes Umphrey’s McGee special: the diversity within the music. When we write songs, we’re not really trying to cover a specific genre, just write the best songs we can. So when the time came to figure out what to include, we’re generally looking at how strong a specific song is and will then try to see if it fits in with the group. Despite the eclectic nature of the songs on both new UM albums in 2018, we still feel like they fit together and make sense when put into the context of the albums as a whole.
Who came up with Umphrey’s McGee and what does it mean?
Rodney Dangerfield came up with the name for us, and it just means that he had a few too many drinks to say the name we told him to say at our second show we ever played. Thanks for that Rodney, we love ya & miss ya buddy.
What’s your dream collaboration?
Dream collaboration for me would be with Miles Davis and we’d be playing all of Bitches Brew live! That’s my favorite album, lineup and performance I’ve found in my life and the music that most connects me to the world.
Tickets to Umphrey’s McGee’s August 30 show are available here and range from $30 to $45.
