Back To Their Roots

Approximately five and a half years ago, four Notre Dame students were nearing the end of their college years and were abruptly facing the harsh reality of "the real world." Putting off the inevitable 40 hour-a-week jobs as "professionals," they decided to form a band. Not without a few changes, the now older and wiser Umphrey's McGee, formerly of South Bend, has relocated to Chicago and is continuing to turn heads all over the nation.\nWith extensive touring and a large nationwide fan base, this Midwest upstart is finally getting the recognition they have been hoping for all along. The past year and a half was huge for the band, with a landmark show at the first inaugural Bonnaroo Music Festival in Tennessee, along with recent shows at the House of Blues in L.A. and the Mishawaka Amphitheater in Colorado. All has culminated however, with a 6-page article dedicated solely to the music of Umphrey's in this month's New York-based jamband magazine "Relix."\nThe four original members created Umphrey's McGee from a hybrid of two local South Bend bands. Brendan Bayliss (guitar, vocals) and Ryan Stasik (bass) joined Joel Cummins (keyboards, vocals) and Mike Mirro (drums, vocals) in the winter of 1998. In June of the same year, Andy Farag joined on percussion and added a whole new spectrum of percussive qualities unique to Umphrey's. Two years later, in September 2000, South Bend/Niles guitar prodigy Jake Cinniger found himself without a band after Ali Baba's Tahini broke up and was invited to join the Umphrey's crew. This second guitar proved to be extremely integral to the shape of Umphrey's improvisational sound.\nIn October 2002, shortly after their breakthrough performance at Bonnaroo, founding member Mirro decided to tell the band something that would change them all forever. After four and a half years of playing, Mirro decided he wanted to pursue medicine and was quitting the band. Seemingly left without options, the remaining members of Umphrey's scrambled to figure out what to do next.\nThey decided to post an invitation for an open-ended tryout to anyone and everyone that was interested on their Web site. The first response was from a Chicago jazz drummer named Kris Myers. Myers, unfamiliar with the band, went into the tryouts blindfolded, but still managed to get the gig. After Mirro's departure, Myers debuted with the band in Bloomington at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater, where they will return tonight, wrapping up their two-show stint in town.\n"I wasn't sure how well a new drummer was going to work, to be honest. Mirro had been there since the beginning and to lose a founding member is huge," says local fan Dave Dickerson, a senior. "Having sat in with them on violin in June at the Bluebird, I could just feel the energy on stage and with the crowd and knew that Myers' joining was an extremely important thing." \nRoger Harmon, a junior, has been following Umphrey's since '98, and though he admits they've gone through some major changes, their beat still rocks with the fresh face on drums.\n"It's always fun seeing Umphrey's in Bloomington. They are so relaxed playing here," Harmon says.\n"The three-show run back in June of this year was intense and I expect the Buskirk run to be even better."\nThree months later, Umphrey's is back for more, and it seems as though band members and local fans alike are ready for their return.\n"They will for sure be two huge shows for the fan base in Bloomington -- a great back-to-school treat," manager Vince Iwinski says.\nThe Buskirk shows will be a treat for the band as well, according to Cummins.\n"We love Bloomington so much," Cummins says. "We've played so many fun and exciting shows (in Bloomington) and always get an amazing response from the crowd. People in Bloomington seem to accomplish both having a great time and listening pretty well, which can't be said of too many audiences … it's usually one or the other."\nUmphrey's expects to be back in Bloomington in late November, Iwinski says, but are planning a huge Halloween blowout, which will take place at the Murat Theatre in Indianapolis on Oct. 31. And with the band just getting out of the studio, you can expect a new album out sometime in the near future, along with the long awaited Skyline DVD from Chicago.