Fresh from the studio with their new album Safety In Numbers as well as a recent European tour, Umphrey’s McGee is rapidly becoming one of the heavyweights on the jamband scene. Their unique blend of funk, prog-rock, jazz and improvisation has left audiences across the country mesmerized and anxious for more. Their summer tour stops in Kansas City on June 2nd outside the Beaumont Club in Westport with fellow touring stalwarts moe. as a pre-party for this summer’s Wakarusa Festival in Lawrence. Patchchord.com’s Derek Martin was able to catch up with bassist Ryan Stasik to discuss the new disc, the intimacies and intricacies of touring, and what the future holds for Umphrey’s McGee.

Derek Martin: The title of your album, Saftey in Numbers can obviously allude to a lot of things. Were you trying to make a statement about the album or yourselves with that title?

Ryan Stasik: Well that’s exactly what it is, it alludes to several things: some obvious and some not so obvious. It’s open for interpretation for what the audience wants it to be for them. We don’t usually talk about the title or the lyrics, ‘cause we don’t want give away too much to the listener. I think it’s better for them to make their own interpretation or meaning, I could name off several things it alludes to or means, but I think it’s better to be left unspoken.

DM: Safety in Numbers is obviously quite different from Anchor Drops, it seems more fluid and cleaned up and that everything kind of meshes together as an album. What were you guys aiming for with this album?

RS: When we first went into the studio we wanted to make a double disc, one acoustic and one electric, then we realized that that wasn’t going to make the most sense. Why make two OK albums when we can make one good album? Where the flow from the beginning to end is a conversation piece mainly between the two guitarists—they wrote most of the music and the lyrics… We had all these other tracks we wanted to use, but it just made a lot more sense if we narrowed it down and told one story from beginning to end. And you know, we threw some light-hearted stuff in there too, some rockabilly so as not to make it too dark because a lot of the lyrical content is about personal chaos, a lot of the stuff going on in various people’s personal lives, but we wanted to put some positivity in there as well.

DM: Did the writing for this album go on mostly in the studio, on the road, or on stage with “Jimmy Stewart?”

RS: All of them actually. “Liquid” was actually a song that Jake had written about four years ago and it just kind of fit very well into the record. We modified it a little bit while we were in the studio. Some of the songs were from “Jimmy Stewarts” throughout the past couple years, other things we put our heads together and some stuff didn’t make the record. And other things were stuff that people had just written personally by themselves, like “Rocker” and the last song “The Weight Around.”

DM: You’ve been touring constantly since before 2002 and obviously your fan base has grown considerably. How has that affected the way you approach and play your shows?

RS: I think Michael Jordan might’ve said it best when he said he always goes out there and plays his best game no matter what. There always might be that person or that little kid in the crowd who it’s their first show and he wants it to be as good as he possibly can be and amaze the kids. And we always try to have that attitude, too. We go out there and make it our best show possible. So with the people who have been coming around, we’re very grateful for their loyalty. We also like bringing our music to new people and we always try to challenge each other and make it an interesting, different, but enjoyable fun show.

DM: You guys are from Chicago, and you tour on both coasts. Is there a noticeable difference between the crowds in the Midwest as opposed to the coasts?

RS: Absolutely. It’s different in all parts of the country no matter where you go, whether it’s for vacation or the audience at a show. With our band many people tend to travel, so we can get a lot of Midwest kids in the south, or that’ll make the trip out west.

DM: You guys just got back from a European tour. How was that different from your shows in the States? Was it mostly locals or Americans who had made the trek over?

RS: Yeah, it was definitely more locals. We scaled down, we were playing smaller clubs, to smaller audiences like 150-200 people. A lot of them it was their first time; they didn’t know what to expect, a lot of them hadn’t heard of us. It went over very well, though; it was really positive. A lot of people stayed ‘til the end of the show, so that was a good sign. It was kind of more like a jazz show: people would listen and clap after the solos. I remember Paris being pretty raucous, and in Amsterdam there were a lot of Americans there, but in Italy and London the crowds were a lot more laid back, a lot more listening.

DM: What’s your motivation to play shows, and what do you want people to get out of them?

RS: Mainly I mean, it’s what we enjoy doing, it’s what gets us off, and I leave that up to the audience. I always want it to be a good time and a party. Whatever they take from it—a certain song or a certain “Jimmy Stewart” that moved them—that’s great as well for both us and them. Sometimes you hit those points musically when it gets really emotional and I’m not really sure what people are coming for. I hope they’re coming to have a good time, but also to really enjoy the music and see what happens with that musical journey and that experience.

DM: You just talked about “Jimmy Stewart.” Within each one, what do you feel your role is as opposed to the rest of the guys in the band?

RS: Well, that differs from night to night as well. I think that when the bass is driving things and is locked in with the drummer, it’s very easy for the other melodic players to put layers and stuff over it and it’s going to be good. But everyone’s moving to—at least I am—the kick drum and the bass. Night to night though, everyone steps back or steps up when they want have the reins of control for where the improvs wants to go. My role is very important to keep that groove going and the room bouncing and moving, but it’s also very important to compliment what the other guys are doing on the guitars and the pianos.

DM: There was a lot of talk online about the beginning of your winter tour which featured four shows without a song being repeated or a single cover appearing. This theme has continued in your more recent shows with less covers being played. What caused this change?

RS: When we got back from the Jamcruise, we had a meeting and we talked about it, and we really felt that as much as covers are really fun, and it’s good for people to have something to relate to, and it’s almost like a tribute to play a cover, but we really wanted to indulge in playing our original music and giving people shows that are just us. It was just like a personal decision by all of us. We’d look back at some setlists and we were like, “Whoa! Did we really play five covers that night?” We definitely don’t want be a cover band, but I think it’s important to play other people’s music as a tribute and we can be like, “Well, this is a great Steely Dan song,” and try to do it the way they did it out of respect.

DM: You just spoke about how you wanted to explore your own music more. As you go from 25 minute jams like “Nothing too Fancy” to short little fun songs like “Partyin’ Peeps,” are you more inclined to lean towards one type of song over another, or is it the variety you prefer?

RS: It’s the variety. I remember talking to Jake about this when we were writing setlists. Anything we can do—and this is just how we are, it’s in our nature—anything we can do to do it differently than we’ve done it before, like just open up a song and make it completely different, we tend to be more excited about. It’s new and fresh to us and that doesn’t always work and it’s not always what people want, but we’re very much into that. Sometimes we’re like “This song is meant to be a song, it’s 3 minutes long and that’s the way it should stay,” so we go back and forth on both of those.

DM: The term “jamband” often gets thrown around when you guys are talked about, while other people point to more prog rock influences. Do you think either of these terms clearly defines you or is it more of a mesh of the two?

RS: I think it’s definitely a mix of the two. We just went on tour with the band OHM, and they’re definitely a progressive rock band; they are definitely fusion and they’ve got the chops and odd meter and no vocals. We also had Kick The Cat, our drummer’s old band, and that’s definitely fusion. I don’t think we tend to sound like that for the people who label us “prog rock,” although we definitely vibe on that a little bit, and “jamband” is so vague and so big. We’re really proud to be part of the scene and everything that’s going on with the festivals and the music and we’re kind of trying to find our own niche that’s between those. It’s like saying you’re a rock ‘n roll band, that’s a huge range, you go from AC/DC to Guns N’ Roses: both rock and roll, but very differently. I think we’re a little bit of everything.

DM: On a different note, you guys and the Disco Biscuits recently covered each other’s songs on the same night. How’d that come about?

RS: We’ve become good friends being on the scene together and doing festivals. We were over in Amsterdam together and we just kind of meshed—we’d hang out, drink together and just kinda come up with some ideas. They were like, “You guys should play one of our songs, and we’ll play one of yours. We’re gonna be in Chicago, you’re gonna be in Philly.” And we actually weren’t lazy about it; we thought it was a great idea and we hoped the kids enjoyed it. Sometimes you get haters, people like some bands and they don’t like other bands, but when it comes down to it we’re friends.

DM: I don’t know if you’ve heard the Bisco version of “In the Kitchen,” but I was really diggin’ it.

RS: I have not heard it, but our manager has it on tape and I heard it was pretty long. They jammed it out like 30 minutes or something.

DM: Yeah, the jam was pretty sick.

RS: Cool.

DM: I know this summer that you’re joining Bela Fleck for the Acoustic Planet Tour. Are your sets going to be acoustic?

RS: No, I don’t play acoustic. I don’t even own an acoustic bass. A lot of people have asked if we’re going to be playing all acoustic sets. I think it’s gonna be regular Umphrey’s McGee stuff though.

DM: A few years ago Rolling Stone said Umphrey’s McGee was the heir to the Phish crown. Where do you see Umphrey’s McGee headed in the future?

RS: I think we want to definitely improve and mature as studio musicians. We want to put out another really solid, great record. We have some other ideas for future recordings that just aren’t ready yet. We’re going to continue to tour, as we always do. As far as being the heir to some crown, we don’t really pay attention to that, that’s the stuff for like message boards or whatever. We want to continue to grow. We don’t plan on being like, Dave Matthews-type arena rock. We like playing a couple thousand seat venues and I still consider it kind of intimate, it’s nice to be in the clubs.

—Derek Martin (email)

[Photo credits (in order): Danny Clinch (front page), Brett Saul, Tony Pirri, Brett Saul]

Umphrey’s McGee with moe.
Friday, June 2 at the Beaumont Club [Map]
umphreys.com