Umphrey's McGee

Ryan Stasik, November 13th, 1976, came into this world bleeding black & gold. His Pittsburgh roots run deep despite moving to Kalamazoo, Michigan at the tender age 12 as Appetite For Destruction hit the shelves. Ryan began playing piano at 5, learned guitar shortly thereafter, and after meeting Bayliss offered to switch to bass since the band had no one holding down the bottom end. Even from the beginning, he was a team player. Against …

Born on the glorious spring morning of April 5th ’77, Kris Myers was put in this world to drum. Indeed, he was given his first trap kit at the tender age of 8, preferring to wake up and “rock out” in the early mornings as opposed to watching cartoons like the rest of us. Well, it paid off. After he received his master’s degree in jazz drumming from DePaul University, he went on to destroy …

The man, the myth, the legend – Andy Farag. Often replicated but never duplicated, Andy is the finest thing to come out of Northwest Indiana since U.S. Steel and Michael Jackson. After original drummer Michael Mirro spotted the talent inherent in Xanadu (equal parts afro and percussion), Andy began making weekend road trips from Bloomington to South Bend to “sit in” on percussion. Recognizing the early need for the copious amounts of cow bell necessary …

Sociologists marvel at the enigma that is Joel Cummins, one rarely finds an only child like Joel loose in the wild. An eternal optimist and beacon of positivity, it takes more than a broken keyboard and curfew mix up to rain on Joel’s parade. Unbeknownst to many, Mr. Cummins actually hails from Metropolis, Illinois, growing up mere streets away from Superman, giving him a supernatural ability to amass both vintage & current keyboards. After years …

Niles, Michigan native Jake Cinninger is truly a rare breed. His musical virtuosity starts at an almost unfathomable age, drumming prolifically at the age of 3. Cinninger had played more gigs by the age of 13 than many musicians have played in a lifetime. His musical knowledge runs deeper than the Pacific, with his ability to play a dozen instruments only matched by his extensive mental index of tens of thousands of albums (Jake finds …

When Brendan Bayliss was born on August 11th, 1976 in Annapolis, Maryland, it was immediately speculated that Brendan would become a tennis champion. While his father went on to an illustriously successful career in tennis as a university head coach, Brendan’s future shifted to music as soon as he picked up the guitar in high school. While at Notre Dame, he met Joel in a music theory class his sophomore year. Joel was reportedly thrilled …