By The Candy Jedi
Females have always had a hard time enjoying Umphrey’s McGee, that is until the band decided to reinvent themselves to appeal to a female audience. “We got really sick of only seeing dudes at our shows,” shared frontman Brendan Bayliss. “We realized we needed to change our approach in order to be more encompassing of both sexes.”
Back in the day, Umphrey’s lack of experience with the opposite sex led them down a path of androgynous themed lyrics about drinking beer and eating chicken wings. “When we first started out, our moms were the only females who would come to our shows,” shared bassist Ryan Stasik. “Now that we are married, we can consult with our wives regarding our lady fans and what they might like.”
The new approach Umphrey’s has adopted is all-encompassing, from studio tracks to their infamous live shows. The sound has shifted to a lighter vein with more sappy Bayliss lyrics and less rage. They’ve also toned down their set lists by throwing in slower songs like “Uncle Wally” and “Upward” so girls would be given the opportunity to appreciate the softer side of Umph. Keyboardist Joel Cummins shared, “Women tend to wear makeup when they come to our concerts and that doesn’t seem to mesh well with the facemelting ways of our past.” When they do kick up the energy, Umphrey’s now chooses to get sexy with their jams, sometimes even provoking the ladies to take off their bras and throw them on the stage. There was even talk of changing the band name to Godboner due to the notion that size really does matter to most ladies.
There have been many strategic moves made to help strengthen this band’s connection with their female fan base, especially this past year. Umphrey’s latest studio album The London Session was recorded at Abbey Road. This studio was made famous by The Beatles and Umphrey’s added a cover of “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” as the album’s final track. It is a well known fact that women both young and old have always gone mad for The Beatles. Then more recently, Umphrey’s teamed up with American Idol winner Taylor Hicks during a show at Stubb’s in Austin, Texas. Needless to say, the ladies in the crowd went wild for this special guest.
Overall, these changes have brought on exponential growth within the female fan base. While some of the male fans miss the days of hard core facemelting, most are glad to have the opposite sex stand next to them at a concert. All of these changes have been well recieved and there is no doubt Umphrey’s will continue to appeal to the females in their audience for many years to come.