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You're listening to Sound Opinions, and this week we have Humphreys McGee performing live at the Goose Island Salt Shed Pub.
I'm Jim DeRogatis.And I'm Greg Pye.But first, Jim and I are going to review the new album by Alan Sparhawk of Lowe.Sound Opinions is supported by Goose Island since 1988.Goose Island's been brewing beers in the spirit of Chicago.
You can find 312 Weed Ale, Big Juicy Beer Hug, and so many other limited releases at either of Goose's locations in Chicago, Goose Island Beer Company, Chicago's Beer.
That is a little bit of feel-something from the new Alan Sparhawk record, White Roses, My God.Alan Sparhawk, you may not be familiar with that name particularly, but you probably know the name of his band that he was in for 30 plus years, Low.
They have been guests on the show, one of the great bands in my opinion of the last three decades, out of Duluth, Minnesota.
Alan and his wife Mimi Parker were the co-founders of that band and were the anchors of a band that rotated bases over the years in a few different lineups, but they were the core of that group.
Mimi died in 2022 after a long battle with cancer, and Alan basically said that's it for the band.He always said that a song is never complete, a low song is never complete until Mimi sings on it. And he's true to his word.He's maintained that.
And obviously a hugely tragic event.A relatively young mom and wife.And to lose a person like that at this stage of anyone's life is just something you'll never forget, obviously. So what we're hearing here is solo Alan Sparhawk.The first?
Actually the second.He did put out a solo record in 2006 and we've actually had Alan on the show with one of his side projects.He's worked in numerous other bands over the years with Lowe being the foundation of everything he's done.
I don't want to say too much about this record.
We're going to get into the review here in a little bit, other than to say it's essentially an Alan Sparhawk solo record in every sense of that word, with the exception of some backing vocals and instrumentation by his son and daughter with Mimi.
It's his project. And it sounds that way.And he may have been a little startled by what you heard up front there.Yeah.That treated vocal, pitch shifted vocal.
The key instrument on this record, the instrument that he is working with, is called a Helicon voice tone pedal.It's basically a pitch altering foot pedal.
That he's using to mess with his vocal tone. You're going to hear that a little bit here on this track as well.Here's a track from White Rose's My God, Alan Sparhawk's second solo record called Heaven on Sound Opinions.
That is a little bit of the song, Heaven, from the Alan Sparhawk solo album, White Roses, My God.You know, Greg, I studiously try to avoid reading any reviews of an album, but my social media feeds were filled with people voicing their opinions.
Obviously, the indie rock world, the music world, feels for Alan, what he was going through. And it's great to see that he is channeling his emotions into a musical project.
The story he tells is that he bought this gear for his son, it was laying around, he started messing with it, and things were coming out that he felt he needed to share.
I think it's interesting we can intellectualize the use of the vocoder, whatever we want to call technically the vocal treatments.They're on every track on this album.
There is no hint of Alan's own voice, a little bit of backing vocals that are untreated by his daughter.
We can intellectualize that and say, you know, he is consumed by the monster mechanical or otherwise of grief, that he is distancing himself from the emotions through this machine, that he is at the bottom of a deep, dark well looking for a way.
There's any number of metaphors and comparisons, but Man, it ain't easy to listen to for an entire album.I think a lot of what he's doing with synthesizers and drum machines is really interesting.
As I said, my social media feeds are 100% pro this album, and they're comparing, my friends are comparing it to everything from Charlie XCX and Brat to Trans, the 1983 experimental synth album by Neil Young.
All of which I am thrilled to see an artist of his stature and longevity stretching boundaries, going somewhere new.We can only applaud that.I'm just saying it's not an easy listen.
Yeah, I would agree with you.It's not an easy listen.My first encounter with it was not favorable.It was like, oh my God, what's going on here?And I gotta say, I started listening to this thing multiple times in different contexts.
I always try to like, OK, don't listen to it three times in a row.It's not going to help you. Process it any better.
So I would sort of play it at different hours of the day on different whatever device I had handy at the moment sounds different in the car than your office.
I I found myself playing it Front to back, you know not sort of Cherry-picking tracks that I liked initially and just going back to them or I listen to the whole thing as a continuous piece of music I kind of saw it as sort of was almost like a symphony.
It's 34 minutes.It's not that hard to get through.Yeah, and And they're shorter tracks, right?So I found myself getting immersed in it.And it, you know, for lack of a better term, it grew on me.
It became like something that, oh, this is starting to make sense to me.And it's kind of beautiful.There are disturbing parts in it, for sure.The instrumentation can be really harsh, but it also can be quite beautiful and lulling.
Processing grief, you know, who's to tell somebody how they should process their grief?One thing I knew is that Sparhawk was not going to make an album that sounded anything like a Lowe album.Right.
You know, which they sounded quite beautiful, but it should be noted that even Lowe started experimenting with some noisier textures in the last third of their career. was evident in where he was going.Yeah.
The record, it reminds me of most, and I did notice the trans, I think that was a clear, there's a line there.Yeah.In trans, Neil was trying to communicate with his son, his autistic son.How do I communicate with this person?
In this case, I think Alan is trying to communicate with himself.How do I get through this numbness, this grief that I'm feeling? You know, that song about, I'm feeling, can you help me feel something here?
And he just gets to that point where he's... And he changes the line every time he repeats it.It's a different variation.But you know, look, I applauded Tranz, too.
Neil Young has more than earned the right to do whatever he wants, so has Alan Sparhawk.I just, that's not in the top 20 that I go to listen to.
I agree with that, but at the same time, I think it's a record he needed to make, and it's almost like, like I said, it got better with each listen for me. That is what we thought of Alan Sparhawk's new album.
Let me tell you, you're going to have an opinion one way or another on this, and we'd love to hear from you about it, because I do think it's the kind of record that is going to get a wide range of responses to it.I'd love to hear some of those.
Share your thoughts in a voice message at our website, soundopinions.org, and we may play it on the show.Coming up, we'll head to the Goose Island Salt Shed Pub for a live session with Umphreys McGee.That's In a Minute on Sound Opinions.
Sound Opinions is supported by Goose Island Beer Company.Since 1988, Goose Island's been brewing beers in and inspired by Chicago.They got 312 Weed Ale, Hazy Beer Hug, and many more one-off beers at the Fulton Street Taproom
or their new Salt Shed Pub, the perfect place to go before a show at the Salt Shed.Me and Andrew were there on opening night.Greg, it was really exciting.You had Rocky Mountain spotted fever, tick fever.I'm sorry about that.
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Yeah, we are proud to be associated with Goose Island.Goose Island Beer Company, Chicago's beer.And sound opinions is. And we are back, and we're thrilled to bring you a live session with Umfries McGee.
We held this event at Goose Island's Salt Shed Pub at the end of August with an enthusiastic group of Sound Opinions listeners and fans of this long-running, genre-bending band, Umfries McGee, which we have always been fascinated by but have not talked about on the show.
Yeah, it is a long-running band, and Jim, you're right, we hadn't talked about the band much on the show.I went back to my files, I interviewed them a few times for the Chicago Tribune.
The first time was in 2009, and that was 12 years after they formed.I have to say I went to see them perform a couple of times before that because there was a buzz around this band. as a great live band.People were talking about them.
We love seeing them live.They're taking these songs to a new place.Reminds me of a few other bands that we know of, you know, the Phish, Grateful Dead genre.But, you know, they assiduously avoid those comparisons.They don't like those.We're not that.
But like those bands, they operate outside the parameters of the traditional music industry, doing things a hundred percent their own way.
Yeah, I mean they formed in the late 90s out of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana.Guitarist and vocalist Brendan Bayless, keyboardist Joel Cummins, bassist Ryan Stasek, they've been in the band since the very beginning.
After they released their debut album titled Greatest Hits Volume 3, They've got a sense of humor.Yes, absolutely.Andy Farragh joined as a percussionist, and guitarist Jake Sinninger was added a few years later.
Drummer Chris Myers is the most recent addition.That was in 2003.So these guys have essentially been a core group for 21 years, right?Yeah.They all joined us for this session.They all wanted to jump in.Usually these are stripped-down acoustic.Nope.
They wanted to do the full-on deal.It was crowded up there, but fun.It was.It was pretty cool. I started by asking Brendan why they chose Chicago to launch their post-South Bend career.
Chicago is 92 miles away and there's hundreds of fantastic venues and a lot of forgiving people that come to the shows.And it was an easy place to kind of go and if we failed we wouldn't have to go that far to go back.
How tough was it to get an audience in Chicago?Because there's many, many venues, many, many bands.It was teeming with bands when you guys were here in the late 90s, right?What were those gigs like here?
The first gig we did was the Elbow Room, I want to say.And we had 17 people pay.And the promoter, Joel, do you have the best impersonation of when he settled at the end of the night?
Let's see It was something like Your draw suck.No, no Now it was weak.
Oh, yeah, it was weak your turn out when he said it twice weak weak like that so I Walked out and you know, I told him I was like listen, we're never playing the elbow room again, you know and Yeah, I called
Andy's dad, who was kind of our conciliary, who was advising us in the days, and I said, I think I might have really blown it.And I told the talent buyer at the Elbow Room we were never coming back.
And he said, Joel, you know, if you need the Elbow Room to make it, you ain't going to make it anyway.
How did you guys come together and say, this is what we want to do, and this is what we're going to try to sound like?
Well, Notre Dame is a very small community.And everyone kind of knows everybody's business.So there are about five bands and maybe 15 musicians at all times, at least in our experience.
And you kind of knew just through word of mouth who was playing where.I had a music theory class with Joel. I think, did I go twice and then I dropped it?
Yeah, I saw him and I was like, finally, somebody I can talk to.And he immediately quit.
Yes, and ironically enough, my sophomore year, I went to the head of the music department because I said I wanted to declare music as my major.And he said, you can't read music.You have no formal training.
You trying to be a professional musician would be like me trying out for the Cincinnati Reds.Just don't do it.
Wow.So I didn't listen to him.
I remember coming into the cafeteria late night for some snacks.Mr. Brendan Bayless with hair past his shoulders, patchwork pants, a banjo playing Rainbow Connection by Kermit.And I was like, that's my best friend.
Well, I think that chance meeting worked out.The format here is we like to chat with you guys, play with you.It's something really special.For all the gigs you do, it won't be quite like this.So tell us what you want to play.
It's a song called Pure Saturation, and it's off our latest record.It's called Asking for a Friend.We hope you enjoy it.
♪ I've been trying to explain everything, but here I do ♪ ♪ You're needed here too ♪ ♪ I'm not a souvenir for you ♪ ♪ I had a dream, I've been meaning that for a while now ♪ ♪ Didn't seem like I needed to act like somebody else ♪
Got no reason, I didn't think as far as I could tell But it's not your fault, I did not jump out there I did decide not to get in the line Just to wait and see You'd rather never ever know You'd never ever let it go
Once in a while maybe I'll be a magazine.And when you feel like flipping through, I'll be waiting right here for you.
Well, I guess it's okay that you feel like a future deal Don't you worry, be told to obey, there's a way to do Even they have to pay, but I know that you gotta kill But it's not like I'm the one me.
♪ Baby, if I'm out, it's summer time ♪ ♪ I will wait to see if I don't get stuck inside myself ♪ ♪ You can go and be somebody else ♪
That is pure saturation from Humphreys McGee.You guys right from the start, had about 17 different musical styles that I think you incorporated in most of your music.
It just seemed like you were all over the map in terms of the kind of influences that you had.How does that work out when you got six guys?I know that a lot of people were contributing to the songwriting.
Different parts of the songs were written by different band members.Do I got that right?So how do you incorporate all these different genres into what you're doing as a songwriter?
Well, I mean, you're pretty much a product of your environment, right?So kind of like what comes in goes out.And Ferg was always into hip hop, so there was always a hip hop influence.Jake was into metal, and that was a metal influence.
Joel's just Joel.He's a nice, he means well. For example, I love the Indigo Girls.So I really do.I just went and saw them at Ravinia last week.It's fantastic.So I was always kind of into the acoustic stuff.And on paper, none of that would line up.
But when you're driving across the country, everybody's like, there's 40-hour drives from South Bend to Portland, Oregon.You're going to run out of stuff to listen to.You start listening to everybody's stuff, and after a while,
We knew all the words to every hip hop record that came out in the 90s.I think Chronic 2001 was probably the favorite.Outkast as well, 2000s.But at some point, again, what you listen to kind of comes back out.
And we kind of always had this philosophy of if we like it, and even if I didn't like something that someone was listening to, after a while, you learn to appreciate it, even if you don't enjoy it.
So over time, that just became, it didn't become a restriction.It was like, on paper it shouldn't fit, but we just kind of made it work.
And for some reason, if we wanted to make a three bar bluegrass fill in the middle of a progressive song, we would just do it.
Well, you're famous for covers.You're famous for mashups.Does anybody have veto power?If Ryan suggests one Tool song too many, do the rest of you have the right to say, no, we're not going to cover that one?Or do you just go along for the ride?
Has anyone ever vetoed?Yeah, Jive talking.Me?
Oh, wait, this is true.We did Jive Talkin' once, or twice, maybe.
It was like Jake's first day in the band.I remember him hearing us play that, and he's like, maybe this isn't the right thing for me.
Yeah, you're like, I don't know that one, guys. I think veto power comes down to a physical limitation.Like, say, I'm staying up late with Ryan the night before discussing politics, or whatever it is.
And the sun comes up, and I realize I've been up too late.I physically probably couldn't sing jive talking the next day.
Otherwise, you're completely open.But the whole idea of democracy in songwriting, you hear that so often.It's like that's what breaks up bands sometimes.It's like there's all these cooks in the kitchen, right?
And how do you end up with perfect dish at the end of that?Usually, it's one person in the band bringing in all the ideas, and the others maybe fill in around it.But it's really that central idea.
So you guys must have, I mean, I can't imagine that that is not argumentative at times.There's like division. You're having like, I don't really like that idea.Well, I worked on that for three weeks.I think it's a really good idea.
How do you solve those kind of issues?
Are you married?Oh, yeah.
Oh, you're married to 500 guys, basically.
Well, yeah, with no sexual release.So everything's through music.Yeah, it's all about having boundaries and being respectful of saying what you like and don't like.
And we've been lucky enough to not have to throw fists and just talk it out respectfully and get there.
Occasionally shoes, but no fists. Yeah, I think the other thing is we all kind of want to have the best material for whatever we're working on.
So if you just kind of go into it saying, I'm going to try to contribute some stuff, and you guys tell me what's good and what's not.Go ahead, Brennan, with your joke.
I was going to say something serious, but if you will. We were working on an album called Mantis and it came out in 2010, I believe.You can applaud, thank you.
And we were doing things.We had a dry erase board.And we would have sections like A, B, C, D. And then we would put it A, B, C, D, and then D, A, C, B. And we would try it.And there was conflict.And there was arguments.
And I remember in that session, we kind of made an agreement.From now on, we have to at least try the idea before you say no to it, at least give it a fair chance.And I will admit when I'm wrong.I have yet to be wrong.
But if it was to happen, you'd admit it.If I were, I would admit it.
No, but to Ryan's point today, he said something on the bus.He's like, Brendan, can I give you an honest critique?And my first reaction was, ugh, I really don't want to hear this.And I said, yes.
And we talked about something that happened last night, and we agreed on it.And I'm in a much better mood than I was when he first asked me if we could have a serious conversation.
Well, plus the music is always evolving.You know, are there songs, certain songs in this long canon you've created that we just always play them the same time, same way?It seems to me, no, right?
Yeah, we mix it up a little bit.
A little bit, a little bit.
Yeah, we actually don't play the same setlist every night for starters, but as far as the actual arrangements of the songs, we tend to stay on it consistently, but we'll change something if we're passionately feeling, if one guy's feeling something, and if it makes sense with the context of what's going on.
I think the part of it is reading the room and the venue and how big or small it is, and then just also what we feel like creatively, too.Kind of a balance, give and take.
Well, and there's always the room, right, for this.I'm not going to use the J word.I'll use the J word that's Jimmy Stewart going way back, right?I love this story.
You guys were doing a gig in a theater, Jimmy Stewart Theater somewhere, and when you really started welcoming improvisation, so bouts of improv have become Jimmy Stewart's, right?Jazzy interludes, I've seen you call them.Stretching out. Right?
So everything's open to that, right?
Yeah.I mean, even to the point now where songs are still evolving, we have an instrumental called It Doesn't Matter.
And one night, we were like, hey, why don't we do the first A section slow, kind of groovy, and the second time, double time samba or bossa nova, change it up.And then we're like, ooh, we tried it, and we liked it.So now we have options.
So do we do that this time?Do we stick out?So that's just an example of what we do a lot.
And like I said, again, we have boundaries, too, where Joel could tell me, hey, man, I don't like what you're doing on the bass there.He did.He did.Once.And I'm open to it, and I'll change it, and I'll try it.
And then I think putting down that wall of at least trying it and going out there and being like, oh, I didn't think it was going to be any good until I actually tried it.That goes a long way.I try to teach my kids that.You've got to try it once.
It was like eating.Taste it.How can you not like it if you haven't even tasted it?
So I was doing a little AB on Plunger, the song Plunger, which is on the latest live album from the 2022 Hall of Fame record, right?So Plunger starts out as a six minute track on that 2004 album, right?Anchor Drops, right.And 35 minutes on Plunger.
Class of 2022.And you can't AB it because it's like a different song.It's become something completely different.So Jim was talking about evolving.I mean, how does that song get to that place?
Is that just in the moment, like every concert you're playing it and something else changes about it? Or is this something that you actually sit down and, OK, we're going to extend this out.And it ends up being 35 minutes.
I mean, how much of that is going on on stage in real time versus you guys sort of plotting it out in sound checks or something like that?The whiteboard.Right.
We typically notate it now as J-O, which means jazz odyssey.I'm sure you're familiar with Nigel Tufnel.Spinal tap.
And they had to perform a 15 minute jazz odyssey in front of a festival crowd.Freeform.Freeform.But in the set list, if it says plunger, for example, J-O in the middle, it means right in the, there's a part where it's separate.
Thank you, Joel. I don't think that helped. But typically there, we would put J-O, and that could be four minutes, eight minutes.Joel will be frustrated if it doesn't hit the 25-minute mark.But typically, though, we put it at the end of the song.
And it kind of is relative to, like Chris said earlier, if the room is giving the fist pump, then we kind of keep going.And if we look out and we see somebody like Matt over here just looking bored and listless, then we try and cut it short.
I guess that night, everybody was fist pumping.
So you're responding to how the audience is responding.That's pretty cool.Absolutely.That's great.
Yeah, I mean, that's part of it, you know?
That feedback loop.How about another one?
i'm closer to my coffin now and the office on the table but i'm unable found and lost somehow and situation stable i cut the cable
If you want me to, well, I'll wait for you.If you think you can, I can still pretend.I'll tell you that song when you ask me to stop. up and stay.Igniterations real. Could you explain how it feels?Where does the basic stand?
I never thought I would have found it So how does that exist?So many things have been missed Tell me who wrote the rules And if there's one thing I've found, there's always more.It's hard to be true.Don't you try to put it down.
It's hard to let it go. Situations I'm closer to my coffin now.The organs are at a table, but I'm on my knees. somehow.The situation's stable.I've got the cable to my coffin now.My heart is on the table, but I'm unable to find it all somehow.
The situation's stable.I've got the cable.
That's Umfries McGee performing Cut the Cable.After a short break, we'll have more songs and conversation with Umfries McGee.That's in a minute on Sound Opinions.And we're back.We're talking with Umfries McGee at the Goose Island Salt Shed Pub.
Let's jump back into the conversation.
Where you guys stand in the music industry, somewhere between Fugazi, you know, $5 a show, we operate by our own rules and no one else's, and Taylor Swift, you won't give me my album back, I'll re-record it, F you, right?
Are you guys, you don't operate by the rules of bands that play venues the size you regularly play.
I'm not going to lie, those are not the two bands I thought that you would use as the example.
I was reaching for the most extreme example.I was going for that.But I find that enormously inspiring, along with the bond you have with your fans, the way that you don't play the game the way it's, quote unquote, supposed to be played.
Even what's left of it in these dying days of, you know, major labels are almost extinct, right?
Yeah, it's funny because we do cover Fugazi, Waiting Room.We do not cover Taylor Swift yet.My daughter is nine.She will be nine.And she doesn't like Taylor Swift because she thinks all of her friends only listen to Taylor Swift because it's cool.
So she's really into Dolly Parton right now. No, we've always kind of been everything's in-house.We tried the label thing and we started our own label and it was the first time we actually recouped the album sales.
I remember Kevin Browning, our manager.What's up, Kev? He said something to us when we started our own label.He's like, you know, we can be part of a big totem pole and be at the bottom, where they don't pay a lot of attention to you.
But you can put in so much work.It's going to take so much more work to do it, but you're doing it for yourself.And you're at the top of the totem pole.And I always remember that statement that he made there.I like our totem.Yeah.
No, you do better than OK.You know, the reciprocation of chronicling the set lists online, right, and sharing the music and the headphones thing, you can tap into the soundboard, and people suggesting things to you.
It seems like it is not a, you know, band on stage in the spotlight, fan paid the money.It's really a community.
Yeah, when we started, it was honestly for the joy of it all, right?That's why we kind of got into it.And we were willing to play for free.
The first time we played Philadelphia, at the end of the night, we had to each pay because we drank more than we sold.The Pontiac grill.And we were fine with it.
The first time we played the intersection in Grand Rapids, I settled with the guy, and he handed me a $20 bill.And I just pushed it back and said, give it to the bartenders.
But we kind of realized from the beginning that we had the right combination of people. for the most part.
And after the shows, you know, we'd start seeing the same faces, and then we'd end up going to their houses after the show, and then sleeping on their floor after the show, and then becoming kind of like a family over time.
And it's interesting now, because looking back, I've seen people that have grown up, gotten married, had kids, and now their kids have facial hair.
But we kind of realized, too, that in the very beginning that we weren't going to be selling lots of records.And we were never going to be able to count on that income to make a living and sustain it.
So we bought CD towers and essentially would just print CDs.The first time we played Boulder, Colorado, we sent out 200 CDs and gave them all out to people to pass out.And we showed up and we sold out.
a small room, but we sold out the first show we'd ever played in Boulder.
We had never been in Colorado before, because we just gave the music away, because we figured the long game was probably the only way that we were actually going to be able to sustain it.
Inside baseball, maybe too personal a question, but what percentage of your revenue, band revenue, is from touring versus selling recordings? Or streaming recordings.
Most of it.Yeah.Most of it.Well, just one more little thing to kind of touch on.The last subject also relates to this, I would say.
I remember us talking about wanting to tour around the country and build up a fan base because we thought that was how we would get a major label to be like, oh, what's up with these guys?
We thought that was going to be the way that we would get signed. And then 12, 15 years into it, and it hadn't happened, but we realized, wow, we made a fan base for ourselves all around the country, and now we don't need that.
So they didn't want us, but then we could also say, we also don't want you.
Yeah, that's the ultimate F you, right?And that's where you want to be. Touring, I know that back in the day, 150 dates was not unusual.Is it still kind of that heavy load?Or are you trying to do fewer shows a year?
About 80.75, 80 is the sweet spot for us now.
Uh-huh.It's a lot easier when you're in your mid-twenties and you can eat Burger King and sleep on the floor and feel fine the next day.And now a lot of us have kids, too.
So it's being gone for 160 days just isn't isn't something I think everybody wants to do.Looking back, I can't believe I think the show count we did was 162.Yeah, 2002 or three.And it was in a van.
And no, it was in a Suburban. Probably in a van by then.
I remember I moved to Chicago and then left two days later and didn't come home for six weeks.It was like the summer of 2000.Where are you going to go next?
What are you going to play for us?
Do you want to do Mantis or Kitchen?
Kitch?Yeah, that sounds good.
It was cold in the kitchen and the lights were low As winter soared and stumbled home ♪ The air felt different and the sight it shows Every breath resembled smoke ♪ I was lost in opinions I don't wanna know How you're all gonna feel tomorrow
♪ Cold in the kitchen and the lights are low ♪ ♪ It's winter afternoon in Chicago ♪ ♪ The TV's on too much ♪ ♪ Dial all of that thinking off ♪ ♪ About the things that matter most ♪ ♪ Or what can make me old ♪ ♪ There's no argument for wasting time ♪ ♪ Much better spent complacently replacing ♪ ♪ A melody that's slow ♪
I don't expect a smile when I come the blankets that I stole should be the one ♪ and I know you'll run and you'll find and you'll fill that void ♪ justify my fear when I'm paranoid ♪
It was cold in the kitchen and the lights were low As winter slowly stumbled home It felt different at the start of the show As every breath resembled smoke It was lost of opinions and I wanted to know If we're all gonna feel so great tomorrow
♪ It's cold in the kitchen and the lights are low ♪ ♪ It's winter wrapped around Chicago ♪ ♪ But the TV's on too much ♪ ♪ We're tired of not thinking enough ♪ ♪ About the things that matter most ♪ ♪ Who can make me whole?
♪ ♪ There's no argument for wasting time on the internet ♪ ♪ Complacently replacing a man who's slow ♪
In the kitchen!Woo!That was good.
That wraps up our session with Umfries McGee.To see video of their performance, including a version of Hourglass that we couldn't fit in the broadcast, visit our website soundopinions.org.Now we want to hear from you.
Share your thoughts on Umfries McGee in a voice message on our website so we can play them on the show.Mr. Cott, what do we have next week?
Next week, Jim, we're going to have a deep discussion about R.E.M., a band who's had a deep catalog of hits and songs and records for decades.To say nothing of a major force in our lives.That's right.
We're going to talk to their most recent biographer. And don't forget to check out our bonus podcast where we add new songs to the Desert Island jukebox.
The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this program belong solely to Sound Opinions and not necessarily to Columbia College Chicago or our sponsors.Thanks, as always, to our Patreon supporters.
This episode of Sound Opinions was produced by Andrew Gill with help from Alex Claiborne and our Columbia College intern, Max Hatlam. Adam Yaffe engineered our session with Humphreys McGee, and Justin Tivitt and Abra Richardson shot video of it.
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