Umphrey’s McGee Has a “Renewed Sense of Energy” With New Drummer

“We’ll have three completely different nights of music for the fans,” says Joel Cummins, keyboardist of Umphrey’s McGee. “Colorado is one of our strongest fan bases, and the fans are going to be just as excited as we are.”

Umphrey’s Mcgee will be at the Boulder Theater for a three-night run starting Thursday, January 15, and it’ll have something new for the fans. Most are accustomed to seeing Kris Meyers behind the drums, but as of May 2025, Scotty Zwang has taken over permanently. Cummins says adding Zwang has injected a new sense of creativity and purpose into the band.

“One of the biggest new things compared to last year’s run at the Boulder Theater is our new drummer, Scotty, who joined us in May,” he says. “It’s been an absolute joy to play with him. He’s such a great listener and communicator, and we’ve really been able to take some deep dives into improvisation — hitting places we haven’t gotten to before.”

Zwang’s ability to create unique sounds and explore new spaces has impressed the band. “There’s a renewed sense of energy, vigor and zest in the band,” Cummins says, “just from having that fresh perspective. Scotty was a fan of Umphrey’s before he became a professional drummer.”

Despite the band’s extensive catalog, Zwang quickly adapted to old material without slowing the band’s momentum. “It was really funny early on while he was getting tunes up to speed,” Cummins says. “He was like, ‘You know, some of these harder ones from 2002 to 2008 — I don’t even know if I need to practice “Prowler.” I already know how to play it.’”

The UM Bowl Inspires New Album, Blueprints

The band’s UM Bowl events inspired much of the music on Blueprints, the band’s new album, which will drive performances on the current Sky Is the Limit Tour. The Boulder Theater run offers fans a first look at some of the band’s new improvisation-to-composition jams.

“You have all these improvisational moments that have only happened one time,” Cummins says. “The idea was: Do you think we could get fans to vote on these little two- to three-minute segments where everyone created their own part? Then you take the top-voted segments and try to make a song out of them — turning improvisation into composition. Basically, your job is just not to mess it up.”

These concepts evolved into a systematic approach for developing new songs. “We took pieces from eight different live shows and combined them into one song,” Cummins says. “That’s what Blueprints is all about—turning improvisation into composition. The end result is the most jam-centric album Umphrey’s has ever produced. Some of the songs are ten to twenty minutes long. We describe the smaller pieces of music as Legos. Each song has Lego one, Lego two, Lego three, and we point out where the original performance came from.”

To help fans trace each piece of the puzzle, the band also created a playlist on Nugs that links the original performances. “You can listen through and, at some point in the song, hear the part that eventually became a section of another track,” Cummins says.

The band was a tad nervous about releasing new material, Cummins admits. “We were a little nervous about how the album would be received, but both the super fans and the casual fans really liked it,” he says. “We’ll be playing some of the new songs from Blueprints every night, and that’s what we’ll be touring behind on the Sky Is the Limit Tour. We want to make sure fans get to experience this music live.”

Blueprints was recorded at the end of 2024 in Chicago at Top Note, a theater above the L train. The band recorded multiple versions of each song during the day in a circle and then performed for about 100 fans at night, with each song played only once.

“The fans didn’t know we were recording in the studio, but our engineer told us some of the best live peaks happened during those shows,” Cummins says. “We ended up including those moments on the album, as well.”

Umphrey’s Mcgee, Boulder Theater, 2032 14th Street, Boulder, Thursday, January 15, through Saturday, January 17. Get tickets at the Boulder Theater website.