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Chicago's Umphrey's McGee enters its second decade together with their hardest, darkest, and most artistically cohesive album to date. The new album hits streets on Inauguration Day, January 20, 2009, when Mantis casts another Windy City family into the limelight.
The first single from Mantis, "Measure to Measure," has already debuted at #1 on the R&R Indicator Top 30 chart (tied with "Lucky" - Jason Mraz & Colbie Caillat duet). Billboard Magazine recently recognized Umphrey's McGee's "digital savvy," hailing Mantis 's innovative pre-order campaign, where fans unlock bonus content as the number of Mantis pre-orders increase, as "...a likely template for emerging and established acts [looking to] kick-start interest in a new release."
Over 2 years in the making, Mantis pushes the envelope in composition, arrangement and group interplay. In an
Umphrey's McGee first, the album offers 100% new material - a drastic change of pace for a band whose typical modus operandi is to work out the material live on-stage before recording studio versions.
Umphrey's McGee will appear on PBS's critically acclaimed concert series, Soundstage, on February 5, 2009 - just in time to celebrate the release of Mantis. Look for the new material on Mantis to get a live workout in 2009, when the band hits the road in support of the new album. Confirmed tour dates are as follows:
January 22 Aggie Theatre Fort Collins, CO January 23 Boulder Theater Boulder, CO January 24 Fillmore Auditorium Denver, CO January 30 First Avenue Minneapolis, MN January 31 First Avenue Minneapolis, MN February 01 First Avenue Minneapolis, MN February 12 Barrymore Theatre Madison, WI February 13 Barrymore Theatre Madison, WI February 14 Barrymore Theatre Madison, WI February 15 Barrymore Theatre Madison, WI February 19 Variety Playhouse Atlanta, GA February 20 Variety Playhouse Atlanta, GA February 21 The Orange Peel Asheville, NC February 22 Neighborhood Theatre Charlotte, NC March 04 Workplay Soundstage Birmingham, AL March 05 Workplay Soundstage Birmingham, AL March 07 Langerado Music Festival Miami Beach, FL March 12 Royal Oak Music Theatre Royal Oak, MI March 13 Egyptian Room Indianapolis, IN March 14 Egyptian Room Indianapolis, IN March 25 Cain's Ballroom Tulsa, OK March 26 Liberty Hall Lawrence, KS March 27The Pageant St. Louis, MO March 28 Minglewood Hall Memphis, TN April 01 Town Ballroom Buffalo, NY April 02 The Grand Opera House Wilmington, DE April 03 Penn's Peak Jim Thorpe, PA April 04 Ram's Head Live! Baltimore, MD April 05 Toad's Place New Haven, CT April 07 Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel Providence, RI April 08 Calvin Theatre Northampton, MA April 09 House of Blues Boston, MA April 10 Nokia Theatre Times Square New York, NY April 11 Nokia Theatre Times Square New York, NY April 16 Taft Theatre Cincinnati, OH April 30 House of Blues New Orleans, LA May 01 House of Blues New Orleans, LA
In addition to a one-of-a kind pre-order campaign where fans can participate in "unlocking" exclusive bonus material, Mantis
incorporates PUSH(TM) technology by Digital Insert to deliver new content throughout 2009. PUSH requires no software installation or serial number; by simply putting the Mantis CD in your CD-ROM drive, the disc will act as a "key" to an Umphreys.com micro-site where fans get access to exclusive 2009 content as it becomes available.
Mantis is yet another innovative music experience to be offered by Umphrey's McGee, who have proven adaptive and inventive both in music and business over the last 10 years. Through online community building, creative web-based promotions, and open taping policies allowing live music sharing among fans, Umphrey's McGee has harnessed the internet's momentum to spread their music far and wide. The band's download store UMLive.net is an archive of their ever-diverse live performances, hosting downloads of over 300 shows with 750,000 tracks sold since 2004. Umphreys.com hosts the iTunes friendly UM Podcast which releases two 75-minute episodes of live material each month to its 20,000 subscribers. Since 2001, Umphrey's has released soundboard recordings of each night's concert immediately after the show in both physical and digital formats - and each show typically sells upwards of 300 copies per night. The band's unique approach to online and digital distribution, paired with word of mouth buzz, has helped Umphrey's McGee sell out shows nationwide while keeping their fans a top priority. www.umphreys.com
Please contact Madison House Publicity to receive a review copy of Mantis.
