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American rock and jam band Umphrey"s McGee churnsout a progressive brand of improvised rock that has made them oneof the premier live acts on tour these days. Lighting designerJefferson Waful, who replaces longtime band LD Adam Budney, startedworking with the band prior to the its latest release, Mantis , and subsequent tour.
Having worked with the band moe. since 2004, Waful found himselfout of work when that band took an indefinite break this past fall."Just by total coincidence, Umphrey"s McGee needed asubstitute LD for a few shows, as their longtime LD was taking atour off for personal reasons," Wafulsays. "Umphrey"s and moe. have a long history ofsharing the stage, so they called me." When Budney decided topursue other roads, Waful was brought on fulltime. "I wasreally enjoying the challenge of having to learn an entire catalogof new material, which was quite daunting, and the freshness ofcoming up with new designs," he adds. "It felt verynatural."
Since the band had been working on Mantis for more thantwo years when Waful joined, he says they were so excited about thenew material that they would blare it on the tour bus late atnight. "It was like a scene out of AlmostFamous , and I was really struck by how much passion the bandand crew had for this new music. I immediately started gettingvisions of what the light show should look like. The recordhas such a large, cinematic feel to it. I kept calling it"epic," until one of the band members jokingly bannedthe use of the word due to its overuse. So we decided on"grandiose" as an acceptable synonym."
Waful was given relatively free reign over the lighting looksfor the show. His design philosophy? "Because of the natureof the music, I...