UMPHREY'S MCGEE'S NEW ALBUM, MANTIS, IS RELEASED TO RAVE REVIEWS

ANOTHER WINDY CITY FAMILY GETS CAST INTO THE LIMELIGHT

UMPHREY'S MCGEE'S NEW ALBUM, MANTIS, IS RELEASED TO RAVE REVIEWS

LOOK FOR THE BAND ON TOUR NOW IN SUPPORT OF NEW ALBUM

Chicago, Illinois - Chicago's Umphrey's McGee new album, Mantis, hits streets today to rave reviews, casting another Windy City family into the public spotlight.

Mantis is already being hailed as the band's most progressive, melodic and artistically cohesive album to date.

Here's what critics are saying:

"Umphrey's McGee stand revealed as consummate musical alchemists, deftly reconfiguring sounds from rock's vast panoply of styles, and evoking bands as diverse as Steely Dan, Metallica, XTC, Rush, and the Beach Boys without sounding like copycats...the sleekly constructed tunes (no noodling here) sparkle with a sweetness and soul that's more than the sum of their influences."
- Entertainment Weekly

"...meticulous...the cohesive strength of the band...rarely falters. If complexity is the standard by which it should be judged, Mantis warranted the buildup [of its release]." - New York Times

"...razor sharp compositions... surgical precision, stop-start build-ups, hair metal riffs, and anthemic crescendos...not to mention some of the most technical and inspired guitar soloing you'll hear on an album..." - Relix Magazine

"...fresh, fluid, and classic. Mantis is a culmination of a buzz that has surrounded this band since its inception.... From jam band princes to prog-rock kings, Umphrey's McGee has arrived." - Honest Tune

"[Mantis offers] seriously ambitious arrangements. ...and their songwriting has progressed as much as their ambitions." - Prefix Magazine

The first single from Mantis, "Measure to Measure," 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."

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 21The 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 27 The Pageant St. Louis, MO
March 28 Minglewood Hall Memphis, TN
April 01Town 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.

http://www.umphreys.com/