On May 17, Umphrey’s McGee will reveal Anchor Drops Redux, a re-release and debut vinyl pressing of 2004’s Anchor Drops. On April 18, the band launched a companion video series to promote the 15th-anniversary package, which offers “a track-by-track deep dive into the history of the album, stories behind the songs, and musings on the early years of the band’s time in Chicago.” Following last week’s episode on “Plunger,” the group has followed it up with a brief clip on title track “Anchor Drops.”
To start the video, Brendan Bayliss speaks about music theory and how he translated chords on the piano to the guitar to create a more “lush” sound. The band then speaks on the role of Chicago in their history, with Jake Cinninger adding “In Chicago, we found our home finally.” Bayliss adds, “The drummer we found to save the band, Kris Myers, was from Chicago, so it made sense to ‘drop the anchor,’ so to speak.”
Throughout the clip, Bayliss talks about the influence of Al Di Meola. He notes that “Anchor Drops” is “a direct reflection of a book I got,” Di Meola’s Scales, Chords, and Arpeggios, which provided the basis for the “more colorful” chord shapes he uses in the song. He also shares a fun anecdote about Umphrey’s debut performance of the composition:
The first time we ever played it live, I was very excited about it. We decided to encore with it, which is kind of a bold choice to play a new song as the encore. A very good friend of mine from high school was at the show. After the show, I said, “What’d you think?” He said, “Awesome. Great show. Whatever that last song was that you played, never play it again.”
Watch episode two of the Anchor Drops Redux video series below:
