Yeah‚ stay afloat‚ and not stare at the person that blew it. That's how you really give it away. Learn how to smile through it... it definitely helps when you make a mistake yourself‚ it's like‚ ok just gotta smile‚ not be pissed about it‚ and you know‚ in the end‚ everybody has forgotten that there's been some mistake ten seconds after it happens. You know‚ we're the ones who have to be self-critical‚ but it's important not to dwell on it. Those things happen‚ but we're always trying to improve the ways in which we deal with it.

Well‚ it really depends. Brendan writes a lot of the setlists‚ but a lot of it is informed by what we've played the last time we came through a place‚ sometimes different people in the band will have a song they want to play on a specific night‚ so we'll all contribute with what songs we're gonna play for the most part. Last night [bassist] Ryan [Stasik] wrote the setlist‚ it was pretty adventurous‚ pretty fun; I write a few here and there. So‚ you know‚ again‚ mixing it up is a good thing in keeping things fresh‚ and I really enjoy mixing it up with a songlist show here or there‚ but there are different people in the band that don't like it as much. So it's kind of a group comfort decision: if everybody isn't into it‚ it's not something that we try to force. I think it is important for all of us as musicians to respect each other's creative ideas and comfort on that front.

And you know‚ I think there will be times‚ once or twice a year‚ where we'll end up doing something like that. Like I said‚ I always enjoy it‚ and I certainly hope we will keep throwing them in there once in a while because they produce a different sort of feeling onstage where you're not as dialed into what needs to happen next‚ you're more dialed into -- I mean‚ the goal is to of course be right with whatever is happening at the moment. The downside of that is after five minutes of improvising something‚ you can't remember where you started and what you're supposed to go back to.

[Laughter] That's happened to me before. Sometimes it'll end up you'll get to that place that's completely different from where you started‚ and there's been times when there's been more than one of us -- if not all of us -- and you're so far away from the structure of the song you started‚ you've put in the back of your mind… and then you're thankful you have a setlist to glance back to.

I don't know if I can say very much about what we've done in the studio at all until it comes out‚ you know. But that being said‚ I can also say that we've been working on -- last year we got together in April at [guitarist] Jake's [Cinninger] studio in Michigan -- we try to make an annual retreat of that and really just work for 48-72 hours and just bang out as many things as we can‚ try to work on arrangements‚ try to work on what potential songs we could have that'd be new material. Last year we did that and ended up playing four or five new things‚ and we had three or four things we didn't get around to doing‚ so we're kind of revisiting that stuff‚ and we have a few new pieces since then that we've been working on.

So‚ yeah‚ I think we're in the next song cycle of coming up with new material‚ and I'm really excited about a lot of these. Some really cool‚ more up-tempo tunes‚ a lot of dual guitar lead stuff‚ and really for me just the classic sounds of Umphreys McGee‚ what really defines our sound. We found out a lot of the tunes on Death by Stereo‚ and now some of the newer ones like "Puppet String" and "Room to Breathe" and some of the intros we've been using‚ writing and recording -- we're actually going to debut a new one tonight for the second set -- but yeah we have a lot of new material we've been working on and are hoping to play a bunch more of that live for 2012.

We're always trying to figure out what the best formats are to best deliver the product. I think we've really hit on some cool ideas during the first two UMBowls with how to execute fan interaction and‚ we're working on a new quarter for this year that has the potential to be the fan's favorite quarter that we've ever done. That's all I'm going to say about that‚ but we're pretty close to getting that announcement out there‚ maybe some time in the next week or so. But it's a group conversation‚ and a lot of us are contributing ideas about trying new things.

Well‚ the interesting thing‚ I was a teacher -- I still have one student that I see now pretty infrequently -- I taught piano to people from age six to about twenty-five‚ from about‚ I guess‚ 1998 to 2009 or so‚ 2010. I recently moved‚ so that's why I kind of ditched my student. [Laughter] But coming from that‚ it's so interesting to me as a teacher‚ because I learned a lot more about the things I was trying to teach because I was speaking verbally about them‚ and to think about them in ways that I could relate or explain to the students. So‚ I think‚ you know‚ I think we're gonna get kind of an unexpected‚ deeper understanding of how we interact. Some of the programs will be about how we improvise as a group‚ some will be about how we arrange songs and how we choose who plays what part and how you support those different things‚ so I think the fact that we don't -- when we're working with each other‚ were just inherently trying to go for the ideas we feel are most successful‚ and can just be expressed by‚ "Oh‚ I like the thing when you go flat 2 flat 6‚ this‚ that‚ ok cool." We have the language that we can talk about it‚ it's just straightforward‚ cut and dried‚ let's get this out as quickly as possible.

But being able to tell them this stuff and get a little detail-oriented‚ I think it's gonna really be an exciting thing for us as musicians and I'm sure we'll get a lot out of that. I think it's gonna be really cool to have all these people here that are singularly focused on becoming better musicians. Some of that will come through showing different things we've done as a band. I think that's one of the biggest things. It's not just‚ how do you improve as an individual player? A lot of it is how‚ as a band‚ how do you put something together that is cohesive and that makes sense and that is attractive to other people?