Kris Myers
Umphrey's McGee/Recording Artist - United States

Overview

Having started drumset at age 8, Kris was living in a household in Palatine, Illinois, brought up listening to legendary rock acts the Police, Rolling Stones, Beatles, Led Zeppelin, and Pink Floyd. As a child of the 80’s, there was also the influence of MTV and radio, hearing the music of Prince, U2, Tears for Fears, Duran Duran, Run DMC, Herbie Hancock, and Talking Heads. By age 12, however, Kris was finding himself more interested in grade school hard rock/heavy metal bands where, as the drummer and vocalist, Myers honed his chops blasting through catalogs of Ozzy, Metallica, Van Halen, Living Colour, and Black Crowes. He continued to freelance through high school, when during the end of the “hair band era”, turned to alternative, punk, grunge, and industrial music. At this time, he was also playing with the school jazz, concert, and marching band and keeping a serious commitment to Golf.

Ultimately, music became Kris’ direction when he earned a scholarship at Elmhurst College. While in school, he began his professional gigging career, listening to a new palette of music; jazz and classical. At that time Kris earned several performance awards for the Honors Recital as a percussionist, and for the Elmhurst College Jazz Festival for outstanding soloist. Elmhurst College Director of Jazz Studies and Grammy Award winning composer/arranger Doug Beach started a program where he put students like Kris to work, playing weddings on the weekend and such, until he graduated in May, 1999. During that time Kris studied at Elmhurst College with Bob Rummage and at times with North Texas’ great teacher/clinician Ed Soph. From 2000-2002, Kris earned his Masters Degree in Jazz Studies from Depaul University. From that point on, Kris became a freelance studio and live performer, working with Chicago fusion fabs Kick the Cat, recording artists Rob Parton, Mark Colby, John McLean, Rob Cornelius (Poi Dog Pondering), and Paris Delayne (Sonia Dada).

Currently, Kris plays with progressive rock/jamband outfit Umphrey’s McGee, whom of which he started with in 2003. Over the course of the last 10 years, the band has performed repetitively at festivals such as Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza, and continues to sell out shows in the nation’s premier venues coast to coast. They have toured Europe multiple times and performed at Japan’s Fuji Rock Festivals in 2006. They have also recorded and/or performed with Dave Matthews, Adrian Belew, Buddy Guy, Taj Mahal, Joshua Redman, Stanley Jordan, Mavis Staples, Koko Taylor, Huey Lewis, Bela Flek, Victor Wooten, Jeff Coffin, Mike Keneally, Les Claypool, Phil Lesh, Warren Haynes, and Ivan Neville, to name a few. Music fans and listeners recall Frank Zappa’s “mix and match” approach, where Kris’ jazz studies have given him a vast set of tools and made him a fearless improviser, a key ingredient in a band that plays off the cuff pieces at every show, never repeating a given song for weeks at a time.

When time permits, Kris plays with Ohmphrey, a rock/fusion project featuring Jake and Joel from Umphreys, teaming up with Ohm’s Chris Poland(Megadeth, Circle Jerks) and Rob Pagliari. Kris is also working in Chicago with various jazz ensembles, and several various electronic, drum’n’bass, house, and hip hop artists.

TOUR DATES:

Fri 10/01/10             Salt Lake City, UT        The Depot      
Sat 10/02/10         Reno, NV     Knitting Factory Concert House    
Sun 10/03/10         San Francisco, CA     Speedway Meadow @Golden Gate Park     
Wed 10/06/10         Arcata, CA     Arcata Theatre    
Thu 10/07/10         Eugene, OR     McDonald Theatre    
Fri 10/08/10         Seattle, WA     Showbox SoDo    
Sat 10/09/10         Missoula, MT     Wilma Theatre    
Thu 10/21/10         Pittsburgh, PA     Mr. Small's Theatre    
Fri 10/22/10         Kalamazoo, MI     The Kalamazoo State Theatre    
Sat 10/23/10         Cleveland, OH     House Of Blues    
Sun 10/24/10         Bloomington, IN     Bluebird Nightclub    
Wed 10/27/10         Des Moines, IA     People's    
Thu 10/28/10         Urbana, IL     Canopy Club    
Fri 10/29/10         Urbana, IL     Canopy Club    
Sat 10/30/10         St. Louis, MO     The Pageant    
Sun 10/31/10         St. Louis, MO     The Pageant    
Wed 11/03/10         South Burlington, VT     Higher Ground - Ballroom    
Thu 11/04/10         South Burlington, VT     Higher Ground - Ballroom    
Fri 11/05/10         Washington, DC     9:30 Club    
Sat 11/06/10         Washington, DC     9:30 Club    
Tue 11/09/10         Charlottesville, VA     Jefferson Theater    
Wed 11/10/10         Boone, NC     Legends    
Thu 11/11/10         Live Oak, FL     Spirit Of The Suwannee Music Park    
Fri 11/12/10         Live Oak, FL     Spirit Of The Suwannee Music Park    
Wed 12/29/10         Chicago, IL     Riviera Theatre    
Thu 12/30/10         Chicago, IL     Riviera Theatre    
Fri 12/31/10         Chicago, IL     Riviera Theatre    
Thu 01/20/11       Cancun, Mexico     Now Sapphire Resort    
Fri 01/21/11         Cancun, Mexico     Now Sapphire Resort    
Sat 01/22/11         Cancun, Mexico     Now Sapphire Resort    
Sun 01/23/11         Cancun, Mexico     Now Sapphire Resort    
Mon 01/24/11         Cancun, Mexico     Now Sapphire Resort

Links

umphreys.com