Umphrey’s McGee Create Live Mash Up of Motorhead and Ween on ‘Ace of Long Nights’
Umphrey’s McGee have turned their creativity and impressive musicianship loose on an exciting new project, recording a live, sample-free mash up album entitled Zonkey.
We're pleased to premiere a particularly hard-charging track from the record, which hits stores Nov. 11. "Ace of Long Nights" finds Umphrey's McGee blending Motorhead's iconic 1980 anthem "Ace of Spades" with Ween's 2003 tribute to Lemmy Kilmister and company, "It's Gonna Be a Long Night."
"'It’s Gonna Be A Long Night' feels like a modern homage to 'Ace of Spades,'" explains keyboardist Joel Cummins. "They’re two dizzyingly torrid riff-rock ragers mashed into one, occasionally so similar that you could mistake one song’s riffs for the other. [Guitarist] Jake [Cinninger] nails Lemmy’s vocals & I do my best Deaner as my studio lead vocal debut. I saved the track for last in the studio so I could blow it out. Let’s party."
Umphrey's McGee has been doing these live mash ups for years at their annual Halloween shows - with no DJs or samples, relying only on their own instrumental skills. They've brought this concept into the studio for Zonkey, on mash ups such as “National Loser Anthem” (Radiohead + Beck + Phil Collins) and “Life After Exodus” (Talking Heads + Bob Marley + Frank Zappa + “ 25 or 6 to 4“ from Chicago.
Next month, our sister site Ultimate Classic Rock will be premiering "Strangletage," which blends Ted Nugent's "Stranglehold" with the Beastie Boys' "Sabotage." You can get the full track list for Zonkey, as well as the Umphrey's McGee's upcoming tour plans, at their official website.
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