Last month, we reported on an official Umphrey’s McGee afterparty with the new supergroup TAUKing Biscuits, featuring Marc Brownstein and Aron Magner of The Disco Biscuits and Electron, and Matt Jalbert and Isaac Teel of TAUK. The show is set for Friday, January 19th, night one of Umphrey’s’ multi-night 20th-anniversary celebration in New York City.

A natural evolution from Jalbert and Teel’s TAUKing McGee side project with members of Umphrey’s McGee, TAUKing Biscuits was set to take New York by storm. However, the band has been thrown a huge curveball, with Electron being booked as a last-minute addition on this year’s Jam Cruise (following Gramatik‘s health-related cancelation). This new booking has unfortunately rendered Brownstein and Magner unavailable to keep their commitment to TAUKing Biscuits. Thankfully, the pair moved quickly and arranged for none-other-than Umphrey’s McGee’s Joel Cummins and Ryan Stasik to replace them, meaning that TAUKing Biscuits will now turn into a TAUKing McGee show.

Cummins spoke to L4LM about the switch, explaining that he had discussed the last-minute swap in great detail with the Biscuits duo. Apparently, Brownie confided in Cummins that pre-show jitters had a lot to do with his decision to accept Jam Cruise’s offer. Cummins told us that Brownstein had expressed that “the pressure of living up to TAUKing McGee’s high musical bar is just too much for us” and that Magner thought that “a cruise sounds much more relaxing.” Cummins went on to say that Brownstein and Magner simply couldn’t understand “how TAUKing McGee sounds so good after having only played a handful of shows.” The Umphrey’s keyboardist concluded that “Brownie is a hard-working parent as well as a musician, so out of respect for his family’s well-being, we thought it was only right to step up and help him out. In the end, I think karma was telling him that he shouldn’t try to steal his best friend’s late-night band…”

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When asked his thoughts on the matter, Ryan Stasik replied: “I plead the fifth.”

TAUKing McGee first formed back in 2015 with a late-night show following Umphrey’s McGee’s second night of their three-night run at the Beacon theater. While that night saw a huge snow storm overtake New York City, TAUK and their friends from Umphrey’s McGee nearly burned the house down with a raging set to a near-capacity audience. Check out this scorching video of them covering “Cirrus” by Bonobo from that show below.

In other news, due to a production issue at B.B. King Blues Club & Grill, this Tauking McGee show will now take place at the Highline Ballroom, located at 413 W. 16th Street. All tickets from TAUKing Biscuits will be valid at TAUKing McGee. See below for full details on this show, as well as the new poster art, once again designed by Jimmy Rector.

– SHOW INFO –
Show: Live For Live Music Presents: An Official Umphrey’s McGee After-Party with Tauking Biscuits feat. Joel Cummins (Umphrey’s McGee), Ryan Stasik (Umphrey’s McGee), Matt Jalbert (Tauk), & Isaac Teel (Tauk)
When: Friday, January 19th, 2018
Venue: Highline Ballroom –431 W 16th St, New York, NY 10011
Doors: 12:00 PM / Show: 1:30 AM
Tickets: $23.00 adv / $25 dos / $55 VIP — (Purchase tickets here)

(Any previously purchased tickets are now eligible for a refund at point of purchase)