saw them last night at Stone Pony summer stage in Asbury Park, great show.
their sets are so eclectic there's something for everyone.

Their music has always felt a little too forced and un-necessarily complex to me and lacking at times in soul; but that said I appreciate the hell out of this band.

I knew several of them from our dorm in college, and later when we lived off campus UM would use the basement of our house to practice. It was actually two campus bands that came together to form UM: Joel and Miro had Stomper Bob and Brendan and I think Pony had Tashi Station. Both were OK for college kids but when they came together you could tell they were on to something.

I remember coming home from class one day and hearing them thru the floor and being like, "damn these guys have been practicing". We threw at least one, maybe two big parties at that house that UM played at and they were blowouts. Fun as hell and crowded.

One of our parties featured Ali Baba's Tahini, a local South Bend power trio that featured Jake Cinninger. That party rocked. Great blend of college kids and townies. Nitrous tank. Nutty. I distinctly remember the UM's guys coming outside during a break and the drummer Miro ( RIP ) plopped down on a curb, kind of wiped his brow in an anxious way, and went, "those guys are SO much better than us!"

It was true, but the UM guys had this drive in them and they committed at some point that in spite of going to a really good school where most of their peers are getting high paying jobs or off saving the world in some fashion, they were going to double down and become a great rock band. Really impressive resolve and vision, which is something I did not possess in such abundance as a 22 year old...

Proud of those guys --- And grabbing Jake from ABT didn't hurt, either! Nice move!