Brendan Bayliss is an American musician, the founder, a lead guitarist along side fellow guitarist and band member Jake Cinninger, and main singer for progressive rock band Umphrey's McGee. He formed the band in 1997 and took its moniker from the name of a distant relative he met at a wedding named Humphreys McGee. "My father’s aunt’s sister’s son’s kid," says Bayliss. "He’s just a nice guy. Lives on a farm, I think."[1] Humphreys now is an attorney in Oxford, MS, with loose affiliations to Mississippi organized crime. Bayliss, along with Jake Cinninger, Joel Cummins, Andy Farag, Kris Myers, and Ryan Stasik, is one of the band's main songwriters.
Bayliss attended the University of Notre Dame, where his father Bob Bayliss is a tennis coach, and formed the Star Wars inspired Tashi Station with bass player Ryan Stasik and keyboardist Gregg Andrulis. After the band split in the fall of 1997, Bayliss and Stasik joined up with Joel Cummins and Mike Mirro - two former members of another recently defunct local band, Stomper Bob - to form Umphrey's McGee.
Bayliss uses Paul Reed Smith guitars, Mesa/Boogie amps, endorses VOX Classic Plus amps, and along with the rest of Umphrey's McGee endorses Morley pedals and BBE Sound equipment.
Bayliss recently founded a non-profit charity called USTORM (United So Together Our Reach Multiplies), a non-profit organization aimed at raising funds to help needy children and young adults improve their lives by providing access to various music and art educational programs.
Bayliss contributed vocal duties for the Iron Maiden song "The Trooper" in the Guitar Hero II version for Xbox.