We at Exowax are consistently grateful for the support you’ve shown us over the years, and we’d like to give you a little concrete evidence of our gratitude –
All these things make wonderful holiday gifts – even if YOU already have everything in the catalogue, you’ve definitely got some music-loving friends who don’t have it all yet…and there may still be some holes in your Keneally Kollection yet to be filled. Now is the time!
And just to sweeten the deal – ONE FORTUNATE HUMAN WHO BUYS ANY KENEALLY PRODUCT BEFORE THE END OF THE YEAR WILL RECEIVE A NEWLY-RECORDED SONG, SPECIALLY COMPOSED BY ME ABOUT THEM!
This person (possibly YOU) and I will get on a video call early next year, so I can find out some details about their life which will assist me in creating this piece of music.
Every item you purchase, downloads included, counts as ONE ENTRY in the FOR A SONG contest (eg. you buy eight things, you’ve got eight entries in the contest). Following the completion of the FOR A SONG sales event, Scott Chatfield, the eminently trustworthy CEO of Exowax, will use an entirely random and gloriously fair process to select the lucky winner.
Here! Look at this jaunty graphic with all the details regarding the FOR A SONG sale/contest!
All of us at Exowax Recordings – myself, Scott Chatfield and Chris Opperman – wish you a joyous and peaceful holiday season and a wonderful 2026.
But RIGHT NOW, you can click here for a bunch more MK titles…
What is MKAF ‘03? Here’s some background:
Since the early ‘00s, concurrent with my Beer for Dolphins activities and the other stuff I get involved with, I’ve also had what I guess you could call my European Power Trio, consisting of me, Jaan Wessman (who lives in Finland) on bass, and Schroeder (who lives in Germany) on drums. We play when we can – three years ago we did the Zappanale Festival in Germany, and last year we played a few shows in Finland. I dearly love any opportunity to play with these guys – it’s a very special, and not widely known, part of my life and music.
Since 2016 we’ve been called The Mike Keneally Report, but when we started doing shows in 2002, and up until 2004, we were called MIKE KENEALLY & FRIENDS.
In 2003 The year, 2003 I played in Finland And Germanyy* The drummer was Schroeder Unstoppable force Jaan Wessman on bass Was fantastic, of course And though this darned poem’s now done You’ve only just barely begun To learn of the marvelous fun Whiiiiich iiiiiiiis…
MKAF ‘03!
*extra “y” to indicate unnatural emphasis on final syllable.
The core of what was expressed in the horrible poem above is entirely accurate – in 2003, we did about a week and a half’s worth of gigs in Finland and Germany. We also did some recording in Schroeder’s home studio while I was there.
We had a fantastic time, and at the end of it all we had generated a pile of recordings documenting these various events.
Schroeder took those recordings into his home studio. With great vigor and imagination, he created a 3-CD compilation of the best of the gigs and studio happenings. Each of the three CDs consisted of a mostly uninterrupted flow of music, with extremely creative segues connecting each song to the next. (Sometimes there is a pause in the action, and his choices of when to deploy silence were as creative and effective as his segues.) He also snipped improv sections out of songs and turned them into their own selections, overdubbed percussion and other things onto a few of the live recordings, and employed various other audio techniques with immense thoughtfulness.
Schroeder named this collection MKAF ‘03, and it’s a really vital and comprehensive document of what Mike Keneally & Friends got up to in Europe during that March of 2003.
He sent me the 3-CD set way back in 2003. I listened to it and I loved it, but I didn’t think about doing anything publicly with it until a few months ago, when I started sharing a few tracks from it on my Patreon page. It kinda blew my mind hearing those tracks again. Schroeder and Jaan are consistently fantastic, and the two of them bring something out in my own playing that only ever seems to come out in the context of this band. Also, Schroeder did incredibly well in choosing really good versions of songs to include.
It’s a lot of music – 33 tracks, three hours – and it’s more of an archive, a document, than it is a standard “live album.” The sonics change as it travels from gig to studio to gig, practically turning it into a travel documentary – you can feel the unique characteristics of each room and each stage.
I did some remastering last month to eleven of the tracks, and some editing to one of them (at Schroeder’s suggestion), and we’ve created an exhaustive .pdf file to go with the download, with reminiscences from Jaan, Schroeder and myself, as well as from Claude Kuhnen (our dear friend and original booking agent). Additionally, there’s song-by-song commentary from all three band members. It’s a lot of reading, to go with a lot of music!
I really love it, and consider it a gift that I found this thing, created so lovingly by Schroeder all those years ago, waiting patiently for me in this drawer right here. I’m awfully happy to be sharing it with you now, finally.
The video above (kindly assembled by Claude Kuhnen) contains some music NOT included in MKAF ‘03, just so you know. Also, MKAF ‘03 is audio-only and contains no video. Just so you know!
As you likely know, because I mention it every time we do this, Bandcamp Friday is the occasional day when the Bandcamp service forgoes their usual percentage of income, with all of it going to the artists and labels. We at Exowax are very grateful for your continuing response to our Bandcamp Friday releases, and we very much hope you enjoy this new one a lot!
MK/BFD at the BAKED POTATO in LA on JANUARY 20/21, 2026
We’re coming back! The BFD quartet (me, Bryan Beller, Rick Musallam, Joe Travers) are returning to the Baked Potato January 20 and 21. These are immediately before the beginning of the NAMM Show in Anaheim, so if you happen to be in SoCal around then for NAMM-ish activities, you ought to come see us play.
Two sets each night! Here are the ticket links (replete with some really exciting misspellings of nearly all of the band members – part of the charm of this venue for decades now):
EDDIE JOBSON/U.K REVISITED in JAPAN and on CRUISE TO THE EDGE
Eddie Jobson: keyboards Mike Keneally: guitar Marc Bonilla: bass and vocal Marco Minnemann: drums
Feb. 24, 2026 — Billboard Live, Tokyo
Feb. 25, 2026 — Billboard Live, Yokohama
Feb. 26, 2026 — Billboard Live, Tokyo
Feb. 27, 2026 — Billboard Live, Osaka
Not sure where the optimum ticket links to these Japan gigs are, but with a little poking around I’m sure you can find them.
Rehearsal with Eddie and Marc a few weeks ago was fantastic fun. Learning all of the Holdsworth parts from the debut U.K. has been brutally challenging, but hugely rewarding – it feels amazing to get these iconic parts under my fingers, and I can feel that it’s already had an extremely positive effect on my playing in general. I’m starting to feel like a real grown-up guitarist!
We’re also playing on Cruise to the Edge in March:
Cruise to the Edge Miami – Key West – Nassau March 4-9, 2026 (booking info is here.)
This will be my first time on the cruise in four years. I had the best time in 2022 and am really excited to be back on the boat with so many amazing acts (including Marillion, Steve Hackett, Big Big Train, Adrian Belew, Lifesigns, Stick Men, Pete Roth Trio featuring Bill Bruford, and a whole bunch more greatness). We’re playing two sets during the cruise, don’t know which days exactly yet, but the schedule will be announced at some point. See you on the boat!
The music on the original U.K. albums was a major component of my formative musical years; I really love these songs and it’s an incredible honor to have been invited by Eddie to play them with him and this fantastic band.
200 MOTELS in GENEVA in JUNE 2026
I’m also immensely grateful to have been invited to perform Frank Zappa’s 200 Motels in Geneva next year, as a special guest with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Chœur du Grand Théâtre de Genève, the HEM percussion ensemble, and a fantastic organ/bass/drums trio called Steamboat Switzerland – myself and Steamboat will be the “rock band” for this presentation, and it’s gonna kill.
This is the version of 200 Motels that was originally performed at the Holland Festival in 2000, a legendary performance, and one which I believe incorporates much of the writing that wasn’t heard in the original soundtrack album, but which was later released on the 200 Motels: The Suites 2-CD release in 2015 (an album I really love – the version of “The Pleated Gazelle” on that album is one of my favorite recordings of Zappa music ever).
It’s happening at the Bâtiment des Forces Motrices on the following days and times:
June 18 and 20, 2026 – 8PM
June 21 and 28, 2026 – 3PM
June 23 and 25*, 2026 – 7PM *Glam Night
The 25th is Glam Night! You gotta come on that night and get all fancied up! See you there. Here’s all the info.
BANNED FROM UTOPIA EUROPEAN TOUR OCTOBER 2026
As you may have heard, our dear friend Robert Martin (a co-founder of the Zappa-playing group Banned From Utopia) has had medical issues in recent months which have rendered him unable to perform. I dearly hope that these issues are resolved and that soon he’s able to play again.
Jamie Kime has invited me to play keyboards and guitar with Banned From Utopia on their October 2026 European tour. A tight little quintet: Chad Wackerman, Scott Thunes, Ray White, Jamie Kime and myself. Literally nothing would make me happier than for Robert to join us. In any case, my performances on this tour will be dedicated to Robert. And I haven’t played with Scott and Chad at the same time since 1988; I am utterly psyched about that.
WAY too many shows/ticket links to post here – just look at this poster for the show dates, and I hope to see a whole enormous bunch of my European pals at these gigs!
RECENT THINGS WITH ME ON THE INTERNET
Quick rundown of things online that somehow involve me:
Brand new interview with me and Paul Riario on GUITAR WORLD magazine’s YouTube channel – hugely fun interview, thank you Paul! I haven’t watched it yet (just went online) but I had a great time doing it:
Niels Guns – Sixty Scales and the Truth interview– I did this when I was in Groningen with Devin Townsend six months ago, can’t remember if I told you about it before now, but here it is just in case – Niels is another great interviewer and this was great fun.
Interview with Meagan Panici on WZRD Chicago– did this interview while stuck in traffic on the way to a gig on the MK/BFD October tour a couple of days before the Chicago show, interesting circumstances to do an interview during and I enjoyed it a lot.
And a passel of print pieces…
Three different edits of an interview I did with dear friend Anne Leighton:
And finally,I was interviewed for this piece about the very lovely Allen Theatre in Annville, PA, where MK/BFD recently played – if you’re anywhere near this theater and you haven’t been there yet, it should be on your radar, it’s a great place with an excellent record shop/coffee shop in the lobby and I hope to play there again someday.
That’s more than enough for now! The happiest of holidays to you! Thank you and more soon! ‘Bye now!
Happy autumn! What better time than now to introduce to our Bandcamp catalogue that most autumnal of Keneally releases, Wooden Smoke?
Once again Bandcamp Friday is upon us (the day when Bandcamp takes no cut of proceeds, it all goes to the artists and labels), and it’s our pleasure to bring Wooden Smoke to our ever-swelling Bandcamp roster.
WOODEN SMOKE COMES TO BANDCAMP THIS FRIDAY, OCTOBER 3!
This link to Wooden Smoke goes live at 11:59 p.m. PDT TONIGHT, October 2!
In the meantime, you can click here for a bunch more MK titles…
This acoustic album, by far the mellowest and most willfully soul-soothing of my releases, was originally released in 2002, and proved to be a balm for me personally during a hectic time in my life. We at Exowax were heartened and humbled to learn, at the time of release, that it also provided therapeutic value for some people in the wake of the horrific events in September of the previous year. Perhaps it could provide some similar service for you now?
If you avail yourself of the Bandcamp version of Wooden Smoke, you will find that it has been enhanced with five additional tracks.
Four of these are special new mixes from the multi-tracks that I did for my Patreon subscribers earlier this year, including an improvisation done by me on two pianos and Rick Musallam on one acoustic guitar, music that’s never been released before in any form – other than to my Patreon folks (which, if you’re not one, I am frequently uploading unreleased material there, so you might like to check it out here).
The fifth bonus track is “Wooden Chips,” the edit-collage created by Scott Chatfield as an audio link for keneally.com, back when we made the album originally available. Scott would always make such a collage back when we announced a new album, and they are true time capsules of early ‘00s web-based content.
Your download of Wooden Smoke also comes with a digital booklet and a batch of oddly compelling bonus photos (there’s one at the end of this Keneallist), reviews, and ephemera. As always, we thank you for your support!
MIKE KENEALLY & BEER FOR DOLPHINS OCTOBER 2025 TOUR of the EAST COAST and the MIDWEST of the USA!
The MK/BFD tour is seriously right around the corner, holy cow!
We just had a couple of fantastic nights at the Baked Potato in LA, and we are feeling entirely prepared to bring the craziness to the East Coast and Midwest in a couple of weeks. It was great fun to once again have Bryan Beller in the ranks – the rhythm-section relationship he and Joe Travers share (they’ve been playing together since the early ‘90s when they were Berklee students together) is unparalleled, as is their comprehension of my music, and they provide the most amazing foundation for the marvelous Rick Musallam and myself to do our respective things.
We’ll be playing in Rutherford NJ, NYC, Annville PA, Cleveland, Fort Wayne, and Chicago from October 12-18. A mere six gigs, but a lot to bite off financially for our hard-driving little band of buckaroos, so please come if you can, and haul a bunch of your friends to the gigs with you. I promise you’ll have a great time.
Opening for us will be the truly superb Dave Bainbridge & Sally Minnear. They wowed me with their set at ProgStock last year. They will perform as a duo on their own set, and for the last half-hour of our set they will also act as honorary Beers For Dolphin, allowing us to play several of my more intricate compositions that rarely if ever get an airing live.
And starting off each evening will be my uber-talented buddy Matt Dorsey, kicking off the festivities with a solo set (and he just might be wandering onto the stage during my set as well).
We start with an October 12 appearance at the ProgStock Festival in Rutherford, NJ – festival passes available here.
October 14 finds us at The Cutting Room in the well-known metropolis of New York City
A venue and city which are new to us, The Allen Theater in Annville, PA, plays host to our shenanigans on October 15. I have now seen some footage of the interior of this place and it looks fantastic – we’d love to have a good crowd at this gig!
Fun times of no small velocity await us all on October 16 at the Beachland Tavern in beloved Cleveland.
I eagerly anticipate returning to play at the Sweetwater performance venue in Fort Wayne on October 17– I played there with ProgJect a couple of years ago and had a fantastic time.
We conclude this whirlwind trip by returning to visit our good pals at Reggiesin Chicago on October 18.
I really don’t manage to get my band out of California very often, and I’d love to do it more often, and some good attendance at these gigs will make it far more likely that that can happen. Please come join us if you can!
THANK YOU!
You are an extraordinary person and I thank you profusely for your attention and kindness and support!
