The Official Mike Keneally Website

THE KENEALLIST: Mike’s Boil That Dust Speck Deluxe Edition comes to Bandcamp Friday!

The Keneallist!

Hope you’re well! Happy Bandcamp Friday again!

Mike Keneally’s Boil That Dust Speck (Deluxe Bandcamp Edition) COMING TO BANDCAMP FRIDAY TOMORROW, May 2!

This time ‘round we’re as pleased as rum punch to offer Boil That Dust Speck (Deluxe Bandcamp Edition), an expanded version of my second album from 1994, featuring 20 bonus tracks totaling approx. 65 minutes of extra music – well over two hours of music in total!

Boil That Dust Speck

This link to Boil That Dust Speck (Deluxe Bandcamp Edition) goes live at 11:59 p.m. PDT this tonight, May 1!

You can also go here now bunches more Mike Keneally musics…

These bonus tracks were originally released as part of the DVD that accompanied the special edition of Dust Speck in 2007, but this is their first-ever exclusively-audio release – we here at Exowax understand that a DVD is not always the most convenient way to enjoy audio, especially while you’re busy dusting the veranda, shredding old receipts etc. We hope that you enjoy the convenience of this format.

These bonus tracks comprise unreleased material (including a 25-minute session reuniting my 1980s-era band Drop Control), alternate mixes, extended mixes, alternate vocal performances, and a radically different mix of the song “Vent.” It’s a bumper crop of unique stuff which provides a unique peek (that’s fun to say!) at the making of this complex album – I find it to be highly illuminating and I hope you do as well. Please enjoy!

(If a reminder be required, Bandcamp Friday is a special day on which the Bandcamp platform foregoes their cut of proceeds, all of which goes to artists/labels – an important day on the calendar for independent artists, who make increasingly less from the sale of their music as time marches boldly forward. We’re happy to encourage you to explore Bandcamp thoroughly on this day and check out the catalogs of multiple artists – see what’s going on out there.)

LOADS O’ GIGS, GIGS A-PLENTY:

DEVIN TOWNSEND NORTH AMERICAN TOUR STARTING IMMEDIATELY

DEVIN TOWNSEND NORTH AMERICAN TOUR

May 2 kicks off a Devin Townsend North American tour featuring his live quartet, a band which I’m very grateful to be a member of. Devin just this week announced that this will be his last tour for the foreseeable future, as he prepares to take a long and well-deserved sabbatical from the road.

Please come out and join us, if you can, for this very special tour – we are busting out some rarely-played tunes and rehearsals this week have been tremendous. Ticket links are at Devin’s website here.

The Moth

Also, there’s one month remaining for you to access the archived live-stream of the performance of Devin’s The Moththat happened in late March, featuring us in the band, plus orchestra and choir – about 135 musicians onstage. It was phenomenally powerful to be a part of this show, and IMHO a rousing artistic success. The quality of the stream is shockingly good too – please check it out here.

JUNE 22 KENEALLY GIG IN SAN DIEGO at THE HOLDING COMPANY

MIKE KENEALLY at THE HOLDING COMPANY

I’m doing a show at The Holding Company in San Diego on Sunday, June 22, playing a bunch of my stuff with Bryan Beller, Rick Musallam and drummer Nathan Raney. This will be my first time playing with Nathan (Joe Travers was unavailable for this gig but don’t worry, he’s still my dude). Nathan is playing with his own band as one of the openers for this gig (he put the show together and asked me to do it) and when it turned out Joe wasn’t available, Nathan said he’d play on my set too. He’s a damn fine drummer and I said sure, let’s go for it.

It’s a Sunday and things kick off early (the first opener, Maedhira, will hit the stage around 1:30 or 2 in the afternoon). It’s gonna be a fun, blasting gig – come see it if you’re around! Tickets be here.

PROGJECT WEST COAST RUN IN JULY

ProgJect

ProgJect haven’t gigged in a while and it’s time! Come join us for this run of gigs encompassing the geographic region between Escondido and Vancouver. I’m eager to dig into these classic tunes again. Tickets can be boughten here. (We’re planning more shows for later this year, as well as our long-delayed European debut for 2026.)

MIKE KENEALLY AND BEER FOR DOLPHINS HEADLINING PROGSTOCK IN OCTOBER

An expanded version of MK/BFD will headline one of the evenings at ProgStock in Rutherford, NJ in October. In addition to me, Beller, Musallam and Travers, our lineup will be supplemented by the wonderfully talented Dave Bainbridge and Sally Minnear, allowing for the performance of certain tunes that either haven’t been played in ages, or never been played at all. I’m terribly excited about this and will have more to say about it later, but for now please visit progstock.com/2025 for tickets and more info about the festival.

Work is underway to secure further gigs on the east coast around this festival appearance – more on that later, as more becomes real.

I’M PLAYING WITH EDDIE JOBSON/UK REVISITED ON CRUISE TO THE EDGE IN 2026

Yeah! This is pretty huge for me – I’ve never played with Eddie before, and the first UK album in particular was immensely important for me in the ‘70s – I freaking love that album and it means a lot for me to play this music with the man who was so pivotal in its creation.

I think that Eddie was a keyboard trailblazer in a lot of ways – beyond just his technical virtuosity, which was and is gob-smacking, I think the atmospheres he creates sonically are so evocative and influential, and I’m humbled to have been tapped to cover the guitar parts for this Cruise to the Edge appearance. (I haven’t appeared on the cruise since playing there in 2022 with The Zappa Band and Jakko Jakszyk, and I really loved it, so I’m very happy to be returning.) Tickets and info here

LOVE!

Hope you’re good! My mental state/sanity level fluctuates from day to day – today it’s really good and I hope yours is too. Love to you!!

Mike!
Boil That Dust Speck

This link to Boil That Dust Speck (Deluxe Bandcamp Edition) goes live at 11:59 p.m. PDT tonight, May 1!

But wait, there’s more! Check out the rest of Mike Keneally’s mind-blowing creations at Bandcamp right now!

Exowax Recordings
Visit the Mike Keneally Store!

Sign up for The Keneallist

THE KENEALLIST: Mike’s dreamy WOODEN SMOKE ASLEEP album comes to Bandcamp Friday!

The Keneallist!

Hi dear people. We hope you’re okay and we are sending you all a bunch of love.

Mike Keneally’s Wooden Smoke Asleep

A dream you might dream
after listening to Mike’s 2001 masterpiece, Wooden Smoke.


COMING TO BANDCAMP
THIS FRIDAY, March 7!

Look at that! It’s Bandcamp Friday time again and we are introducing to our Bandcamp catalogue a magical little item from the year 2001, Wooden Smoke Asleep.

Wooden Smoke Asleep

This link to Wooden Smoke Asleep goes live at 11:59 p.m. PDT this Thursday night, March 6!

You can also go here now for all the other available Mike Keneally titles…

After we had completed the recording sessions for Wooden Smoke, Scott Chatfield and I batted around ideas for what a companion disc for the album might be like. Our first two special editions had featured an interview disc (Nonkertalk) and a live show (Dancing with Myself); for this album we decided to create something that would really extend and deepen the concept of the main album. Scott came up with the title Wooden Smoke Asleep during a walk on the beach, along with the overriding concept behind it: you, the listener, have just listened to Wooden Smoke, after which you fall asleep…and Wooden Smoke Asleep is the dream that you have about what you just listened to.

As such, the album combines some stripped-down remixes of songs from the main album, twisting around a bunch of additional material from the sessions such as “Me, Innate,” “Kane St.” and two “episodes” of “David Lynch’s Curtains” (and we humbly offer the timing of this Bandcamp release to the memory of Mr. Lynch). These pieces were then combined into two long suites, Side One and Side Two-style (“The Canyon” and “Bob Sleep”).

Scott and I had tremendous fun weaving these two long suites together, and as the studio was in Scott’s house, he would sometimes get up to some audio mischief without my knowledge – including what turned out to be my favorite piece on this album, “Boom 2001,” wherein he layered the voices from “Boom” atop the rhythm track from “2001.” It works perfectly and I would have never thought to try it.

There are some nice musical conversations on this album – “Kane St.” (named after a street my family lived on in 1973) is a peaceful two-guitar improv by Rick Musallam and myself, and “Me, Innate” (a play on “me and Nate”) is a construction featuring Nathan Hubbard’s atmospheric percussion and two grand piano tracks. Lee Elderton’s sax soloing on “Curtains” and “Manhattan” takes things in a more urbane direction – his playing on the closing song “Manhattan” (played over the guitars from the song “New England” – a New England/Manhattan chowder reference) is meant to be the sound of reality awakening you from the dream this album represents.

Associate producer Matt Resnicoff gave me the “Indian banjo” you hear on the song “Paloma,” the first piece of music I wrote on this unusual instrument (Paloma is the brand name).

The making of Wooden Smoke was a very special time and this album is a treasured part of it for me. Ch-ch-ch-check it out!

As a reminder, Bandcamp Friday is the occasional Friday when the Bandcamp platform takes no percentage of income – all proceeds go directly to artists and labels. We’ve got at least two other Bandcamp projects well underway for later this year, including Volume 3 of Freaks in a Mellow Mood by me and Bryan Beller – watch! this space.

 A NEW MARCELO RADULOVICH/MIKE KENEALLY ALBUM on BANDCAMP: THURSDAY

A NEW MARCELO RADULOVICH/MIKE KENEALLY ALBUM: THURSDAY

The collaboration between me and Marcelo continues on its hectic pace of productivity – this is our sixth album in a year-and-a-half! Thursday is the fourth installment of our days-of-the-week instrumental album series. The kick-off point for this album was Marcelo’s request to me to find some old cassettes in my garage archive and bring them around to his place to transfer them to digital and see what we could do with them.

The first song on the album, “Seul sur son étoile,” is built around a recording of my 11-year-old playing the pop standard “It Must Be Him” on the Hammond organ (“Seul sur son étoile” is that classic melody’s original title), and “On a Green Shell” is based on an acoustic guitar improv I recorded when I was 16. A good amount of the otherworldly sounding stuff on this album was played on my Lava Drops fretless guitar, an instrument I love and which gives me access to new ways of approaching melody. And Marcelo’s amazing chops as a rhythm-maker and sonic architect continue to take my breath away.

Each of our albums has a unique character all its own; I love them all and Thursday is yet another very special addition to our ongoing collaboration.

DEVIN TOWNSEND – THE MOTH and NORTH AMERICAN TOUR

The Moth - Devin Townsend
Devin Townsend Powernerd North American Tour 2025

Devin’s ambitious orchestral/choir/rock band suite The Moth has been occupying my mind a lot lately – as I type I’m sitting on a plane to Canada preparing to work with him on it some more – and it will finally receive its world premiere later this month in Groningen, Netherlands (at the Oosterport, the same building where we did Nonkertompf Live all those years ago, but in the big room this time!). The shows sold out quickly I’m afraid, but aha!! The second show on March 28 is streaming live! The link to get your shockingly non-expensive live ticket to the stream is here!

Tickets can now be purchased for the Devin Townsend North American tour in May – this won’t be The Moth, this will just be the Devin rock band quartet slamming through a bunch of tunes for you, but it’ll still be plenty epic and I’m really looking forward to it. This tour will be promoting Dev’s PowerNerd album which came out at the end of last year, but we had to get through The Moth before we could tour PowerNerd – all things in due time!

There’s lots more live stuff coming later in the year and you will hear about it all here, proud traveller. Please stay well, I’ll do the same. Here’s hoping for the best for everyone.

<3
xomk

Mike!
Wooden Smoke Asleep

This link to Wooden Smoke Asleep goes live at 11:59 p.m. PDT this Thursday night, March 6!

Why not purchase ALL THE OTHER delightfully diverse Mike Keneally releases at Bandcamp right now?

Exowax Recordings
Visit the Mike Keneally Store!

Sign up for The Keneallist

THE KENEALLIST: Look out! Here comes FREAKS IN A MELLOW MOOD, VOL. TWO!

The Keneallist!

Ho ho ho! Please to imagine that I am four Beatles on a toboggan in the movie Help!, saying “ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho!”

FREAKS IN A MELLOW MOOD, VOL. 2 – MORE 2003 LIVE ACOUSTIC PERFORMANCES BY MIKE KENEALLY AND BRYAN BELLER COMING TO BANDCAMP THIS FRIDAY, DECEMBER 6!

Exowax is inordinately pleased to present Freaks in a Mellow Mood Vol. Two by Mike Keneally and Bryan Beller, the second in a series of collections drawn from live recordings of me and Bryan in November 2003, playing acoustically in music stores on behalf of Taylor Guitars.

Freaks in a Mellow Mood Vol. Two

Now getting it ready for you!
This link to
Freaks in a Mellow Mood Vol. Two goes live at 11:59 p.m. PDT this Thursday night, December 5!

You can also go here now for all the other available MK titles…

I must admit I love this album. Once again, diligent preliminary work done by Chris Opperman (who made recommendations for the most primo takes of this 2003 acoustic tour) made it possible for me to quickly choose a bunch of good tracks and mix them at home.

For 21 years, the multitracks from this tour rested unheard in a hard drive. Scott Chatfield – our tour manager, driver and merch man for this run of gigs – had recorded twelve of the shows in pristine, multitrack digital. This trove of recordings proved to be something of a time machine for me – I really felt transported back to these music stores when I heard them and felt privileged to mix them for you in a way that feels contemporary.

Chris, Scott and Bryan have all expressed to me that they think Vol. Two is at least as strong as Vol. One, arguably stronger (even though Vol. One is really good I promise), and I hope you find it an enjoyable adjunct to your holiday season as you wrap gold-plated chestnuts for the local chamber of commerce while burning huge stacks of wreaths in the fireplace (I’m not the only one who does this during the holidays, right?).

Here’s the list of tracks on the new album:

1. Skunk
2. I’m Glad You’ve Got Lemon-Freshened Thorax in You
3. Li’l part 1
4. Blue 68
5. Li’l part 2
6. Pride is a Sin
7. Dee ‘n’ A
8. Bear Divide (a Bryan Beller song, and it is beautiful)
9. We’ll Be Right Back
10. Dear Prudence (a Beatles song! Ho ho ho ho ho ho ho!)
11. Father’s Day
12. Lhai Sal
13. The Desired Effect
14. Dancing
15. Your Quimby Dollars at Work
16. I Can’t Stop
17. Thanksgiving

A strong batch of tunes I think! I hope you like!

This comes out for Bandcamp Friday this week y’see. I hasten to remind!: Bandcamp Friday is the occasional day when Bandcamp takes no cut of the generated income on its platform – all proceeds from purchases on this day go directly to the labels/artists.

There has not yet been any indication as to whether Bandcamp will continue having BC Fridays in 2025. So just in case this is the last chance for you to so potently demonstrate your solidarity with the struggling musicians of this world, please check out your many entertainment options on Bandcamp this coming Friday, December 6. I and all my fellow fringe-level entertainers thank you, a lot!

GIGS THIS VERY WEEK! BFD and OSD!!

Mike Keneally & Beer for Dolphins at the Baked Potato – Tuesday and Wednesday, December 3 and 4.

Other job requirements hath rendered Beer For Dolphins gigs a rarity in 2024, but we’ve managed to squeak in two more Baked Potato bookings for the year – Tuesday and Wednesday, December 3 and 4. Two sets each night. Each set will feature one unusual cover tune unique to it. Special guests will appear. Luminaries will dot the audience, and vie for deluxe potatoes from the kitchen. By the way if you’ve never actually eaten a baked potato at the Baked Potato, you are missing a really good bet. They’re outrageous.

BFD for these shows is me, Joe Travers, Rick Musallam and Pete Griffin. I love these hearty fellows and the way they play my songs. Please come celebrate our union, as they say.

One Shot Deal at the Full Circle Saloon, Santee CA, December 6

Then at the end of the week a bunch of us will pile into a teetering Beverly Hillbillies-style jalopy with all our gear strapped to it (not really) and drive south to the east county of San Diego, me olde stomping grounds, for a One Shot Deal gig at Full Circle Saloon in Santee on Friday December 6.

The gig is 8:30-12:30! Four hours of Zappa! I mean we’ll take a break in there somewhere, but this night will be heavily saturated in the sounds of Frank.

One Shot Deal for this gig is Joe Travers, Pete Griffin, Scheila Gonzalez, Billy Hulting, Ben Thomas and me. In times past when I’ve sat in with OSD, I’ve mainly been focused on keyboards (because Jamie Kime was there holding down the guitar fort so magnificently), but Jamie can’t make this week’s gig so I’ll be the primary guitarist with this band for the first time evahhh.

I been shedding hard for this one – learning several tunes I’ve never played before, re-learning parts I have played before but finding ways to play them better now, just drilling down like a mofo on this stuff. Come experience the results, with your ears!

A PHOTO OF ME SITTING IN WITH GONG AT PROGSTOCK A FEW WEEKS AGO

Gong

I’m gonna knock it off and get back to practicing now but I wanted to share this photo of me sitting in with Gong on the song “Master Builder” at ProgStock in New Jersey back in mid-October. The photo is by John Giordano, and thanks to him for letting me use it here. It captures a moment that was magical for me – I was already completely drawn into Gong’s set, standing sidestage in a spell watching them, and when Kavus Torabi gestured to me to join the band onstage towards the end of the show it felt like being invited into an actual dream. I haven’t seen too many live photos that so accurately depict the feel of a moment the way this one does for me, I hope you can feel it too.

I wish you all a joyous holiday season and a superb 2025, and to those of you who’ve been on this ride with me for awhile (some of you for decades now), and to those who’ve more recently jumped on ship, thanks to you all for maintaining a connection with me, it means a lot.

Much love and gratitude to you, always.

Mike!
Freaks in a Mellow Mood, Volume Two

This link to Freaks in a Mellow Mood Vol. Two goes live at 11:59 p.m. PDT this Thursday night, December 5!

Check out all the other delightfully diverse Mike Keneally releases at Bandcamp now!

Exowax Recordings
Visit the Mike Keneally Store!

Sign up for The Keneallist