The Official Mike Keneally Website

MK Touring in Europe, Scambot 2 imminent

MK Touring in Europe, Scambot 2 imminent

Greetings!

I’ve been hopping about Germany for the last week with Jaan Wessman and Schroeder, performing as Mike Keneally and Friends, and having an absolutely fantastic time playing for people. Tonight is the last show of our eight-show run opening for JJ Grey & Mofro (who are a fantastic bunch of guys, band and crew alike) – all the folks who have been helping us out and making this tour happen (particularly George Hofmann and all at Shooter Promotions) are truly a stand-up bunch of righteous geezers. Many, many thanks to all, including those of you have been to the shows, and I can promise there will be more next year.

We’ve got one more Keneally and Friends show after tonight, a headlining gig at Session Music in Walldorf this Monday, June 13. After eight shows of tightly scheduled opening sets, we will certainly be abusing the opportunity to play a much lengthier set, so by all means come see this show if you can! Tickets can be had here.

Then a couple of days of secret recording sessions with my friends Peter Alexius, Marc Mennigmann and Jaan Wessman. What will transpire?

And then it’s on to the next round of Joe Satriani European shows, which will alternate between full Satriani Surfing to Shockwave sets, shorter festival appearances, and G3 nights with Steve Vai and The Aristocrats. Joe has presented some interesting song choices for the jam at the end of the G3 shows – you might be a bit surprised.

But hey, what about pre-order information for Scambot 2, I can hear you say, even while I am located in this very Nurnberg hotel room in which I currently sit?

Stay tuned…stay very, very tuned…

Love
Mike

SCAMBOT 2 SURVEY: WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS?

Hi everyone! It’s Mike. Me. Guess what?

Scambot 2 is coming soon!

But before it’s released, we at Exowax want to learn how you prefer to listen to music these days, and we’d very much appreciate it if you’d take a minute to tell us about your preferences in a one-page survey (https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/scambot2). Your input will be extremely valuable for us as we head into the manufacturing phase.

Scambot 2 consists of these things:

In The Trees (10:28)
Roots Twist (3:02)
Sam (3:20)
Clipper (4:36)
Forget About It (0:46)
Pretzels (4:25)
Buzz (4:32)
Race The Stars (3:44)
O (1:26)
Roll (6:23)
Constructed (3:46)
Freezer Burn (5:23)
Scores of People (5:22)
Cold Hands Gnat (4:00)
Proceed (3:19)

Photo by Tore Kersten

It contains beautiful performances from Kris Myers, Pete Griffin, Joe Travers, Bryan Beller, Gregg Bendian, Doug Lunn, Ben Thomas, Jesse Keneally, Marco Minnemann and Evan Francis. And the magnificent engineering and mixing of Mike Harris. And the soulful energy and input of Scott Chatfield.

Sarah Crochet helped me profoundly in areas of sound and sequencing. Atticus Wolrab is presently doing beautiful things with the artwork (although in keeping with his current M.O., he is refusing to take a credit on the album package itself, but he can’t stop me from calling him out online). I also did a bunch of drawings of the characters doing things, and a lengthy liner note story detailing the further adventures of Scambot and his odd cohorts.

I’m thrilled with this album, and extremely grateful for your patience in waiting for it.

There is also a second album, called Inkling, which was made at the same time as Scambot 2 – I’ll tell you more about that later.

For now, if you would be so kind, please help us out by taking our survey (https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/scambot2) – we’ll be back soon with more information, and to announce when pre-orders shall commence.

You are all top-notch human beings who have our deepest gratitude.

UPCOMING GIGS:
ALVAS IN SAN PEDRO THIS WEEKEND

On May 13 through 15 (this coming Friday through Sunday) I’ll be at Alvas Showroom in San Pedro, CA with Gregg Bendian and Doug Lunn. The primary focus of these gigs is improvisation, although there will be prepared material for us to work with. There will be recording going on; Gregg is going to take the recordings and see if he can make an album out of them. Please come and be a part of it if you can.

Ticket links are on the Alvas calendar here.

LARVIK, NORWAY MAY 27

On May 27 I’ll be appearing at the Bolgen Kulturhus in Larvik, Norway. This will be a multifaceted event including an interview, a clinic and a live band performance with brilliant Norwegian musicians Rune Erling Pederson and Are Gogstad.

Here’s the ticket link for the Larvik, Norway event:

MIKE KENEALLY AND FRIENDS opening for JJ GREY & MOFRO in GERMANY, JUNE 2-11

This is a real pleasure: I’ll be reuniting with Jaan Wessman and Schroeder for the first time since 2004 – we did a good amount of European touring as Mike Keneally and Friends back in the early ’00s, and it was always a fantastic time. Too many years have gone by since playing with them and I’m delighted to be returning to this trio for these special shows.

It’ll be an honor to share the stage with JJ Grey & Mofro, whose reputation for fierce and intense live performance is well-founded. We’ll be doing an hour-long set opening for JJ on this tour, with the exception of June 5 in Hamburg where we’ll be doing 45 minutes, because both we and JJ Grey will be opening for Tedeschi Trucks Band that night – that’s going to be an INSANE night of music.

Ticket links to the German tour are here.

SPECIAL MIKE KENEALLY AND FRIENDS show at SESSION MUSIC in WALLDORF June 13

After the JJ Grey tour, I’m going to do one more performance with Jaan and Schroeder, this one at the music shop Session Music in Walldorf. We’re the only band, so we’ll get to play as long as they’ll let us, and it’s going to be somewhat acoustically oriented – it’s a Session VIP event. A nice way to wind up the adventures of Mike Keneally and Friends for 2016!

Here’s the ticket link for this special night.

JOE SATRIANI SUMMER EUROPEAN TOUR (including some G3 dates with STEVE VAI and THE ARISTOCRATS)

The Surfing to Shockwave Satriani North American tour that just ended was the most musically satisfying run of Satriani dates I’ve ever been involved with, and I’m glad we get to bring this show back to Europe this summer. Most of these dates will be Satriani headlining shows, but seven of them (in Italy and Germany) will be G3 gigs with Vai and The Aristocrats, and you know those will just be over-the-top ridiculous nights of music. Prepare yourselves for the madness and come join us please!

Satriani and G3 tickets are here.
Love to you all!

Diving into a moon shaped pool,
Mike

‘Surfing to Shockwave’ tour with Satriani & Keneally!

'Surfing to Shockwave' tour with Satriani & Keneally! Photo by Troy Conrad
Photo by Troy Conrad

Halloo to all ships at sea!

I hope you’re doing incredibly well, Skeezitz. (I decided to call you “Skeezitz” just then, which I hope is cool.) I just wanted to poke my head in your direction to let you know that the next Joe Satriani US tour, featuring Bryan Beller, Marco Minnemann and myself, kicks off in Seattle on Feb. 24 and continues on for two months hence. Perhaps you might attend one of these performances. Perhaps you will have the time of your life there! Shouldn’t you at least come to the show and see if this is, in fact, the case?

All the details you need regarding these “Surfing to Shockwave” shows, presenting material from the entirety of Joe’s stellar career, can be found below, with more info here on the World Wide Web. It’ll be a blast and three-quarters to tour the States again with the lads, and I’m looking forward to a lot of exciting and extremely fun shows. This is an “Evening With” presentation – we’re doing two sets with intermission and no opening act, which we’ve never done before – so I’m jazzed to find out where this is heading.

Also – dig it: details are still being finalized regarding Scambot 2 (as well as a second album of music from the sessions). I love it (them). Thanks for your patience and keep hanging tight.

The photo at the top is from backstage at the recent Delray at the El Rey show (a night of comedy and music celebrating Dean Delray‘s 50th birthday at the El Rey theatre in LA) – I played AC/DC and Motorhead songs at the end of the night with Rudy Sarzo, Dave Lombardo and Chris Goss from Masters of Reality – and Dean absolutely killing it on lead vocals (earlier in the evening he did one of the best stand-up comedy sets I’ve ever seen) – what a great night!

All right all of you, bops on the nose and love to each of you and as always, thanks for paying attention. Y’all are awesome.

Blue, blue, electric blue,
Mike


“Surfing to Shockwave” Tour with Joe Satriani, Mike Keneally, Bryan Beller and Marco Minnemann

2/25 Seattle, WA @ Paramount Theatre
2/26 Salem, OR @ Historic Elsinore Theatre
2/27 Reno, NV @ Grand Sierra Theatre
2/28 Oakland, CA @ Fox Theater
3/01 San Diego, CA @ Balboa Theatre
3/02 Tucson, AZ @ Fox Tucson Theatre
3/03 Riverside, CA @ Fox Performing Arts Center
3/04 Las Vegas, NV @ Pearl Concert Theater @ Palms Casino
3/05 Scottsdale, AZ @ Talking Stick Resort Ballroom
3/07 Denver, CO @ Historic Paramount Theatre
3/08 El Paso, TX @ Abraham Chavez Theatre
3/09 Dallas, TX @ The Majestic Theatre
3/10 Houston, TX @ House of Blues
3/11 San Antonio, TX @ Laurie Auditorium
3/12 New Orleans, LA @ Orpheum Theater
3/14 Birmingham, AL @ Iron City
3/15 Pensacola, FL @ Saenger Theatre
3/16 Ft. Lauderdale, FL @ Parker Playhouse
3/17 Clearwater, FL @ Ruth Eckerd Hall
3/18 Orlando, FL @ Hard Rock Live
3/19 Jacksonville, FL @ Florida Theatre
3/21 Durham, NC @ Carolina Theatre
3/22 Charlotte, NC @ Knight Theater
3/23 Atlanta GA @ Symphony Hall
3/24 Richmond, VA @ The National
3/25 Virginia Beach, VA @ Sandler Center
3/26 Boston, MA @ Orpheum Theatre
3/29 New Haven, CT @ College Street Music Hall
3/30 Port Chester, NY @ Capitol Theatre
3/31 Providence, RI @ The Vets
4/01 Brookeville LI @ Tilles Center
4/02 Washington DC @ Lincoln Theatre
4/04 Red Bank, NJ @ Count Basie Theatre
4/06 Glenside, PA @ Keswick Theatre
4/08 Toronto, ON @ Danforth Music Hall
4/09 Buffalo, NY @ UAB Center for the Arts
4/10 Cleveland, OH @ Hard Rock
4/12 Pittsburgh, PA @ Carnegie Music Hall
4/13 Detroit, MI @ Fillmore Detroit
4/14 Milwaukee, WI @ Pabst Theatre
4/15 Chicago, IL @ Chicago Theatre
4/16 St. Paul, MN @ The Fitzgerald Theatre
4/21 Calgary AB @ Grey Eagle Event Centre
4/22 Enoch, AB @ River Creek Casino
4/24 Vancouver, BC @ Hard Rock Casino Vancouver