Bandcamp Archives - The Official Mike Keneally Website

THE KENEALLIST: This Bandcamp Friday, it’s Tar Tapes Vol. 1!

November 3, 2023 Mike Keneally Album, Exowax, Live, News, The Keneallist

Greetings of the incipient holiday season to you and yours! All of us over here wish you all the best.

Now, here’s an MK rarity for Bandcamp Friday…

As alluded to in last month’s Keneallist, the recent sale of Bandcamp to Mephistopholean Industries, Inc. (hereinafter referred to as MII) has had some unhoped-for ramifications, but hey it’s 2023 and what are you gonna do?! We’re gonna keep on adding to our roster of recordings there, and MII has (for the time being at least) pledged to keep Bandcamp Friday going.

It would seem that there is now more incentive than ever to take advantage of Bandcamp Friday (the one day a month where 100% of all revenue generated at Bandcamp goes only to the artists and labels, and not to the overlords)!

This month our new Bandcamp entry is THE TAR TAPES VOL. 1. This was originally an extremely limited-edition CD, released in the late ‘90s, compiling some of the best tracks from the Tar Tapes cassette releases I put out with my brother Marty Keneally throughout the 1980s. Mostly home recordings, but also containing live and studio recordings done with our band Drop Control. Definitely young and innocent days.

The songs I selected for VOL.1 (and the later VOL. 2) are the cream of the crop of the original cassette releases. On VOL. 1, you’ll find original versions of some tracks which later became live favorites throughout my whole career (like “Killer Fish,” “Tug” and “Performing Miracles”), but mostly you’ll hear songs which never got re-recorded or introduced into the live repertoire later on.

It all makes for an interesting listen – if you haven’t checked it out before, you might like to now. Thanks!

Over-nite Sensation was released half a century ago!

Last week I was chuffed to join several friends at Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Frank Zappa’s endearingly enduring Over-nite Sensation album. Dolby Atmos engineers Karma Auger and Erich Gobels,along with Vaultmeister Joe Travers, were there to describe how they fashioned another multi-channel masterpiece with their brand-new surround mix of the album, taking their cues from Frank’s own quadraphonic mix.

Snapped hanging in the lobby (above) after this stunning aural presentation were (l. to r.) my essential Exowax partner Scott Chatfield, indispensable engineer Mike Harris, crucial guitarist and longtime cohort Rick Musallam, the vitally important Ahmet Zappa, and the arguably fundamental me.

Chris Opperman’s got a brand new album

Chris Opperman and I have been dear friends and collaborators since way back in the the 20th century – you might remember Chris doing the work of an entire horn section on my Dancing album. He’s a successful composer of wildly original music, a top orchestrator/arranger, a visionary educator, and a trusted music industry advisor (he’s been a great asset to my career).

This Friday, Chris is releasing Still Waters, a superb collection of solo piano recordings to warm you up as it simultaneously chills you out on a cold winter’s night. Still Waters features music written by Chris and other excellent composers including Pulitzer Prize winner Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, Ann Southam, Philllip Schroeder, Kimberly Osberg, and Tyler Kline.

You can listen and buy at his Bandcamp page (he also gets all the dough on Bandcamp Friday!), or pick up a CD copy at his website.

So, just to wrap up a couple of things:

The final four ProgJect California shows, and the three One Shot Deal shows in LA last week, were all an amazing time for me. The audience response was so gratifying, the music was completely satisfying, and every one of the musicians was inspiring and fantastic. What good fortune I’ve been granted to be able to take part in these kind of shows, both with, and for, such wonderful people.

The upcoming Devin Townsend shows in Australia will be similarly moving for me, I know. These shows will mark the end of this year’s Devin touring cycle, with this particular quartet, a band I’ve really come to love. I’ve logged a lot of hours on the road with them in 2023, and Devin is about to enter a lengthy period of no touring, covering all of 2024 and possibly 2025 as well – and once he decides it’s time to tour again, it could easily be with an entirely different ensemble.

So just in case this Australian run is the last roundup for this particular bunch of guys, I’m going to treasure every second of it.

All the best to you, good people! Talk again soon.

Love,

THE KENEALLIST: Next up this Bandcamp Friday – Sluggo!

October 5, 2023 Mike Keneally Album, Exowax, Live, News, The Keneallist

“Happy Bandcamp Friday yet again, yet again! Happy Bandcamp Friday yet again!”

(I still remember that old singalong tune from sixth grade camp, which was, strangely enough, many decades before Bandcamp existed.)

This beautiful world is not a fantasy!! For THIS is the month we finally add Sluggo! to the roster of titles on our rapidly swelling Bandcamp page!

This is the 2013 remix of Sluggo!, superbly executed by Mike Harris, and is fortified by two vitamin-packed bonus tracks from the Sluggo! era, “Bob Dylan’s Nose” and “Craney.”

Is it my best ever album? Probably maybe!

(For a completely outlandishly Slugtastic listening/viewing experience, I mustn’t neglect to mention that the physical four-disc Sluggo! 2-CD/1 DVD-A/1 DVD-V special edition set is still available here, in case it doesn’t live in your home yet.)

As a reminder, Bandcamp Friday is the day that Bandcamp surrenders every drop of its dollar percentage to the artists on the service.

It is a remarkable show of support for musicians, and I’m grateful that they’ve been doing this – thank you so much, Bandcamp – and we hope that it is able to continue the practice into the next year, even after its recent sale to Mephistopholean Industries, Inc.

LIVE DATES!

Four shows remain on this ProgJect tour I’m currently on, which has been so much damn fun I can’t even tell you. It means a lot to be able to play this amazing music with these guys for crazy prog fans across the US. Next year we’ll be spanning more of the globe – more news on that will come to you as it’s finalized.

The remaining ProgJect shows for this month are all in California, and they are here:

The Grand Ritz in Escondido – Friday Oct 6. Come celebrate Bandcamp Friday with us!

The Mint in Los Angeles – Saturday Oct 7. I used to play the Mint frequently in the late ‘90s with BFD and I’m excited to return.

The Lafayette Town Hall Theatre – Sunday Oct 8. This is our San Francisco-area gig, in a room I’ve never been in before, and I’m very intrigued to play there.

And the final gig of the tour at The Grape in Ventura – Monday Oct 9. Lots of my friends have played this room but this will be my first time there and I’m eager to see what the hubbub’s about, bub.

I’m doing three nights at the Baked Potato with Joe Travers’ One Shot Deal band in late October, playing the ever-glistening music of Frank Zappa, and featuring the dulcet magnificence of Pete Griffin! Jamie Kime! Billy Hulting! Scheila Gonzalez! Ben Thomas! These people aren’t screwing around.

I’m playing on the complete sets, every song. Three nights, two sets a night:

Wednesday Oct. 25, 8pm and 10pm

Thursday Oct. 26, 8pm and 10pm

Friday Oct. 27, 8pm and 10pm

My final gigs of this year (I INSIST ON SPENDING THE LAST MONTH AND A HALF OF 2023 SITTING UNMOVABLY IN ONE LOCATION AT HOME) will be with Devin Townsend in Australia in November.

These dates mark the end of this year’s Lightwork tour cycle with Dev. It’s been completely fantastic – the Feb/March Europe and UK dates, the summer North America dates with Dream Theater and Animals As Leaders, the one-off ArcTanGent Festival in August – it’s all been so dang fun and wonderful.

There won’t be any Devin touring for quite some time after these November dates, and who’s to say if I’ll even be in the band next time he decides to do it (by which I only mean that I respect and support Devin’s choice to head in whatever direction he wants to at any time…I am grateful to report, though, that I’ll be going to his studio early next year to contribute musically, in whatever way I can, to his upcoming 2025 orchestral/theatrical extravaganza – about which, much, much more later).

All of this is to say that I’ll really be relishing these upcoming dates in Australia with Devin, Darby and James, and if you’re in the neighborhood it would be amazing if you could come by:

Fremantle, Nov. 8

Melbourne, Nov. 10

Sydney, Nov. 11 (which is apparently sold out, but you just never know with concert tickets these days – for all I know three rows of seats might become available on show day or something so just to be on the safe side):

Brisbane, Nov. 12

MONDAY by KENEALLY/RADULOVICH NOW WIDELY STREAMING

The new collab between me and Marcelo Radulovich, Monday, can now also be found at these links:

Amazon

Apple Music

Spotify

And on Marcelo’s Titicacaman website

Get ready for our upcoming second album, coming sooner than makes any sense.

SO…

I’ve done more touring this year than I’ve done in a very, very long time, and it’s definitely been something. I’m feeling every mile I’ve traveled for sure, but mainly I’m feeling grateful and fired up and ready to keep doing this for a long long time.

Next year will see a lot more live ProgJect, and I want to do as much live Beer For Dolphins as is possible, as well as aiming towards the live debut of The Bird Brain. I hope to see you out there, somewhere, sometime soon!

Love,

THE KENEALLIST: Get Wing Beat Elastic on Bandcamp Friday!

August 31, 2023 Mike Keneally Album, Exowax, Live, The Keneallist

Jeez it’s almost September!

Hi, to all of you! Hi, additionally, specifically, to those of you who signed up for The Keneallist at the Dreamsonic tour merch table this summer – it’s extremely great of you to join us here.

Hi, also and finally, to everyone who’s been coming out to the ProgJect shows that have been happening in the US over the past few weeks. Man these shows have been fun. As was the ArcTanGent festival with Devin in the UK, which was, like, a week ago or something. I’ve been traveling like crazy and have utterly lost track of time and place.

All the shows have been great though, and as always I’m very grateful to be able to go to a bunch of places and play music for people – it’s a true privilege.

GIT READY FOR WING BEAT ELASTIC ON BANDCAMP THIS FRIDAY

Listen, this Friday is BANDCAMP FRIDAY again, when the artiste (moi) gets 100% of the income!, and we’re adding a new title to our Bandcamp page. It’s WING BEAT ELASTIC – REMIXES, DEMOS AND UNHEARD MUSIC, an album of music related in various ways to the Wing Beat Fantastic album what I wrote with Andy Partridge.

WING BEAT ELASTIC is concocted from a variety of sources: demos that Andy and I made during the writing process (including a version of “Your House” where Andy and I trade off the lead vocal); additional music recorded during the WBF album sessions (including an eight-minute instrumental suite, heavily acoustic piano-focused, called “Wingbeat Fantasia,” which is really nice); and some special remixes, including a clutch of highly entertaining ones by Scott Chatfield and Mike Harris (aka The Glimmer Twins) which offer a highly creative, trippy and forensic examination of what exists on the multi-tracks of the parent album – I especially love the mash-up they did of “Land” and “That’s Why I Have No Name.”

I also did a pretty psychedelic deconstruction of “Bobeau,” executed in various hotel rooms while I was on the road with Satriani, which highlights the maddeningly fantastic drumming of Marco Minnemann. Rounding out the album is a beautiful remix of the title song from WBF by acclaimed Northampton-based producer Mark Vidler of Go Home Productions.

If you haven’t heard this release yet, please check it out!

A NEW COLLABORATION WITH MARCELO RADULOVICH, called MONDAY

Marcelo Radulovich, a San Diego multi-instrumentalist who I’ve known for almost forty years and is one of the most creative and visionary artists I know, was an immensely important part of my Wooden Smoke album, creating many of the background environments that were so crucial to that music. Twenty-two years on, we’ve collaborated again on a new 24-minute instrumental collection called MONDAY. (This is the opening salvo of an ongoing collaboration, as we also have an album of songs with vocals in the works.)

It’s very hard to know how to describe MONDAY. At first we were thinking that it’s our ambient album, but that’s really not an accurate descriptor. We both play multiple instruments on it, and multiple moods are generated. You should really just listen to it. I love it. It also premieres as a new BANDCAMP FRIDAY release this very Friday.

I’M ON A NEW ALBUM BY RAFA BONILLA, CALLED ALMA MATER

I’m on a song called “Answer to the Ego” on the new Rafa Bonilla album. Rafa is a phenomenally talented guitarist and this collaboration was born in kind of an unusual way… I’m gonna let Rafa tell the story:

“It was January 8th 2019. I met Mike Keneally in Joe Satriani G4 guitar camp, and as his student, after the class time I requested for him to write a random kinky melody on my guitar, and after that, unusual chords to fit that. And that’s it. From the genius and his generosity he gave me a song on my guitar. After that I started to work on an arrangement for it with my dear friend Ethan Weissman, and after some suggestions from Ethan, the song was born. We submitted the song to Mike later asking for his approval, and why not a solo to finish it?”

“That process took a lot of time, but those pandemic times were strange and beautiful to make weird music, and this song is something I am very honored to help make. For me that moment was just amazing from a creative, human, and musical perspective. A highlight in my journey!”

I too am honored that my random scribble on Rafa’s guitar has been fleshed out by Rafa and Ethan into a substantial composition, with some amazing playing on it. I was humbled to contribute my solo. Please investigate the song, and Rafa’s entire, excellent album.

MORE LIVE SHOWS A-COMIN’: PROGJECT in the US, ONE SHOT DEAL at the POTATO, DEVIN TOWNSEND in AUSTRALIA

The ProgJect US tour picks back up on Sep. 7 at Sweetwater in Ft. Wayne, IN, and continues until early October. There are more new dates being added even at this late date, so please continue to check our tour page for the latest info. Lots more ProgJect to come next year, including plans currently underway for Europe and Japan.

I’ll be a special guest with Joe Travers’ FZ unit One Shot Deal for three nights at the Baked Potato in LA, Oct. 25-27. I sat in with these folks at Alvas earlier this year and totally loved it, and this three-night run will be quite the celebration. Links to all the shows are on the Baked Potato calendar page.

And then, for my final live appearances of the year, I’ll be doing four gigs with Devin Townsend in Australia. This will be the end of this year’s Devin touring cycle, which has been such a fulfilling ride. Those of you reading this in Australia, please make it your business to get to one of these shows…this is a really special band and you should see us while you have the chance.

And then I’ll go home for the last six weeks of the year and just sit there and ruminate over the prior six months of incessant traveling and playing and think to myself “wow that just happened.”

THANKS EVERYONE!

Love,