Lurch On 180 Gram Vinyl with FREE mp3 download still available!
- by mike
Included with the purchase is a full color 4 panel pull out of original art by Mike.
Also included is a BONUS 7" of unreleased songs "Motel Mood", "Something Electric", "You've Got To Find Somebody To Love" There is an insert inside the jacket sleeve with a unique digital code that will allow you to download mp3s of Lurch with all the bonus tracks for your digital device.
Thanks to all the east coasters that came out week after week city after city to see my September shows. I had the best time. I'm in Japan now in my hotel room waiting for the shuttle bus to return back to LA. Here are a few pix of the East Coast jaunt. Japan update coming soon. Lvmv
Lurch Tour, Japan, Kelly Jones, The Major Labels, Mandy Moore, Vinyl!
- by mike
Wow September crept up on me. Check out all the SHOWS coming up. Lots of East Coast dates, then off to Japan!
Make sure you get tickets for any of the shows you want to go to cause they’re selling pretty good right now, especially if you’re coming from out of town. Would suck if you couldn’t get in. (been there…) There are links to buy tickets on the
SHOWSpage….so go for it.
Kelly Jones
The adorable poptastic Kelly Jones will be performing a set at all the Joe’s Pub shows and one of the Lizard Lounge shows (Sept 20th). I’ll be playing bass in her band and singing…. I wrote some songs with her and produced her new record. It’s uh….pretty GREAT. Stream it here!
SheBANG
The Major Labels
And how about The Major Labels!??? We’ve got some shows coming up too. New York, Philadelphia and Boston. If you haven’t heard our record Aquavia you can check it out here.
Mandy Moore
Califorina….I’ve been busy in LA the past few months writing songs with Mandy for her new record. We’ve played a few shows together at Hotel Café, got some positive feedback on the new tunes. We plan to make a classic LA record, CSNY, Joni Mitchell meets Nilsson and…..Wings! Plan on recording it live in her house on an old Studer tape machine…. Something like that anyway….too early to tell. But man….I can’t wait to get all tangled up in Ampex tape in when I get back from Japan.
Lurch On Vinyl
Lurch on vinyl will be available at all shows while supply lasts. Tee shirts that Audrey designed too! Preorders will be taken on mikeviola.com soon. They will ship in October when I get back from touring.
And In The End....
I’ve got plenty more to tell you but I’ve run out of time…gotta pack for a month away…Isabel gave me her little pink argyle sweater for the trip….killed me!…She’s been binging on Jem these days….that shit is all on youtube….better than Hannah Nebraska right?…anyway…these will be my last East Coast dates for a while so…..hope to see you there!!
Lvmv
Oh yeah.....thanks to Darren Paltrowitz, my trusty "assistant", Lurch is now on an end cap listening station somewhere in Japan. (Tower Records and HMV I think) I gotta say....the Japan version of Lurch is really cool. They added a booklet, some bonus tracks. I've been getting loads of emails asking about Lurch on vinyl, Lurch on iTunes, new Lurch CDs.....Well, Lurch on vinyl will be available in a few weeks! I'm stoked about it. If you like the way it sounds on CD wait till you hear this. It has a 4 panel insert and a BONUS 3 song 7. Motel Mood is one of the bonus songs and will ONLY be available with this edition of Lurch. And lastly, it comes with a FREE mp3 download of all the songs. So if you don't have Lurch, this would be the best time to buy it. And if you have Lurch, this would be the best time to buy it again! One more thing before I go back into the studio, there's Lurch Merch on the horizon....and a SLEW of shows in September back East....I'm out.
lvmv
We all made it to LA, the Girly Worm, The Strawberry Blonde, Roxxy, and this version of me anyway. So far I’ve been making more music than I can handle. Partly inspired by my new surroundings but mostly from the physical and emotional upheaval of leaving New York City, my home…..my friends. I’ve built a little studio in what used to pass for a garage, have all my gear set up to record for hours on end. Which is all I’ve been doing. About to go to Boston again to finish up the new Kelly Jones record I’m producing. We’ve written most of the songs together. Part Chiffons, part Kirsty MacCall with a splash of Petula Clarke and The Bangles …. Don’t want to give too much of it away but….it’s some fo the best music I’ve ever been involved with. Kelly is a natural, you won't be able to take your eyes and ears off her. We’re recording it at Ducky’s place in Medford Mass, where Lurch was spawned. More news to come. Japan release of Lurch and Japan tour, Joe’s Pub fall 2008 residence, Boston residence in the fall too….and tee shirts….and Lurch on vinyl of course!
From the front yard. LVMV
Vinyl VS. iPod by Shelby Lynne
Last Night Of The Joe’s Pub Residence: Feb 29th 2008
All photos by Billie Jo Sheehan
Lurch is Coming! Lurch is Coming…..on VINYL!
Lurch keeps a diary
Lurch finds Don Knotts hysterical
Lurch does not believe in petting on the first date
Lurch cannot whistle
Lurch has an excellent credit rating
Lurch hates the term "Butler", and prefers "Manservant"
Lurch is allergic to shellfish
Lurch prefers Beatles
Lurch's favorite cheese is Jarsberg
Lurch is double jointed in his left shoulder
Lurch loves waffles
Lurch has never seen Fiddler On the Roof
Lurch loves The Major Labels
This summer I’m going to release Lurch on vinyl at last. There are 2 extra tracks that Ducky and I recorded when we recorded the rest of the songs on the CD version of Lurch. They’ll now be on vinyl exclusively. (I’ll also include that stray extra track I put on my site for free- You’ve Got To Find Somebody To Love- on this version of Lurch too) I’m still putting together all the details, cobbling together some money, but….looks like it’ll be 180 gram virgin vinyl and also there’ll be extra artwork and maybe liner notes. And best of all it will come with a free mp3 download as well. This technology wasn’t available to me back in 2005 when I released Just Before Dark but now it is! I’m pretty sure I’m not going to print up anymore CD versions of Lurch. It will live on vinyl (a very limited run) and it will live on iTunes.
Lurch is HERE!
I put aside a box of Lurch to mail out to the press….but….because I was busy writing new songs and playing live shows and being a musician….I NEVER DID IT! So I have no reviews to share with you (but you don’t need to be told what you like right? Lurch is great! Come on!) NOW I have a bunch of Lurch on CD available for sale. Remember, this is a home operation here at Good Morning Monkey Records. The Strawberry Blonde, Girly Worm and I are back in uniform and will be shipping these ourselves before we move to California. So if you want anything autographed say the word! (there should be a comment box in the Paypal checkout…just write us a note) . Special thanks to Mark Piro who has been manning the Good Morning Monkey shipping and receiving department from his NYU dorm room while I’ve been busy.
Lurch Merch
Once we move to California we’ll start getting together some Lurch merchandise. (more room to store stuff…sub basement!!!) Tee shirts, Girly Worm onesies! Maybe even a bobble head doll of me as the Wolfman. (by the way that really IS me as the Wolfman) Anyway, look for all of that to happen
Tomorrow and Tomorrow
I poked around a little to see if I could get a little indie deal for Lurch, get it out to more people. A few solid ideas came out of it, a few solid offers, but at the end of the day I feel like the music business is shifting so rapidly…it almost feels unsafe in a way….tough to tell which way to turn, so I’m following my instincts. I figure the only way for me to reach more people is to get back on the road. So I’m gonna try and figure out how to do that, maybe this fall. Some MONO tour with a bunch of friends. Sex on the bus! Fistfights! Throwing people through windows over bad ideas! In the meantime, I urge you SHARE LURCH. Rip him, burn him, give him away, point people to mikeviola.com
2/26/2008
Joe's Pub Feb 22nd joined by Fountains Of Wayne
- by mike
all live Joe's Pub pictures by Billie Jo Sheehan Yup! We played Someday Someway, Walk Hard and I Don't Want To Spoil The Party. All of it a blast. a big wave of pop. Marshall and I wrote a cool new song that afternoon too. Very Simon and Garfunkel meets Simon and Garfunkel.
Kelly Jones has an incredible voice. you MUST hear her sing. In this picture she's being very patient, waiting to sing.
This band is not to be missed....but you will if you don't make it to this weeks show. this one is Jason Loughlins last one! Special Guests this week are Tracy Bonham and Adam and Chris from Fountains Of Wayne. Check it!
Mike Viola and Everybody Else delivered a little bit of everything last Friday. Played into the wee hours we did. This week we have a new chunk of music for you all, and Marshall Crenshaw is gonna play with us too. This is our party and you're all welcome to come. BUY TICKETS HERE
Been into my Gretsch lately...and she's into me...giving it back Brooklyn style.
Here's the gang in action. 5 people in this line up. By the end of the Joe's Pub residence there will be 100 people onstage give or take a few.
I'm happy. People are enjoying themselves and I'm happy. And I'm playing with a great band. Okay this seems like the perfect time to break the news to you if you've made it this far with the "news". Audrey, Isabel and I are moving to Los Angeles California. So...I won't be playing that much at all on the East Coast for a few years. We're going for the adventure of it, and....we lost our apartment so....seems like a great time for some drastic change. Yeah yeah yeah I'm an East Coast guy. I even spell it with capital letters but...time to poke around a little. So there you have it. We were packed at Joe's last week so if you want to come get tickets now and definitely come back stage and say....hello.
lvmv
1/19/2008
Joe's Pub Shows Right Around The Corner!
- by mike
CLICK HERE TO BUY JOES PUB TICKETS!!!!!
Hey guys, mike here...I want to thank all you who purchased the first run of my new album Lurch. They're sold out on the site now…but there will be some available at the Joe’s Pub shows for sale along with what I have left of my catalog. The idea of printing 1,000 was to sell enough copies so I could pay for the cost of making the record…being an independent and all…. Now I think I need to find a home at a little label somewhere so I can get Lurch out to the world...if anybody has any ideas email me!! my name at mac.com okay? There is so much new music cranking in my life right now....I couldn't be happier. If you love Lurch please tell friends, rip Lurch, share Lurch, pirate Lurch…I want the music to get out there! And bring them to the shows! Come back stage and say hi. Anyway, I keep jangling along. I've put together an amazing band for the Joe's Pub shows….I can’t wait to play. People have requested songs from Falling Into Place so I'll do those (which the cover of Lurch resembles in a haphazard unintentional way) and some songs from Walk Hard, a string quartet will join us on one nigh. Each night will be different and the venue is offering a deal if you buy tickets for multiple shows. Give Joe’s Pub a call for that deal. I’ll be at Sundance next week on Jan 25th if anybody is in town come by and check out me and Dan Bern.
See you all soon lvmv.
Been out here on the road promoting the movie Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story. (for what THAT is see youtube clips below). The first leg of the Cox Across America tour is ending in New York City on Dec 19th at the Knitting Factory, come check it out! lvmv
Mike Produced Song In New Jimmy Carter Documentary
- by mark
Mike produced the main title theme for Jimmy Carter Man From Plains. The song was written by Dan Bern. The film is by Jonathan Demme. Playing in theatres NOW!
CLICK HERE TO SEE TRAILER
Walk Hard
Just back from LA. Writing MORE Dewey Cox songs with Dan Bern for…special ocassion perhaps! (Christmas….Football) news on that as it trickles in. Things are really starting to kick in with the press for the movie. Here’s a cool New York Times BLURB.Looking forward to ALL of this. I haven’t seen the movie yet but I’ve seen clips. Holy crap, it’s really funny. Will keep events posted and up to date right here. You can watch the trailer here. WALK HARD TRAILER CLICK HERE
10/4/2007
Mike and John C Reilly play songs from Walk Hard
- by Sammy
John C. Reilly talks with Dana Goodyear
Meet the Everyman.
John C. Reilly has appeared in more than forty films, including “Boogie Nights,” “Magnolia,” “Talledega Nights,” and “The Aviator”; in 2002, he was nominated for an Oscar for his role in “Chicago.” He has performed extensively with Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre and appeared on Broadway in “The Grapes of Wrath,” “True West,” and “A Streetcar Named Desire.” In his new film, “Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story,” a mock biopic to be released in December, he plays a fictional music legend living a life of excess and adversity.
Dana Goodyear is a staff writer at The New Yorker and the author of the poetry collection “Honey and Junk.” “The Magus,” her Life and Letters piece on the Brazilian novelist Paulo Coelho, appeared in the May 7th issue.
This Saturday, October 6th at 10 p.m. Cedar Lake Dance Studios ($35)
547 West 26th Street
Their debut album recorded by David Kahne in the winter of 1995 for Blue Thumb/MCA records. This record plays as a kind of greatest hits of all Mike’s best songs written from 1990 to 1996. Those were brutal years for Mike and his family. His first wife Kim became paralyzed and eventually died from cancer. He brought all his anger and sadness to New York City and hammered it into the oblique and personal lyrics that festoon this album: Imagery that conjures up a secret darkness in these catchy and tight pop song gems. “The whole record is about Kim. I always write about the people I love. I just hid it all behind metaphor.”
Pete Donnelly was brought in to play bass. The album was recorded on a vintage 16 Track tape machine that gives the album that creamy tape compression sound. “”David has a way of recording that was new to me. He goes for one or two takes then he edits them. I don’t’ think I ever punched anything in while working with David. I’ve been working that way ever since”
After the recording was finished the album was mixed and re-mixed several times and a potential single pulled and mixed by Bob Clearmountain. Lots of money was spent. Sadly, Blue Thumb went belly up (“it wasn’t our fault!”) and the Candy Butchers debut album was never released. Until NOW!
(note: the link will bring you to Mike Viola's myspace page. look for "buy tracks directly from this artist". if you buy all the tracks you'll have the entire "blue thumb" record as it was supposed to be released.)
"I wish it had all the original album art....and that it was on CD and not as a downlaod...but this is the only way I can get this music out right now. It's been over ten years, I hope you enjoy!" Mike.
Mike, Bleu and Ducky started a band. We’re called the Major Labels. The band has a concept. Hang out, go to sleep, wake up, write a song, record it by bedtime (around 3am). All this is happening in the basement of Ducky's old house over looking Wright's pond in Medford Massachusetts. The album is just about done. One day, one song, left to go. If you like Wings, 10cc and a splash of Harry Nilsson....
you're
all
ours null
again…..thanks to all that showed up to the Living Room shows…they were all totally different, totally beyond my expectations across the board. They really amped me up to finish the new Mike Viola record (soon to be titled…) The last night of the rez (May 28th) more friends dropped by to regale us all.
Me, Dan Bern, Paul Kuhn (played Beautiful Ride from upcoming Walk Hard movie, a new one of Dan’s called In My Mind I’m Going Down To Texas, and…oh yeah a Kurt Weil tune, September Song.
Adam Schlesinger, Me (cranked out new FOW song I-95 along with Making Up Time and some other off the cuff stuff.
Introducing the new ten piece band Everybody. Not just anybody: Heather Wolfe, Kelly Jones, Me, Jon Flower, Claudia Chopek Claudia, Rachel Golub, Lara Hicks, Garro Yellin Sam Bisbee, Deidre Rodman Heather, Kelly, a slice of Spence on drums, and Me again.
Mike Viola and Everybody live at the Living Room on May 21st. Nothing like the sound of Everybody playing together after a few years of somebody playing alone. strange enough the show had the feel of a solo show (this is what the general consensus was anyway)….felt like a solo show but sounded and looked like something “glorious”. Now the trick is to figure out how to get this all on vinyl so I can play it in MY living room. Thanks to Everybody involved and thanks to billie jo www.myspace.com/billiejo for the pix.
Starting to feel like I’m getting back into the swing of things on Monday nights. John Wesley Harding and I played a tight little batch of ditties from his new album that we co-wrote. Plus an unknown Colin Blunstone song (guy from the Zombies) called I Don’t Believe In Miracles that Wes got me hooked on. Crowd was out in full force. Jim Boggia was in the house to boot. He played the set at 8Pm which I caught, it was gorgeous. I joined him for our perrenial fave It’s Only NaturalWe all hung at the bar until it got to be that time: time to go home and relieve the baby sitters and for Jim to make the haul back to Philly. Next week will be Mike Viola and Everybody, my new 10 piece band with string quartet and all. Come on out! There are only 2 more Mondays left until I fall off the face of the earth again. And next week Dan Bern is joining me. Check him out now if you haven’t already.
5/11/2007
Candy Butchers back at the Living Room May 7th
- by mike
Thanks to everyone who joined us last Monday. Todd and I always have a blast when we play. Our lives together have been one long set list. Fighting and all. Looking forward to this Monday (14th). John Wesley Harding will be joining me.
Fans have been emailing me about Claudia Marshall playing American Tune on her morning show on WFUV. It was recorded live in the WFUV studio sometime....I guess last year or so. I posted it on myspace check it out, download it there.
4/6/2007
Mike Sings On New F.O.W. CD now available!
- by him
Mike sings on the new Fountains Of Wayne CD Traffic and Weather. Check out Fire In The Canyon. Rolling Stone gave this album an amazing review.
An instrumental version of Mike's song Blending In will appear in the movie
In The Land Of Women
It's gonna be a killer soundtrack. Neil Finn, Rogue Wave, OK GO. Check it out!
Iz and I back in New York, back in studio Frisbie this week. I love my Girly Worms…spitting out a mouth of broken teeth… It’s been quiet here at mikeviola.com cause the past 3 months I’ve been back and forth from LA writing songs for a new movie called Walk Hard: the Dewey Cox story. It’s being shot now so I hesitate to give too many details, but…basically it’s a spoof bio pic. It pokes fun at movies like Ray, Walk The Line, Great Balls Of Fire, The Buddy Holly Story. Not poking fun at the music, but how the movies all follow the same storyline tragectory. So… they needed lots of songs for this thing. Marshall Crenshaw wrote the title track and there were a few other writers involved too like Van Dyke Parks. Most of the songs I co-wrote with Dan Bern, one of the best writers I’ve ever worked with. Turned me on to author John Fante who’s pretty much taken over my life right now. He wrote a lot about Los Angeles, or rather, being a struggling writer in LA back when Bunker Hill was a neighbor hood and Angels Flight was a working funicular. Dan and I are both hoping we’ll be able to do more work together, something totally different than what we both do respectively. The super talented Michael Andrews produced all the music for this movie. He did an amazing job. (He produced Inara George’s first album that’s how I know him) This was the first time I was ever involved in such an enormous project with so much talent working as a team. I’m going out to LA in a few days. They’re shooting one of my songs and I’ve been working with some of the actors. (Saturday Night Live and Upright Citizens Brigade alum) It’s called “Life Without You Is No Life At All” and John C Reilly sings and performs it. I’ll keep updating the NEWS on Walk Hard as it trickles in. Until then, dealing with a skull of angry bees - a honeycomb heart…drinking in the scenery.
Songs we sang: If I Fell (about 27 times- Isabel is obessed with Hard Days Night), the Beatles White Album (anything I could play on guitar), some Randy Newman including Rednecks and Old Kentucky Home, some Paul Simon, some Tom Waits, and a hungover version of Auld Lang Syne featuring Tim Adams on C harmonica (which I bought him for Christmas yo)- when all was said and done, all was said and done. Tim (the genius behind Teenage Prayers played us rough mixes from their new album. Woosh, please check out Teenage Prayers and especially this new album which won’t come out until later this year. Steve Wynn produced it. What else…the Candy Butchers….there is talk brewing about a Japan tour for me. A solo one. What else…working on this super funny movie called Walk Hard. I’m writing some songs for it. It’s a spoof bio pic poking fun of movies like Ray, Great Balls Of Fire, Walk The Line, movies that follow the same ridiculously predictable template. More on that later. I want to be playing live, I already miss it. Haven’t played in almost a month. Yikes. There are some new songs floating around. Recorded a few at Q Division up in Boston that sounded pretty great. Recorded a few here in New York, something in Philly with Pete Donnelly. I’m all over the place, trying to reel it in. On the other hand I’ve been spending so much time in LA these days, maybe it’ll happen their… Oh, by the way, Beans MOVED to LA. Look what happened to him!
Merry Christmas everybody! Go to http://www.myspace.com/mikeviola and download a FREE mp3 of Snow Miser performed live at Fez sometime in the 90s with Todd Foulsham, Josh Lattanzi, Jed Parish, Janet LaValley, Dan Levine, Larry Etkin, and I’m sure maybe even YOU were there. I love this recording, hope you do too.
November at the Living Room has been a hoot. (one more show to go on Monday night). Lots of people traveling to NYC from out of town to see these shows, thanks so much for that. If you’re gonna come all the way from somewhere PLEASE email your favorite song so I’ll play it. Here are some pictures from Jenny Eng of the last few shows.
My new friend Rachel Loshak http://www.rachelloshak.com/ joins me on "A Way To Say Goodbye".
My old friend Adam Schlesinger http://fountainsofwayne.com/home/ helps me with Truck Stop Sweetheart and Stephen Bishop’s On and On!
Todd and I had a blast. (He was amazing. "Todd is God" was chanted throughout the evening) The songs were old and so were we (and the audience was a little bit older too…) The place was packed with familiar faces that sang along to the songs that were catchy, the dressing room before the show was quiet, droll, (funny, no beers back there, I gotta get my rider together!) Todd and I realizing that we NEVER rehearse for these shows and when it’s 11:30pm on a “school night” what does that mean exactly? Are we ripping people off by being so nonchalant? Well, the truth is we’re not nonchalant about our performance: we’re relaxed. Whatever, it seems to work anyway. Our set list hinged on Making Up Time and the “blue thumb” record. A few songs from Hang On Mike peppered the evening; requests from the audience.
Jed Parish jumped up to join us for a few tunes. (come see Jed play in Boston with us on November 11th. his music is gorgeous and brutal) It’s hard for me to replay the evening for those of you who weren’t there because it was really all a blur. Like a wedding, or a funeral, not to get all dramatic about it but…really. So Todd and I have a few more shows in Boston together but nothing planned after that. New songs, yeah, but not sure what we’re doing with them. I mean, I’ll record them but in what incarnation….and why besides because?
Bleu asked me to be a part of this tribute to Jeff Lynne...or more his style of control freak production and song writing (besides his lyrics which remain drastically open ended) I wrote a few songs with Bleu for this and sang on a few too. Andy from Jellyfish is part of the madness as well. check it out.
The Watercolor Cafe gig is coming up and the local radio station asked me to play DJ for a half hour or so. Played mostly vinyl and yapped about what not while Isabel chimed in in the background. CLICK HERE if you want to stream instead.
Few things: Candy Butchers - Making Up Time will be released on October 16th. And….da da da! Just Before Dark on CD by popular demand. AND we’ve unearthed some more Just Before Dark on vinyl that we’ll make available come October as well. I’ve got some shows here and there. Lots of studio work keeping me busy. Sang on the new Fountains Of Wayne record today. Sounds pretty great. Working on the new John Wesley Harding record this fall, wrote a few new songs with him…I’ll make sure I put a link up somewhere so you can check it out. The new L.E.O. record is coming out this fall. I wrote a few tunes and sang on it. So did Andy from Jellyfish and the guys from Hanson. It’s a collective tribute to ELO but….all original songs. Bleu is the mastermind behind it all. You’ll love him if you haven’t already. We’re starting a band; but that’s top secret for now. What else…I guess I’m writing a lot of new songs….it’s tough to say really. I mean, there are a bunch of scraps. I’ve been spending most of my writing time stitching them together: a Frankenstein monster. They’ve been kicking my ass. All the good ones do….Wait till you see the bride.
Few pix from the World Café Live show in Philadelphia last Sunday. Beans (the drummer) is moving to L.A. so this may have been the last show with the Hang On Mike full band line up. We sounded pretty tight that night. The beer was skunked but audience was with us all the way.
It got a little nutty at the Living Room in New York last Monday. PLEASE join us (Mike, Todd and Boggia for a few) this Monday the 10th or the next, or the next, or the next, or if you can’t make that one then maybe the next. And yeah!, bring your cameras, recorders, what have you and send them to me so I can post the love.
CLICK HERE
Just back from LA. The Tangier show with Inara was great. Tangier is a Moroccan themed club filled with listeners and drinkers. What I always shoot for anyway. I got to kick back for a change while I was on the West coast. A few days at the beach, got to finish up a few new songs on Penny’s couch. She has these bookshelves that surround the perimeter of the living room. Ted put them in alphabetical order. Isabel did a little re-filing so you get a little Barbar with your Tolstoy.
Funny thing with Isabel in my life now, there’s not enough daylight hours to do something as luxurious as concentrating on writing new songs. I’m so occupied just being THERE for her. So I’ve been writing them in my sleep subconsciously and waking up in the morning with a new song. Literally. Not just an inspiration that wakes me up or something, but a full on song with a verse and a chorus. One night I made it to the bridge.
After months of pouring over old recordings I decided to scrap the Jerry Rigged release and release Making Up Time instead.
Basically, there are close to 100 outtakes and songs that never made it to a record. So the original idea was to make a box set with Volume installments starting with one called Jerry Rigged. It wasn’t chronological cause writing isn’t that organized. Songs come in spurts as they say. The first 3 years of Candy Butchers were a prolific time for me as a writer and Todd and I managed to get into the studio to capture our duo sound to demo for Sony and MCA. So that’s what Making Up Time is. All of it is “live on the floor” which means no overdubbing whatsoever (besides one track where we added strings later). It really is a missing piece of the Candy Butchers puzzle. It’ll be released on CD cause it was never intended to be on vinyl.
I plan to eventually release all the outtakes this way, one record at a time. So get ready for Making Up Time and a bunch of gigs on the East Coast this fall/winter with Candy Butchers.
Took a while but here it is. JUST BEFORE DARK ON ITUNES CLICK HERE
If you have it already and love it please tell a friend!
If you have it already please write a review on iTunes by clicking on the link above. Every little bit helps.
So….May is kind of a slow month for me so Roxxy’s taking up the slack on the performance front. CLICK HERE
5/11/2006
The Triad was as hit! (less news more of a blog)
- by mike
Once drag queen Muffy Plotkin introduced us as her best friends we hit the ground running with What To Do With Michael until we got to the solo and I....forgot the chords! SOOooooo, I ventured into some Doobie Brothers Minute By Minute sounding thing and the new bass player Jon Flower followed every note into the darkest corners right along with me and Todd. The set list was mostly songs from Hang On Mike (everything but Painkillers, Charlie and Hunker Down). Also dipped into songs from the upcoming Jerry Rigged album that should be out in time for Christmas. (more on Jerry Rigged later) So I think I'm gonna book another show at the Triad for late summer maybe, fall. The Triad is a theatre above a sushi joint. This crazy little theatre with a balcony that you can get lost in. It's real easy to get to on the subway. AND, they let us play for almost 2 hours. I'll be updating the shows page sometime this weekend.
After a tight set of songs from Just Before Dark and a few requests from Hang On Mike I invited Bleu and Dylan Conner onstage for an all request, all pistons firing, pull out the stops kind of spontaneous hitch. What happened was, Handle Me With Care turned into My Best Friends Girl turned into Take On Me turned into Living On a Prayer turned into The Wall turned into some bullshit Simple Minds song that pretty much emptied the place of it’s paying customers. But there was camaraderie in the air and Guinness in our glasses, new names on our mailing lists. Even the sound of one hand clapping could not stop us.
4/18/2006
The Crosely Traveler: A Portable Turntable For The Summer!
- by mike
I just bought one for our family trips upstate. We've got a pile of new records to listen to and Isabel has her 45s. Sure beats the hell out of prime time TV I'm telling you! CLICK HERE TO BUY ONE ONLINE
Caffe Lena’s. I’m a little cooked right now. It’s 2:54am. Just got home after a long drive after playing the show. The bedroom reading light is on. Audrey and Isabel are awake. (shit) Isabel has a fever. They’re both psyched to see me though. Daddy is a bag of shells. It took 3 hours to get to Saratoga, I only stopped once for a coffee. I played for a solid 2 hours shortly after I got to Caffe Lena’s. Hector On Stilts played before me, they were great as was Brian Bassett who started off the night. By the end of my set I had them all onstage playing whatever music they had under their fingers which turned out to be a little Paula Abdul and Twisted Sister. Requests were granted: That Thing I Did, Painkillers, “anything off Hang On Mike. It was truly a mess. A beautiful mess that only happens on an off night with the right crowd. Thank you Joe for the snapshots, thank you Sarah for the gig, Sue for the hummus, and thanks to everybody that paid to sit down and hear me sing.
It occurred to me while in the midst of singing I Will Not Be Afraid the other night at the Living Room that this was gonna be my last residency gig in New York for a while. Kind of bummed me out a little, I got used to playing every Monday night. Monday became the new Friday night in New York City for me and my friends and fans that became friends. Walking the 10 minute walk from my house, through snowstorms and spring fever with my guitar strapped to my back (should have changed the strings) clutching 10 copies of vinyl (crap I forgot my harmonica) going over songs in my head, trying to remember lyrics to some lost thing or another (Hopelessly Devoted To You) pissed at myself for not thinking ahead. (people came to see a show, I don’t have a show)
Arriving early at the bar for my one free drink of the night (I will earn the rest), that doorman cards me EVERY time, I’ve been playing here every Monday since June. Meeting a few fans hanging at the bar waiting for 9 o’clock to roll around. Checking out who’s playing before me. Always good, always inspiring. (is Morgan doing sound?) Then that invigorating feeling you get taking the guitar out of the case- my turn-scanning the room to see who’s sticking around to see me (sometimes these gigs were packed, at other times the crowd was a little thin-never could tell) trying to find a way in, a way to connect somehow for an hour or so onstage.
If only to carve out a little place tonight, a place where everybody’s vibing on the same thing whatever it is. Beach Boys, early Candy Butchers, R. Stevie Moore, 10CC, Shit, I should have booked more shows….I have one stray bad Larry in the middle of April….one thing Uptown in May….but there really is something about playing every week on the same stage. Rolling up my sleeves. I’ve got to finish Girly Worms , I’ve got to finish Scott Free , these new songs to write and a new album to start recording. With who what where and how I have no idea, no real plan. But I know it’ll include the ideas harvested at these shows, and I know it'll be on vinyl bitch.
(photos by Brandi Ediss: thanks Brandi!)
Back in New York City just in time for Naked Record Hour. Spinning the scrathy 45's from my childhood jukebox with Isabel. Including "What a Fool Believes", "Lonely Boy", and "Take The Long Way Home". The story is my dad showed up from work one day with this big old juke box filled with the hits of the year which was....I guess around the mid 70's. We wore the thing out years ago but before we tossed it I snagged all the 45's knowing that someday they would come back to serve me well. Indeed. Back at the Living Room on Monday at 10pm. I think my buddy Jim Boggia is gonna join me. It may just turn into a tit for tat 1970s Naked Record Hour right there on stage so bring a plastic bag just in case.
lvmv
P.S. Happy Birthday Rizbee!
3/24/2006
Pre-show Largo stew embarrassing self portrait #1. Los Angeles 3/23/2006
- by Mike
I dunno. Thought you all might want to cop a feel of what it?s like all alone before a big show. Not much happens really. You stare at an empty dressing room, pick at the gratis cold pasta with chicken, toss back the dregs of your Guinness while the hum of the crowd below stirs the nerves (always a good sign) in anticipation for the show ahead. There was a lot of energy in the packed out room that night. Some familiar faces and lots of fresh ones too. (played with local guy Gus Black who?s tremendously talented, check him out I think you?ll like him) I mostly played songs from Hang On Mike and Just Before Dark. Also, through in a new song in progress called That Part Of Me Is Dead and the old Candy Butchedrs chestnut Canned Hunt by request. Plan to be back in LA in June. Until then, go swing by Amoeba on Sunset and by some records! Nothing like the feeling of peeling off the shrink wrap of a new LP or inhaling the decay bouquet of an old musty copy of Innervisions. (uhmm, Just Before Dark is available there?.maybe you should buy it for that asshole brother of yours-set him straight) the A.C. Newman record that came out last year is totally worth buying too. Do you have any Gordon Lightfoot records? you?ll love him. Ron Sexsmith hipped me to him. You can pick up his whole catalog for like 10 bucks on vinyl. Alright, Isabel's grinning up a grin and I smell trouble. Gotta go deal.
lvmv
Welcome to the new web site! Big thanks to Keith LuBrant aka MisterDeveloper.com for putting this together so nimbly. You'll see that I've listed my whole catalog in the store section and that not all of it is available for sale. Well, I'm working on changing that... Until then enjoy the free mp3s I've posted there and hopefully I'll get all the legal stuff sorted out so I can release them on my new label Good Morning Monkey Records. I'll be doing most of the news here, and the video page will be more like a vlog page so check back soon as there is lots brewing. lvmv
An instrumental version of “Blending In” will appear in John Kasdan’s new movie called IN THE LAND OF WOMEN. We'll give you details about the release and a link to the site when it's all going down. check out the unreleased song “Blending In" here
For XM Satellite Radio Subscribers
Loft Session #63 Candy Butchers and #47 Pernice Brothers (Double-Encore)
Candy Butchers main-man Mike Viola treats us to a super-fun set of songs from his latest CD, Hang On Mike followed by Joe Pernice and his band, featuring songs from their 2003 release Yours, Mine and Ours. Monday 12noon & 9pm, Thursday 3pm & 9pm and Saturday 6pm, all times Eastern.
http://theloft.xmradio.com
Mandy Moore
Califorina….I’ve been busy in LA the past few months writing songs with Mandy for her new record. We’ve played a few shows together at Hotel Café, got some positive feedback on the new tunes. We plan to make a classic LA record, CSNY, Joni Mitchell meets Nilsson and…..Wings! Plan on recording it live in her house on an old Studer tape machine…. Something like that anyway….too early to tell. But man….I can’t wait to get all tangled up in Ampex tape in when I get back from Japan.
