Mike Keneally- thoughts? And Inca Roads video -2017

[LEG-art]

Any thoughts on Mike Keneally? Amazing musician. Incredibly nice guy. Just enjoyed his April 1st concert, yesterday. And for the best finale ever: MK & Beer for Dolphins, played Inca Roads. Enjoy!

[chalkpie]

Thoughts? Keneally is a national treasure, and one of the most talented and creative musicians working within the "rock" idiom, period. There aren't really sufficient superlatives to throw at this guy, he is all of them and more. The talent he exudes is staggering.

[kenschwartz]

great show yesterday - well worth the almost 6 hours (round trip) of driving. and thanks to the venue for doing afternoon shows

[philsunset]

I happen to be in the midst of listening to Wooden Smoke, yet again, for me one of the great Sunday morning albums, (but really any time is good). But I agree with above with Chalkpie^^^ so many musical superlatives apply...and a very friendly down to earth human...

[Fracktured]

Amazing musician. Incredibly nice guy.

Pretty much sums it up for me.

[Mister Triscuits]

Thoughts? Keneally is a national treasure, and one of the most talented and creative musicians working within the "rock" idiom, period. There aren't really sufficient superlatives to throw at this guy, he is all of them and more. The talent he exudes is staggering.

Got to go along with this, 100%. Mike is made of awesome.

[Steve F.]

Got to go along with this, 100%. Mike is made of awesome.

Nicely said.

[Baribrotzer]

Any thoughts on Mike Keneally? Amazing musician. Incredibly nice guy. Just enjoyed his April 1st concert, yesterday. And for the best finale ever: MK & Beer for Dolphins, played Inca Roads. Enjoy!

All true. And, as this video makes clear, he not only can play more guitar than most guitarists, but more keyboards than most keyboardists. Apparently, when FZ first hired him to play guitar, he didn't even think of himself as a guitarist - he was a keyboard player who messed around on guitar (and just happened to play it well enough to take over Steve Vai's old job as "stunt guitarist"). Also, since he read well on piano and was able to transfer that over, he was the best reader on guitar Frank had ever encountered.

[moecurlythanu]

All true. And, as this video makes clear, he not only can play more guitar than most guitarists, but more keyboards than most keyboardists. Apparently, when FZ first hired him to play guitar, he didn't even think of himself as a guitarist - he was a keyboard player who messed around on guitar (and just happened to play it well enough to take over Steve Vai's old job as "stunt guitarist"). Also, since he read well on piano and was able to transfer that over, he was the best reader on guitar Frank had ever encountered.

When I saw MK & BFD in the late 90s or early 00s (would have to find a stub or something) at Wilbert's in Cleveland, at one point in the set, Mike's keyboardist stepped back and Mike played a keyboard solo. His keyboardist's jaw literally dropped watching Mike play. Yeah, it was that good, and so was the guitar work. Just a supreme talent.

[rickawakeman]

One of my favorite concerts of the early '00s--Mike and BFD (big band, NDV on drums, the "Dancing" tour), barely contained on the stage of the Iron Horse here in 'Hamp.

[chalkpie]

One of my favorite concerts of the early '00s--Mike and BFD (big band, NDV on drums, the "Dancing" tour), barely contained on the stage of the Iron Horse here in 'Hamp.

Yes - an amazing show. I saw them at The Bottom Line in NYC. Mallets, horns, the works. Still one of my fav MK albums.

[mkeneally]

Thank you all for such kind words. What a nice surprise to find this thread! We're on the way to the Iridium in NYC right now, playing there tonight and tomorrow. Would be wonderful to see some PE'ers there :-)

Thanks for the support which is truly, hugely, appreciated!

[flowerking]

Thoughts? Keneally is a national treasure, and one of the most talented and creative musicians working within the "rock" idiom, period. There aren't really sufficient superlatives to throw at this guy, he is all of them and more. The talent he exudes is staggering.

Yeah, national treasure, great way to put it. He's also criminally underrated and deserves much more success than he's seen (I won't say "fame" because I don't know that Mike is interested in fame). I much prefer his earlier stuff (especially Hat) as I find it more enjoyable to listen to but Scambot is pretty amazing.

[DoubleDrummer]

During my years in music school and enjoying the percussion ensemble, I was at the concert grand marimba most days.
I love the sound of marimba and electric guitar together..............such an amazing combination of sound.
I remember well the songs with FZ and Ruth Underwood and I love the fact that Keneally keeps this sound alive on many of his releases as well.
DANCING is one of my favorite CDs -- I have it ripped to the desk-top at work and listen to it often.

[proggy_jazzer]

100% agreement with everything said here! I'm a recent bandwagon-jumper-onto, and my latest acquisitions are GT Live and Sluggo! which I cannot stop listening to. Having not seen the man live yet, I'm so appreciative of the quality of the live dvds (the aforementioned and Bakin' at the Potato). The joy Mike and the rest of the band have in playing this amazing music is palpable. As time and finances allow I plan to make it through the rest of his estimable catalog and find an opportunity to make a concert. I'm also doing my best to spread the word about all things MK here in my little section of the fly-overs.

[AdventAlan]

Greetings,

Seeing Mike perform is always awesome and inspiring. Also a super-great guy and very cool to work with too. (This was his fourth NJ Proghouse show, by the way.)

Cheers,


Alan

[zorknapp]

Both sets at the Iridium last night were really fun, and lots of engaging music was played!

Looking forward to the sets tonight. If you're in the NYC area, and thinking about going to this gig, just get out and do it, you won't be disappointed.

Mike

[canadianghetto]

Driving 4 hours to see him for the first time on Friday. I only got into him last year but had a huge binge for months that cemented him as one of my favorite artists. He obviously doesn't come South to Texas very often if ever so this is one of those shows that can't be missed for me.

[Jefferson James]

I've eaten this before and I'll eat it again: The Beatles, ELP, XTC and Mike Keneally represent the 4 major food groups of my musical diet (the ELP portion is a bit bigger than the rest). I could get gushy and make everyone uncomfortable with my antics but in my opinion, Mr. Keneally is a distinct talent worthy of several government grants. What he's creating is, really, to me, indescribable. From "Boil That Dust Speck" to "The Universe Will Provide" and well beyond with the "Scambot" disks, to his sublime collaboration with Andy Partridge ("Wing Beat Fantastic"), the sheer stylistic range of Mike's music is staggering, and at the end of it all, it all sounds like him.

Seventeen years ago I was feeling like I'd reached the end of a musical road; I was stuck and wondering if I'd hit my limit. Then I heard Mike's "Dancing" album and the music single-handedly revitalized me, gave me a clue, you know? "Pssst, hey you: it's perfectly fine to graft a modular synth solo over a jazz progression, then into a Beatles-type riff. Anything goes as long as it sounds good. Now go do it."

On top of it all Mike's always been very gracious and displayed remarkable tolerance towards me so there's that, too.

Seriously, I think Mike should be funded by the government or a university so he can develop his music full-time with no distractions (if he wanted to). I think he has the kind of imagination that is absolutely criminal for the greater artistic community to overlook. This guy has the ability to change things, in my opinion, if given the proper support. To think of what he's done basically on his own (with his excellent support team) is astounding and I'm very, very grateful for the music.

I can't help but wonder: what if Mike had the financial and social support to compose music full-time? It's scary to think about.

[aith01]

Mr. Keneally is an awesome musician, and compositionally on a whole 'nother level which is so far beyond my comprehension it's not even funny. The added bonus is that he's also a personable, down-to-earth fellow, which is not a very common combination.

Dancing was my introduction to Mike's music, and it has some of my favorite pieces still, like Live In Japan, Ankle Bracelet, and Pretty Enough For Girls. The use of Marimbas (or tuned percussion instruments in general) along with guitar and other rock band instrumentation, it creates a really cool sound. It scratches a similar itch that some of Frank Zappa's music did, but without all the "gutter humor."

Scambot is awesome, and Scambot 2 is even awesomer.

[aith01]

[...]

Seriously, I think Mike should be funded by the government or a university so he can develop his music full-time with no distractions (if he wanted to). I think he has the kind of imagination that is absolutely criminal for the greater artistic community to overlook. This guy has the ability to change things, in my opinion, if given the proper support. To think of what he's done basically on his own (with his excellent support team) is astounding and I'm very, very grateful for the music.

+1, to all of this.

[Jefferson James]

Mr. Keneally is an awesome musician, and compositionally on a whole 'nother level which is so far beyond my comprehension it's not even funny.

Yeah, that's the thing for me: a lot of artists I can kind of figure out, fake my way around it, but Keneally leaves me baffled and laughing. He's just so, so imaginative.

[Sean]

Mike is the best! I echo all the above and more!

[BrianG]

It was such a treat to talk to him and his band at a merch table at NearFest Apocalypse. Not many of the other artists took the time to man their table personally. I've recently restarted my MK familiarization course with the Scambots. So many ideas packed into so little space. Thanks Mike.

[Jefferson James]

Let's not forget all he's done for the LGBTQ community as well.