Twenty Fifteen!!

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Goodbye Holidays, Goodbye Flu, Hello shows!

Lots of great shows coming up with Nineteen Thirteen, Devil Met Contention, and Dave Fitzpatrick Band from now until April and it that’s not enough, I’ll be recording with all three acts as well!

With Nineteen Thirteen:
January 15, 2015  @ 5pm – Milwaukee Athletic Club – Milwaukee, WI
January 23, 2015 @ 9pm – The Frequency – Madison, WI
February 3, 2014 @ 7pm – Milwaukee Art Museum – Milwaukee, WI
February 14, 2015 @ 7pm – Racine Theatre Guild – Racine, WI
February 20, 2015 @ 5pm – Milwaukee Area Technical College – Milwaukee, WI
March 11, 2015 @ City Winery (w/Langhorne Slim) – Chicago, IL
March 20, 2015 @ 7pm – Art Bar- Mike Judy gallery opening – Milwaukee, WI
April 4, 2015 @ 7pm – George’s – Kenosha, WI

With Devil Met Contention:
January 15, 2015 @ 9pm – Boone and Crockett – Milwaukee, WI
January 16, 2015 @ 9pm – Cactus Club – Milwaukee, WI
January 27, 2015 @ 9pm – Vintage – Milwaukee, WI
February 7, 2015 @ 9pm – Mad Planet – Milwaukee, WI
February 9, 2015 @ 9pm – Boone and Crockett -Milwaukee, WI
February 11, 2015 @ 4:30pm – WUWM RADIO SHOW with Trapper Schoepp
(recording for broadcast on February 18, 2015)
February 12, 2015. @ 9pm – Linneman’s Riverwest Inn – Milwaukee, WI
February 21, 2015 @ 9pm – Pizza Forever House Concert – Milwaukee, WI
February 26, 2015 @ 9pm – RECORD RELEASE PARTY – Hotel Foster – Milwaukee, WI
March 1, 2015 @ 5:30pm – ARTE DE TODOS FESTIVAL – Yield – Milwaukee, WI
March 2, 2015 @ Club Charlie’s – Milwaukee, WI
March 6, 2015 @ 9pm – The Sloth Loft/Riverwest – Milwaukee, WI
March 7, 2015 @ 8pm – Anodyne Coffee – Milwaukee, WI

With Dave Fitzpatrick Band:
February 22, 2015 @ Whammy Bar West – Milwaukee, WI
April 23, 2015 @ Harley Davidson Museum – Milwaukee, WI

“Smith Uncovered: A Reinterpretation of the Songs of Patti Smith” w/Nineteen Thirteen – THIS WEEKEND!

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“Smith Uncovered” is the latest in Alverno Presents’ series of shows in which local musicians interpret, deconstruct and artfully fiddle with a songwriter’s body of work. 
Alverno Presents impresario David Ravel recruited Betty Blexrud-Strigens of the band Testa Rosa to curate this concert, asking her to pick an American songwriter. Blexrud-Strigens, who took part in the earlier “Beautiful Dreamer” show saluting Stephen Foster, mulled over several possibilities, including Dolly Parton.  (Courtesy of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
FULL MJS STORY HERE
TICKETS AVAILABLE HERE

I am so excited to be joining Mr. Victor DeLorenzo and Ms. Janet Schiff onstage as part of this event.  In the past I’ve sat in with them as a percussionist but woohoo! now I’ll be manning the drum set for some upcoming Nineteen Thirteen shows.  I will do my best to keep up with these two and try not to geek out about the fact that I get to play with one of my long-time drum heros.

Now, if you’ll excuse me,  I have to go practice my bolero….

(commence frantic search of practice room for #VicFirth SD2s)

In the studio with Devil Met Contention

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More intimate details to come but the short story is we gathered together to cut as many tracks as we could on Sunday, October 12 at the fantastic Howl Street Recordings with Milwaukee legend Shane Hochstetler at the helm.  And we are very tired today but also very happy with the marathon tracking session.

 

Goodbye to Summer!

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Well, it’s been a great Summer for playing shows (weird weather not withstanding) but September in Wisconsin basically means it’s time to start booking shows indoors.

It also means it’s time to do some recording!  I can’t wait to line up some studio time and test out all of the cool new gear I’ve been working with this year.  Especially Crescent Cymbals and Aquarian Drumheads, both of which have been more and more impressive every time I’ve used them.   (Thanks Chris Brady and Michael Vosbein!)

Here’s a link to a little flyover from my most recent show with The Dave Fitzpatrick Band – it’s a quick shot of what I’m using and loving right now: LLRLRR on Instagram

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Let’s Play Some Shows!

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Well now – this is more like it!

Finally shaking off the dust (and the endless winter) and getting back to playing some drums – sunshine on my cymbals and various festival foods/regional beers in my tummy. I’m not taking my talents to South Beach but I am working with some wonderful new folks, having a lot of fun learning new songs and reconnecting with old ones.

with Mike Mangione & The Union:
MAY 17, 2014 – River Roots Festival – Madison, IN

with Devil Met Contention:
MAY 23, 2014 – Cactus Club – Milwaukee, WI
JUNE 7, 2014 – Riverwest Public House – Milwaukee WI
JUNE 14, 2014 – Yield – Milwaukee, WI

with Dave Fitzpatrick Band
JULY 4, 2014 – Summerfest -Briggs & Stratton Big Backyard – Milwaukee WI
JULY 12, 2014 – Bastille Days – Milwaukee, WI
AUGUST 23, 2014 – Sounds of Summer – Whitefish Bay, WI
AUGUST 31, 2014 – Milwaukee Rally @ the Harley Davidson Museum – Milwaukee, WI

with 1913
Shhhhh- I’ll be a super secret shaker/percolator at some upcoming shows.
You’ll just have to come to all of them to find out!
NineteenThirteen.com

Here’s a hint – one of the shows is on a spooky day in June….

MKE Unplugged with WMSE

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It’s hard to believe that this show was already a month ago!

It was alot of fun playing for the good people of Milwaukee at the UWM Zelazo Center and big thanks to WMSE for broadcasting the show live on the radio. More shows coming soon. (Finally getting a little busy in 2014!)

Drummers like to tinker…

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Been tinkering in the music room downstairs during the off season and this monster has emerged.

It’s my Taye Drums gokit rack tom (12″) and the 18″ gokit kick as a woofer for a 24×14 Yamaha 9000 kick. Also a Yamaha 9000 14×10 rack tom as a floor tom.

There are 4 snares in the pic – A Yamaha steve gadd with vintage hoops, a vintage red slingerland, an LP 10″ micro by the hihat and a Taye 14x7maple/walnut hanging out down below.

Cymbals are: SABIAN Prototype 10″ aero splash, 18″ HH thin, 21″ SR2 thin, 19″ AAX Tremor with rattler and the hihats are 15″ Crescent Cymbals

Electronics are a Roland SPD-S with some sweet e-panda headphones (thanks Dominic at Woodshed for pimping #hooligan stuff haha)

I’m using the new vic firth beaters and Steve Jordan sticks (can’t see them)

Oh yeah. and a cowbell. (LP Salsa bell. mmmm chips and salsa)

Red-Winged Blackbird Man is out now!

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Finally!

We recorded this awhile back and toured the songs all last year, talked to a few folks and got our team in place and it’s out now. We’ve got a great media team and a great pr team and the rest we’re doing on our own.

Who needs a label these days? 🙂

We’ll be out on the road in September, October and November to promote the new release so stop bye and say hi!

MMTU Fall Dates
Sep 7 2013 Madison-House Concert Madison, WI 8:00pm
Sep 13 2013 REPUBLIC at Calhoun Square Minneapolis, MN 9pm
Sep 14 2013 North Dakota State Fargo, ND 8pm
Sep 20 2013 Precinct Somerville, MA 8pm
Sep 21 2013 Saint Peters Church New Brunswick, NJ 8pm
Sep 27 2013 The Trinity House Livonia, MI 8pm
Sep 28 2013 Modern Formations Gallery Pittsburgh, PA 8pm
Sep 29 2013 IOTA Washington, DC 8pm
Sep 30 2013 St.Ignatius Church Hickory, MD 7pm
Oct 1 2013 The Thought Lot Shippensburg, PA 7pm
Oct 2 2013 Burlap and Bean Philadelphia, PA 8pm
Oct 3 2013 The Living Room New York, NY 9pm
Oct 4 2013 St. Paul Inside the Walls Madison, NJ 8pm
Oct 5 2013 Catholic Underground NY, NY 7pm
Oct 10 2013 Cafe Paradiso Fairfield, IA 8pm
Oct 11 2013 318 Cafe Excelsior, MN 8pm
Oct 12 2013 Eronel Dubuque, IA 9pm
Oct 18 2013 CSPS Cedar Rapids, IA 8pm
Oct 19 2013 Private Party Iowa City, IA 8pm
Oct 24 2013 Old Rock house St Louis, MO 8pm
Oct 25 2013 The New Vintage Louisville, KY 9pm
Oct 26 2013 Molly Malone’s Cincinnati,OH 9pm
Oct 27 2013 The Barking Spider Cleveland, OH 7pm
Nov 1 2013 Shank Hall Milwaukee, WI 9pm
Nov 2 2013 Old Town School Of Folk Music Chicago, IL 8:30pm
Nov 23 2013 Windy City House Concert Chicago, IL 8pm

Big News from MMTU

We are excited to announce the official release of our latest album
“Red-Winged Blackbird Man” due out in stores Sep 3rd 2013!!!

Red-winged cover official  copy

We set out for 5 days of recording in Iowa City with Grammy nominated producer Bo Ramsey, but the team got along famously and completed the new record in 2.5 beautiful days! “The majority of our experience as a band is playing together live, and we didn’t want the recording process to be any different,” says Mike. “We set the room, took our places, pressed record and came out ahead. I can’t wait for people to share in what happened there”.

For those that have seen the band live since the album’s completion it has been made available at the shows. Sep 3rd marks the official release and moment it will be available to the general public through digital and physical distribution. Spread the word!! Speak of and buy often!!

(Way back during recording of this cd, I took some notes on gear that was used and I’ll rewrite a brief recap soon.)

Daytrotter!

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At the end of our touring cycle last year, we had the opportunity to visit Daytrotter and record a few tracks, including three from our upcoming cd “Red-Winged Blackbird Man”. The Daytrotter experience was amazing and it really felt like a milestone event for our band.

Please visit our little Daytrotter artist page and have a listen for yourself:
MMTU on Daytrotter

(Oh and for gear heads – I used a Taye 14×7 maple/walnut snare, the house kit which was a C&C Maple/Mahogany kit and some of main touring cymbal set up: 14″ HHX Groove hats, 18 AAX Ozone crash, 21″ Signature ride and 18″ HHX Stage Crash.)