March BEAT

Mike Keneally Plays From The Heart

by Ben Likens

     Mike Keneally is one of those “best kept secret” type of musicians.

     While praised by those within the music business, to the
public-at-large, Keneally is virtually unknown and admits as much. In
speaking about his latest CD, Dancing, he says that “as is the case with all
of my albums, very few people know about it.”

    His track record, includes a stint in Frank Zappa’s ‘88 touring band
(the last before Zappa's death in ‘93). He is also a regular on Steve Vai
(another Zappa alumnus) albums and tours. Vai, no slouch himself on guitar,
has been quoted using the words “incredible” and “genius” when referring to
Keneally.

     Dancing – recorded by Keneally with his band, Beer for Dolphins – not
only showcases his amazing skills on both keyboards and guitar, but it also
his formidable talents as a writer.

    In regards to his practice methods, he says – “I don’t really practice
in a disciplined way, and any time I try to, I always end up following the
sounds in my head, rather than doing some practice or technique drill. I
always end up composing and trying to translate the sounds and ideas in my
head into songs.” When one listens to Dancing, one quickly realizes that
Keneally’s head must be a very interesting place, indeed. Every song is
radically different, each employing all sorts of compositional twists and
turns, and his lyrics are both humorous and profound.

    Keneally spoke with Midwest BEAT about his new album, his influences, and
Zappa.

   Of his compositional method, Keneally said, “If I have an instrument in
my hand, sometimes a phrase will pop out while I’m improvising that makes me
want to develop it further. Often, a melody just shows up in my head and I
decide to try to make a song out of it. That happens frequently enough where
it’s usually not a question of waiting for inspiration to strike. It’s
generally just placing myself in a relaxed enough state of mind and body
where I can allow these things to come to me. Usually, they do, if I don’t
get in their way.”

     Keneally says that sometimes he does indeed hear the styles of other
artists and bands who has influenced him crop up in his songs. “It kind of
makes me smile when it happens because I’m such a music fan, and I’m
probably less concerned than other writers about how evident those influences
can be.

    Part of the fun, for some writers, is being able to say – ‘Oh, check
that out. That sounds like Todd [Rundgren], Steely Dan, XTC, The Beatles,
Frank [Zappa]’ – or whatever. Obviously, I love all those artists and I’m
happy to pay tribute to them in a direct way. Having said that, though, I’ve
recently listened to some of the music on Dancing, and I remember thinking –
‘Wow. This feels like, possibly, the end of this particular style of writing
for me.’ In the stuff that I’ve been writing since Dancing, the
‘spot-the-influence’ factor is not quite so prevalent. What’s most
pleasurable for me, in terms of the new music I’ve been writing, is when I
listen to it and say – ‘That doesn’t really remind me of anything I’ve
ever heard before.’ That’s what makes me the happiest.”

     The lead track on Dancing is “Live in Japan,” which has a very catchy
chorus and a bright, “Stratty” guitar sound. “The title of the song,” said
Keneally, “was suggested by an album of Chicago’s called Live in Japan. I
just saw that phrase and heard it in my head as live [short ‘i’] in Japan
for some reason and I just thought ‘that would be kind of a funny to have a
song that looks like live in Japan, but when one listens to it, it’s actually
‘live’ in Japan. That made me laugh. I got the chorus melody in my head
right after that, wrote it down, and it sat there for a few months until I
decided to make the idea into a song. The lyrics have to do with somebody
making changes in life. It was a song that wrote itself.”

       The song, “I Wasn’t Ready For You,” was written about a friend of the
artist named, Kevin Gilbert, who died a few years ago. “[Kevin] was an
amazing musician who co-wrote most of the songs on the first Sheryl Crow
album (Tuesday Night Music Club). He also used to be in a band called Toy
Matinee (a duo also featuring Chicagoan Pat Leonard of Trillion fame).
Kevin was a really creative, guy and we always talked about doing more
projects together, but we never quite got around to it, and then he was
suddenly gone. The song is a reflection of the sadness over not making the
most of our opportunities while we had them.”

    In terms of opportunities, Keneally has had his share of them. As for
what he took away from the time he spent with Zappa, he said – “More than
anything, it was the way he led a band and was able, through a combination of
will, patience, and understanding, to get a lot of musicians to make the
exact sound that he wanted to hear. Frank was a very efficient and very fair
band leader. We actually had a fantastic time learning the material. It was
a discovery in itself that one could learn this type of demanding music and
still have a really good time.”

   Keneally and Zappa have one thing in common: Their music takes time. The
material on Dancing is quite rich and requires several listens to be fully
appreciated.

    In this busy, deadline driven world, do people have that sort of time for
music anymore, particularly this type of new, challenging music?

    “There’s so much choice,” says Keneally, “that people are exhausted by
the choices that they’re given. A lot of people, when they reach a certain
age, are content with the music they have in their lives already and aren’t
seeking out anything new, and the younger people are becoming so accustomed
to just downloading songs that music doesn’t have the same importance in
their lives that it once did. It’s like wallpaper. Downloading from a home
computer is not the same experience as when a person goes to the store, buys
an album, experiences it as an album, and examines every aspect of the
artwork, the liner notes, the whole thing. I miss the days when that’s what
a person had to do to have that kind of cool musical experience. I say
‘album’ because albums were way more interesting, in terms of artwork, than
CDs.”

     In the end though, as Keneally points out, the experience of music
originates from experience itself. “When John Lennon played the way he did
in ‘Dear Prudence’ or ‘Julia,’” he explained, “the kind of really gentle
guitar playing he does on those songs, it speaks of the tremendous amount of
passion and heart and all the living that has gone down, resulting in his
being able to produce that kind of deep, atmospheric sound. That’s what
interests me about any musician. I don’t just want to hear excellent
technique. I want to hear what the artist has been through and how that
artist brings life experiences to his, or her, instrument. I want to learn
something about an artist’s life through what I hear.”

    Listen to Dancing to get an example of what Mike Keneally has been
through, his thoughts on life, and how he translates it all into incredible
music. He’s a rare musician in today’s world for being capable of that kind
of deep musical expression. It may be the product of collaboration between
his head and his hands, but ultimately, it comes from his heart.

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