Mike Keneally is a freakishly talented guitarist and multi-instrumentalist whose creativity knows no bounds. First unleashed on the international music scene as the featured Stunt Guitarist on Frank Zappa’s 1988 tour, Keneally has since released a number of CDs under his own name that are indescribably expansive and bursting with energy, a continuous barrage of wondrous musical ideas that tumble and flow and crash against one another like an avalanche of joyous noise.
Keneally frequently blends elements of razor sharp Pop Rock a la XTC with explosive Prog Rock flourishes, and extended free form guitar solos of Zappanese proportions. Cleverly weaving it all together with humor and grace, the result is never short of dazzling. The sound of Keneally’s boundless imagination is beyond comparison, beyond category, and often beyond belief. His old boss would no doubt be proud.
October of last year saw the release of Evidence Of Humanity, a collaboration between Keneally and drummer Marco Minneman. The project was born when Minneman recorded a 52-minute improvisation on the drum kit and passed the tape off to Keneally to see what he could do with it. Keneally dug it and dug in, overdubbing dozens of guitar parts, keyboards, bass and more. The result is an epic piece of Prog Rock mastery, with Mike expertly accompanying Minneman’s rhythmic foundation as it continually morphs through dozens of changes and little suites within the greater opus. It’s a singular piece of music that winds wildly through uncharted territory, alternating passages of delicate interplay with raging guitar freak outs. Amazingly, it has hallmarks of both spontaneous improvisation and intricate composition. It has to be heard to be believed.
In June of this year Keneally released a live album called “Bakin’ At The Potato” featuring his 5-piece Mike Keneally Band. Recorded in a small club in September 2010, the performance is a blazing showcase for the whole band. Live onstage is a completely different setting than any recording scenario, much less the tedious, comprehensive technique employed on his collaboration with Minneman. But Keneally shines and rages regardless of the setting, and the live album also doles out ample evidence of his full-throated soaring vocals and clever lyrics. Doubling on keyboards, Mike is accompanied on the live record by two additional guitarists Rick Musallam and Griff Peters. The six-string threesome spins some wildly inventive harmonies and each is a virtuoso capable of some truly stunning guitar work. Keneally’s rhythm section features drummer Joe Travers and bass man Bryan Beller. Travers is a veteran of Dweezil’s Zappa Plays Zappa project and holds the reigning title of Zappa Vaultmeister, the overseer and organizer of all the posthumous releases from the legendary Frank Zappa tape vault. Travers is a monster drummer and the connection he shares with bassist Beller is simply telepathic. Beller has been playing with Keneally for many years, invariably Mike’s right hand man in nearly every solo project that Keneally has been involved in for many years.
Both of the aforementioned CDs come with a bonus DVD of their respective ensembles in performance and in conversation. The bonus DVD with Evidence Of Humanity includes a live duo improv that clocks in close to an hour, in addition to a lengthy conversation with Keneally and Minneman. “Bakin’ At The Potato” comes with a bonus DVD that features the band’s entire performance, including 5 tracks that did not fit on the CD.
And, as if that weren’t enough, bassist Bryan Beller also just released a live disc featuring the same band as heard on “Bakin’ At The Potato”. The main difference here of course is Beller as band leader and writer of all the songs. Keneally plays mostly keys for this set, but he is equally/freakishly adept on them as he is on guitar. That fact alone is astounding, as is the sight of him playing both at the same time. In addition to his prodigious output as a solo artist, Mike is also an accomplished sideman who has played with everyone from Screamin’ Jay Hawkins to Ambrosia, in addition to his work with Zappa and, much more recently, an ongoing collaboration with Andy Partridge from XTC. But, I digress!
From the regretfully short-lived “They’re Both The Same Band Tour”, the Beller set was recorded the same night as the live Keneally disc. Beller’s material differs from Keneally’s in that it seems slightly less expansive and schizophrenic, and more rooted in heavy grooves. (Perhaps not totally unexpected from a set of tunes composed by a bass player.) If anything, these smokin’ vamps give the soloists a little more room to stretch out and the disc is a hell of a nice companion piece to “Bakin’ At The Potato”. In truth, after hearing them both back to back, I can only see them now as two halves of a greater whole, bursting with boundless energy and bizarre humor, all seamlessly embedded in intricate yet engaging compositions. Far from a self-important, humorless wank-fest, these 2 live records represent some of the most impressive musicianship and explosive fun that I have heard captured on tape in a long time.
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