Mike Keneally says:
SATRIANI, VAI & NEW ALBUM
Hello from beautiful (city where I happen to be at this time)! It's very cozy in (hotel where I am right now) and I thought I'd say howdy to you, because it's been awhile.
Yesterday was Day One of rehearsals with Joe Satriani, Jeff Campitelli and Allen Whitman for the new Satriani album we're going to start recording next week. Today was Day Two. That's how that works! I was pleasantly surprised to get a call from Joe a few weeks ago, right before the Keneally/Beller tour started (more about that in a moment), asking if I'd like to be the keyboardist on his new record. Hells yeah! Sounded like fun, and turns out that it is - the rehearsals are thoroughly chill, damned fun and extremely productive - we've slammed through twelve new tunes and they're sounding very great indeed.
I'm digging being just the keyboardist for this project, and putting the guitar aside for a couple of weeks (happy to leave that gig to Joe, who is sounding fantastic of course). I love changing things up, and it feels like good preparation for all the concentrated work I'm about to be doing on new Vai piano arrangements, for the performances I'll be doing in the Netherlands in October as part of a Steve Vai festival...Steve is premiering some new writing for the Metropole, and I'll be playing a batch of Vai piano arrangements old and new. Will be nice to rub elbows with Steve and the Metropole again, and to collaborate once more with dear old pal Co de Kloet (whose voice just MIGHT be making a return cameo appearance on my next album Evidence of Humanity - more about THAT in a moment too).
Sending out enormo-thanks to those of you who attended the Northeast "They're Both The Same Band" tour in April, and I want to profess my very intense gratitude and love to Bryan Beller, Rick Musallam, Griff Peters and Joe Travers for doing such a magnificent job on the tour. We presented a lot of new material and revamped a lot of older stuff, and I thought the sound of this new expanded Keneally Band was phenomenal. I was fiercely grateful every night to be sharing the stage with these champion mofos. We're especially indebted to our friends who helped us during the tour, heroes all. Tour manager/sole crew member Johnny Meyer became a pal during the last Dethklok tour, guitar teching for me and Brendon, and is now a trusted member of the MKB/BBB family - Johnny, thanks so much my friend. Merchmasters J.D Mack and Alec Tervenski were selfless in their quest to help the tour not go down in flames financially, and many other friends met us at the gigs and helped us load in and out of the venues - we are abjectly grateful to ALL of you! We loved the tour and are deep in discussion about how to do it again, a little bit longer next time and, we hope, before. We will of course keep you posted.
New album coming soon! We have finished the mastering and cover photography for Evidence of Humanity by me and Marco Minnemann. It's been a long time coming, and now it's seriously close to being here. We'll keep you posted about that too!
I freaking left the power adaptor for my PowerBook at home - I had to borrow Campitelli's charger during rehearsal today, but I'm about to run out of juice and I need to shoot this off to Mr. Chatfield before I do, so that's all for now, but I'll be back in touch again sooner than later, because there's probably more stuff I ought to tell you about. Super busy, super happy, things are good here, hope they're good where you are. Thanks!
Mike
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