Octet Videos pt 1

The first performance of my new octet was part of a wonderful night at the Blue Whale. The room was packed to the gills (pun slyly intended) for Blockrad, who played an extraordinary set of subtle musical creations. The atmosphere was warm and friendly, and had a great casual feel that is sometimes lacking when the music starts to get "fancy". After a mad rush to set up and get the recording gear going, my octet braved the new music for all to hear. There were some great moments, and thanks to videographer/recording engineer Alex Chaloff, we got it on tape. Here are videos of what I feel were the strongest performances of the night.

The first is an original, "The People Who Raised Us", composed specifically for this group. It was actually the first piece I completed when forming the octet. Will Wulfeck is featured on trombone, getting just the right amount of outrageous with Emilio and Mike on bass and drums respectively. I recommend viewing these full-screen and with headphones; Alex did a fine job all around and it's worth seeing/hearing fully!



The next is an arrangement of "Caught Up In You" by the rock band .38 Special. I had been hearing this song my whole life and just heard something else in it one day. The band really blends here and Frank Silva takes a gorgeous solo.



Looking forward to making more music with these fellas. Stay tuned here for more videos from the performance and more gigs! I have a trio gig coming up in a couple weeks too, info to follow!

Octet + Blockrad @ Blue Whale 6/19/12

Haven't been staying up on the old blog recently, but I'm jumping back in with a very exciting show coming up on Tuesday, June 19th at the Blue Whale. This will be the debut performance of my octet, and we have all been putting in a lot of work to get this music sounding great. We are joined by the Blockrad trio, and I am super excited to hear what they have for us to hear! The show will be recorded and filmed, so come be a part of the action and the permanence, and be able to say "I was there!" Details about the show can be found on facebook, or take a look below. Also, check out the writeup for LA Weekly.

9pm - Blockrad
Steven Blum - Piano/keyboards
Mike Lockwood - Drums/percussion
Andrew Conrad - Tenor sax/clarinet

10:30 ish pm - Michael Mull Octet
Michael Mull - Alto sax/soprano sax/clarinet/bass clarinet
Frank Silva - Tenor sax/soprano sax
Harrison Kirk - Trombone/bass trombone
Will Wulfeck - Trombone
Tim Fischer - Guitar
Adam Ratner - Guitar
Emilio Terranova - Bass
Mike Lockwood - Drums

Blue Whale
123 Astronaut E S Onizuka Street, Suite 301
Los Angeles 90012
$10, no minimum
21+ only (unless accompanied by a guardian)
Parking in structure off of 2nd street (look for yellow "P" sign). Bring your ticket upstairs to the Blue Whale and give it to the door attendant. It will either be free or $5 (heard they may be charging now).

Mike Keneally Retrospect

What a month of music for me, definitely a lot to be thankful for! After an incredible "Peasant Funk" CD release party with Orkestar MEZE, it was straight to a week of grueling rehearsals for guitarist/keyboardist Mike Keneally's "The Universe Will Provide". This 50-minute piece for a rock power trio-plus-an-orchestra was set for its US premier on Friday, November 18th at the REDCAT theater downtown, and everyone in the group but Mike was a CalArts student or alumni.  I had my fair share of musical challenges; my part covered alto sax, soprano sax, clarinet, flute, and my first forays into the bass saxophone. A feat in itself, full rehearsals were run Monday through Thursday, and the result was an incredible performance those involved won't soon forget. You can read a lot about the piece and its conception here. The performance was recorded and documented by multiple cameras, so I'm hoping I can direct you to a stream or DVD in the near future. Until then, suffice to say that I am honored to have been included in this performance and am proud of my fellow CalArts denizens for really pulling as much life, blood, and jumps-for-joy out of that music as possible!

Coming soon: my octet, take two. People are on board, music is being written and arranged (including some Placebo and 38 Special), and we'll see an inaugural performance early 2012. Two woodwinds, two trombones, two guitars, bass, drums...here we go!

Keeping Busy (bite-sized news)

Happy Saturday evening...I'm taking this one off and hanging at home! Checking out some music by Goran Bregovic in preparation for the upcoming Orkestar MEZE Night of Peasantgiving! We will be triumphantly returning to Rusty's in Santa Monica on Friday, November 26th (the night after Thanksgiving), to "tvist" and boogie peasant style. Come work off some of that turkey with some Balkan Gypsy Funk! Details coming soon...

Another event earlier next week: one of my favorite bands, Chord Four, will be returning to LA and polishing off their CD release tour with a live recording session at California Institute of the Arts. This is going to take place Monday night, November 22nd, at 11pm in the Roy O. Disney Hall on campus. Very inexpensive (FREE), very musical, and you can be a part of the next record just by being there and showing your enthusiasm! I'll be posting a review of their new album soon (something I'll try to do pretty regularly from now on).

Finally had the first rehearsal today with my new octet, and I couldn't be happier. I've got a fantastic group of musicians, and I can tell by the intense progress we made in one short rehearsal that we'll be ready to perform early next year. I've got to write some more music!

Artwork for the Michael Mull Trio album featuring Ben Shepherd and Cameron Hicks is off to an amazing start, thanks to my artistic cohort and long-time friend, Derek Schultz. By the way, we had an awesome time playing for the Ludes and Lullabies music series on Monday, what a fun crowd and great place to hang! We'll defnitely be back.

I also have a couple of gigs coming up near the end of November/beginning of December with a group of fellow-former CalArtians, guitarist Dave Cipriani, percussionist Aaron Chavez, and guitarist/bassist/saw-player etc. Eric Klerks. It will be a mix of Indian and Eastern-European traditional songs and inspired original tunes, at the Garter in Venice Nov. 29th and Peace Yoga Studio downtown Dec. 3rd. Again, details to come later.

Have a great Thanksgiving week everyone, I'll post details for the MEZE gig on Monday or Tuesday, and I'll see you there!!!

A Couple Trio Sets + Chord Four

It's been a bit since I've posted, so we'll get caught up here.

I have a couple trio gigs coming up, the first tomorrow morning (November 6th 10-11am) to open the Granada Hills Charter High School Community Festival, celebrating the school's 50th anniversary. Live music, entertainment, food all day Saturday and Sunday. Schedule, directions and details can be found HERE. The second gig will be for a new eclectic, acoustic music series called Ludes and Lullabies at the Garter in Venice, CA. It will take place around 11pm on Monday night, November 15th, more details to be posted soon. Both of these gigs will be with bassist Ben Shepherd and drummer Cameron Hicks, and we're excited to be playing some more as the album release gets closer and closer!

If you go to one event next week, make it Chord Four at the Industry Cafe and Jazz in Culver City. This is one of my all-time favorite bands, and I'm lucky to know them and have played with them all. Chord Four is kicking off an album release tour on Wednesday, November 10th at 7:30pm, and with their trumpeter Brandon Sherman now a New Jersey resident, opportunities to see them are to be taken advantage of. Industry Cafe boasts some amazing Ethiopian cuisine and a laid-back atmosphere, so come out for some enlightening music and grab a copy of what I anticipate will be an amazing album.

Aside from that, I've finished my first composition for my new octet, entitled "The People Who Raised Us", and I'm looking forward to our first rehearsal in a couple of weeks. I already feel the "stretch" writing for this group; this first piece was a unique challenge orchestrationally (getting used to this new instrumentation) as well as artistically, as I am taking particular care to address some personal aesthetics I'd like to manifest in the octet's music and group sound. I'm so excited to get this thing rolling, and the debut trio album (still unnamed) is slated for a January 2011 release --- a lot to look forward to.

Octet

Plans have been set in motion for a new group, an octet. I'm very excited about the people to be involved, and I've begun writing a piece and forming the concepts for the group in my head. With this group, I will be reaching deep into my influences and aesthetics, and trying to push a little farther, to more extremes, than I have previously. In other words, I will be avoiding any sort of "stylistic editing", trying to adopt an "anything goes" attitude when I get an idea, and follow the music to wherever it wants to be.

The instrumentation will be 2 woodwinds, 2 trombones, 2 guitars, upright bass, drumset. More info to follow!