Molten Mike - Rockin' the Blues Til' It Hurts
By MuzikMan, MusicDish.com

Molten Mike's new CD Chameleon straddles a host of different styles, from blues, jazz and rock to his own various stylistic adaptations. The persuasion of the blues has a strong undertow in just about every song he performs. Molten Mike is indeed a musical chameleon on his shining new production. Mike has several other prior releases that reveal his musical genius as well, with varying degrees of focus and styles, keeping listeners interested with something new and different at all times. The cover of Chameleon sports two different 3-D pictures of Mike wearing different outfits, and when you move the CD up and down his glasses turn to sunglasses and his clothes change, hinting that what is inside will be an ever-changing selection of music.

Molten Mike Video
      
Quicktime Movie Download (13M)

Born and raised in the United States, Molten Mike (www.moltenmike.com) could not help finding the influence of the Blues. He feels it is at the heart of most music you hear on the radio today. "Even the 'British Invasion' of the 60's was recycling our American Blues right back to us," said Mike.

Although his vocal style is soaked in emotion and has that deep, down-from-the-belly, soul with some gruffness around the edges, he really likes performing instrumentals. For Mike, instrumentals are the ultimate free thinking type of entertainment experience, allowing the listener to be unguided through melody and rhythms, which lets one's mind wander. This is in contrast to the structured message built into a song with vocals. Overall, he likes a good instrumental just as well as a good song performed by a good singer.

MP3: "Aussie Surfer Girl"
(From Molten Mike's newly released 5th CD, "All Blues")

Believing that an album or CD should have a theme or certain direction - such as his first release Blues Meltdown and third The Movie - he decided to keep the acoustic blues out of the mix, opting to focus all of that style on the second record Genuine Bluesman. It was not until the fourth CD Chameleon that Mike and his band decided to mix genres. As with the creature itself, the Chameleon album changes its appearance for the setting it lives in.

Mike considers one of his better tunes to be the first track on his first CD Blues Meltdown. They had just wrapped the sessions and were ready to mix it down when he went home all excited about the project and wrote "You Go Your Way, I'll Go Mine," a hook filled story with a cool beat. Mike noted, "I reluctantly called the record company and said, 'I hate to tell you this but...' So I played them the song over the phone and BAM we were back in the studio the next night (I love that Story)."

"Have You Heard The News"
MP3 - Streaming

I had the pleasure of listening to all four of Molten Mike's albums. Blues Meltdown lived up to its title by offering pure and clearly defined blues tracks with rockin' soul while Genuine Bluesman continued with more traditionally styled blues in the acoustic style. The Movie offered up more jazz influences than any of his work. Several of the instrumentals were superb. With a wide-ranging display of funk, jazz, and blues around the fringes, in my opinion, The Movie is Mike's best work for all around artisanship and diversity.

"Back Of My Mind"
MP3 - Streaming

Molten Mike is a modern day entrepreneur as well, promoting his music by using everything from grassroots posters and flyers, handmade and otherwise; to sending CD's to radio stations; countless full-page ads in magazines; posting press releases on E-zines and music industry websites (as well as their own); and sending by mail postcard photos with the website URL. The excitement of the Internet captured Mike's imagination and interest. Currently, CD Baby and Amazon sell his CDs, as well as Bluesbeat in Australia. Their website is a do-it-all site, showing tour dates, photo galleries, MP3s, videos, Hot News and taking CD orders. While including this vast array of multimedia opportunities for his fans, Mike also believes that magazines are still a strong tool. His intelligent approach to marketing is a sure-fire shot of medicine for success. He has plenty of great music that people need to know about and he has a good idea of how to get the word out.

"Girls of South Beach"
MP3 - Streaming

Currently, Molten Mike is looking for an international agency to book him and his band throughout the United States and around the world and, of course, is always seeking distribution for their CDs around the world and the in the States. Mike will also be doing a two month tour in Australia starting in October in support of his newly released 5th CD, All Blues - a 20 song compilation of some of Molten Mike's best original Blues songs, including the new single "Aussie Surfer Girl." Make sure you visit his website (www.moltenmike.com) to hear for yourself the kind of music he can offer you. If da blues - as well as the various styles found within the genre - is in your taste buds, then Molten Mike will surely give you the kind of satisfactory meal that will have you coming back repeatedly to order from the same menu. Few artists can muster that kind of talent. This is real music by one of the most original and down to earth musicians making music today.

Provided by the MusicDish Network. Copyright © Tag It 2003 - Republished with Permission. All Rights Reserved.

Return to Hybrid Studios MAIN NEWS page