Review Fix chats with Mike Keneally, who discusses his recently released double album, Scambot 2, as well as his creative process and goals for the future.
Review Fix: Double albums are a rarity today. Why do one?
Mike Keneally: To me Scambot 2 and Inkling are actually two separate albums, which just happen to be contained in the same wrapper. The standard edition of the single Scambot 2 album is the digital download – since physical media is becoming an increasingly rare bird in today’s musical landscape, we wanted to make the physical version very special. There was a lot of additional music recorded during the Scambot 2 sessions, and we wanted to make a good home for that additional music, which turned out to be Inkling.
Review Fix: What inspired your latest album?
Keneally: Scambot 2Â is the second volume in an ongoing three-part saga about a grumpy composer named Scambot, and the evil industrialist Ophunji who’s been manipulating Scambot’s consciousness. It also involves a group of subversive media watchdogs called The Quiet Children who pose publicly as a musical group, and a number of other odd characters…it’s a total fantasy, obviously, and the storyline exists largely as a means to inspire myself to create a lot of different kinds of music, but hopefully some people get a kick out of the narrative (the whole story is contained in the booklet for the album). Having said that, the album is designed to be enjoyed just as music – you don’t have to follow along with the story to have a good time with it.
Review Fix: What song on the album has the best story behind it? Can you share?
Keneally: “Scores Of People” is interesting in that it took longer to write than any other song I’ve ever done. The music in the first part was written in 2007, but the music in the second part was written in 1977 while I was in high school. The lyrics were written just a couple of years ago, so the song was about thirty-eight years in the making. After all that it ends up sounding a little bit like the Brady Bunch theme.
Review Fix: How did working with Frank Zappa impact your career?
Keneally: It’s fair to say that everything good that has happened in my career in the last three decades has been a direct result of Frank Zappa deciding to take a chance on me and hire me to play in his band. I was in complete obscurity before then. I might still be playing cover songs in bars in San Diego if it weren’t for Frank. It was because of Frank that Steve Vai decided to hire me (I played in Steve’s band for six years) and it was because of Steve touring with Joe Satriani that Joe decided to hire me (I’ve been in Satriani’s band for the last seven years), and I’m sure that the foundation of the fan-base for my own music was built on curious Zappa fans. My gratitude for Frank being willing to take me on is endless.
Review Fix: Bottom line, why should someone buy this album?
Keneally: Scambot 2? I think it’s really damn good. If I hadn’t made it I’d probably like it even more than I do. But I think that anyone who’s into adventurous music, well-conceived, well-played and well-recorded, would have a really good time with this record. If you’re into melody, if you’re into cool rhythms, if you’re into crazy guitar, if you’re into weird, interesting rock orchestration, if you’re into freaky narratives played out over endlessly shifting musical landscapes, or if you’re into just tapping your toe and having a good time, you might as well get this album.
Review Fix: How do you want this album to be remembered?
Keneally: I want people to say, jeez that’s a good album, I need to listen to it again right now!
Review Fix: What’s next?
Keneally: I’m headed to Asia with Joe Satriani in February, then doing some US dates with my band Beer For Dolphins in April, maybe touring with Mastodon later in the spring (still waiting to find out on that one), and going to Europe in the summer to play with my European trio. Don’t have any solo album plans at the moment – I worked on Scambot 2 for such a long time that I’m enjoying not having the words “GOTTA FINISH THE ALBUM” flashing in neon letters in the back of my brain.
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