The Very Best of Mike Errico - Get it FREE at eMusic!
I was lucky enough to meet Mike several years ago here in L.A. while he was here recording “Pictures of the Big Vacation”. I dragged him to a TV party at some bigshot producer’s house above the Sunset Strip where we drank too much free booze and watched a parade of actors and actresses come and go. We met a couple of interesting and somewhat famous people that night but honestly, the best part was hanging with Mike and listening to his wry observations of this strange Hollywood ritual of coming to town and rubbing elbows with minor celebs. Even though I knew nothing about him other than he was the dude who did the “Pop Up Video” theme song, I came away thinking that here was a really genuine guy who knew exactly how the cards lay on the table. I’ve been a huge fan ever since and I have to admit that to date, every piece of music he’s recorded has yet to prove me wrong.
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ALL IN
“All In is wonderful. Errico manages to get more sophisticated, more bare-bones, more subtle, and more ballsy all at the same time. An amazing thing.” – The New Yorker
On the heels of his most commercially successful album to date, New York City’s Mike Errico returns with All In, the latest in an already inspired discography.
Modern rock guitars meet skyscraping melodies in “How it Ends,” otherworldly lap steel lines marry the edge-of-the-bed intimacy of “Packing My Bags,” and a powerful rhythm section propels classic Errico soul-searching in “OK to Go” and “Run,” daring the listener to match the emotional stakes. Ties to Errico’s past, and his future, run throughout: the detuned guitars of “OK to Go” conjure Skimming signature (and 2004 regional radio hit) “Grace,” while “Ever Since” reveals a deeply romantic side rarely seen before. “Listening to All In after all the touring, recording and bonding we’ve done as a band feels like the moment when The Wizard of Oz switches from black and white to color,” says Errico.
Errico’s independent spirit, combined with his observations on the current state of music, inspired him to form Tallboy 7, the company that provides a home for his creative work, including All In. “Artists on every level need to navigate an increasingly unstable industry. Most of the artists I’ve spoken with are either taking control of their own business, or wishing they could. I’ve tried several arrangements myself, and believe this to be the one that fits me best, right now.” He adds, “What could be more ‘all in’ than that?”
SKIMMING
“[Mike] belongs to the younger generation, shredding styles with punk attitude. A fluid singer also influenced by soul and hip hop, he should appeal to fans of writers who lay their hearts bare, but rub a little salt in the wound to make it sting.” – New York Times
Continuing down a path hinted at by his earlier records, Skimming places Errico’s guitar craftsmanship and sharp lyrics in a fleshed-out, electrified setting. Freed, his writing is open, convicted and powerful: from the soul-drenched rock of the title track, to the secular gospel of the single “Grace,” to the astral melancholy of “Underwater,” to the haunting, Siren-call of the sister tracks “When I Get Out Of Jail” and “Coney Island,” Mike lays his heart bare.
Skimming was added to high-profile AAA radio playlists across the country (WFPK, WTMD, WXPN, WDET, etc.) and WTMD listeners voted “Grace” #53 in its year-end poll of the Top 89 Songs of 2004. Errico also appeared on numerous nationally-syndicated shows including WXPN’s “World Café,” WTMD’s “Concerts in the Park,” WDET’s “Acoustic Café,” and “Mixed Bag Radio,” hosted by Pete Fornatale. Based on the record’s success and a fantastic year of touring with major artists as diverse as Jonny Lang, Rusted Root, Semisonic, North Mississippi Allstars, Ari Hest, Dido, Keller Williams, Vertical Horizon, Mark Geary, Soulive, Jonatha Brooke, Our Lady Peace, Run DMC, Dan Bern, Bob Weir and Ratdog, Longwave, Bob Schneider, Bif Naked, Freedy Johnston, Great Big Sea, The Silos, Guster, Dar Williams, and many others. His fan base continues to radiate outward from his NYC headquarters.
TONIGHT I DRINK YOU ALL
“His strong guitar riffs and R&B tinged voice will get your attention and pull you in.” **** (four stars) – MAXIM magazine
Recorded at New York City’s Mercury Lounge over three nights in the fall of 2001, Tonight I Drink You All draws from two previous releases, Bite Size and Pictures of the Big Vacation, and adds several live staples which appear on his studio follow-up, Skimming. The result is everything his fans have been dragging their friends to see. “I feel like my recorded work has a lot of good things going for it, but there’s something about just playing for people and reacting with them that I wanted to capture. So, the answer was pretty simple: we hung some microphones in a great club, and I did my thing in front of a beautiful, hometown NYC crowd.”
Humor is a mainstay of Errico’s writing, but even though he captures the ordeal of a lousy ex-girlfriend with such witty lyrics as “If my life were a movie you’d be buried in the credits/You’d be Woman #2 with her head up her ass,” the chorus is “I’m finally getting some sleep at night/And when I open my eyes/I’m finally getting some daylight.” The inclination toward an optimistic outcome is an Errico signature. “I try to put hope in my songs because there’s no point in a struggle without it.”
“Someday,” a serene high point on Tonight I Drink You All, features Errico on tongue drum–a xylophone-type instrument of African origin played with little mallets–and shows that even after rocking out, Mike is capable of turning on a dime and silencing the room. Abandoning his guitar, Errico uses the instrument to create a musical accompaniment that is melodic, slightly haunting and thoroughly hypnotic. Lyrically, “Someday” offers hope for resolution – a hope that Errico and the people that inhabit his songs will reach their destination: “I know myself and I am not afraid/Someday, I’ll get there, I know it.” En route, Errico offers pop music as healing power.
PICTURES OF THE BIG VACATION
Sounding like Dave Matthews crossed with the Wallflowers, Mike Errico delivers a flawed but promising debut with Pictures of the Big Vacation. Errrico’s roots may be in the contemporary folk underground, but the production has a big, glossy sound that’s ideal for adult alternative pop radio. Beneath that gloss, it’s possible to hear what made Errico a cult favorite on the East Coast. His songs are elastic, bending from verse to verse, occasionally stopping for a chorus. His voice is jazzy and fluid, stretching for unusual notes. His lyrics are often impressionistic and poetic, sometimes to his own detriment, since it feels as if he’s striving too hard for unpredictable juxtapositions. This would all sound a lot more immediate and captivating if the production was simpler, but it’s very smooth, as if Errico and his producer Susan Rogers were gunning for the more experimental portions of Matthews’ audience. And, at times the sound does work, particularly on the quieter moments of Pictures of the Big Vacation — but that only hammers home the point that Errico probably sounds better unadorned.
BITE SIZE
Mike’s first E.P. features early versions of such great Errico classics as “Seven Bottles of Bristol Cream” and “Happy”. The “Bite Size” E.P. is more than just a snack for any Mike Errico fan, it’s a must.
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