What Are You Looking Forward To?

This time around, I'm psyched that I get to use a wireless keytar, and leave Schmid Island for a bit.  Sure, the Island is a great vacation destination, but sometimes you need a vacation from your vacation, you know?

What are you most excited about for this tour?

Here We Go Again!

After many hours and days and weeks of rehearsals, we're ready to hit the road and perform our humongously entertaining show for you!

I've been packing all night; trying to cram 2 weeks' worth of clothes into a tiny weekender bag. Good idea, Mike. But eventually, I won. 

My computer is freshly upgraded (after I gutted the thing and replaced a couple parts... cause I'm too cheap to buy a new laptop), and all my gear has found a cozy home in my backpack.  I'm hoping to finish my new album on the road.

Flying out in the morning.

Portland, here we come!

Noah & Daddy Have Been Busy...

Driving:

Hanging out before the Teen Choice Awards:

(pic by Violet Schmid)

Drawing:

(pic by Violet Schmid)

Drumming:

(pic by Violet Schmid)

Sleeping:


Playing a bit of keys:

(pic by Miley Cyrus)

And drumming some more:

Coming Soon to a Town Near You!

Yes yes y'all! We're gearing up for an incredible Miley tour this fall, and as always I'll be blogging it all from the road like a nerdy little newsman.

I'm so excited about this tour. It's gonna be a blast! I'm going to do some things a bit differently this time though. For instance, this time I plan on:

-not coughing up a lung the whole friggin' time
-not getting violently hit by a car
-not being such a saaaad little emo boy
-not spending any time in Rochester

Hope to see you at a show. While you're waiting for the best night of your life, you may wanna brush up on the rules for attending a Miley concert.

Microchips Make Joy Machines

I got a Nintendo DS for Christmas. And I love it. It teaches me how to cook, I can compose music on it, bring Mario with me, shorten a long plane ride with a deep Japanese RPG... it's a glorious thing. A glorious thing that fits in my pocket. Dee-lightful.

Also, I have a soft spot for touch screens... and stylus pens for that matter, though I realize they are "so five years ago." Come on. You can write on the screen!

What was your favorite Christmas gift in '08? Hit me up in the comments.

CD Baby Editor's Pick!

CDBaby has chosen my new album, "The House We Built" as their Editor's Pick, and they are featuring it on their front page. Here's the full review:

"A confessional piano-pop album about divorce doesn’t sound like a very cheery audio affair, but thankfully this keyboard wiz (who currently performs with Miley Cyrus) has the good sense and talent to set his lyrical melancholia to bright, bouncy melodies. Behind the earnest, emotive vocal delivery and aching falsetto there is infectious optimism. Mike Schmid’s sound is reminiscent of a smoother Ben Folds Five, a more ambitious version of The Fray, or Scott Fisher if he were to use more electronic elements in his production. This album is a must-have for any fan of modern, dreamy pop-rock."

Thanks so much to the folks at CD Baby for their support!

Turkey Day, Y'all!

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you all have an incredibly relaxing day, and eat way too much.

What an incredible year it's been.

I am so thankful for:

• my amazing superboy Noah
• my crazy surreal job
• great friends
• a ridiculously supportive family
  

What are you thankful for?

Sweet Sixteen

We've got some catching up to do. In bits. About a month ago, we played Miley's Sweet Sixteen birthday party at Disneyland. Several thousand screaming girls dragged their moms to see Miley sing, and also saw:

• Billy Ray rockin' it out (yay!)
  
• Justin and Brandy joining in on guitar (yay!)
  
• Dancers on boat floats (I was worried for their safety)
  
• Mickey Mouse (pretty sure that was a girl in the suit)
  
• A jumbo check presented to charity (where do they get those made?)
  
• Tyra Banks being odd ("she's just being Tyra")

Real Me on Fake Ride with Fake Miley

L to R: Mike, Jaco, Billy Ray, the Kay Hanley Mime

After that show, it was off to Europe.

Beatz 'n Rhymz 'n Lame Requestz

Dear Rappers of the World,

Please, I beg of you, stop requesting that I "put my hands in the air like I just don't care." There are only 3 possible outcomes here:

• I will not put my hands in the air, because I just don't care
• I will not put my hands in the air, but feel guilty about it
  
• I will put my hands in the air, signifying that I most certainly do care, or else I wouldn't be following your instructions

I have never in my life seen anyone throw their hands in the air in order to signify their lack of care. This does not happen.

So stop asking.

Today's the Big Day!

Yes yes y'all. The time has come. My new album is out! It's waiting for you at CDBaby. There's a 30% discount if you buy more than one. Tell your friends!

In conjuction with my new record, I also have a brand new website! Very excited. Check it out - mikeschmid.com. Thanks so much to my web designer, Sarah Camp (at Bravos Media), for her hard work to get this ready in time for release day. Kudos!

Connie Kim @ Tangier - Prepare to Be Amazed

Connie Kim creates some of the most beautiful and unusual music I've ever heard. Her songs conjure a world of voodoo dolls, talking fruits and circus performers, as heard through an antique victrola. She's playing Wednesday night at 8pm at Tangier in Los Feliz. I'll be on keys, melodica and glockenspiel, and we'll be joined by a string section and band. She puts on a spellbinding live show. You won't be disappointed.

Pre-Order My New Album Now!

My brand new album, The House We Built, is available for pre-order at CDBaby.com. You can purchase it now, and it will ship to you on Tuesday.

You can also hear clips of every song on the new album at mikeschmid.com! Just click on the MEDIA tab.

I am very excited about this incredibly personal project and I would love your support!

Once you receive your copy of the album, let me know what you think by writing a review at CDBaby, or commenting here.

The "7 Things" Shoot

Well, the video for "7 Things" is finally out for all to see. So I suppose I can talk about the shoot now.

First of all, have a look:



We showed up bright and early at the set in Hollywood. None of us had any clue what we were supposed to wear, so we showed up with suitcases full of clothes. After talking to wardrobe and narrowing down the options, and being accessorized (I got away easy with just a belt), we grabbed some breakfast from the catering truck.

Then into hair and makeup. They basically just touched up our eyes, glanced at our hair and let us go - mostly they're just around for the girls' use.

We finally made it out to the set, which was just a giant white cyc, filled only with our instruments. Brett Ratner greeted us all, and we were off to work.

Miley came out and we performed the song several times with the camera fixed in one place so they could shoot wide, medium and tight shots of Miley. The song is very fast, with a chorus that's already basically double-time, so imagine our surprise when Brett announced he wanted to shoot a few takes at 48 frames per second.

Perhaps this requires a little explanation: film is normally shot at 24fps, and as this is a breakup song, they wanted slow-motion shots of Miley smashing/breaking/ripping up stuff. So in order for the shots to play in slow-motion, we have to shoot them twice as fast. Which means, in order for us to be synced to the music, we have to play the song twice as fast. So we were trying to play basically at quadruple-speed. Imagine how goofy that looked.

So, while a chipmunked version of the song played, Miley smashed a Guitar Hero guitar, a real acoustic guitar, as well as several items she brought in.

After a couple hours of performing the song full-out, Brett asked if we were tired. Stacy responded, "Our show is pretty long, so we're used to this." They let Miley go, and brought out a few other teenage girls to stand in for Miley. And by a few, I mean piles and piles of them. The concept of the video is that all these girls are going through the same kind of nasty breakup. "They're all in it together." Okay. Nice in concept. But in execution, it meant we had to shoot the whole video about 27 more times.

Several hours went by. Girl after girl would amble up to the stage, shift into "rage" mode, and sing through the song while having a "hormone moment." Brett kept saying to us, "only two more girls," and then they'd bring some more in from the street or the sky or something. They must have had a van on Hollywood Boulevard, kidnapping tourists.

By the time we finished all the girls, we had been rocking out at double- and quadruple-time for nearly nine hours. In the early takes, we looked energized and youthful, but by the end of the day, we were looking sluggish and haggard. For a little schizophrenic fun, watch the video again, and notice them cutting back and forth between these looks.

And once we were sweaty, tousled and near death, it was time for our closeups. Yes. They routinely save these for last, when you look disasterously bad.

We only had to "play the song five more times," one for each band member to get a closeup. At this point, Stacy's back was really hurting from leaning over a drumset since dinosaurs roamed the earth. And my back and neck were feeling some serious whiplash. So, "five more times" had a torturous ring to it.

So we thrashed and rocked and knocked about for another hour (in between every shot, gear gets moved and stuff gets reset, so everything takes longer than you'd want). By the end, I was forming blisters on my thumbs, my fingernails were seriously split/ragged/bleeding, and we were all ready to drop.

Voila! Music video magic.

They Were Bold Before...

...Now they're just being ridiculous. Samantha and I were driving home after a long day of shooting. I pulled the car into the driveway, to see a coyote lounging in my front yard. Not just sitting there, but mocking us. He was dead center in the yard, very comfortable; settled. He might as well have been holding a martini in one paw, and a sign saying "this is my house now" in the other (do they even have paws?).

As my headlights approached him - his reaction? Boredom, mostly. He was certainly not intimidated by us or our big bright vehicle coming his way.

He slowly pulled himself to his feet and ambled towards the house next door. Samantha tried to take his picture but it was pretty dark and he was too far away for her flash to work. So she basically got picture of pitch black...and one glowing eye.

Absolutely chilling. It looks like she sighted a sasquatch or something.

Brick By Brick

Ryan Newman has begun work on the album art and I couldn't be more elated. Did he just get more brain cells than the rest of us?

We returned from our Highway Girl shoot in Vegas earlier this week. Got lots of great footage. While we were there, I wrote the final song for the album on my laptop in my hotel room. I do love technology! When we got home, I just dumped it to my home computer, recorded some vocals and VOILA -- done.

The last two days we've been shooting interviews with some really amazing artists I won't name here (that will be a surprise for when the show launches). Trust me, you like.

More shooting today, and tomorrow, and the next day, and then I'm off to simultaneously edit the show and master my album. Juggling is fun.

The Highway Girl

SMtv and The Samantha Murphy Show have now become The Highway Girl. Many wonderful changes in store for our show!


For the next few weeks, Samantha and I will be shooting segments left and right for our new season, goofing off in front of and behind the camera. We have some very exciting, very big artists coming on board.

Many more details to come. New website on its way. Until then, you can read The Highway Girl blog.

And you can still see our seven awesome episodes from South By Southwest (which includes my "it's so hard to tour with Hannah Montana" rant, my "cannonball problem," and my general willingness to alienate myself in front of my music heroes) at smtvmusic.com. You have to sign up to watch, but it's free and it's just so we have an idea of who's watching.

NetJets & JetBlue

Show #2 in NYC:
This time, we didn't have to trek out to Jersey. This time, we just walked five minutes from our hotel to the Hammerstein Ballroom for a special private engagement for the NetJets crew. NetJets sponsored our tour, and apparently they're huge Miley fans, so they booked an exclusive show for their families.

Hammerstein was the smallest venue we've played so far (which, for Miley, isn't really that small):

The band dressing room was up four very narrow flights of stairs, which was novel ("it's oh so New York!") the first time, and became progressively more annoying every time I had to go back and fourth, which was quite a lot.

This show was the first one since the tour that was a double Miley/Hannah show. Unlike the tour, however, we had no other act to fill the time during the Hannah-to-Miley quick change. So Miley had to seriously book it backstage and get dressed in a flash while a brief video clip played.

She came out right on time, much to my surprise. I don't know how she did it. But part way through the first song, it became clear that the change wasn't absolutely complete. One of her in-ear monitors was dangling loose. Miley spent most of the first song fiddling with that ear, trying to put it in as she danced around. Didn't work.

I heard lots of loud chatter backstage, as Mick and Omar tried to find a quick solution.

As the song ended, Miley excused herself and ran offstage. We all looked at each other. With yesterday's monitor disaster fresh in our minds, Stacy mouthed "Right Here" to the band, and we vamped on that song for a minute or so. Miley ran back onstage sans dangling cords, and the rest of the show proceeded as usual.

And they all lived happily ever after.

I spent the evening in Spanish Harlem partying with a bunch of old friends, playing Guitar Hero and drinking enough to make my early morning JetBlue flight a bit unpleasant.

Said flight turned out to be quite pleasant despite that. I sat in my assigned seat, and the girl sitting next to me asked if she could get something from the overhead compartment. I moved out of the way, and she grabbed it. It was a ukelele. Suddenly, I noticed she looked very familiar. "I'm Mike," I said, hoping she would give me her name.

She replied, "I'm Ingrid."

"Michaelson?" I said?

She looked puzzled. "...Yeah. How did you know?"

For those of you who don't know, Ingrid Michaelson is a singer/songwriter who's song, "The Way I Am," became quite a hit after playing on Grey's Anatomy. I'm a fan of hers (but not of Grey's Anatomy).
I told her of the strange coincidence: one of the A&R guys at her label, Original Signal, is none other than Stacy Jones. Our Stacy, drummer extraordinaire and musical director for Miley. We found that wasn't the only thing we had in common as we talked about everything from Flight of the Conchords to our careers for the duration of our six hour flight. We even traded iPods and played our unfinished demos for each other.

Another strange coincidence: she was headed to her manager's house. I know her manager. She lives on my street. So I gave Ingrid a ride home, along with Jaco (who was parked at my house). It was nearly 100 degrees in L.A. and we were all grouchy and whiny. It was actually kinda fun to see a singer/songwriter that I'd only seen glammed up in music videos, all sweaty and complainy.

She's quite a sweetheart. Hopefully I'll meet up with her again sometime.

The Riddle of Death

Any scientists or naturists in the house? Can you figure this out?



My only working theory is that perhaps my concrete emanates some sort of toxic gas. This is exactly the kind of comic book science that musicians are known for.

Anyone like to contribute theories? Comments? Snide remarks?

Wango Tango

People have been asking, "approximately how many people do you think were at Wango Tango?" I've always been terrible at guessing how many candy corns are in the jar, so count for yourselves:

What - 10,000? 20,000? 30,000?

Whatever.

To me, "a lot" covers it. Especially when they're mostly screaming teenage girls. It's loud, no matter what the number.

This was an important show for us. It was our first show outside of the big Disney bubble, playing to a mainstream rock crowd. Of course, many folks from said bubble were present and enjoying themselves. No one was really surprised that Miley went over like gangbusters. She does just happen to be an incredibly entertaining and stunningly talented young lady, and I think that appeals to more than just one demographic.

The big shindig took place in a dusty void otherwise known as Irvine, California. So once again, we were left to our own boring devices for several hours with nothing but a mini carnival and some La Salsa to keep us busy. And some celebrities here and there. Kim Kardashian and her family were present, as were a bunch of people from that reality show "The Hills" (on which I'll refrain from expressing my opinion) and I swear I saw Phil Collins, though Jamie says it wasn't him.

I ended up watching a movie on my iPod in the dressing room. Aren't I exciting!?

The set was really fun and energetic. While we were playing, offstage to my right I noticed various dancers who weren't performing (just being supportive), Jack from the Jonas Brothers, Ryan Seacrest and Lindsay Lohan. Interesting mix.

I leave you with a picture of the Jonas Brothers during their set:

(What You Sick People Come Here For)

Pop Goes the Comfort Level

After two days of rehearsals in L.A., we flew to Florida for two more days of rehearsal. That's just the way we roll.

We were booked to stay at Disney's Pop Century Resort. The band and dancers were all speculating as to what type of hotel it was. "What kind of theme could Pop Century" be? Pop music? Pop culture? Popcorn?" We couldn't figure it out.

Once we got there, it became a little clearer. The decor was a mishmash of eras, colors, and random pop culture. Each building represented a different decade.

Here's the 70's building:

Apparently the Rubik's Cube was the only important developement in that era.

And the 80's building:

Is "Totally Awesome" an 80's phrase? I still use it. But I'm no gauge of cool.

After the receptionists took several years checking us in (I have no idea what took so long), I was informed that my building was all the way at the other end of the resort. This was basically the equivalent of staying in the next town. They told me to "follow the path past the giant 8-track, past the life-size Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head, and around the computer pool." What is a "computer pool" you ask? See for yourself:

Exactly as described

When I finally reached my room much later, I was surprised by what I found. This was basically a motel. "Resort" is a relative term, I guess. The bed was harder that the "glorified floor" in Seattle. The walls were paper-thin, so I could hear screaming children on all sides. I was afraid of the shower.

At dinner with the band, we all compared notes on how ghetto the hotel/motel was. Everyone agreed that we were depressed about going back and sleeping there.

Stacy placed a call to our tour manager, Omar, who felt exactly the same as we did. So Omar placed a call to some higher-ups, and said we had to be moved.

No answer yet as to our fate.

We still stayed there that night (convinced that we were being nibbled by bed bugs), and the next morning we showed up stiff and groggy at rehearsal.

After we finally snapped out of our Pop Century comas, we ran down the entire show, then there was a little family jam:

That's lil' Braison Cyrus on drums. And Miley gets better at the guitar every time we see her. Jaco taught her a few new chords.

Which she learned in, like, three seconds. Smarty.

Rehearsal ended fairly early, and we were notified that we would be moving to the Hyatt Cypress Garden. There was much rejoicing. Yaaay.

The difference between Pop Century and the Hyatt couldn't have been more polar. At Pop Century, there was nothing to do. Literally nothing. And there was only one restaurant, which was basically a cafeteria stocked with fried foods. The Hyatt, on the other hand, was absolutely stunning. It had the biggest pool I've ever seen, which surrounded several man-made caves, waterslides, and a massive lake with kayaking and paddle boats. I went kayaking several times. I do love me some kayaking. There was also a full golf course and many restaurants featuring everything from bar food to sushi. Paradise. I have no pictures of the Hyatt, cause I was far too busy having a wonderful time to whip out the camera.

With a big chunk of spare time, we spent much of the day lounging by the pool, preparing for the next day's big show, which I'll tell you about tomorrow at 11:55pm. (How's that for specific!)