Spoon Day

Cause I said so. That's why.

Enjoy.

I Will Answer Your Questions

On tonight's RawRhythms show (info in previous entry), you can comment and ask me questions that I will answer live. Or, if you aren't going to be able to watch the show, you can post your questions/comments right now by going HERE.

At 11pm Eastern/ 8pm Pacific, you can watch the show HERE.

Favorite Albums?

I'm compiling a list of my favorite albums of all time: the ones I can listen to any time, all the time, forever.

And I'm wondering -- what are yours?

Brilliance in Your Eardrums

In case you missed the Grammys the other night, this is what magic sounds like:

Radiohead - 15 Step
Uploaded by Alisvideo

Bad Girls Club...again!

My song, "Little Noah," will be featured on next week's episode of The Bad Girls' Club. No idea how they're gonna tie that song in. If you're as curious as I am, tune in Tuesday, January 13th, at 7 or 10pm (depending on where you live - check local listings) on the Oxygen network.

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!

AMC John Wayne marathon

Cable network AMC just used my song "Lullabye (Christmas is Here)" in the promo for their annual John Wayne Christmas movie marathon. The song is available on iTunes, as part of the Snow Day EP.

Podcast Features

The first episode of F-Stop Beyond, a photographers' podcast, has featured "To Show You My Love." Check it out here. Also, the ETC podcast has featured me again, this time using "Born Yesterday." You can check that out right here. Both songs are from my "High Cost of Living" album, available on iTunes and CDBaby.

It's That Time of Year Again!

'Tis the season to break out that festive sweater that doesn't match anything and start strewing lights over every surface you see! Hope you've started shopping (I haven't).

In honor of the holiday season, I've decorated my blog all kinds of garish colors and added holiday songs to the music player. Don't forget that my Snow Day EP is available on iTunes (link button below), and you can click on "Gift this Music" to give it to your loved ones.



What are you doing to prepare for the holidays? Hit me with comments.

New Player

I've added a music player to the site, so you can listen to a sampler of my songs while you read.

If you like it, you can share the player on your own site (just click the SHARE button).

If you don't like it, just hit the PAUSE button and enjoy the silence.

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.

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.

Building The House

My new album, "The House We Built," is slowly coming together. In my downtime between the Miley gigs and The Highway Girl tapings, I've been recording new vocals, tweaking mixes, throwing on a little tambourine, and just generally polishing the recordings. Nine songs are now completely finished. I'm writing two more to round the album out, and I plan on getting those two down and having the whole kaboodle ready to send to manufacturing in the next few weeks. Still on track for a summer release.

I've just hired my good buddy Ryan Newman (an unfairly talented visual artist) to do the artwork and packaging. So it's gonna look as good as it sounds.

I'm very excited about this record. It's an extremely honest portrait of what I've gone through in this divorce. The album I had to make at this point in my life. I can't wait for you to hear it. And you will soon.

Now I've gotta go ride some faders.

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.

CMT

I'm not hugely into country music. But lately, I've been listening to a lot of it. Sorta. I'm totally obsessed with the new Kathleen Edwards record, "Asking for Flowers," the new Kim Richey, "Chinese Boxes" and the new Punch Brothers, "Punch." Especially the latter. Now, these are more along the lines of Folk and Bluegrass and Pop, really. Authentic Country music is all about the twang. I found this out first hand. At the CMT Music Awards, AKA National Celebration of Twang.

After arriving in Nashville, we discovered that Miley was sick with the flu and wasn't going to be at the rehearsal. We were worried for her, because she wasn't just singing one song, she was hosting the entire show.

The awards show was being held on the campus of Belmont University, which I attended for one semester back in 1998. That was a long time ago, but it still feels like home to me. My sister graduated from there as well, in the exact same building where we were playing. It was very strange to be back, especially since most of the friends I knew there had since moved away.

I decided to look for my old teachers in my down time. I couldn't really find any. I did, however, find Miss Tanya: the sweetest lunchlady you'll ever meet. I had such fond memories of seeing her smiling face every day. All the students were crazy about her. And she was still there doin' her thing after 20 years. And still the same incredibly kind Miss Tanya.

After waiting around for awhile, the band had a soundcheck, everybody got their levels, and it was back to the hotel.

Then I was free for the day, so I was able to go hang out with my sister Christina, her husband Doug and their friends Terrence and Tracy. We ate cake, told stories and watched a little Aqua Teens (MC P. Pants never gets old!). I see my sister about twice a year, and it's not nearly enough.

The next day, we headed back to campus, and sequestered ourselves in the Belmont Bruins locker room. This was basically the equivalent of our Kids' Choice tent. The only difference being that our tent was clearly marked as our tent, whereas it was a free-for-all claiming these rooms. Leann Rimes band members left their stuff in there, probably in an attempt to claim it. Didn't take.

Throughout the day, we met all manner of country stars: Keith Urban, Carrie Underwood, Taylor Swift (totally don't understand the appeal!), Snoop Dogg (?!?) and band members in mass quantities. Of course, it was mostly lost on me, as I don't know any of these peoples' music.

One thing we all noticed was that we were terribly underdressed. We had flannel, t-shirts, sneakers, jeans, etc, not to mention our bedheads. Apparently it is traditional among Nashvillians (or Nashvillains?) to get all dolled up in ultrafancy fabrics, supergelled hair and intense makeup. And I'm not even talking about the women. It was like metrosexual central. We were alternately impressed and embarrassed for them.

After another awards-show afternoon-of-waiting (we weren't allowed to leave again), we hopped on stage, where I saw Miley looking all glowy and perfect. Apparently she was feeling a bit better. I'm sure her doctors injected her full of vitamins. I can only imagine the crash she had the day after the awards.

We played our quick little song. And that was it.

We then headed back to the hotel and met at the bar of PF Changs, where the awards were still showing on TV (for some inexplicable reason, we didn't get the CMT network in our hotel rooms -- though we did get HBO. This is kind of strange for Nashville.)

During dinner, Carrie Underwood walked in the restaurant and all the waitstaff started buzzing about it. They practically stopped serving us at that point, as they were busy ogling her from the kitchen. Of course, they didn't care that Miley's band was there. Although one of the waiters thought Stacy was some guy from Survivor.

Fortunately, nobody said anything about me looking like Adam Levine. For once.

Now that I know what real twang sounds like, I realize that just because there's a slide guitar or a banjo involved in a song doesn't make it Country. And I'm grateful. That twang'll kill ya.

Celebrities, Slime and Spiked Butt Belts

The day of the Kids' Choice Awards, we arrived to the UCLA campus and were quickly herded into a tent/makeshift green room. Other than a litte table with meats and cheeses, the room was barren. This is where we'd be spending the next several hours.

But first, rehearsal. They were running the entire show that morning, from beginning to end. When they reached our point in the show, a runner guided us to the stage, and we did our thing. The kid extras seemed a little more excited today.

Then back to the tent, with about five hours till showtime. We were told we were allowed to leave, but only by foot, as the traffic getting back would be terrible. So I hoofed it around Westwood a bit. I hadn't really been in the area for a year or two, so I saw that my favorite CD store had closed and that several frozen yogurt places had opened (how much froyo do college students need?). And when I got bored (within twenty minutes), I headed back to the hometent. Things were much more exciting there:


When the show finally started around 5pm, the band decided to check out the white room. This room was created up in the stands behind the stage, with white furniture, white carpet, and sheer white sheets softly barricading all the celebrities in with their perfectly manicured hors d'oeuvres. We stuck out like a hand full of sore thumbs amongst Will Smith, Nelly, and a bunch of other slick rappers I didn't know of. Jaco and Jamie immediately grabbed a couple of the Neutrogena gift bags, full of manly moisturizing creams. They were far too excited about those. We enjoyed about a half hour of the show until Stacy, pro that he is, decided we should be in the tent at least 30 minutes before it was necessary. So we went back to our homevoid. Sat around for awhile. Made some calls.

Then the blur. Around 6pm, we were walked quickly through the back door and down a narrow hallway to the stage. We hit the stage, Miley barely made it into place in time for the song, and was a little out of breath. Everybody did their thing. We played like our hands were deadly precision instruments, the dancers flipped and flew like there were helium bombs in their shoes, and Miley's star presence inspired the kid extras to legitimately freak out.

And the set did look really good on TV.

Music I've Been Obsessed With

Whenever I'm going through a hard time, it's nice to have some rich, complex music to dig into, to burrow inside of. The following are some records that have helped me, of late.
What: Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga

Why I Love It: Ever since I picked it up that day in Minneapolis, I've listened to this at least once a day. Sheer brilliance in every second. It is at the same time raw and polished, simple and shockingly layered. Every time I listen to it, I find something new to marvel at. It just gets better and better. I am so incredibly excited to see Spoon play this coming week at SXSW. These guys are finding brand new roads through pop music, and that is far too rare nowadays. Genius. I am in love.

My Advice: Buy it now! Your immediate favorite will be "The Underdog" (produced by Jon Brion), but all the songs will slowly reveal themselves to you.

Favorite Lyrics: "Remember/the winter/gets cold in ways you always forget." - Rhthm & Soul

"I'm in need of someone/to take care of me tonight/as I walk into Dorian's/can you see it in my eyes?/my boots are on the mend/and they ain't walkin' home/street tar and summer/do a job on your sole." - Black Like Me

"I wanna forget how convention fits/but can I get out from under it?/can I cut it out of me?/it can't all be wedding cake/it can't all be boiled away/I tried but I can't let go of it/cause you don't talk to the waterboy/and there's so much you could learn but you don't wanna know/you will not back up an inch ever/that's why you will not survive." - The Underdog

Listen to the whole album now.

Buy it on




What: Suzanne Vega - Beauty and Crime

Why I Love It: The first time I heard it, half-listening while walking, I thought the production was stronger than usual for her, but the lyrics were "meh." Well, upon further listens, I am happy to report that I was completely wrong. This is one of her richest, deepest albums. The record focuses on New York City: its charm, its sadness, and its many stories. She continues to write like an complete alien, which is a good thing. She objectively observes, and is as unsentimental as a human can be, but this collection of songs has a lot of heart. "Bound" is a highlight (and particularly resonant for me at the moment) in a sea of gems. The level of craft here is astounding. Oh also it just won a Grammy for "Best Engineered Album (Non Classical)."

My Advice: Big surprise. Buy it now! Give it some time to sink in.

Favorite Lyrics: "The way of the world/has taken its toll/ravaged my body/and bitten my soul./I am ruined by rain/weathered by wind/I've been invaded/without and within./And I ask/I am asking you/asking you if you might still want me./When I said 'I am bound to you forever/here's what I meant:/'I am bound to you forever.'" - Bound

"This time/when I go back to Ludlow Street/I find/each stoop and doorway's incomplete/without you there./Love is the only thing that matters/love is the only thing that's real/and when I think about you now/love is the only thing I feel." - Ludlow Street

"New York is a woman/she'll make you cry/and to her you're just another guy." - New York Is A Woman

Listen to three songs here.

Buy it on



____________________________

There's more music to share with you, but we'll save it for another time. I'm still completely obsessed with both Kathleen Edwards records, and she released her third one this week. I must run to Amoeba and inject it into my veins pronto.

A Night by the Fire

So, after the embarrassment that was the Jonathan Coulton interview, Saturday couldn't really get a whole lot worse. That day, I was scheduled to play Paul Schreiber's house concert. Paul works as a programmer at Apple, and he hosts these house concerts every month or so. He's earned quite a reputation as a tastemaker, previously featuring artists like The Weepies, Kyler, Adrianne and our very own Samantha Murphy.

He's also earned a reputation for being a ridiculously hospitable host. Paul spent the day preparing chocolate cake, donut holes and banana bread from scratch. This guy's not kidding around.
He set up his bedroom as the green room, complete with tea, magazines, paper and pens for my set list -- you get the idea. I felt very much at home.

And the place was packed. I played two sets of 45 minutes each. It was great fun to play for so long, because I was able to pull out some songs I don't often play, like "The Road" and "Ferris Wheel."

I got a great response from the audience, who were a great bunch of listeners. Sometimes it's hard to tell if a crowd is diggin' it, but they seemed pretty into it.

Geeks Speak

We're working away like elves on The Samantha Murphy Show. I'm so excited for you all to see what we're doing.

One of the segments, "Geeks Speak," features Samantha and I answering questions about all things tech, including websites, computers, gadgets, software, the junction of music and technology, etc. This is where you come in.

Got any questions? Any comparisons you'd like to see? Anything you'd like to ask a couple of huge geeks?

Surrender

You guys asked for more video, and how could I deny you?

Occasionally during soundcheck, we like to change it up. Stacy pulls an American Hi Fi and becomes lead-singer guy, Jamie puts down his guitar and plays drums and we all join in playing some random tune.