Music

Mike enjoys recording music.  He feels that the level of creativity, concentration, and focus that it takes to produce a high quality product is unparalleled in a live setting, the reason being that a live performance is transient while a recorded performance is permanent.

The late 80’s and early 90’s were Mike’s formative years for the modest amount of recording work that he was involved in.  Looking back, he considers himself blessed to have participated in some really interesting projects with some very talented and creative musicians, a sampling of which is included below.

Recording Credits

Mike plays on songs that appear on the following albums:

• Various Artists – Cajun Music: The Essential Collection, 2002, Rounder
• Various Artists – Cajun & Zydeco Festival, 1998, Easydisc
• Various Artists – Bayou Beat, 1997, Easydisc
• Various Artists – Cajun Cookin’, 1997, Easydisc
• Various Artists – Cajun Saturday Night, 1997, Easydisc
• Various Artists – The Best of Louisiana Music, 1993, Rounder
• Mamou – Ugly Day, 1992, Rounder Select / Rounder
• Big Electric Cat – Profuse and Overblown, 1990, BEC
• Various Artists – AMEA Sampler ’88, 1988, Acadiana Music & Entertainment Association

Mamou

Mamou was a pioneer in the Cajun Rock genre during the mid/late 80’s and throughout the 90’s.  The band recorded and released their debut album entitled “Mamou” on Jungle Records which was later picked up by MCA.  Mike was fortunate to tour with the band for that album.

Coming off tour for a break, the band decided to record an album of traditional Cajun songs comprised of both covers and originals as their second album.  This album was to be named after a local Mamou Mardis Gras celebration called “Ugly Day”.  The band asked Mike to record the drums and he happily accepted.

The album was produced by Bill Halverson, recorded at Dockside Studio in Milton, Louisiana, and released under the Rounder Records label.  Mike spent a couple of weeks in the studio cutting tracks and watching a literal who’s who of high profile guest Cajun musicians cutting tracks beside him.

He believes this experience to be one of the highlights of his musical career.  He learned so much from it.  He still considers the recorded remake of the song “Opelousas Sostan” to be one of his biggest musical successes.  The song was in constant rotation on radio stations and jukeboxes all over Louisiana and has since been included on numerous “best of” Cajun music compilations released by Rounder Records over the years.  The song was also included on the album “Cajun Music: The Essential Collection” released in 2002 which was designed to showcase what Rounder felt to be the very best of Cajun music ever released on their label up until that point.

Big Electric Cat

Big Electric Cat was a Progressive Rock / Alternative Rock band based out of Lafayette, Louisiana during the mid/late 80’s and early 90’s.  The band recorded an album of original material, self-released it on cassette tape, and filmed a music video for one of the main tracks.

Included below is an audio file for an original song that was supposed to make in onto the album but didn’t.  We apologize for the quality but it was digitized from cassette after the years had taken their toll on the tape.  We hope to replace it with another of better quality at some point in the future.

AMEA Songwriters’ Competition

The 1988 AMEA Songwriters’ Competition was a local songwriters’ competition that was sponsored by the Acadiana Music & Entertainment Association. The competition was held in Lafayette, Louisiana and offered local songwriters the opportunity to submit original compositions for judging in a number of musical categories.

As we remember it, a ton of excellent material was submitted giving the judges the daunting task of having to select the winners.  But they rose to the challenge and the winner of each musical category was awarded the prize of recording the winning song on an album that would be distributed in cassette format via local record stores.

Mike played on three songs, the winners of the Country & Western, Religious/Gospel, and Swamp Pop categories.

Glenn T

During the early 80’s, Mike did a lot of recording in a friend’s home studio.  The session band produced dozens of original recordings.  Out of these recordings, two were selected and pressed into a 45 RPM Vinyl record.

Frozen Fat

Frozen Fat was a Punk Rock / Rock band based out of Mamou, Louisiana in the late 70’s and early 80’s.  The band recorded two original songs in a small recording studio in the nearby town of Ville Platte and had them pressed into a 45 RPM Vinyl record.  This was Mike’s first “real” studio recording experience and he learned so much from it.