He is joined (at times) by Rob Smith (drums/percussion), Adam Garnys (sax), John Mangan (bass), Karl Dietel (keyboards/vocals), Kim Williams (piano/violin), Billy Mutchler (drums), Duke (bass/vocals)
Influences
A PERFECT REALITY AT 29 ON JAMBANDS.COM RADIO CHARTS!
Jeff Tweedy, Neil Young, Jack Johnson, Big Bill Broonzy, Wayne Shorter, Miles Davis, Walter Sopchak, Jerry Garcia, Ryan Adams, Bruce Springsteen, Trey Anastasio, Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Steve Zissou, Radiohead, Woody Guthrie, Sam Berg...AND SO MANY MORE
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Mike Montrey began his musical foray at the age of 17, when he was spontaneously gifted his first guitar by his mother. While it would seem like a late start for some, Montrey has certainly made up for lost time.
Acting as main songwriter and vocalist/guitarist, Montrey formed the mulit-genre rock band, "...water...", in 2001, with fellow bassist Anthony Duca and keyboardist Matt Tevald. Upon their inception, ...water... garnered a great following and very rewarding press. After completing their second studio album, entitled "Dig", in 2003 (following "The Grass Sun" in 2001 and preceding 2005's "The Spectacular Elevator”) New Jersey's Gannett Publications stated: "This band could represent rock's past present and future", and the renowned tri-state music publication, "Upstage Magazine", pronounced Montrey as "...one of the scene's most commanding frontmen, and inventive guitarists."
In 2007, after countless performances at such esteemed venues as The Starland Ballroom (Sayreville, NJ), SXSW Music Fest (Austin, TX), The Knitting Factory (NYC), Musikfest (Bethlehem, PA), and The Stone Pony (Asbury Park, NJ), Montrey was invited to tour nationally as a member of the epic rock band, "The Samples", who had been on the road for 19 years (including tours with Sting, Dave Matthews, and Phish to name a few). Montrey would join the band on guitars and vocals for the 20th anniversary run that would feature performances at The House of Blues (Dallas, TX and Atlantic City, NJ), Tipitina's (New Orleans), Red Rocks (Morrison, CO), and The Highline Ballroom (NYC).
Returning home in 2008, Montrey quickly got back to work and completed his debut solo album, "A Perfect Reality", consisting of 11 original Montrey compositions ranging from rock to country to experimental. The album featured fellow Samples' bandmember, Karl Dietel ..boards, Adam Garnys on saxophone, Kim William on strings and piano, Andy Keenan on pedal steel guitar and the rhythym section of Rob Smith (drums) and John Mangan (bass). The album was engineered and co-produced by Grammy Award winner, Mike Tarsia (Billy Preston, Patti LaBelle, Joe Pass). Within months of its release (April 19th 2008) the album had debuted at 29 on the Jambands.com radio charts and the singles, "Take Me Down Mississippi" and "Tin Can", were featured as the Garageband.com track of the week and a Relix Magazine jam-off selection respectively. The release was celebrated with a performance at NYC's Sullivan Hall on May 3rd 2008, and on Sept 17th 2008 The College of New Jersey's weekly publication, "The Signal", had this to say about the live show of The Mike Montrey Band: "The audience sat mesmerized by the explosive energy of the music and the enthusiasm and passion of the band members."
A Perfect Reality has been nominated for Top Release of 2008 by the prestigous Asbury Music Awards (AMA), and Relix Magazine has just posted a feature on Mike on their website.
Montrey continues to tour behind his debut solo album. All updated information is available at mikemontrey.com.
I am so so wanting to make it to the right coast for the Karl Yingling memorial show on the 11th of July and the gig on July 18th at the Paramount. Needless to say/type, the Wave Gathering would be rad!! Dude (that's you :OD) rocks it brutal!!!
Be sure to visit us on FACEBOOK & check out Wave Gathering on Twitter!
The Fourth Annual Wave Gathering Emerging Artist Music Festival will be held in Asbury Park, NJ on June 19th, 20th, & 21st. Tickets for one- and three-day passes for the 2009 Wave Gathering are available now for sale online and by phone via TicketWeb. http://www.ticketweb.com/snl/EventListings.action?orgId=23381
Thanks for your friendship and supporting my music!
We're playing TONIGHT, May 15th, at the "Ace of Clubs" at 9 Great Jones St. in NYC (just north of Bleecker and Houston between Broadway and Lafayette). We will go on at 9 PM and it will be a special acoustic performance. Hope to see you there!
Smooth rock/reggae/funk for the thinking and dancing aficionado. Think of Peter Gabriel jamming and partying with Robbie Robertson, Dave Matthews and Jack Johnson in Bob Marley's Hope Road studio. http://www.davesasscer.com
Just wanted to let you know that WCER now has multiple channels streaming 24/7! We've moved to http://www.elephantradio.org. Please come check us out and let us know what you think.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thanks for the Friendship!
The Fourth Annual Wave Gathering Emerging Artist Music Festival will be held in Asbury Park, NJ on June 19th, 20th, & 21st. Tickets for one- and three-day passes for the 2009 Wave Gathering are available now for sale online and by phone via TicketWeb. http://www.ticketweb.com/snl/EventListings.action?orgId=23381
i am so so into the new tunes and ur new merch is the bestest i've seen forevah!! where are all of the comments/friends? a piespace mishap? shame... the shows look werrrrrrrrrrrd and the werrrrrrrd is that the gang is all going and telling others with excellent musical taste. Am doing my flier thingee-doo. Grats on the (deserved) success!! It could not happen to a nicer fella!!
duuuuude----so happy about the gig on the 24th and working the 29th!!!! so many folks are werrrrrrrrrded out and jbj is 'pic abundant' and happy!! i need to discuss buying some merch asap-----gave my cds to contacts and peeps w/tons of friends who'll loveeeeeeeeeee! plaster my piespace and outerspacebook w/ evvverything and vids i can export!! :=)
Thank U for the add, Mike. Great stuff...each song is so different. Rocketships and Basketballs quickly became my favorite. :) Sounded to me like you were pourin' your heart and soul into it.
Just driving thru to see how the show was last nite....amazing, I imagine!! I love the cool presentation that Coach Brian and Jukebox Johnny did on your profile!! welpppp....get ready for tonight and rock the casbah! smiles~~~~~~sheesh
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thanks for the Friendship!
The Fourth Annual Wave Gathering Emerging Artist Music Festival will be held in Asbury Park, NJ on June 19th, 20th, & 21st. All artist submissions for the 2009 Wave Gathering Festival are currently being accepted thru Sonicbids.com Deadline for submissions: May 1, 2009
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hurray for tonite's rocked out gig!! hear it was the best show evah!! as matt langlois (oh, profound being) once said----all other shows were gonna suck.... hope that wasn't true for the other musicians, hear it was true for some (SAD FACE), and feel that the comments i have received have ruled suckage out of the adjectives used to describe ur show. ps----have a small fave.... 2 secs...hope i can call ya! grats and werrrrrrrrrrrrd!, sheeshles
