Providence, Busking, and Vinyl Reviews: A Conversation with Mike Viola
Words: Ozzy Wagenseil
September 2, 2024
Following a performance at Askew on February 29th, 2024, I sat down with an interview over Zoom with Mike Viola. The incredibly talented singer/songwriter had this to say about Providence, guitars, vinyl, and soundtrack work!
Ozzy: All right, Mr. Mike Viola.
M: Yes!
O: Musician, prodigy songwriter, flown out of Massachusetts to work with Kim Fowley. Worked on soundtracks for That Thing You Do and Dewey Cox. Plus, you have also released your most recent album, Paul McCarthy, and have since finished a little acoustic tour of the album. I think it's very appropriate to ask the biggest question of them all: How are you doing today?
M: Oh, that's great. I'm doing fantastic because I'm in the studio recording and I'm just taking a little break to talk to you, Ozzy. So I'm doing fantastic. Life is charmed at the moment.
O: Very good to hear. So I saw you performing in Providence at Askew on February 29th during this recent tour of yours. I remember you briefly saying that Providence had a little meaning to you. Could you elaborate on that?
M: Yeah, so, ‘cause Providence is about, you know, the kind of the same distance from Stoughton where I grew up in Massachusetts. And so there was a club there called The Living Room. The guys that ran that club just took me under their wing and just gave me some of the best gigs I ever had when I was a little kid. I was like fifteen, I think when I started playing The Living Room in Providence. And, uh, I don't know, they were just giving me a bit of a break when other clubs in Boston I was clamoring to get in. And once I got the break that those guys gave me at The Living Room, I was able to get bigger and better gigs in Boston. And so those two cities, the twin cities for me, as far as the music scene went, in some ways I was more attached to the Providence music scene at the time in the eighties, more the Boston scene. But, um, yeah, like some of my early gigs, I opened up for Billy Idol at one gig, even when he had a big hit, which was really strange. I opened for Quiet Riot, a metal band in the 80s. So yeah, Providence, you know, I have a large place in my heart for that city.
O: Awesome! While you were playing, you certainly proved to first watchers, like me, that you were an excellent guitar player. What I found interesting about your guitar technique is your ability to play chords and then interweave a melody that matches your singing.
M: Right.
O: How did you come about this technique? And was it something you came across while learning guitar on your own?
M: It's something I came across learning guitar on my own and having to accompany myself alone. When I lived in Boston, when I suppose I was about your age, I was busking in the subways and in the parks, you know, and I was by myself. I noticed that a lot of people snow plowed through the chords and they kind of like play over the din of subways coming in and out and street traffic and stuff. I always kind of went the other way with it and I learned how to just get a little bit more ornate with my guitar playing because I was alone and I wanted to point the listener in the direction of the harmony. A lot of times I did covers on those busking gigs because that's what people really wanted to hear in the subway. So I'd pick out little parts on songs I was playing and I just learned how to do that. And when I discovered Paul Simon uh…mostly him actually it was, he was for me a real inspiration because he does a lot of that. And I was like “Huh, wow, this guy's really doing that.” And then I dug into his stuff and got better at it.
O: Awesome.
M: So, I guess the short answer is creating something cool out of necessity, you know.
O: Good to hear. I was actually about to ask any favorite guitar heroes, and I think you just answered with Paul Simon.
M: As far as acoustic accompaniment, he's probably one of my favorites. And George Harrison. I love those two so much for that, you know.
O: So speaking of guitar work, I think Paul McCarthy has stood out to me for your gritty tone, gritty tones throughout some songs like “Water Makes Me Sick” and “You Put The Light Back In My Face.” Plus from your previous album, “USA Up All Night” is fantastic.
M: Thank you.
O: Playing guitar for a while, what voice do you want to translate or display while using such overdrive fuzz or distortion tones?
M: I love dissonance and I love dissonance in human beings. I love when a conversation goes a little off, I like it. I like the rough edges in human beings and the flaws. And so when I'm recording and making music, it's what I love most of all. I'm a fan of things when they're like really exact that can be fun as well. There's a band called Yes and they were a big prog band in the seventies, but they made this music in the late 60s that I find way more interesting and it's really dirty and sloppy and exploratory and dissonant. So I think I go for that in my tone more than I do anything. In other words, when I'm playing acoustic and it's a nice clean sound, the dissonance I find is in the voicing. And so people be like, “Wow, those notes are a little too close” you know, like, it's kind of rubbing and I really like that sound. So I think dissonance is what I go for.
O: Can I go a step further and also say that Steve Hackett was a sort of innovator on that distortion tone for you?
M: There you go. Yeah, I'd go that step.
O: Awesome. All right. Mr. Mike Viola, I believe I would be doing myself a disservice if I failed to mention not only your songwriting talent but how f***ing hilarious you can be. “They say I'm built like an ox. I put up with a lot of s**t.” It's a personal favorite of mine. Plus I enjoyed “Mutant Ninja Turtle.” Great title. However, this isn't to diminish from your more serious songs, such as “Love Letters From A Childhood Sweetheart.” I listened to that and I had to take a moment to just reflect on that.
M: Right.
O: So what I want to ask is how do you balance the dynamic of having this wide range of emotions throughout your discography and more in particular, how do you manage that dynamic in albums?
M: That's a really good question because I think it's really easy to go either way. Like if something's working emotionally in pulling someone's heartstrings, even if it's your own, or the person you're playing it for, and you realize you're getting a reaction out of someone because the song is sad, then maybe “Oh, I'm just going to write a bunch of sad songs.” I find it too easy to just lean into one thing. I find that it's more of a challenge to also show the comic side of the tragedy and have that balance. Like any good book, movie, play, or piece of art, there's hopefully a wide range of emotions within the thing. So, sometimes actually within a song, I'll try and do that as well. I have a song called “King Kong Hand” and a lot of the imagery in that is singing about things around me in my house. But in doing so, it gave my brain that freedom of just looking around and singing literally about my plant or about my couch, but letting my brain relax a little bit, let my spirit relax. And then, following the flow, I was able to get to a deeper meaning within these mundane things around me and not a meaning in the couch or meaning in the plant, but a meaning in my association with it and how it correlates to different memories and stuff like that. So, as you can see, once I start talking about this stuff, it sort of just gets all garbled in and hard to explain. But when I'm doing it, it's quite simple. If it makes me feel joy, then I lean into it. And if it's making me feel a certain sadness, I lean into it, but only for a short time, I like to have a balance.
O: Awesome. Switching over to your soundtrack work. One of the biggest songs you've been involved with is “That Thing You Do,” singing lead vocals. In addition, you wrote for various songs on the Dewey Cox soundtrack. How does the line blur between working on movie soundtracks versus your own, personal musical work?
M: Well, when I'm writing it's the same. It's actually a little bit easier to write for a movie because you surrender your ego, but it's but once you do, and you embody this character and the ridiculousness of someone like Dewey Cox or Aldous Snow from “Get Into The Greek,” it kind of frees you up. You don't have to worry about your ego and what your friends might think of your new song or whatever. You just like making something for this character. But it's the same process once you do let go, it's the same exact process and I take it all. That's the only way I know how to write songs is to kind of get in there and really own it. You know, I have friends that are really good craftsmen or craftspeople and they can really just craft a song, but for the sake of crafting it, like a carpenter would build a beautiful table and build 40 of them or whatever. But I kind of start out building a table and I'll be like, “Well, that's not a table is it, Mike?” But that's like the best end table I've ever seen. So the way that I guess the line blurs is that there really is no line. Once I start writing it once I start the writing process, I just dive right in there and I take it seriously…to a fault probably.
O: In 2016, I believe it would be an understatement to say that you were a busy bee.
M: Yeah.
O: You were writing “Victorious” by Panic! At The Disco and songs for Lolo and Max. And on top of that, you're producing Little Windows by Teddy Thompson and Kelly Jones. And on top of that, you were a backing musician recording guitar, bass, and background vocals on Good Times by the Monkees.
M: Oh yeah.
O: Respectfully, how the hell does one juggle these various commitments and jobs?
M: Well, I don't have a manager and I think that makes it a lot easier. Every job I get, I don't look at it as a job. I look at it as work, like it's my life’s work. Adam Schlesinger was working on that Monkee’s record and he called me and said, “Would you like to write some songs and help me with this record?” And I was like, “I'm not sure I want to make a Monkee’s record, but I want to make a Monkee’s record with you.” So that was an excuse to be with him and Brian who played drums on that, Brian Young from Fountains of Wayne. So it's the three of us making that record and arranging those songs and stuff. Yeah, so it comes through a friend and there's no manager to get in the middle of it and say like, “But that's going to conflict with this or that. And how are you going to find time? And you can't spread yourself too thin.” I don't spread myself too thin. I don't take on too much. It's just honestly, like a record like that, for me, my involvement was maybe a couple of weeks. And to write “Victorious”, I did that pretty fast. Producing the record for Kelly and Teddy probably was a month of my life, so there's time in the day. I think, maybe if I did have a manager, they wouldn't have allowed me to be as eclectic with my choices. I've had a very busy year. I've had a very busy 2024 and I produced three records already. And right at the end of like this very, very busy time producing, my friend called me and asked me if he could come over cause he needed to get away and if he could record some music. And it's not my job, it's not. It's just “Of course you can.” And my wife's like, “Yeah, but are you exhausted?” I'm like “No, because it's just what I want to do.” Like, I've started the conversation office. I feel like very charmed. I feel like I'm blessed with just being able to just make music all the time. And call it work, call it a job, pay me, don't pay me. I'm still going to do it.
O: You know, that's really noble. That's fantastic. Mr. Mike Viola, I understand that whenever you find a new artist, you do a deep discography dive, listening to every album or single. However, I believe that you have been stumped once before on a particular artist. Is it true that Frank Stallone knew more about the Beatles than you did?
M: Frank Stallone?
O: Yeah.
M: I've never worked with Frank Stallone.
O: But I understand that you two met at a sort of dinner party, and you talked with him about the Beatles.
M: Really? We might've, he might've, I don't remember that though.
O: Yeah. From what I've heard, you and him were talking and you guys had a two-hour-long conversation about just the Beatles in general, and Frank Stallone was just the biggest fanboy.
M: I don't doubt it. I don't doubt it. I mean, I do love the Beatles. But there's always someone who knows a little bit more than you know, and they've got their own version of who played what and what happened, you know. But, uh, yeah, it's funny. I don't remember meeting Frank Stallone, Rocky's brother, right? Like, Sly Stone's brother.
O: Yeah.
M: Is he a Providence guy?
O: Uh, no, I just, I hear about everything.
M: Like a Swami. I love it.
O: Alright, Mr. Mike Viola, am I right in assuming you like music?
M: Mm-hmm.
O: Do you like vinyl?
M: Yes.
O: Then I have the game for you. It's this game I like to play called Rapid Record Review. So, I will throw up a record on screen, and you have to give a one-sentence review of that album in your own words. Then I'll quickly switch to the next. It's your goal to get through 15 albums in rapid succession in the quickest time.
O: Three, two, one. Go!
*Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd*
M: Uh, not as good as everybody says.
*Rumours - Fleetwood Mac*
M: Not as good as everybody thinks.
*Beck-Ola - Jeff Beck*
M: Um…Oh, yeah, it's good.
*Everyone Knows This is Nowhere - Neil Young*
M: Oh, yeah. One of my favorite records and I didn't know that record until I did.
*Paul McCarthy - Mike Viola*
M: Ah! Get a life pal.
*Diver Down - Van Halen*
M: Oh s**t yeah. I love that record. And I saw that tour at the Providence Civic Center.
*Urban Desire - Genya Ravan*
M: Don't know that record.
O: Ah, I wanted to try to stump you with something at least.
*Frampton Comes Alive - Peter Frampton*
M: Yeah, not as good as everybody thinks.
O: Yeah. I prefer At Budokan as the better live album anyway.
M: Yeah. I'm with you.
*The Who Sell Out - The Who*
M: Uh, I love that record. I love that record and I have the box set. It's great.
*Long Player - The Faces*
M: Oh yeah. I don't actually know that record.
*Trust - Elvis Costello*
M: Oh, hell yeah. You know “From A Whisper To A Scream,” Glenn Tilbrook duet, one of my favorites. I love that record.
*America - America*
M: I'm not a huge fan. Yeah.
O: Oh this one's a little bit cheesy.
*Reckless - Bryan Adams*
M: I LOVE that record. One of the most formative records of my life. One of the best things about it is Bob Clearmountain's production. I love that record.
*Whipped Cream and Other Delights - Herb Alpert*
M: Yeah, there's, *sings Ladyfingers* I love that song on it, but otherwise, it's just for the Cosmopolitan Set, not for me.
O: All right. And one final record.
*Get The Knack - The Knack*
M: I do like that record a lot. I do like that record. I know these aren't record reviews. Sorry. I'm just telling you if I like them or not. I didn't play that game well. I'm sorry.
O: You came in with a record two and a half minutes.
M: It was just like thumbs up or thumbs down. I should have, I should have gone more into it.
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O: All right. Mr. Mike Viola, you have been a fantastic guest to interview for. I believe you're an underrated gem when it comes to being an inspiration for songwriters. As the music world continues to be expansive, I believe songwriters have a hard time finding their sound. With so many new artists and sounds, it's hard to be like yourself if someone already sounds like that. As a final question, and an ode to your lyric prowess, for those trying to find themselves in music or life, “How can I find myself when I'm always someone else?”
M: Just accept that. I think one of the things I've learned to accept is that I'm just a made-up version. Somebody named me, but I'm not really Mike. Somebody gave me a name and a history. I'm just like a sum of my patterns. As I've I realized that I'm able to let it go and then find the version of who I was before I was born. So to speak, you know, all very cosmic LA talk, I'm sorry about that. Ozzy, I know LA has kind of like f***ed me up a little bit in that regard.
O: Well go to Providence more often. You'll get a reality check. Well, that's as many questions as I have. Thank you for the interview!
M: Thank you so much. Yeah, man. Anytime man.
Mike Viola is on tour once again! After finishing a performance at the 2024 Newport Folk Festival with Madison Cunningham and Andrew Bird, he released new songs “Rock of Boston” and “Death Speed Stay Teen.” You can catch these new songs being performed nearby at The Armory (Somerville, MA, 12/6/24) and Elsewhere (Brooklyn, NY, 12/7/24).
M: Yes!
O: Musician, prodigy songwriter, flown out of Massachusetts to work with Kim Fowley. Worked on soundtracks for That Thing You Do and Dewey Cox. Plus, you have also released your most recent album, Paul McCarthy, and have since finished a little acoustic tour of the album. I think it's very appropriate to ask the biggest question of them all: How are you doing today?
M: Oh, that's great. I'm doing fantastic because I'm in the studio recording and I'm just taking a little break to talk to you, Ozzy. So I'm doing fantastic. Life is charmed at the moment.
O: Very good to hear. So I saw you performing in Providence at Askew on February 29th during this recent tour of yours. I remember you briefly saying that Providence had a little meaning to you. Could you elaborate on that?
M: Yeah, so, ‘cause Providence is about, you know, the kind of the same distance from Stoughton where I grew up in Massachusetts. And so there was a club there called The Living Room. The guys that ran that club just took me under their wing and just gave me some of the best gigs I ever had when I was a little kid. I was like fifteen, I think when I started playing The Living Room in Providence. And, uh, I don't know, they were just giving me a bit of a break when other clubs in Boston I was clamoring to get in. And once I got the break that those guys gave me at The Living Room, I was able to get bigger and better gigs in Boston. And so those two cities, the twin cities for me, as far as the music scene went, in some ways I was more attached to the Providence music scene at the time in the eighties, more the Boston scene. But, um, yeah, like some of my early gigs, I opened up for Billy Idol at one gig, even when he had a big hit, which was really strange. I opened for Quiet Riot, a metal band in the 80s. So yeah, Providence, you know, I have a large place in my heart for that city.
O: Awesome! While you were playing, you certainly proved to first watchers, like me, that you were an excellent guitar player. What I found interesting about your guitar technique is your ability to play chords and then interweave a melody that matches your singing.
M: Right.
O: How did you come about this technique? And was it something you came across while learning guitar on your own?
M: It's something I came across learning guitar on my own and having to accompany myself alone. When I lived in Boston, when I suppose I was about your age, I was busking in the subways and in the parks, you know, and I was by myself. I noticed that a lot of people snow plowed through the chords and they kind of like play over the din of subways coming in and out and street traffic and stuff. I always kind of went the other way with it and I learned how to just get a little bit more ornate with my guitar playing because I was alone and I wanted to point the listener in the direction of the harmony. A lot of times I did covers on those busking gigs because that's what people really wanted to hear in the subway. So I'd pick out little parts on songs I was playing and I just learned how to do that. And when I discovered Paul Simon uh…mostly him actually it was, he was for me a real inspiration because he does a lot of that. And I was like “Huh, wow, this guy's really doing that.” And then I dug into his stuff and got better at it.
O: Awesome.
M: So, I guess the short answer is creating something cool out of necessity, you know.
O: Good to hear. I was actually about to ask any favorite guitar heroes, and I think you just answered with Paul Simon.
M: As far as acoustic accompaniment, he's probably one of my favorites. And George Harrison. I love those two so much for that, you know.
O: So speaking of guitar work, I think Paul McCarthy has stood out to me for your gritty tone, gritty tones throughout some songs like “Water Makes Me Sick” and “You Put The Light Back In My Face.” Plus from your previous album, “USA Up All Night” is fantastic.
M: Thank you.
O: Playing guitar for a while, what voice do you want to translate or display while using such overdrive fuzz or distortion tones?
M: I love dissonance and I love dissonance in human beings. I love when a conversation goes a little off, I like it. I like the rough edges in human beings and the flaws. And so when I'm recording and making music, it's what I love most of all. I'm a fan of things when they're like really exact that can be fun as well. There's a band called Yes and they were a big prog band in the seventies, but they made this music in the late 60s that I find way more interesting and it's really dirty and sloppy and exploratory and dissonant. So I think I go for that in my tone more than I do anything. In other words, when I'm playing acoustic and it's a nice clean sound, the dissonance I find is in the voicing. And so people be like, “Wow, those notes are a little too close” you know, like, it's kind of rubbing and I really like that sound. So I think dissonance is what I go for.
O: Can I go a step further and also say that Steve Hackett was a sort of innovator on that distortion tone for you?
M: There you go. Yeah, I'd go that step.
O: Awesome. All right. Mr. Mike Viola, I believe I would be doing myself a disservice if I failed to mention not only your songwriting talent but how f***ing hilarious you can be. “They say I'm built like an ox. I put up with a lot of s**t.” It's a personal favorite of mine. Plus I enjoyed “Mutant Ninja Turtle.” Great title. However, this isn't to diminish from your more serious songs, such as “Love Letters From A Childhood Sweetheart.” I listened to that and I had to take a moment to just reflect on that.
M: Right.
O: So what I want to ask is how do you balance the dynamic of having this wide range of emotions throughout your discography and more in particular, how do you manage that dynamic in albums?
M: That's a really good question because I think it's really easy to go either way. Like if something's working emotionally in pulling someone's heartstrings, even if it's your own, or the person you're playing it for, and you realize you're getting a reaction out of someone because the song is sad, then maybe “Oh, I'm just going to write a bunch of sad songs.” I find it too easy to just lean into one thing. I find that it's more of a challenge to also show the comic side of the tragedy and have that balance. Like any good book, movie, play, or piece of art, there's hopefully a wide range of emotions within the thing. So, sometimes actually within a song, I'll try and do that as well. I have a song called “King Kong Hand” and a lot of the imagery in that is singing about things around me in my house. But in doing so, it gave my brain that freedom of just looking around and singing literally about my plant or about my couch, but letting my brain relax a little bit, let my spirit relax. And then, following the flow, I was able to get to a deeper meaning within these mundane things around me and not a meaning in the couch or meaning in the plant, but a meaning in my association with it and how it correlates to different memories and stuff like that. So, as you can see, once I start talking about this stuff, it sort of just gets all garbled in and hard to explain. But when I'm doing it, it's quite simple. If it makes me feel joy, then I lean into it. And if it's making me feel a certain sadness, I lean into it, but only for a short time, I like to have a balance.
O: Awesome. Switching over to your soundtrack work. One of the biggest songs you've been involved with is “That Thing You Do,” singing lead vocals. In addition, you wrote for various songs on the Dewey Cox soundtrack. How does the line blur between working on movie soundtracks versus your own, personal musical work?
M: Well, when I'm writing it's the same. It's actually a little bit easier to write for a movie because you surrender your ego, but it's but once you do, and you embody this character and the ridiculousness of someone like Dewey Cox or Aldous Snow from “Get Into The Greek,” it kind of frees you up. You don't have to worry about your ego and what your friends might think of your new song or whatever. You just like making something for this character. But it's the same process once you do let go, it's the same exact process and I take it all. That's the only way I know how to write songs is to kind of get in there and really own it. You know, I have friends that are really good craftsmen or craftspeople and they can really just craft a song, but for the sake of crafting it, like a carpenter would build a beautiful table and build 40 of them or whatever. But I kind of start out building a table and I'll be like, “Well, that's not a table is it, Mike?” But that's like the best end table I've ever seen. So the way that I guess the line blurs is that there really is no line. Once I start writing it once I start the writing process, I just dive right in there and I take it seriously…to a fault probably.
O: In 2016, I believe it would be an understatement to say that you were a busy bee.
M: Yeah.
O: You were writing “Victorious” by Panic! At The Disco and songs for Lolo and Max. And on top of that, you're producing Little Windows by Teddy Thompson and Kelly Jones. And on top of that, you were a backing musician recording guitar, bass, and background vocals on Good Times by the Monkees.
M: Oh yeah.
O: Respectfully, how the hell does one juggle these various commitments and jobs?
M: Well, I don't have a manager and I think that makes it a lot easier. Every job I get, I don't look at it as a job. I look at it as work, like it's my life’s work. Adam Schlesinger was working on that Monkee’s record and he called me and said, “Would you like to write some songs and help me with this record?” And I was like, “I'm not sure I want to make a Monkee’s record, but I want to make a Monkee’s record with you.” So that was an excuse to be with him and Brian who played drums on that, Brian Young from Fountains of Wayne. So it's the three of us making that record and arranging those songs and stuff. Yeah, so it comes through a friend and there's no manager to get in the middle of it and say like, “But that's going to conflict with this or that. And how are you going to find time? And you can't spread yourself too thin.” I don't spread myself too thin. I don't take on too much. It's just honestly, like a record like that, for me, my involvement was maybe a couple of weeks. And to write “Victorious”, I did that pretty fast. Producing the record for Kelly and Teddy probably was a month of my life, so there's time in the day. I think, maybe if I did have a manager, they wouldn't have allowed me to be as eclectic with my choices. I've had a very busy year. I've had a very busy 2024 and I produced three records already. And right at the end of like this very, very busy time producing, my friend called me and asked me if he could come over cause he needed to get away and if he could record some music. And it's not my job, it's not. It's just “Of course you can.” And my wife's like, “Yeah, but are you exhausted?” I'm like “No, because it's just what I want to do.” Like, I've started the conversation office. I feel like very charmed. I feel like I'm blessed with just being able to just make music all the time. And call it work, call it a job, pay me, don't pay me. I'm still going to do it.
O: You know, that's really noble. That's fantastic. Mr. Mike Viola, I understand that whenever you find a new artist, you do a deep discography dive, listening to every album or single. However, I believe that you have been stumped once before on a particular artist. Is it true that Frank Stallone knew more about the Beatles than you did?
M: Frank Stallone?
O: Yeah.
M: I've never worked with Frank Stallone.
O: But I understand that you two met at a sort of dinner party, and you talked with him about the Beatles.
M: Really? We might've, he might've, I don't remember that though.
O: Yeah. From what I've heard, you and him were talking and you guys had a two-hour-long conversation about just the Beatles in general, and Frank Stallone was just the biggest fanboy.
M: I don't doubt it. I don't doubt it. I mean, I do love the Beatles. But there's always someone who knows a little bit more than you know, and they've got their own version of who played what and what happened, you know. But, uh, yeah, it's funny. I don't remember meeting Frank Stallone, Rocky's brother, right? Like, Sly Stone's brother.
O: Yeah.
M: Is he a Providence guy?
O: Uh, no, I just, I hear about everything.
M: Like a Swami. I love it.
O: Alright, Mr. Mike Viola, am I right in assuming you like music?
M: Mm-hmm.
O: Do you like vinyl?
M: Yes.
O: Then I have the game for you. It's this game I like to play called Rapid Record Review. So, I will throw up a record on screen, and you have to give a one-sentence review of that album in your own words. Then I'll quickly switch to the next. It's your goal to get through 15 albums in rapid succession in the quickest time.
O: Three, two, one. Go!
*Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd*
M: Uh, not as good as everybody says.
*Rumours - Fleetwood Mac*
M: Not as good as everybody thinks.
*Beck-Ola - Jeff Beck*
M: Um…Oh, yeah, it's good.
*Everyone Knows This is Nowhere - Neil Young*
M: Oh, yeah. One of my favorite records and I didn't know that record until I did.
*Paul McCarthy - Mike Viola*
M: Ah! Get a life pal.
*Diver Down - Van Halen*
M: Oh s**t yeah. I love that record. And I saw that tour at the Providence Civic Center.
*Urban Desire - Genya Ravan*
M: Don't know that record.
O: Ah, I wanted to try to stump you with something at least.
*Frampton Comes Alive - Peter Frampton*
M: Yeah, not as good as everybody thinks.
O: Yeah. I prefer At Budokan as the better live album anyway.
M: Yeah. I'm with you.
*The Who Sell Out - The Who*
M: Uh, I love that record. I love that record and I have the box set. It's great.
*Long Player - The Faces*
M: Oh yeah. I don't actually know that record.
*Trust - Elvis Costello*
M: Oh, hell yeah. You know “From A Whisper To A Scream,” Glenn Tilbrook duet, one of my favorites. I love that record.
*America - America*
M: I'm not a huge fan. Yeah.
O: Oh this one's a little bit cheesy.
*Reckless - Bryan Adams*
M: I LOVE that record. One of the most formative records of my life. One of the best things about it is Bob Clearmountain's production. I love that record.
*Whipped Cream and Other Delights - Herb Alpert*
M: Yeah, there's, *sings Ladyfingers* I love that song on it, but otherwise, it's just for the Cosmopolitan Set, not for me.
O: All right. And one final record.
*Get The Knack - The Knack*
M: I do like that record a lot. I do like that record. I know these aren't record reviews. Sorry. I'm just telling you if I like them or not. I didn't play that game well. I'm sorry.
O: You came in with a record two and a half minutes.
M: It was just like thumbs up or thumbs down. I should have, I should have gone more into it.
O: All right. Mr. Mike Viola, you have been a fantastic guest to interview for. I believe you're an underrated gem when it comes to being an inspiration for songwriters. As the music world continues to be expansive, I believe songwriters have a hard time finding their sound. With so many new artists and sounds, it's hard to be like yourself if someone already sounds like that. As a final question, and an ode to your lyric prowess, for those trying to find themselves in music or life, “How can I find myself when I'm always someone else?”
M: Just accept that. I think one of the things I've learned to accept is that I'm just a made-up version. Somebody named me, but I'm not really Mike. Somebody gave me a name and a history. I'm just like a sum of my patterns. As I've I realized that I'm able to let it go and then find the version of who I was before I was born. So to speak, you know, all very cosmic LA talk, I'm sorry about that. Ozzy, I know LA has kind of like f***ed me up a little bit in that regard.
O: Well go to Providence more often. You'll get a reality check. Well, that's as many questions as I have. Thank you for the interview!
M: Thank you so much. Yeah, man. Anytime man.
Mike Viola is on tour once again! After finishing a performance at the 2024 Newport Folk Festival with Madison Cunningham and Andrew Bird, he released new songs “Rock of Boston” and “Death Speed Stay Teen.” You can catch these new songs being performed nearby at The Armory (Somerville, MA, 12/6/24) and Elsewhere (Brooklyn, NY, 12/7/24).