Your name:
Mike Mangan and Mike Blumberg.
Where are you from?
Los Angeles, CA.
Name of band:
REBEL HOUSE RADIO.
Who is in your band?
Main members and songwriters:
Mike Mangan - Vocals, Hammond Organ, Piano, keys, key
bass, harmonica
Mike Blumberg - Vocals, guitar, bass
Current rhythm section: Ryan Krieger (drums), Ben White (bass).
How would you describe yourselves and your music?
Rock with no limits.
Who are your main influences musically?
Since we love so many genres, that's a tough question.
But here's a few: Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, John Scofield and Beethoven.
What do you hope to achieve in music?
Living life free and doing what we love. We’d like the
ability to perform live for large audiences and positively affect music lovers around the globe!
What has been the highlight of your career so far, and
why?
Mike M: Recently being hired to play the Deep Purple tune “Burn”
on my Hammond at the Classic Rock Awards with Kings of Chaos, which are the guys from Guns N’ Roses
(Matt Sorum, Duff McKagan, and Gilby Clarke) plus Nuno Bettencourt from Extreme. And of course Glenn Hughes
from Deep Purple belting out the vocals. It’s also a ripping classic keyboard solo from one of my idols
and huge influences, the late Jon Lord. I had my Hammond and Leslie hydraulically lifted to the rehearsal
and show and I got to fill some big shoes on a notoriously difficult Organ/Piano solo playing alongside
the original vocalist on the song. What an honor. During rehearsal I also got to jam with Billy Gibbons
from ZZ Top, Joe Perry from Aerosmith, and Joe Elliot from Def Leopard. I got to perform in front of Ozzy,
Brian May, Eric Bourdon, Greg Allman, and a whole slew of my biggest influences.
One other highlight is Keith Emerson coming to several
gigs of my gigs with my band Big Organ Trio and sitting in with me on my own Hammond and trading fiery
solos. Totally awesome.
And of course, last but not least, completing the RHR
album “One More Day”. It’s amazing what you can accomplish when you put your mind to something. What
began as just an idea in our heads, we were able to turn into a reality in spite of quite a few obstacles.
If you are determined to do something and decide that nothing will stop you, then I believe you can achieve
just about anything, so this album is definitely a highlight of my life and career.
Mike B: Wow. So many amazing experiences playing and hanging with
some of the best musicians in the world. Tough to narrow this down, so I’ll just give you three!
Haha.
My first band in LA, Revolutionary Side Effects, was the
only band west of Colorado selected to perform at Wakarusa Festival in 2007. That was pretty amazing
considering we drove straight from LA to Denver for the audition and lost to a local Boulder band (because they
brought a literal bus of people to vote for them), but were contacted by the festival and told we deserved a
slot! Great feeling. RSE went on to open for the phenomenal Maceo Parker, Robert Randolph, The Samples and
many more. Amazing times.
Another huge highlight was writing music, performing and
recording with Miles Evans Band (son of Gil Evans). I had the pleasure of working with Darryl Jones
(Rolling Stones), Steve Ferrone (Tom Petty) and MANY more world renowned jazz musicians.
Lastly, I will say that holding the final final final
master of REBEL HOUSE RADIO’S “One More Day” in my hands alongside my musical comrade (Mike M.), was truly a
main highlight of my life and music career thus far. This record is dedicated to my Father who died of
cancer just a few months before the effort was completed. I know how proud he would have been to
see/hear the fruits of our labor. This album also proves that we can produce a full 14 song record on our
own and deliver it to the world. That’s pretty powerful!
And what’s the moment you want to forget?
Mike M: Maybe falling off the stage and smashing my head on a
pillar right in front of Keith Emerson as I came back around from playing the organ backwards (which I
basically stole from Keith...haha). Although in hindsight the crowd went crazy when I got back up, and Keith told
me a bunch of his amazing stage war stories afterwards, so maybe it wasn’t that bad after all...haha.
Mike B: Here are a few. Again, tough to narrow to just one. :)
I’ve been in bad situations with previous bandmates where
I would be ridiculed on stage (during the show) for missing notes and not performing our songs perfectly.
That REALLY didn’t make for a positive or fulfilling musical experience. I wouldn’t mind forgetting
that for eternity. :) I’d say another bad one was when I performed with a band
in college (I was still in high school at the time so this was a big deal for me to be playing with college
musicians), and I broke a string on my guitar that had a Floyd Rose bridge. If you’re a guitarist, you’ll surely
understand that without a spare guitar, you have to spend probably 1520 mins trying get the guitar back in
tune. Doesn’t make for an easy fix when you break a string. That’s one reason why I never walk on stage these
days with less than 2 guitars (usually 3 for multiple tunings etc.). What a nightmare that was! :)
If you had to pick just one of your songs to represent
your music, what would it be and why?
It’s really tough because we cover a lot of ground. Some
songs are quite different from others. That said, “Can’t Say No” is a good representation. A great guitar
solo, some crazy Hammond organ sounds, a good vocal melody with incredibly inventive harmonies and
backup vocal lines. We actually just premiered our the OFFICIAL music video for “Can’t Say No” on July 2nd! It
was Directed by Mike Makara, who is one of the more talented and visionary humans on the globe when it
comes to visual effects and production.
Check out the video here! We’re extremely excited about
it.
Where can we listen to it?
Where can we find out more about your music?
Anything else you’d like to say about your music that I
forgot to ask?
REBEL HOUSE RADIO is extremely unique in that Mangan and
Blumberg fuse the elements of both Hammond B3 Organ and guitar (electric and acoustic)
seamlessly, but in a relatively uncommon way. We are both “lead” players and have multiple solo trades
throughout the record. These two instruments are used both as compliments to the overall timbre of our songs,
as well as lead voices. And yes, we never play a gig without the REAL Hammond Organ and Leslie, not matter
what it takes to move it.
