Mike Maimone

Mutts frontman Mike Maimone “goes from zero to a hundred quicker than most,” according to Daytrotter.

Choose Chicago says, “He plays the piano with his feet. He swills whiskey between songs. He shouts and howls. He is an unstoppable music force.”

Vern Hester of the Windy City Times adds, “The man has the keyboard style of Fats Waller and Jerry Lee Lewis combined, and a vocal style that clearly recalls Tom Waits and Warren Zevon.”

Maimone has averaged over 100 tour dates each year since 2007, primarily with his band Mutts and as a solo artist, as well as on keyboards for Company of Thieves and Los Colognes. He has toured in support of Murder By Death, The Hold Steady, OK Go, and Blues Traveler among others, played Lollapalooza, Sasquatch, Riot Fest, and at notable venues across the country, from The Fillmore in San Francisco to the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York.

Maimone released his solo debut LP Open Mic Nights, Empty Bottle Mornings in 2008 on his micro-label 8eat8 Records. Forming Mutts with bassist Bob Buckstaff in 2009, the prolific songwriter wrote and released 6 albums and 6 EPs in the next decade.

Maimone has published nearly 100 songs that are as diverse as his life has been. For example “God, Country, Grave” appeared in the adult Cinemax show Banshee, and on the other hand, “Let’s Go” was broadcast in the “Friendly Confines” of Wrigley Field.

Mike Maimone plays Nord keyboards.