Mike Viola at the Raccoon Motel -- October 20.
Friday, October 20, 8 p.m.
Raccoon Motel, 315 East Second Street, Davenport IA
A highly lauded singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist well-known for his work with Panic! at the Disco, Andrew Bird, Ryan Adams, J.S. Ondara, Mandy Moore, and Jenny Lewis, touring multihyphenate Mike Viola headlines an October 20 concert at Davenport's Raccoon Motel, the artist's current national tour in support of his recent album Paul McCarthy Viola's first in more than a decade.
Viola got his start in the mid-1990s as the musical architect for New York–based band Candy Butchers, releasing three critically acclaimed albums with RPM/Sony Records before focusing on music production. Along with friend Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne, the Massachusetts native co-produced the title track for Tom Hanks' 1996 movie That Thing You Do!, a single that received an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song. Viola sang lead on the track, and as the accepted singing voice of Johnathon Schaech's character Jimmy, also sang on additional tracks in the film, among them "Little Wild One" and "All My Only Dreams." For the 2007 Jake Kasdan/Judd Apatow comedy Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, Viola wrote or co-wrote "A Life Without You (Is No Life at All)," "Darling," "(I Hate You) Big Daddy," "Dear Mr. President," "Beautiful Ride," "Sir Ringe The Marshmallow Elephant," and "Let Me Hold You Little Man." The artist also served as musical director on a promotional tour for the film in December 2007, with John C. Reilly acting out his fictional character of Dewey Cox.
Decades into his career, Viola music continues to resonate with and inspire new generations of musicians and music lovers through fan favorites such as 2019's The American Egypt and 2021's and Godmuffin, and his most recent recording Paul McCarthy was released in April 2023 on Good Morning Monkey/Grand Phony in the U.S., Lojinx in Europe, and SONY Japan. Paul McCarthy was recorded over the summer of 2022 on half-inch tape at “Barebones," Viola’s home studio in Los Angeles, and finds the singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist joined by his friends Jake Sinclair on bass and Brendon Urie on drums. Viola says, “I set out to make a sonic monster using the legs of James Gang Rides Again, the heart of Black Sabbath Paranoid, with my kid brain inside my greying middle-aged head on top. I’ve hit a point in my life where instinct has taken the reins fully, logic now waits in the wings to sweep up the stage and pay the taxi fare home. This album is the result of committing to this path fully and laughing all the way.”
Mike Viola plays his Davenport engagement on October 20, admission to the 8 p.m. concert is $20, and tickets are available by visiting TheRaccoonMotel.com.
