Mikey Mason's M

Life as a blogger is often good. I get to read what I want and then tell the whole world (because Lord knows all seven billion people on the planet read my blog.😉) about it. Sometimes you get to interact with people whose work you admire when you wouldn't have been able to otherwise. That's awesome.

But sometimes...

Sometimes...

You send a message off to one of your favorite musical artists and offer to review his album on your blog if he will do an interview with you. And because he's an awesome person, he does. And then you realize.

OMFG DUDE! I'VE NEVER REVIEWED AN ALBUM BEFORE! I'M A BOOK AND MOVIE/TV GUY!

 

And maybe you freak out a bit because when you're a story guy, but then you listen to said music artist's podcast and he tells you that it's okay to write like shit and it hits you. "I can live up to THAT standard." I mean, I'm pretty sure he wasn't talking directly to me when he said it, but it still takes some of the pressure off. I'm breathing now and I'm pretty sure I can handle this.

In related news: Welcome to the first ever review of an album here on Jimbo's.  I'll be your only slightly flaky host. Since there is a method to my madness I'll be doing this the same way I review anthology style. This way you can all see the madness in my method.

I'm a cool guy like that.

I think.

Anyway...

I've really enjoyed Mikey Mason's M every time I've listened to it. There is more here than what I've gotten from it, too. I say that because some of these tracks relate to stories that I may not be familiar with. For example, one song is called "Letterkenny." It relates to the show which I haven't watched because *GASP* I don't have Hulu. Oddly enough though, I actually enjoy the song. The music works for me even though I don't geek out over the show. Go figure.

Speaking of which...

"Hat Full of Sky" is based on a book. I'm not even sure what book, but Mikey said it was last post. I enjoy it though. I sometimes think that Mikey writes some of this stuff and doesn't realize that it's actually uplifting. This one makes me smile for some reason. As long as I've got a Hat Full of Sky I can do anything right? And seriously, just the sentence "I'll build my wings on the way down," from his song "Build My Wings" got me through one of the worst days of my life. That sounds weird to me too, but when you're plummeting downward, well, it helps. Oops. "Build My Wings" is on another album. I don't honestly feel bad about mentioning it though. It's a good track.

"Because of You" is a break up song. We've all been there. "I'll make it through just to spite you," (It doesn't count as a spoiler if it's song lyrics, right?) is something I've actually lived. It's really up-tempo and light hearted though. I like this track and this concept. Being a single guy, I probably won't need this one for awhile, but it's good to know it'll be there if and when I do.

"Retrobituaries" is a song about people who post things that make me sad about things that happened years ago. Seriously folks, and I know Mikey agrees with me here, don't do it. And if you're confused as to why you shouldn't, or maybe if you just need a laugh, check this one out.

"Love And..." is a song that I wish I didn't identify quite so closely with. There are definitely times when I've been with a girl and exhibited signs of both love and revulsion. It usually comes right before a break-up. Dammit, Mikey, this one hit me in the feels. Good job. Probably.

"Shiny Math Rocks,"make that click clack sound.

Listen, if you're a table top gamer (or maybe if you just know and love one) and you can't relate to this one I can't help you. Especially if you play tabletop RPGs. Those of us who do all have a love/hate relationship with our dice, but if you ever want to see a tabletop gamer smile, roll your dice. BUT DON'T ROLL THEIRS OR YOU'LL INFECT THEM WITH BAD LUCK. You have been warned.

*SIGH*

Sorry, Riley.

"Letterkenny" is a song about a show I don't know anything about. but hey, if Mikey can talk about his favorite show I can relate. I mean, I may quote Star Trek or Firefly instead of Letterkenny but it's the same thing. And dude, he wants a good glass of beer. Who can't relate to the desire to have a drink?


I am a Dungeon Master, and if there is one song on the entire planet that my players want me to listen to, it's "Loot the Room". Apparently I don't give out enough treasure. My bad. At any rate, this is another one that anyone who has ever played a tabletop or computer/platform RPG or really a lot of first person shooters like Medal of Honor can identify with. We've all gotten the stuff. Sometimes we've done it without setting off the booby trap. Dude. I said sometimes.

So what are we going to do tonight, Brain? "Take Over the Room" is a Pinky and the Brain track. It doesn't get much better than that. We all loved this show back in the day, right? And now we get to love it all over again, only this time with a guitar track. YES!!!!

"Breathe" is a melancholy reminder that sometimes you just have to push through, or in Mikey's words, breathe. I know it's not easy. I tell my kids to push through things all the time and pushing is how I get through life when it gets rough. It's a good message.

"Whisper" is a love song. It's a really good one.

There are "No Happy Endings" because nothing ever ends...

I remember when I first saw the title of this song, before I had listened to it. I thought it was going to be depressing and that kind of sucked because one of the things I like about Mikey's music is that it makes me happy. I'm happy to report that I was wrong. This is absolutely an upbeat song in terms of both tempo and mood. Nothing ever ends...

Except M because this is the last track.

I like this album. I play it a lot. I'm a Lyft driver and I spend an average of like ten to twelve hours every workday in my car. As someone who rarely drinks and doesn't smoke or take anything I can get arrested for possessing, I need another way to relieve stress and get through the day and music is what does that for me. Mikey Mason, whether on M or another album, is a big help with that. I drive for a living. Go listen to a Mikey Mason track called The Button. If you can honestly listen to that track and not know why I love it you don't have a brain.

Seriously.

Anyway, buy the album. Listen to the album. Tell all of your friends about it. And when you get hooked and buy a bunch of his other stuff, don't blame me. It's all Mikey's fault.

Bottom Line: 5.0 out of 5 Guitar Picks

M
Mikey Mason
Self Published, 2019

M is available for purchase at the following link:

Interview with Comedy Rock Star Mikey Mason

(Picture blatantly stolen from Mikey Mason's Bandcamp page.)

Hi everybody! I'm geeked. No, I didn't just say that I AM a geek (although I am) I said I'm geeked. Why? Because I've got an awesome person to interview for your reading pleasure today.  Seriously, we're going to have a good time.

See, once upon a time I was cruising around Youtube watching some videos and I came across one called Best Game Ever. If you're not familiar, you should be. It's the story of a Dungeons and Dragons group and that one annoying guy that they all hate and screws everything up. Remember that guy? Every tabletop RPG player  has had to deal with some version of the dude at some point. I got a bit kick out of it. Actually, I kind of freaked out and started annoying my co-workers and roommates by playing it too much.

Anyway...

The song was by a guy named Mikey Mason, and eventually, I wandered over to Spotify to see if I could find him. He had a ton of stuff on there and has added more since. We'll get to the whole catalogue soon, but rest assured if you don't already love tracks like Kobolds Ate My Baby, Waiting to Wait in Line, (Love at) Warp Factor 9, and Build My Wings you will soon.

So, welcome to Jimbo's Mikey! Say hi. How are you today?

Tired, but working. Still recovering from DragonCon, actually.

Cool. How was Dragon*Con?

DragonCon was amazing as usual. It’s weird… I’ve been performing there for 5 years, and it’s only in the last two or three that I’ve actually let myself enjoy it a bit. DragonCon (or any convention, really) is different for performers who perform for a living.

At DragonCon, most of the performers you’ll see have a day job somewhere, and they look at DragonCon as a way to build an audience while on a vacation where merchandise sales can defray the costs. Performers have a break-even point, after the travel costs, the hotel costs—which are always at the maximum rate they’re allowed to charge, the costs of food, etc… Once we cross that break even point, we’re actually earning our salary for the week. It’s a bit harried.

Performers don’t get paid time off from work, and many of us can’t afford vacations. Still, I’ve never worked a DragonCon where I didn’t make money. Because of the costs involved, it’s never as much as it seems it should be, but it’s always a good time.

Good! I'm glad to hear it. So, to start things off Mikey, tell us a little about yourself and your music. I'm a huge music fan and a geek too, but what led you to get into making music for geeks? I mean, I love it but there have to be bigger markets out there. Why that one?

I’m a geek, that’s why. I was doing musical stand-up comedy, full-time, touring the US and beyond and writing material that I didn’t really care about or for. I wrote a song in 2011 called She Don’t Like Firefly, and it went viral (viral for back then—nerdist.com, Time Magazine, SyFy, and several other national mentions helped. Once I realized there was an audience for the things I really cared about, I started making a concerted effort to write more material that I truly enjoyed.

That's awesome. So you're obviously a gamer. You've done a ton of songs about games like D+D, Kobolds ate my baby and even one about World of Warcraft (which had me dying laughing) . What are some of your favorite games and can you give us one little known gem that we all need to play?

I love RPGs. Kobolds Ate My Baby is a super-fun, rules-light system that lends itself to having a good time. I mostly play D&D Savage Worlds, but for a lesser known system (it’s not really that lesser known) I’d have to recommend Fiasco, especially if your friends are into theatre and improvisation.

Before we get started on your work, I'd like to ask a question regarding my personal crusade here at Jimbo's: How do you define what is Science Fiction and/or Fantasy? I know that there are people out there who would limit it to just the traditional arenas of writing, television and film, but what about other things like gaming (whether tabletop stuff like Dungeons and Dragons or video games like Halo and World of Warcraft)? What about songs like Not Quite the Chosen One or The Button, both of which are by you. Where do those fall on your list of what is and is not Science Fiction or Fantasy?

The Button is science fiction/fantasy. Not Quite The Chosen One is is pure comedic fantasy. I try not to get hung up on definitions as much, anymore. I gravitate towards things I enjoy or am interested in. So even if someone doesn’t categorize those two songs the same way I do, if they liked music and those genres, they’ll probably enjoy the songs.

You bill yourself as a Comedy Rock Star on your website and your Facebook page, but yet you've done some serious tracks too. I consider Opposite of Cool to be my personal theme song, and it's the kind of thing that anyone who grew up as one of the less popular kids in school can definitely identify with. I had a really neat conversation with my daughter after listening to Celebrate because she's going to be starting her last year of Middle School in a few days and it had me thinking about how her life is going to change and why she's going to want to try to remember some of the stuff I wish I could. Talk about that for a second. How does the guy who wrote She Don't Like Firefly suddenly veer off into some serious content for a second?

Comedy Rock Star was a branding choice from when I was a musical standup comic that just kind of hung around… When I started getting comedy gig and performing out of state, I’d take time off from work when necessary to facilitate it. On the paid time off form, I’d write “going to play comedy rock star” as the reason. I had an incredibly supportive company and they were as flexible as they could be with my schedule.

When I started doing geek rock music, it was all comedic, because that was what I was transitioning from. At the time, I didn’t think folks would want to hear a serious song from me, so I didn’t bother putting them on albums. I simply didn’t consider it. I’d still write them when I felt like it, but performing or relating them didn’t really occur to me.

It wasn’t until my fifth geek rock album, Red Letters, that I put a serious song on an album. My mom had died earlier that year, and the writing/recording of the album was very cathartic for me. It’s an angry album, ostensibly about holidays and special occasions (“red letter” days,) but all the songs are about frustration, loss, cruelty, isolation, self-destructive behavior, or regret. Yet it still manages to be funny. Angry? Yes. Vulgar? In places. But funny. Except for Eulogy, which is a song I wrote in college after a friend died, but which took on whole new realms of meaning when my mom passed.

I played it live whenever I did a show that year. I remember playing it at ConCarolinas, openly weeping in front of a packed ballroom of folks, many of who were weeping with me. It was a song that had meaning to us, like the other, funny songs I try to write, but simply about the human experience. It changed my views of what my fans would deem acceptable on an album.

I know you do a lot of cons. I'm guessing you've got some good celebrity stories. Have you met anyone super-cool? Do you have a story or two you could share with us?

I meet super cool people all the time. Most of them aren’t famous. Famous people can be very cool, too—don’t get me wrong—and I do have some celebrity stories. I played a game with Will Wheaton at GenCon one year. He killed me with ruthless efficiency, and was very kind about the whole thing, treating everybody at the table as a peer. Ernie Hudson was great to talk to, and as generous as he could be with his time. Willem Dafoe is super-intense but very polite and smells great.

Of course, you do more than music. I remember how happy your Friendship is Tragic T-shirt made my now ex-girlfriend when we were still dating. (She's a good person. Long story.) So tell us a little bit about your non-music offerings. Now might be a good time to throw in some links to places where people can buy your stuff too.

I…well… I do stuff. I’ve always considered myself an artistic and creative person. I make art (which is now mostly confined to t-shirts, as I don’t sell prints from a shop anymore, at least for the time being.) You can find my t-shirts at https://comedyrockgeek.threadless.com/

Music you can find on YouTube, Spotify, Pandora, iTunes, etc… But if you want to buy directly from me, you can go to https://mikeymason.bandcamp.com/ and buy albums or single tracks. There are links from there to buy physical discs, as well.


I know you've got a Patreon as well, Mikey. I'm a happy subscriber. So why don't you tell people where they can find you on Patreon and what the benefits are. You know, like how I can get all of your tracks early.

Thanks! You can find my Patreon account at https://www.patreon.com/MikeyMason . As for benefits, I try not to stratify the people who support me too much. The basic benefit is this: if you support me at $1/month, every time I record a song (and sometimes when I write one and do a scratch demo or whatever) you’ll get a copy of the song. All of them. For $1/month. There are other, more ephemeral benefits to supporting at a higher amount, such as getting handwritten postcards or being credited by name on every track that came out while you supported at a certain level, but I know some fans will try and support beyond their means, and I’m adamant that people take care of themselves and their bills before trying to take care of me or mine.

So, if someone supports what I do and can afford $1/month, that’s awesome and helpful. If they can afford more, just as awesome and appreciated. I just don’t want to “upsell” anyone.

I’d rather have 1000 supporters at $1/month than one supporter at $1000/month. Like Ryunosuke Satoro said, “Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean."


I know you do some podcasts too, including In the 'Verse with Mark Gunn. I think I'm forgetting something. Why not drop a link or two to those and tell us a little about what you're working on there?

Currently, the only podcast I’m actively working on is In The Verse: Songcrafting In The Firefly Universe. You can find it here: https://fireflydrinkingsongs.com/intheverse/

In each episode of the podcast, fellow Browncoat musician Marc Gunn and I rewatch an episode of Firefly, discuss it from an artistic/structural perspective, and then each back off into different corners and write a song inspired either by the episode or something in the episode. As you can guess, our songs, like our musical styles, differ greatly. But the music is good, and Firefly-centric. And when we’re done, we’ll have an album or two. (Maybe three?)

My Patreon patrons get copies of all those finished songs as well as many of the demos.

Oh, and of course your social media accounts. Where can fans follow you online so that they can keep up with Mikey Mason? Is there anything special that you share there. Don't forget to drop the links again.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ComedyRockStar/
Instagram: @crsmm
Twitter: @comedyrockgeek
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/squedge
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/comedyrockgeek
And you can find links to all those things and more at mikeymason.com

And of course, I know I'm not a perfect interviewer. I know that you were just bursting to tell my audience something that I forgot to ask. So here's your chance. What do you wish I had asked you? Don't forget to answer your own question.

What’s your favorite book? Well… I love a lot of books and have written more than a few songs about literary characters: Hat Full Of Sky, Wisdom Of Hounds, Dibbler’s Lament, A Moment’s Courage, Electric Monk, etc… but I’ve only written an entire EP of music about one book: American Gods by Neil Gaiman. You can find it on my Bandcamp site.

And that's it! Thanks for stopping by Mikey! I really appreciate you taking the time to chat with me.

Thank you!

Links to a couple of Mikey Mason's albums are listed below (Just in case you didn't use his links and are too lazy to page back up):

Top 10 Songs about Games and Gaming

Congratulations to me! This is my one hundredth post! I had to go with something big. I couldn't decide what to do. I mean, I could do another book or movie review, but that's what I ALWAYS do. That didn't appeal. I could have come up with some kind of long ass post talking about how great I am (true) and how awesome all of the authors who have submitted their work for review are (still true) but I'm just not that type. So, what to do? Well, when I started this blog, I listed some things that I considered to be SF/F. Books and movies were givens. I also listed comics and gaming. I haven't done much with either, other than to list them as part of the Dragon Award lineup.My comic budget is pretty anemic though, and the last game I bought was World of Warcraft: Legion. It's the best expansion yet, but that's not what I wanted to do either.

Then I thought about it. Okay, what really happened was that I accidentally clicked on the Youtube app on my phone when what I wanted was Yahoo, but nobody's perfect. That's when I saw the video to my favorite song about a game and thought to myself, "I should do a post about the best songs about games." So now you're all stuck reading about it. MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!

First off the disclaimer: No, I had no involvement in producing any of this. No, I'm not going to spend days posting all of the relevant information. Each song will include a link. If you're interested in finding out who produced any or all of this stuff, feel free to click on the appropriate link(s) and get your information there. And without further ado...

Number 10: Natural 20

Musically this track is just there. It's got the guitar riffs and Mikey Mason has the voice to carry it. Let's face it though. The charm of this track isn't just that. If you've ever sat down at a table and played a pen and paper RPG then you know why the phrase "natural (or nat) twenty" would bring a smile to any player's face. If not don't bother asking. Just go to the hobby shop and pick up a book and some dice. Now. I'll wait.

Number 9: If I Had a Billion Platinum

First off, I've been a Weird Al fan since the Eighties. I love parodies! Second off, I love The Bare Naked Ladies. Third off, when I was a broke ass n00b in Everquest, I found this track on Youtube. It was one of the earliest gaming songs on the internet. And besides, who doesn't want all the Kunark loot? (Well, other than anyone who played starting with Scars of Velious or later.)

Number 8: Hard Like Heroic

World of Warcraft. Music parody. Double entendres. What else do you want? How about some hysterically funny video footage? Seriously. Go "Do it like a druid in the general channel." If you don't know what I'm talking about, find out. This is awesome.

Number 7: Just Loot It

Gear and gold. That's what MMORPGs are all about. Oh, and when you're from Detroit, the only thing better than a gaming parody is a gaming parody of an Eminem track. If it's not obvious enough, this was inspired by Just Lose It. That's just another reason to love this one. Raiding +  Detroit hip hop = win.

 

Number 6: Crank that Druid Boy


When I first started playing WoW I wouldn't participate in Player versus Player content. No, not ever. I played on a player versus environment server, I didn't do PvP quests. I didn't do battlegrounds or arenas. I wouldn't touch it. Then I saw this video. That night I logged in and figured out how to queue for battlegrounds. The song itself is good but what really makes this video is the PvP content in the video. You've got to check this out. Then you've got to go pwn some n00bs and cap a flag.

Number 5: End of the World (of Warcraft)

I almost didn't put this on here because it's too catchy. On one hand, that's a good thing. Things don't get stuck in your head unless they're good. On the other hand, I'm going to be hearing this song in my head for for the next two weeks. Oh, and since this is a parody of The End of the World as We Know It I want to watch Deep Impact now too. There's nothing quite like mixing the images of Orgrimmar and Morgan Freeman to really make your brain tingle. Ouch.

 

Now comes the hard part. I don't wanna have to slot these last four! I don't wanna! Good Lord. I guess I'll do it. Gimme a sec to figure this out.

Number 4: Uhhhh.... Game On

Picture this with me. You're sitting in your girlfriend's bed. She says she doesn't feel like gaming. It's your girlfriends bed. It's Tuesday night. Raids just reset. It's your girlfriend's bed. The solution to the problem is obvious: Call out a bunch of Bollywood dancers to dance around the room and convince her to jump in Vent for the raid. That's really the only viable solution. You can't let The Guild down right? Oh and, if my girlfriend didn't read this blog, I might be tempted to point out that any video with Felicia Day in it is probably going to be fun to watch.

Number 3: Do You Wanna Date My Avatar?

Yes, two of my top four videos are from The Guild. Sue me. It's another video featuring Felicia Day.We get to see quite a bit of Amy Okuda too. It doesn't get any better than an online relationship with a girl when you don't even know what she actually looks like. I've seen crap like this happen and it cracks me up. The fact that someone made a video about it just makes it even more funny. Just be careful with the winkies in guildchat. Oh, and yes I'm a fanboy of The Guild. That makes sense though. There are three types of people in the world: MMO players who love The Guild. Non-MMO players love The Guild and non-MMO players who don't love The Guild. That completes the list. If you don't love The Guild, you're not a true MMO player. Period. I almost had three videos from The Guild on the list, but then I realized Now I'm the One that's Cool isn't about gaming even if the show is.

Ready for the top two? I'll guarantee this is going to piss a few people off. Some of you out there only consider all "gaming" to involve video games and both of the top two are from table top RPGs. Here we go...

Number 2: Roll a D6

No it's not Like a G6 it's Roll a D6. If you don't know what they're talking about you've never done any tabletop RPG playing. The video is epic. The lyrics are on point. Anyone who has played can identify with what they're talking about in the song. Ignore the comments on this one. It's a song people, not a documentary. Some of the details are a bit off, but who gives a rat's ass? Not this guy.

Number 1: Best Game Ever (A Different D&D Song)

Mikey Mason FTW!!!!! This one will take you back if you're a pen and paper RPG player. You know that one dumb-ass you used to game with? The one that got killed every damn week and pissed everyone off? Remember all of the horrible shit you wanted to do to him? This is a song all about doing it. It's hysterically funny. It's so well performed. The emotion Mason shows singing this song is something I've only really seen from Jack Black before. Spoiler: They beat the dragon at the end. I started thinking about doing this post a few days ago. I've watched this video eight times today. It's playing right now. After all, once you've "Saved a barmaid, slayed a dragon, got some treasure, raised a flagon and we split up some XP" (yeah, I

plagiarized that part) does it get any better? Not in my book. Go. Watch it. Love it. Buy it. It's worth it. I wish I had a prize to send him. Thanks Mikey! I enjoyed it. Oh, and you bookended the list. That's worth something, right? Oh, and his bookshelf is epic.

Some products related to the songs above are available at the links below: