leisure $1.90

About leisure

mike morello bio

mike morello is a connecticut born singer/songwriter on the cafe scene. his music, a blend of jazz and pop, is rooted in many influences, however he has come up with a fresh sound that is packing connecticut coffee houses.

" can't seem to get george benson and brubeck out of my head when i write. mom always had their stuff spinning on saturday mornings. i've added a few new ones to the collection, like stevie wonder and ray charles, but i still play the same stuff. right now, my i-pod is on shuffle between stevie wonder's 'innervisions,' gavin degraw's 'stripped: chariot,' jack johnson's 'in between dreams,' james taylor's greatest hits and george benson's 'breezin'. I'm sure i picked up something along my way through the 80's as well, but i probaby shouldn't admit that. it's hard to deny van halen and yes having had quite a bit to do with me ever even picking up a guitar in the first place. i started playing when i was 12 (that year, my brother helped me get a guitar out of my parents for christmas). i get so many of my lyrics and much of my vibe from events and experiences throughout my life since then. I listen to everything from r&b to techno and even took classical lessons for a year. i try to use all the pieces to make the music real and to make it mine. sometimes the music just writes itself and i let it come out. those are the best songs anyway."

morello began writing for the album "leisure" when he was in london in 2002. "I was with my friend dom and we sat down to write a song as a joke which i turned into 'blank' on the cd. it turned out to be pretty fun and people really liked it. i realized how to play and sing at the same time and haven't stopped writing since."

now, with a new album hitting retail and online stores, mike says, "i write what i feel and hope people dig it. i hope they can connect to it in some way. i won't write it if i haven't been through it. if i did, it wouldn't be real and i wouldn't feel it and neither would my audience."

"there are some great things going on in music right now. some great musicians are being recognized for their work, some of whom i hope to someday work with. the local indie scene is really supportive and loyal. i am really excited about the new cd. we have worked really hard on it and i have learned quite a bit about myself as a person and as a musician during the process."

it doesn't end here of course. mike has written an entire second album worth of new material that he is already working with in the studio and getting the feel for live. playing out live is really were he feels the real music is; "it's where i can really feel it, and i do that as much as i can. i am not on a label yet, but i don't want to keep it that way. my music grows everyday. thanks for listening. i hope you all enjoy listening to it half as much as i enjoy making it"

sample journal entry from www.mikemorello.net

5/17/05...road trips part 2. the doughnut gods.

last summer i went upstate in new york to syracuse and cornell university homecoming (where i went for undergrad) with a girl and, one day, while traveling between the two "cities" (if you can call them cities) we loaded up on snacks at the local gas station. this snack run included the ever-popular box of glazed doughnut holes (you know, the ones that list the half-life instead of an expiration date... i think these donuts would survive nuclear fallout)... anyway, after gaining 5 pounds from skittles, soda, m&m's, chips, sunflower seeds, and these donuts, we decided it was time to save the rest for later rather than be ill on the side of the road and it was a good thing that we did because they ended up coming in handy when we got into town, my girlfriend turned to me and said, "i don't think these people really appreciate the magnificence that is the doughnut. they don't know what they're missing. i think it is our duty to help these people... to save them from missing out on the glazed doughnut. we are their doughnut gods and we need to bless them." that is where the doughnut-hole-drive-by was invented. remember now that it's summer and everyone had their windows open, so, while taking off from red lights and stop signs, we spotted the most tragic looking people in traffic and blessed them with a doughnut-hole-drive-by, effectively tossing doughnuts into their open windows. some people clearly didn't get the joke but it's like teaching, if you can reach one student, they say, you've done your job and we did reach one student. on the last doughnut, we spotted a parked car out in front of the diner on state street and we blessed him. he felt so blessed that we watched him in the rear-view mirror, pick the doughnut up off of his lap and pop it in his mouth. who said i never do any good deeds. talk to you soon guys... mike