Mike Mangan is a true original on the Hammond B3 Organ. Simply put, no one else plays like him, and he plays like no one else. This extremely unconventional Hammond Organist, Vocalist, and Composer has been the touring featured Hammond Organist, Keyboard player and backing vocalist for Glenn Hughes plays Classic Deep Purple. Mike has also played with rock powerhouse Heaven and Earth and leads his own instrumental band, Mike Mangan's Big Organ Trio. Mangan is also a founding member of (and vocalist/organist/keyboard bassist/harmonica player for) his rock band REBEL HOUSE RADIO. Mangan has become renown for his pioneering approach to the Hammond, and is also recognized as a powerful songwriter and singer.
Mangan is influenced just as much by electric guitar players as he is by other keyboardists, which has shaped his inimitable approach to his instrument. Through a unique method of tonal manipulation, Mangan often simulates the power and tonality of an electric guitar through the Organ, often leading to comparisons with rock power trios instead of jazz organ trios. However, it’s not only Mangan’s tone-bending innovation that makes him unique. His aggressive, percussive, and adept playing technique creates the complete package of an innovator on his instrument.
As soon as you hear one note, you know it’s Mike Mangan. In fact, Keyboard Magazine remarked, "Mike Mangan's Big Organ Trio has big funk, big nastiness, and big charisma...Mangan's playing is lithe, percussive, and greasy."
The L.A. Times said, “A virtuoso on the Hammond Organ...Mangan crafts original tunes that rarely lose focus...a tribute to his head-nodding instrumental grooves and mastery of the organ."
Mike Mangan’s path to becoming a musician, and specifically a Hammond Organist, was unpredictable, yet in hindsight, seemingly inevitable. His mother first enrolled him in piano lessons in 2nd grade with the Nun who played Pipe Organ in church at St. Mary’s (the Catholic grade school he attended in Waukesha, WI.) Mike continued private instruction until the age of 13. However, throughout much of this time, and all the way through his late teens, Mike’s life also diverted into intensive athletic pursuits. Nevertheless Mike always continued to play piano. He was heavily influenced by his parent’s love of jazz and his older siblings’ love of rock music, in particular his older brother Paul, who is also a musician, keyboardist, guitarist, singer and songwriter. Paul introduced Mike to several bands early on (such as Dire Straits and Emerson, Lake and Palmer) and also taught Mike several piano techniques. Due to some life changing events, a 19 year old Mike began to refocus on his passion for piano full time. During this period he discovered George Winston’s variations on the Pachelbel Canon, and Mike was inspired to learn the whole piece by ear. His life would never be the same.
Mike was also introduced to The Allman Brothers and Santana by a friend and was immediately captivated by the powerful and unorthodox sounds emanating from the King of Keyboards, the Hammond Organ. Mike had to have one. Not an imitation or a more portable synthesizer, but the REAL one. He purchased a 1959 Hammond B3 Organ and 1973 Leslie from Bob Kames Music in Milwaukee, WI. It’s the same rig he still plays today when travel permits. (Interestingly Bob Kames was a popular Organist in the polka and folk genres and played with artists such as Lawrence Welk. He is credited with developing and popularizing the famed “Chicken Dance”).
Then the floodgates opened, and Mangan studied the Hammond Organ styles of everyone from Jack McDuff, Jimmy Smith, Booker T. Jones, Jimmy McGriff and Groove Holmes to Keith Emerson, Jon Lord, Gregg Rolie and Rick Wakeman. Other big influences included jazz pianists such as Gene Harris, Oscar Peterson and Herbie Hancock and pianist/keyboardist Chuck Leavell. At the same time, however, Mangan also developed a passion for the guitar stylings of Jim Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimmy Page (which would heavily influence his playing and approach to the Hammond Organ.) At this point Mike decided he needed to forge his own unique sound on the B3 Organ, and the best place to do that would be Los Angeles, CA.
He drove his Hammond and Leslie out to LA in a conversion van. Almost immediately he found his way into a band called The Kinship, in which he was the Hammond Organist/Keyboardist. He contributed several songs as a writer to the band’s self titled debut album. During Mike's tenure with The Kinship is when he had his Hammond modified with an effects loop so he could use guitar pedals on the organ. It was at this early stage that Mike began to more deeply experiment with unconventional approaches to the Hammond.
He then formed The Voyd with singer Nico Costanzo, with whom he co-wrote and produced an 11 song album. In addition to playing organ and keys in The Voyd, Mangan sang backup vocals and collaborated on lyrics and vocal melodies.
After a series of tour runs and personnel issues with The Voyd, Mike struck out on his own. He formed a rock quartet heavily influenced by Rage Against the Machine, with the B3 replacing the role of the guitar. Continuing his search for new tones on the organ that combined the power of electric guitar with the classic keyboard, he further experimented with envelope filters, wah wahs, and natural overdrive. He released an EP with this band, which he named Drawbar. On this recording, which was tracked on 2 inch tape, Mangan achieved some monstrously unique tones on the B3 via his method of tonal manipulation.
Due to personal issues, the band broke up and Mike created Big Organ Trio, an instrumental power trio consisting of simply bass, drums, and Hammond Organ. In this setting Mike was free to further explore uncharted sonic territory on the Hammond with no restrictions. The band released 2 full length albums. After the independent release of their first album, BOT was signed to Japanese label P-Vine Records. A tour of Japan followed and a Japanese reprint of their first album was produced and released in Japan (which included a bonus live track.) Big Organ Trio also recorded a cover of Jimmy McGriff’s “Groove Grease” for a P-Vine compilation CD. Big Organ Trio toured nationally and internationally and shared the stage with musicians such as Robbie Krieger (The Doors), Leo Nocentelli (The Meters), and Dr. Lonnie Smith.
Fueled by Mangan’s unorthodox, high energy live performances (where Mike would even play the organ backwards) as well the unique tones he conjured from the Hammond, BOT garnered a loyal fanbase and caught the attention of prominent musicians such as Keith Emerson. Emerson subsequently played with Mike on several occasions during BOT shows, trading riffs with Mike on his Hammond. Big Organ Trio also had guest musicians on their second album which included Marc Ford (Black Crowes), Munyungo Jackson (Stevie Wonder), Leon Mobley (John Mayer) and Skerik (Primus).
After several personnel changes to Big Organ Trio, Mangan put the band on temporary hiatus, but his creative juices were leading him towards forming yet another band that was developing in his mind’s eye: REBEL HOUSE RADIO. He formed RHR with guitarist Mike Blumberg. Mangan focused his writing on lyrics and vocal melodies and assumed the lion’s share of lead vocals en route to releasing a 14 song album entitled “One More Day”. Mangan also played harmonica and left hand key bass on on the album. RHR’s music video for the song “Can’t Say No” won Best Music Video at the LA Movie Awards.
As a sideman, Mangan has also been hired for his organ skills by bands such as Kings Of Chaos (which consists Guns N’ Roses members Matt Sorum, Duff McKagan and Gilby Clarke, and a revolving door of All Stars that include Glenn Hughes from Deep Purple, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry from Aerosmith, Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top and Nuno Bettencourt from Extreme). Mangan has also composed and recorded several quasi-classical pieces, as well as other genres, for Film and TV.
Mike Mangan has emerged as a musician with a truly unique voice. He has drawn the attention of Hammond Organ luminaries such as Keith Emerson (Emerson, Lake, and Palmer), Gregg Rolie (Santana), Melvin Seals (Jerry Garcia Band), and Brian Auger (Trinity/Oblivion Express).
Mangan's recordings and trailblazing approach has also led to thousands of album sales and hundreds concerts across the U.S. and internationally. In a modern day pop culture where a dwindling awareness of vintage arts such as the Hammond Organ is becoming more and more apparent, an artist like Mike Mangan helps to carry the torch into the future for one of the most beloved and recorded instruments in music history.
http://www.mikemangan.com/
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Mike Mangan es un verdadero original en el Órgano B3 de Hammond. En pocas palabras, nadie más juega como él, y él juega como nadie más. Este extremadamente poco convencional organista, vocalista y compositor de Hammond ha sido el organista, teclista y corista de Glenn Hughes en la gira "Classic Deep Purple". Mike también ha tocado con la poderosa banda de rock Heaven and Earth y lidera su propia banda instrumental, el Big Organ Trio de Mike Mangan. Mangan también es miembro fundador de (y vocalista/organista/bajista de teclado/armonista de) su banda de rock REBEL HOUSE RADIO. Mangan se ha hecho famoso por su enfoque pionero de los Hammond, y también es reconocido como un poderoso compositor y cantante.
Mangan está tan influenciado por los guitarristas eléctricos como por otros teclistas, lo que ha dado forma a su inimitable enfoque de su instrumento. A través de un método único de manipulación tonal, Mangan a menudo simula la potencia y la tonalidad de una guitarra eléctrica a través del órgano, lo que a menudo conduce a comparaciones con tríos de potencia de rock en lugar de tríos de órgano de jazz. Sin embargo, no es sólo la innovación de Mangan en la flexión tonal lo que lo hace único. Su agresiva, percusiva y hábil técnica de interpretación crea el paquete completo de un innovador en su instrumento.
Tan pronto como escuchas una nota, sabes que es Mike Mangan. De hecho, la revista Keyboard Magazine comentó: "El Gran Trío de Órganos de Mike Mangan tiene un gran funk, una gran agresividad y un gran carisma... La forma de tocar de Mangan es ágil, percusiva y grasienta".
The L.A. Times dijo: "Un virtuoso del Órgano Hammond... Mangan hace melodías originales que rara vez pierden el foco... un tributo a sus ranuras instrumentales y a su dominio del órgano".
El camino de Mike Mangan para convertirse en músico, y específicamente en un organista de Hammond, era impredecible, pero en retrospectiva, parecía inevitable. Su madre lo matriculó primero en clases de piano en segundo grado con la monja que tocaba el órgano en la iglesia de St. Mary's (la escuela católica a la que asistía en Waukesha, Wisconsin). Mike continuó con la enseñanza privada hasta los 13 años. Sin embargo, durante gran parte de este tiempo, y hasta el final de su adolescencia, la vida de Mike también se desvió hacia intensas actividades deportivas. No obstante, Mike siempre siguió tocando el piano. Estaba muy influenciado por el amor de sus padres por el jazz y el amor de sus hermanos mayores por la música rock, en particular su hermano mayor Paul, que también es músico, teclista, guitarrista, cantante y compositor. Paul introdujo a Mike en varias bandas desde el principio (como Dire Straits y Emerson, Lake y Palmer) y también le enseñó a Mike varias técnicas de piano. Debido a algunos acontecimientos que cambiaron su vida, un Mike de 19 años comenzó a reenfocarse en su pasión por el piano a tiempo completo. Durante este período descubrió las variaciones de George Winston sobre el Canon de Pachelbel, y Mike se inspiró para aprender toda la pieza de oído. Su vida nunca sería la misma.
Mike también fue presentado a The Allman Brothers y Santana por un amigo y fue inmediatamente cautivado por los poderosos y poco ortodoxos sonidos que emanaban del Rey de los Teclados, el Órgano Hammond. Mike tenía que tener uno. No una imitación o un sintetizador más portátil, sino el REAL. Compró un Órgano Hammond B3 de 1959 y un Leslie de 1973 a Bob Kames Music en Milwaukee, WI. Es el mismo equipo que sigue tocando hoy en día cuando los viajes lo permiten. (Curiosamente Bob Kames era un organista popular en los géneros de polka y folk y tocaba con artistas como Lawrence Welk. Se le atribuye el desarrollo y la popularización de la famosa "Danza del Pollo").
Luego se abrieron las compuertas y Mangan estudió los estilos de Hammond Organ de todo el mundo, desde Jack McDuff, Jimmy Smith, Booker T. Jones, Jimmy McGriff y Groove Holmes hasta Keith Emerson, Jon Lord, Gregg Rolie y Rick Wakeman. Otras grandes influencias fueron los pianistas de jazz como Gene Harris, Oscar Peterson y Herbie Hancock y el pianista/teclista Chuck Leavell. Al mismo tiempo, sin embargo, Mangan también desarrolló una pasión por los estilos de guitarra de Jim Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan y Jimmy Page (lo que influiría mucho en su forma de tocar y en su acercamiento al Órgano Hammond). En este punto Mike decidió que necesitaba forjar su propio y único sonido en el Órgano B3, y el mejor lugar para hacerlo sería Los Angeles, CA.
Condujo su Hammond y Leslie a Los Ángeles en una furgoneta de conversión. Casi inmediatamente encontró su camino en una banda llamada The Kinship, en la que era el Organista/Teclista de Hammond. Contribuyó con varias canciones como escritor al álbum debut de la banda. Durante el tiempo que Mike estuvo en The Kinship fue cuando hizo modificar su Hammond con un bucle de efectos para poder usar los pedales de la guitarra en el órgano. Fue en esta etapa temprana que Mike comenzó a experimentar más profundamente con enfoques no convencionales para el Hammond.
Luego formó The Voyd con el cantante Nico Costanzo, con quien co-escribió y produjo un álbum de 11 canciones. Además de tocar el órgano y las teclas en The Voyd, Mangan cantó coros y colaboró en las letras y