Mike Keneally

Mike Keneally
Keneally performing in 2007
Background information
Birth name	Michael Joseph Keneally
Born	(1961-12-20) December 20, 1961 (age 55) Long Island, New York United States
Genres	Hard rock, progressive rock, art rock, melodic death metal
Occupation(s)	Musician, songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, keyboards, bass, drums
Years active	1985–present
Labels	Immune, Exowax Recordings
Associated acts	Frank Zappa, Dweezil Zappa, James LaBrie, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Wadada Leo Smith, Ulver, Henry Kaiser, Prairie Prince, Andy West, Chris Opperman, Dethklok
Website	www.keneally.com

Michael Joseph Keneally (born December 20, 1961) is an American session guitarist, keyboardist, vocalist and composer.

Keneally started playing music at the age of 7 when he had received an electric organ for his birthday. He had also received a guitar on his eleventh birthday, and also plays bass and drums. His early childhood musical influences included The Beatles, and theme music from cartoon and television shows such as, "The Wallace and Ladmo Show" and "2001: A Space Odyssey".

Born on Long Island, New York, he moved to San Diego, California, at an early age and has been a fixture on the local music scene there since 1985 when he formed the local cult band, Drop Control. Although a well established musician in his own right, Keneally is probably most well known as former Frank Zappa "stunt guitarist" and a Zappa 1988 tour band member on both guitar and keyboards. His ascendency to that position is legendary in certain musician circles, based on Keneally's command of Zappa's vast and difficult-to-play repertoire.

Keneally had called Zappa and said that he was "extremely familiar with all of his material and that he would be ready to play any of it for him given a short amount of preparation time", as he had already "been listening to Zappa's music for 16 years". "On the phone the day before the audition Frank had told me to have "What's New In Baltimore?" and "Sinister Footwear" ready for the next day's audition". On the way to the audition Keneally practiced the aforementioned songs, as well as "Little House I Used To Live In", and "every single Zappa melody I could think of, kind of as an exercise for my memory" as his brother Marty was driving the car.

Keneally's stint in the Zappa touring band was short-lived with the early cancellation of the 1988 tour and Zappa's death in 1993. Keneally moved on from the elder Zappa's band to work with the eldest Zappa son, Dweezil on his solo albums and work released as the band, Z.

Keneally has also released 11 albums of solo material since 1992 and has guested or acted as sideman on a wide variety of projects, most notably as part of Steve Vai's touring bands. He has played guitar and keyboards with Yo Miles!, Wadada Leo Smith, Norwegian legends Ulver and Henry Kaiser's Miles Davis tribute band as well as recording the 1995 album The Mistakes with Henry Kaiser, Prairie Prince, and Andy West (formerly of Dixie Dregs). He has also produced albums for several bands, including Chris Opperman's debut album, Oppy Music, Vol. I: Purple, Crayon.