Mike Renick talks about the band, new album

Eight years ago, Mike Renick sought musicians with diverse backgrounds to help him perform his original music -- then the Mike Renick Band was formed. It has become one of Cape Girardeau's most popular live acts, since. The band has released four albums, and its fifth is in final stages of completion.

Renick is the operations manager at River Radio and is an on-air personality for 92.9 The River weekdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Q: Can you tell me about the Mike Renick band and how you all started?

A: It started many years ago. We have been playing with some configuration of the group for like eight years or so. The idea for me was wanting to be able to do my own music, music that I had written, and then get some guys together and pick up on certain instruments that I was interested in having [them] play. That's kind of where it started from. I had a handful of written songs and wanted to record them to say that I did that, and it kind of progressed to getting together with a group of guys who just enjoyed playing together. Everyone came from a different background.

Our drummer is in to the rock stuff and our saxophone player likes the Grateful Dead type of stuff. I've always been a fan of The Police, Dave Matthews Band, Peter Gabriel, Jack Johnson -- those people. Those groups have always been groups I liked a lot. That's where the musical influences come from. Then we just started playing a lot around town with the college appeal. We do cover songs, but over the course of performance night it's more so of the original stuff than the cover stuff. We aren't a cover band. I just always thought it would be better to play your own stuff and it's more gratifying and have it be a hit. So we just started playing a lot, through Cape and St. Louis, Carbondale [Ill.], Columbia [Mo.], [and] Chicago. We've made some trips to Nebraska and Colorado on occasion. Over the course of those eight or nine years, we've recorded four CDs, and I did one on my own as a solo CD.

The Mike Renick Band has recorded four studio albums and is currently working on their fifth. (ADAM VOGLER)

Q: When does your next CD come out?

A: It's not out yet. It's been recorded. It's done. I think it's going to be self-titled. It's only got six songs on it. We haven't had any art work done on it yet.

Q: What is the process of making an album?

A: The process that works for us is I like to have everything really prepared before we come in, so there is no wasting time. Everything is pretty tedious. You have to make sure everything flows and sounds good together. There are no bad notes. Sometimes, there are going to be and you might let those go for artistic expression, but the first thing we do is we will all play together and do what is called a rhythm track, where you get the drums recorded first. Then you go back and build all the pieces back on top of that -- then the bass might go in and record his parts down, then the guitar, then myself. That's the process that we've done, and that's what worked for us.

Q: What's your favorite song that you've written?

A: Oh boy. The favorite one, that's a hard one. To be honest, I really like the stuff that we've just done for a couple reasons. It's a little more rock sounding than some of the other stuff. I personally think each CD has gotten better from maybe a performing standpoint, from the guy that we record with, him getting better, to us having a better feel for each other, and him knowing what our end goal is as far as sound goes. So with that point, the songs, I think, are better. But man, to pick one, that's really tough. I'll have to think on that one.

Q: Would you say this album coming out is your favorite album?

A: As a whole, yes, I like a handful of the songs on each album, but as a whole I think this one is the best. There is a song that we recorded a while ago that's called "Never Never Land" that we still play, and that was one that was a pretty decent representation of what our sound really is and I've always liked that song. It's one that I've liked and people have liked, so I'll say that one for right now.

Q: What are your future goals for the band?

A: I just want to continue to keep playing because I enjoy doing that. Going back to this last CD, it was really an enjoyable process because it was more of collaboration from a couple folks in the band that are new to the group. The last few CDs, I've had an idea for a song and everyone would just come together and put the music together. This last one, though, there was more input and that was enjoyable, and I thought a nice end product came of it. I like that, and I would like to just have the group continue to put together good songs and play wherever we can play. Everyone enjoys playing a lot and makes playing in the band an important part of their life.

Q: Do you have any upcoming shows?

A: Yes. Our next show will be at Rhymer's on the Plaza [on] April 13 at 9 p.m.