The Skinny Millionaires

"The Blast crew and our extended, slightly dysfunctional family made the journey to Eastons Point to see The Skinny Millionaires first official rock show. We're pretty sure it wont be there last due to the fact that they totally rocked. They play smart, eclectic, meaningful rock music that you can dance to. Oh yeah...and the whole band is super hot...what more do you want?!" ~NEWPORT MERCURY - The Mercury

"The Blast crew and our extended, slightly dysfunctional family made the journey to Eastons Point to see The Skinny Millionaires first official rock show. We're pretty sure it wont be there last due to the fact that they totally rocked. They play smart, eclectic, meaningful rock music that you can dance to. Oh yeah...and the whole band is super hot...what more do you want?!" ~NEWPORT MERCURY - The Mercury

"...and The Skinny Millionaires. What can we say? To say they rock is not doing them justice. They rock in an unconventionally cool manner, the crowd swoons over their collective good looks, and their all nice people!" - The Mercury

"...and The Skinny Millionaires. What can we say? To say they rock is not doing them justice. They rock in an unconventionally cool manner, the crowd swoons over their collective good looks, and their all nice people!" - The Mercury

"The Skinny Millionaires remind me of a cross between the rootsier selections in Beck's catalogue and a tradiotional Americana verson of The Pogues. It's the type of thing that I'd envison would take place if Lucero and Wilco met at a hightway rest stop for a midnight jam that deteriorated into a whiskey-induced knife fight. Straight outta Newport, The Skinny Millionaires come barrelling at you slowly in a beaten up pickup truck with maybe a headlight or two out and a cab stocked with grooving blues ridden glory. They are the type of band that makes me think we might just have to break into Jakes's Bar and Grill every other month so these guys and gals have a barroom to play in the Renaissance City . Of course that would be irresponsible so let's leave it at we'll meet at the "location" on say Sept. 13th - bring crowbars. The Skinny Millionaires are rich online at www.myspace.com/theskinnymillionaires." ~ MOTIF MAGAZINE

- Motif Magazine

"The Skinny Millionaires remind me of a cross between the rootsier selections in Beck's catalogue and a tradiotional Americana verson of The Pogues. It's the type of thing that I'd envison would take place if Lucero and Wilco met at a hightway rest stop for a midnight jam that deteriorated into a whiskey-induced knife fight. Straight outta Newport, The Skinny Millionaires come barrelling at you slowly in a beaten up pickup truck with maybe a headlight or two out and a cab stocked with grooving blues ridden glory. They are the type of band that makes me think we might just have to break into Jakes's Bar and Grill every other month so these guys and gals have a barroom to play in the Renaissance City . Of course that would be irresponsible so let's leave it at we'll meet at the "location" on say Sept. 13th - bring crowbars. The Skinny Millionaires are rich online at www.myspace.com/theskinnymillionaires." ~ MOTIF MAGAZINE

- Motif Magazine

"The hometown folk-rock ensemble signed with 75 or Less Records, and a great song like 'Rare Bird' deserves attention." ~ PROVIDENCE PHEONIX

- Providence Pheonix

"The hometown folk-rock ensemble signed with 75 or Less Records, and a great song like 'Rare Bird' deserves attention." ~ PROVIDENCE PHEONIX

- Providence Pheonix

Writing about music is like dancing about architecture, or so the old cliche goes. So, where to begin writing about Mike O'Donnell's latest project the Skinny Millionaires? Perhaps it's best to begin at the beginning, or at least what was the beginning for me.


I've known Mike for about 5 or 6 years now. Shortly after he moved to Seattle (with former band No Means Yes), our paths crossed under some rather unusual circumstances best left a mystery. There have been a lot of fits and starts in our friendship, fairly long periods of time going by without a sighting or contact. But through it all, I kept an eye on No Means Yes and that was largely due to Mike. I knew that there was something kinda special there. Something that was still evolving and nowhere near the end of it's trajectory.


I saw No Means Yes at a particularly frenetic show at the Blue Moon Tavern one night when Mike managed to crack his head open on stage, blood dripping everywhere. But he just got up and kept right on playing and I thought to myself "this guy gets it, at last there is someone in this rock-forsaken city who gets it". Suddenly, rock and roll seemed pure again, and I felt clean. It seemed as real as I knew it could and should be, yet so rarely is in these over-digital times.


Sadly for me and the city of Seattle, the time came when Mike decided it was time to head back home to Rhode Island. But I did have a chance to see him play a few times, sans No Means Yes, before he left. And what I saw was what I always knew I would: nothing short of a pentecostal transformation. The (r)evolution had begun. New look, new sound, new words, new notes and a new depth in the songwriting. Perhaps whatever shackles had him bound, whatever cage held him, just broke loose and wide-open? I really couldn't say, nor in the end does it matter. What matters is that I was proved right, he was exactly who--and what-- I thought he was. And what I'd always known was there was out, never to be shut in again. And then he was gone.


Okay, let's pick up the needle and skip a couple tracks forward to now.... Though I had thought of him many times, I hadn't spoken to Mike in 2 years, and both of us being reclusive misfits that's not so surprising. Still, when I opened my email one day some months back and saw a message from Mike, I was pretty damn happy about it. We struck up a correspondence, and having always had souls that are made of the same stuff, it was like no time had passed at all. Addresses and phone numbers were exchanged, burned CDs shipped and received, and the next thing I know I've got a CD of his latest project Skinny Millionaires and a request from Mike to write something about it.


I gladly accepted and next came lots of listening and lots of time on youtube watching videos of live performances. Again, I had to smile to myself at my prescient vision coming to pass. Mike has gotten even better, evolved still more, gone still deeper, gotten more truth.


I know this probably seems too personal for a record review, but that's because personal is exactly what this music is: flesh-ripped off to reveal nothing but bare bones. Raw, holding nothing back. I want to comment specifically on each song, but in the end, the record as a whole just rushes over you like a great winged bird of prey. When I try to grab the songs screeching out of the air and pin them down long enough to try and dissect them, I end up getting shredded to ribbons by fearsome claws. If you listen to "Rare Bird", you'll know exactly what I mean. Or, if you are feeling a bit more "Positively 4th Street" check out the song "No Imagination". Or check out "Come on" what am I supposed to do? What indeed. What are any of us supposed to do? Put our head in our hands and sob, that's what. I'd have to say that, along with "Rare Bird" and "Come On", "Be Okay" is my favorite track on the album. For sure Mike is in his best voice on this track.... so, I don't know, just natural and easy.... You hear "Be Okay" and the first thing you want to do is cry because it hurts, and the second thing you want to do is smile, because someone understands.


There is something about this music that reminds me of the amazing chemical reaction that occurs when cigarettes and perfume collide.... it's a scent both heady, rich, and sweet, but also acrid and sharp. It soothes and it burns. Some don't care for this confusing alchemy that somehow makes cigarette smoke as luscious as perfume and perfume as noxious as cigarette smoke, but I find it intoxicating. It's life, it's good and it's bad, it's sweet and it's harsh.


In the end, the thing about these songs is that they are full of the promise of revelation, but only the promise. When it comes down to it, you've got to find it for yourself. And the spaces between the notes reveal just as much as the notes themselves. In that quiet place between the notes, that's where the heartbreak lies.


It sort of gets you to thinking abou - Deborah Scherer (Many Publications)

Writing about music is like dancing about architecture, or so the old cliche goes. So, where to begin writing about Mike O'Donnell's latest project the Skinny Millionaires? Perhaps it's best to begin at the beginning, or at least what was the beginning for me.


I've known Mike for about 5 or 6 years now. Shortly after he moved to Seattle (with former band No Means Yes), our paths crossed under some rather unusual circumstances best left a mystery. There have been a lot of fits and starts in our friendship, fairly long periods of time going by without a sighting or contact. But through it all, I kept an eye on No Means Yes and that was largely due to Mike. I knew that there was something kinda special there. Something that was still evolving and nowhere near the end of it's trajectory.


I saw No Means Yes at a particularly frenetic show at the Blue Moon Tavern one night when Mike managed to crack his head open on stage, blood dripping everywhere. But he just got up and kept right on playing and I thought to myself "this guy gets it, at last there is someone in this rock-forsaken city who gets it". Suddenly, rock and roll seemed pure again, and I felt clean. It seemed as real as I knew it could and should be, yet so rarely is in these over-digital times.


Sadly for me and the city of Seattle, the time came when Mike decided it was time to head back home to Rhode Island. But I did have a chance to see him play a few times, sans No Means Yes, before he left. And what I saw was what I always knew I would: nothing short of a pentecostal transformation. The (r)evolution had begun. New look, new sound, new words, new notes and a new depth in the songwriting. Perhaps whatever shackles had him bound, whatever cage held him, just broke loose and wide-open? I really couldn't say, nor in the end does it matter. What matters is that I was proved right, he was exactly who--and what-- I thought he was. And what I'd always known was there was out, never to be shut in again. And then he was gone.


Okay, let's pick up the needle and skip a couple tracks forward to now.... Though I had thought of him many times, I hadn't spoken to Mike in 2 years, and both of us being reclusive misfits that's not so surprising. Still, when I opened my email one day some months back and saw a message from Mike, I was pretty damn happy about it. We struck up a correspondence, and having always had souls that are made of the same stuff, it was like no time had passed at all. Addresses and phone numbers were exchanged, burned CDs shipped and received, and the next thing I know I've got a CD of his latest project Skinny Millionaires and a request from Mike to write something about it.


I gladly accepted and next came lots of listening and lots of time on youtube watching videos of live performances. Again, I had to smile to myself at my prescient vision coming to pass. Mike has gotten even better, evolved still more, gone still deeper, gotten more truth.


I know this probably seems too personal for a record review, but that's because personal is exactly what this music is: flesh-ripped off to reveal nothing but bare bones. Raw, holding nothing back. I want to comment specifically on each song, but in the end, the record as a whole just rushes over you like a great winged bird of prey. When I try to grab the songs screeching out of the air and pin them down long enough to try and dissect them, I end up getting shredded to ribbons by fearsome claws. If you listen to "Rare Bird", you'll know exactly what I mean. Or, if you are feeling a bit more "Positively 4th Street" check out the song "No Imagination". Or check out "Come on" what am I supposed to do? What indeed. What are any of us supposed to do? Put our head in our hands and sob, that's what. I'd have to say that, along with "Rare Bird" and "Come On", "Be Okay" is my favorite track on the album. For sure Mike is in his best voice on this track.... so, I don't know, just natural and easy.... You hear "Be Okay" and the first thing you want to do is cry because it hurts, and the second thing you want to do is smile, because someone understands.


There is something about this music that reminds me of the amazing chemical reaction that occurs when cigarettes and perfume collide.... it's a scent both heady, rich, and sweet, but also acrid and sharp. It soothes and it burns. Some don't care for this confusing alchemy that somehow makes cigarette smoke as luscious as perfume and perfume as noxious as cigarette smoke, but I find it intoxicating. It's life, it's good and it's bad, it's sweet and it's harsh.


In the end, the thing about these songs is that they are full of the promise of revelation, but only the promise. When it comes down to it, you've got to find it for yourself. And the spaces between the notes reveal just as much as the notes themselves. In that quiet place between the notes, that's where the heartbreak lies.


It sort of gets you to thinking abou - Deborah Scherer (Many Publications)

"I implore you, seek out the song Rare Bird!" - Boston Phoenix

"I implore you, seek out the song Rare Bird!" - Boston Phoenix

"It takes a lot of imagination to come up with music this good." - Ugo.com

"It takes a lot of imagination to come up with music this good." - Ugo.com