Mike’s Dead Has His ‘Revenge’

Mike’s Dead has grown an impressive following over the years as fans have latched on to his unique vocal style. He’s best known for his single “We’ve Lost Touch,” but now he’s ready to show fans a brand new side. Mike’s new EP, “Revenge” hits streaming platforms September 17 and combines his talents for rapping, singing and screaming. We sat down with Mike to learn the story of “Revenge” and better understand how these six tracks came to be.

Tell us about “Revenge.”

It’s the biggest EP I’ve ever released and the biggest project I’ve ever put out under Mike’s Dead. We’ve rolled out a few singles and I’ve gotten a really good fan response. I actually wrote the EP back in early 2020 after finishing up tour in December 2019. I came back pretty amped from tour and jumped right back into the studio. I usually produce all of my own music, but then my buddy Taylor Wilzbach, who’s a great producer, was like “Yo, we should do a couple of songs together.” We got straight to it and cranked out a bunch of songs. Then I took my time crafting them and making sure they were perfect over time.

I’m excited for everyone to hear the full project and some of the features on it. It’s a very comprehensive and versatile project where you get all aspects of my sound. “Bees,” the last single I rolled out, is more industrial rap, “Dead” is still hip-hop but has a rock crossover, “Sick” is more of a metal track and “Nightmares” is more singing. All of these songs incorporate screaming, singing and rapping, which show my versatility as an artist.

What was your mindset while you were writing the EP?

I was very amped from tour but I came back I was dealing with a lot of issues, especially when I was writing the track regarding old friends. Basically there was a fallout with a ton of people that were close to me. When you listen to the title track, you hear that in there. I go into a bit about getting stabbed in the back and bullshit with friends that I thought were close.

I also wanted to push myself lyrically and at the time I was writing the EP, I think I only had maybe one or two songs out that incorporated screaming. Now, four out of the six of my songs on the EP incorporate screaming. We kind of took everything that I was doing and put it on steroids. The production got a lot heavier and I finally took my sound where I’ve always wanted to take it. From a writing perspective, I took more of my time to craft everything and I didn’t overthink my writing, I just let it flow. If it sounds catchy to me, I’m like “Awesome, I’m just gonna rock with this.”

How did you narrow down to the six songs that ended up on the EP?

To be honest, I was writing a ton of other songs at the time because it was COVID and everyone was stuck in quarantine. I actually wrote like two albums worth of music that are scheduled out for the future. Co-producing with Taylor kept everything a cohesive project because we only had a certain number of sessions and I wanted to keep it that way. There was a seventh track that was made, but it just didn’t match the intensity of the rest of the EP.