Mikey & the Drags Return With Trippy New Single

Mikey & the Drags. Photo: Courtesy of Artist/Facebook

It seems like five years ago you couldn’t go a day without hearing a garage rock or psych band.  The Burger Records catalog and the droves of garage rock bands that were coming out was pretty staggering.  However, now that the genre isn’t budding new acts on a daily basis, it feels like the best bands have been what’s left leaving us with bands that can explore their sound while never steering too far from the genre itself.  Last year, Houston’s Mikey & the Drags dropped an album that was so steeped in psych and garage rock, that it sounded like it was recorded in Roky Erickson’s living room.  That record, Make You Mine sounded like the band was oozing psych and garage rock till the buttons off of their shirts popped.  However, the band was already working on new tunes with SugarHill’s Steve Christensen when it was released, and the new single “Be Your Man” is the first of those sessions to be released.

On the track, the band focuses away from their normal ideals of recording, and takes a more dynamic approach to the overall sound.  The opening keys coupled with the almost Eastern sounding guitar are a welcomed opening that give the song a real life to operate within.  Mikey’s reverb-drenched vocals, the bombastic drums, and the overall vibe are that of a garage rock band who are ready to explore the unknown while taking the audience along for the ride.  The spacey nature of the track is as groovy and LSD induced as you’d expect, while the band utilizes a unified jam sound that they haven’t explored in the past and taking it to a whole new level in the process.  The end result is a song that’s definitely catchy, but also well within the genre, although not a blueprint of it either.  By exploring what they can do together in uncharted territory, Mikey & the Drags never sound like they’re copying anyone while never taking you too far from the sixties goodness they’re known for.

The song, is available on all digital outlets, and is definite proof that the best is yet to come for the band.  If you want to see Mikey & the Drags in person, they’ll be playing Satellite Bar on Wednesday, November 23.  The all ages show with doors at 8 pm will feature sets from Austin’s Holy Wave and Miami’s Plastic Pinks, as well as Houston’s Mantra Love with a $10 cover.

by David Garrick