Mike Daly (born February 22, 1962) is an American singer/songwriter/guitarist whose debut solo EP, The Cosmic Adventures of ManBoy (billed as Mike Daly & The Planets) was released worldwide on August 8, 2010.
Most of Daly's original material has been recorded by his New Jersey-based alternative rock/power pop group, Every Damn Day (often shortened to “EDD”), which is currently on hiatus. EDD has released two full-length albums and several EPs, gaining airplay on college and satellite radio in the U.S., commercial radio in Spain and state-run radio in Finland.
EARLY LIFE AND CAREER
Daly was born in Passaic, New Jersey and raised in Prospect Park, New Jersey. His early live performances were as lead singer and bassist in the bands Nightwing, Mixed Company and The Fuse. He later became the lead singer and rhythm guitarist for The Daly Planets. Each of these four bands performed a few of Daly’s original songs along with classic rock covers and popular hits of the day.
EVERY DAMN DAY
In late 1990, Daly and guitarist John Reynolds, who were working as music journalists at a New Jersey-based alternative newspaper, The Aquarian Weekly, founded Every Damn Day, based on demos of several original songs Daly had recorded using a drum machine. Also enlisted were another co-worker, Keith Lyle, on drums, and bassist Jim Van Sickle, a schoolmate of Daly’s who had been a member in all four of his aforementioned bands. Lyle was replaced after a few rehearsals by Rich Stout, with whom Reynolds had played in a cover band while both attended Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania.
EDD soon became a staple of the Hoboken, New Jersey music scene, appearing frequently at the downtown club Live Tonight! and later Maxwell’s. They also performed in New York City at CBGB, the Hard Rock Café, The Cat Club, Desmond’s Tavern, Kenny’s Castaways, Bond Street Café and the Lion’s Den; in Asbury Park, New Jersey at The Stone Pony and The Fast Lane; Brighton Bar in Long Branch, New Jersey; and The Court Tavern in New Brunswick, New Jersey.
EDD recorded two full-length CDs -- Jettison The Pod Sparky (1993) and An Imaginary Sitcom (2000) -- and several EPs before going on hiatus in 2007 due to scheduling conflicts.
In 2008, Every Damn Day was featured on Beautiful Escape: The Songs of the Posies Revisited, a 3-CD collection of songs originated by the Seattle alternative rock/power pop group, The Posies. EDD contributed its 2006 version of “Help Yourself,” from the Posies’ Dear 23 album. Beautiful Escape was released by the indie label, Burning Sky Records.
POP GOES THE WORLD
In 1996, Daly launched an independent label, Pop Goes The World. He served as executive producer for the label’s first release, A Very Indie Christmas, a compilation CD that primarily featured original holiday songs by local artists, including Every Damn Day and The Daly Planets (now rechristened The Planets). David Hinckley of The Daily News (New York) hailed A Very Indie Christmas as “the best of several new ‘alternative’ Christmas collections,” while New Jersey’s largest newspaper, The Star-Ledger, called it “one of the most engaging new Christmas rock albums of 1996, especially for those who prefer tight, quirky power-pop songs to sober reflections on the holiday's meaning.”
All subsequent recordings issued by Every Damn Day and Mike Daly & The Planets have been released under the Pop Goes The World imprint.
Pop Goes The World also dabbled briefly in concert promotion. In 1997, it produced a unsigned New Jersey band showcase called “Unscene” at the William Carlos Williams Center for the Performing Arts in Rutherford, New Jersey. The event featured 10 local bands selected by a music-industry panel, as well as special guest star Pat DiNizio of The Smithereens, who performed an acoustic set with band mate Jim Babjak. Though marred by poor attendance, the bill included such future notable groups as Catch-22, The Churchills and The Grip Weeds.
2008-PRESENT
In 2008, inspired by the Syracuse, New York-based band, The Martha Dumptruck Massacre (of which his niece was a recurring member), Daly embarked on a solo recording and performing project that would feature an ever-evolving and revolving cast of musicians. The result is Mike Daly & The Planets, which so far has featured members of Daly’s bar band of the same name – Van Sickle (bass/organ), Jim “Smitty” Smith (drums), and Tim Gillespie (lead guitar) – as well as Mike’s brother Chuck Daly (lead guitar) and brother-in-law Charles Moeller (piano), and Smitty’s daughter, Amy Marie Smith (acoustic guitar/violin).
The band’s debut 4-song EP, The Cosmic Adventures of ManBoy, was released internationally in August 2010 at more than 40 retail digital music sites, including iTunes, Amazon MP3 and Rhapsody. A CD-on-demand version of the EP, complete with lyrics and liner notes, is now available through CreateSpace, a division of Amazon.com.
Recording of a full-length follow-up began in early 2011.
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