Indie-Music.com:
"'Accountant-Turned-Piano-Man' Mike Maimone comes on strong with his debut album, Open Mic Night, Empty Bottle Mornings. Maimone's unique blend of bluesy piano rock is frenetic and enthralling, as he pounds the keys with unparalleled energy. His voice is harsh, smoky, and distinctly his own, with a raw sound that is captivating. He instantly pulls the listener in during the first few moments of the album with "Not Waitin' Around." The simple, understated piano that starts it off suddenly explodes into a fast paced flurry, with Maimone's honest vocals perfectly complimenting the huge sonics. His songs are incredibly tight and well done – in fact, there's not a bad song on here. He blends ragtime enthusiasm with a manic rock sensibility, creating timeless songs with a solid structure.
Maimone pulls no punches on this album, with deeply honest – and sometimes brutal – lyrics. His words are alternately charming, depressing, and hilarious, vaguely reminiscent of Harry Nilsson.
Songs like "Prizefighter" are heartbreakingly poignant - a sweetly melancholy ballad, he croons about his unfaithful lover: "She never loved me, but she never tried." Although bleak at a times, there is always a wry sensibility to his lyrics.
I was really impressed with this CD. Maimone's classic, old-timey piano sound is delivered with an unmatched energy. It's quite apparent when listening to his music that he wrote what he wanted to write – he's not catering to anyone or trying to be anything other than himself. The songwriting is excellent, and tunes like "Mile 102" and "Aiming The Guns At Fate" have such an upbeat, happy piano sound, which humorously contrast with his often dismal subject matter. This "Reformed Accountant" has definitely found his calling, and I will look forward to seeing what he does next."
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The Big Takeover Magazine:
"This Midwestern Mike... sounds like Randy Newman with some Tom Waits, Graham Parker, Elton John, Doctor John, and Professor Longhair. Too raucous R&B/ragtime to be a piano bar star - he's too scratchy-voiced and proud to play Billy Joel's "Piano Man" - the superlative-fingered, aggressive Maimone and bassist and drummer pump out jump 'n' jive with aplomb, panache, and abandon. Hey, the bottles of the LP title, evoking many bleary-eyed A.M.s of Gordons or Jim Beam, didn't empty themselves! And for a guy not long out of Notre Dame, he sounds like he's twice his age and has been thrown out of bars the world over for breaking beer steins and shattering shot glasses. I'd drink with him - "For all my friends!"
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Rocktober Magazine:
"Though his weary, exasperated phrasing, clever nihilism, and elevation of piano bar tropes to rock n roll heights recalls Randy Newman, Maimone's underlying sincere sentimentality brings to mind an unjustly less revered 70s songwriter; Paul Williams. Despite his pissing and moaning, like Williams, Maimone demonstrates a sublime sense of optimisn about everything from love, to vice, to suicide, to Caddyshack II (not necessarily in that order, but come to think of it, probably in that order) in story songs that tattoo their way upon a listener's consciousness. And following his Carter-era muses, the lush production (with fearless forays away from piano man territory) seems to imply that Maimone belongs in an era when people actually bought good music."
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