Mike Bandanna

As life moments pass you by, the soul records all.

Life blurred and shown through the lens of the sensations.

Life blurred and shown through the lens of introspective thought.

Curated at the peak of the pandemic, and delivered over the course of 2020-2021, The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions is the embodiment of Mike’s journey thus far. With a steady rise in popularity, many doors began to open for the group. Yet with that, many sacrifices were made to fully embrace the new lifestyle. This album highlights the weight of those decisions in a genre blend of punk rock, trap soul, and party bounce raps. Opening the album, “Do or Die” is a punk inspired rage with a chorus that fits more like a proverb than a hook. Diverging all of the many ideas across the entire project into the words “fame do or die, blame you and I, looking like the same you and I, so we both gonna die”. From there, Mike builds new emotions in each track, highlighting the decisions, attitudes, and thoughts that got him to where he is now. Then ending the album with a summation of the ideologies in the song “NASA (Coming Down)”, an autune heavy ballad about the acknowledgment that greatness always comes with a price, we gain further insight into the theme in that sometimes that price paid for success is at the come down. Creating a world of disarray all from the choices we make, we see not all good intended decisions lead to the road best traveled.

Dark, ambient, insightful and energetic define the sonic landscape of this intoxicating album.Opening the album with pure aggression and gusto, Mike performs a vice fueled anthem detailing a life high elation and even higher self esteem. As the album progresses, we see a more chaotic and introspective transition to self doubt and dependency. With sounds varying from auto tune filled crooning to high energy punk, the album takes a full (crash) at its end with a display of rapping skill riddled with self deprivation of any hope to live a life different than what he created. Live out this story with from start to finish, and see why one may ever choose Pain over pleasure.

While I wait is a short EP reintroducing the world to Mike Bandanna. Coming off his last release, Mike has left much to be attained and invites you all to join him on the road to get there. Setting the tone, the opening and title track “While I wait” brings you to the forefront of his energy and intention. Stating the theme from the jump “while I wait for greatest/this captain gave me a brand new start”, Mike challenges ideas of pursuing a dream, substance abuse, love lost, and bravado. With his leading single Viiibe, we hear a sound unique and familiar, with noteable inspiration from northern and southern hiphop as he builds a chant for the listener that is captivating to connect too. From internal struggle, to Bible bars, to singing about the effects of drugs, this album is a great introduction to the artist, Mike Bandanna.