Award winning composer and performer, Mike Desroches, was one of the founding members of Blooka, a Rock/Alternative band, which opened for such major bands as, Eminem, Stone Temple Pilots, Counting Crows, Live, 311, Jimmies Chicken Shack, and Blues Traveler. The New York Islanders have repeatedly used Blooka to warm up their crowd in between periods. He is currently in the band Saturday Night Special, featuring Legendary members of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Artimus Pyle, Ed King, Jojo Billingsley, and Leslie Hawkins.. His bands have included prominent musicians such as Ryan Waters (Guitar player for Sade and Pink), John Micheli (Drummer for Meatloaf), and Mike Sorrentino (Drummer for Ritchie Blackmore). His music has been played on various radio stations including, 102.7 WNEW’s Opie and Anthony show, 92.7 WLIR, and his song “Lemon Lover hit ..20 on Hawaii’s KTUH College Radio. His band Blooka, won the Icast.com unsigned band contest over more than 50,000 other entries.
Mike hails from Long Island, New York. He began piano lessons at age 10, and was playing in his first band by age 12. He received a bachelor’s degree in jazz commercial music performance from Five Towns College. He is an accomplished songwriter and recording artist and has worked with many artists in numerous styles of music from playing orchestra sounds in the theater to synthesizer sounds in a rock band. After playing with such acts as Mayhem recording artist Gerald Bair, and Randy and The Rainbows (hit single “Denise†1963), he went on to work for the Omni pop agency. The grueling schedule he maintained enabled him to fine-tune his skills as a performer. It was in this agency that he met the musicians who eventually became Blooka.
The following are some excerpts from reviews that were written about the band:
"...they blew the doors off of the beginning of the Voodoo Festival 2000 with a blistering monstrously rocking half hour set, and they got more viewers than Stone Temple Pilots"
~ICAST.com
“Winning the prestigious "ICAST.com Unsigned Band Contest" (out of 50,000 bands) propelled Blooka to the top of the highly competitive music scene. Blooka has gone on to open up for Maverick Recording Artist "Stage" and has been interviewed by several major radio stations in New York, including some Arbitron-rated top ten. With the boost of being named "The Best Unsigned Band" by ICAST.com, the band has been inundated by industry interest. Blooka's music has spread quickly, with their high-energy stage show and expert pop hooks.â€
ROCKONLINE.COM
Eric Person art
This is a painting eric made about my astrological sign. I am a Leo with a pisces moon and scorpio rising. Click to check out his other stuff.
