Mike Lust

Photo by Ryan Bardsley

Chicago has known MIKE LUST for decades as a powerful figure on both sides of the microphone. To speak of his time as frontman for TIGHT PHANTOMZ is to speak of a rock and roll apparition bursting with charismatic song-craft. The group’s epic, 36-track double album, Silk Prison, is the reach of imagination meeting the grasp of talent, a special wonderment with songs that reached millions through appearances in both film and television (including the hit series Breaking Bad).

As a complement to this inventory of bonafide bonafides, we look to Lust’s reputation as an experienced force in the recording studio. In addition to being the sound engineer for The AV Club’s A.V. Undercover series, he’s also produced or engineered albums by URGE OVERKILL, WILLIAM ELLIOT WHITMORE, JOAN OF ARC, and RUSSIAN CIRCLES, to name just a few.

The latest chapter in Lust’s rock and roll legacy is Demented Wings, his first solo album and a delightfully wide-eyed approach to circumnavigating the sonic feelings around dreaming broken (and vice versa).

”An album this heartfelt was the last thing I expected from someone as out-there as Mike Lust — a guy I once saw spike a bass guitar onto the venue floor from the stage. These songs can easily get stuck in your head, which is par for the course for Lust, but they also feel deep and sweet, which definitely isn’t—and that just goes to prove he can do it all.” — Luca Cimarusti / Chicago Reader