As a true road warrior of punk rock, Michale Graves has kept extremely busy since his time as vocalist for legendary horror-punk band The Misfits. In fact, he's back out on the road with a new tour that will bring him to Providence's own Firehouse 13 on Friday, April 28th


Tony Jones: For those who haven't had a chance to catch Michale Graves live, what can people expect at your upcoming gig?

Michale Graves: The performance that we have planned in Providence will be in support of my current 'Backroads' CD. We released our new CD 'Backroads' about two months ago at the beginning of the tour and I have committed each of the 55 performances on this tour to feature the songs from the new CD. This CD is a continuation of the voice that we created in the 'Vagabond' acoustic album and then later followed up on 'The Wanderer' acoustic album. This is very different from my monster rock voice and I really perform these new songs any unique and I hope entertaining way.


Tony Jones: You seem to always be on the road, what keeps bringing you back to touring

Michale Graves: Everything that we do is centered around people. The fans and the time I have to spend with them on the road is why I tour so much. This album, Backroads, is all about my life on the road touring especially in this acoustic voice. So the bottom line is what keeps me on the road? I need to touch and interact live with our fans.


Tony Jones: Do you prefer being out with the full band or doing solo acoustic?

Michale Graves: That's like saying which one of my two children do I love the most. Why I'm so excited about both the full band and the acoustic is it allows me to stretch artistically in several different ways. Full band events are more kinetic and action driven. Acoustic shows are much more personal. So I have the good fortune to be able to perform in both formats and that keeps me a balanced performer.


Tony Jones: How do you prepare for a tour?

Michale Graves: You know, I prepare for a tour in the same way that an athlete prepares for tournament. I spend a lot of time on cardio and getting my body in shape, eating the right things and keeping my brain and body healthy. I also try to get a lot of rest before a tour because, I will tell you that one thing, a tour is not full of sleep.


Tony Jones: With all the years of touring, do you have a favorite gig/festival that you've played? Or a particularly memorable one?

Michale Graves: Well, I'll answer this the way an old friend of mine answered, to simplify the question, my favorite one is the one we are about to do. That way I can say that every single day I perform, and by the way, it's true.


Tony Jones: You have had great success crowd-funding different projects, tell us about being able to connect with the fans in that manner.

Michale Graves: Yes, we have for years involved the fans in crowd-funding projects. It's a way that we can announce and market our projects way in advance of them being done and it's the way that we can reach out to new fans as the crowd-funding sites have a community of their own.


Tony Jones: What is in the pipeline for Michale Graves, what are the next projects you are working on?

Michale Graves: Well Tony, you know Mark Allen Stuart, CEO of Hydraulic entertainment. Mark always has about 48 different projects up his sleeve at any one time. Because the release of the 'Backroads' acoustic album was so successful, as a matter of fact, almost sold out, we've decided, and I'll give you an exclusive here, we've decided to create a full band version of the album as well, so we should be heading into the studio early in the summer to make that happen. We also have another monster rock project in the works, as well as an October Halloween tour. Also, Mark is working on a feature film based on our songs from the 'When Worlds Collide' album to be entitled '3 Days till Dawn' and we're trying to get the production of that film in this calendar year as well. Mark also has us working on a re-release of another project, that unfortunately I can't announce today, but it should be coming at you in a few weeks.


Tony Jones: Any chances of a return to doing radio on the regular basis with the Michale Graves Show or Radio Deadly

Graves : You know, I would love to have the radio show, but given the fact that I'm on tour over a hundred and fifty days a year, it makes doing a consistent radio show very very difficult. We've tried to do it while on the road and that just doesn't work, on for a month, off for two months, really doesn't create the consistency or sustainability that we really want. But we love the medium and we're trying to figure out ways that we can make a show happen.


Tony Jones: A message to all the young bands out there?

Michale Graves: I think the best advice I can give is to forget doing cover songs. Find your own voice. It's natural that every artist has inspirations, I, for one, had a ton of bands and artists that inspired me when I first started out, and still inspire me today. One of the things that I know is, if you're really trying to make a go at it at performing as a profession, or quite frankly, if you're just trying to get better as an artist, find your own voice, find your own uniqueness, and ways to exploit your own talent and in that you'll have a better chance of creating some magic.

Michale Graves brings his 'Backroads' tour to Firehouse 13 on Friday, April 28th with local openers Damnation, The Skeleton Beats, Deprived and Wolfman Chuck. Doors are at 8pm, $12 cover. Check out http://fh13.com for details  

There will be a basin lighting of WaterFire on Friday, April 28th, 2017 sponsored by the Rotary Conference 2017. Please note that this is a basin lighting and not a full WaterFire lighting. The 32 braziers in the Waterplace Park Basin and in front of the Providence Place Mall will be burning brightly to honor the Rotary Conference 2017, LLC. The event will begin with a 16 torch procession. The Lighting Ceremony will commence at approximately 8:30 p.m. and will remain lit until 11:00 p.m.
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Rotary International is a global network of 1.2 million neighbors, friends, leaders and problem-solvers who come together to make positive, lasting change in communities at home and abroad. Rotary’s 35,000+ clubs worldwide initiate projects that address critical issues such as hunger, poverty, disease, and illiteracy.

Rotary Conference 2017, LLC is pleased to sponsor WaterFire on Friday, April 28, 2017, in conjunction with the Rotary Multi-District Conference 2017, being held at the Rhode Island Convention Center, April 28–30, 2017. This history-making Conference marks the first time four Rotary districts (7950 Rhode Island, Southeastern Massachusetts, Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket; 7910 Central Massachusetts; 7890 Northern Connecticut/Western Massachusetts; and 7980 Fairfield, New Haven, Middlesex and New London Counties in Connecticut) have joined together for their annual spring gathering, and the first time a sitting Rotary International President has visited.

“The Rotary International  motto is "Service Above Self". We the Rotarians representing four Rotary districts from Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut have come together in Providence to celebrate the accomplishments of our members and clubs in the 2016-2017 Rotary year. We are proud to partner with WaterFire Providence as we welcome Rotary International  President John Germ and his wife Judy. Our goal by lighting these fires is to make the public aware of how Rotary changes and saves lives at home and around the world through our service projects and by promoting peace through understanding.” - Bill Vangel, General Chair, 2017 Multi District Conference. 

Rotary International President John Germ also oversees Rotary’s top priority of eradicating polio, a crippling and potentially fatal disease that still threatens children in Africa and Asia. Through the Global Polio Eradication Initiative – a public-private partnership that includes Rotary, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) – the incidence of polio has plummeted by more than 99.9 percent, from about 350,000 cases a year in 1988 to just 37 confirmed in 2016. Rotary, including matching funds from the Gates Foundation, has donated $1.6 billion to polio eradication. There will be an information table in the Waterplace Park Basin during the lighting where Rotary members will be happy to share more about what they do and how you can become involved.

The public is invited to the world premiere of the new documentary film D-Day: Over Normandy narrated by the only five-time Super Bowl-winning head coach in NFL history, Bill Belichick. Coach Belichick’s father Steve served in WWII in the United States Navy and saw time in both Europe and the Pacific.


The World War II Foundation hired one of France’s top aerial Drone camera companies to film some of the most iconic locations in Normandy from D-Day. The result is some of the most spectacular scenes of the landing beaches viewers have ever seen. In 2016 the WWII Foundation will tell the story of these famous locations utilizing ONLY aerial footage from our Drone camera, along with archival footage from June 6, 1944.

This will be the only New England showing of the film prior to its airing on American Public Television.

Immediately following the showing there will be a brief Q & A session with the producer and director of the film, Tim Gray and two Rhode Island 1st wave D-Day veterans of Omaha Beach.

General Admission $15 (a $3 facility fee is included in all pricing; a $3 service fee will be applied to online and phone orders). Tickets are free for Veterans and Military Personnel with proper ID, and must be claimed in person.

• Saturday, May 27, 2017 • 1:00 PM 
  http://www.thevetsri.com/events/detail/wwii-foundation-presents-d-day-over-Normandy