Mike Dillon is a badass, punk-rock vibraphonist from San Antonio, who currently lives in New Orleans. I first heard him in Les Claypool's Flying Frog Brigade, but he has played with a ton of awesome musicians and led several amazing bands. Besides being a very skilled musician all around, he writes music, sings and plays a variety of percussion instruments, including the Indian tablas. He is best known for his unique and funky vibraphone style, which he plays on electric vibes hooked up to pedals. Besides leading Critters Buggin, Garage a Trois, the Punk Rock Percussion Consortium, the Dead Kenny G's and NOLAtet, he has performed with Ani DiFranco, Galactic, Karl Denson and Marco Benevento.
When the Mike DIllon Band came through Virginia in 2014, Mike was cool enough to let me sit in with the band a little bit at the venue where I worked, The Hot Spot. Even though we had never met and he'd never heard me play, he let me jump up there. I had only been playing trumpet again for about a year at the time, after an almost decade long break. I was nervous to be playing with such an accomplished musician, but he and the others made it really fun! I could have played better to be sure, but it was still an awesome night.
The song is called "Miss You Cumbia". You can't see me, but you can hear me!