Mike Carden

Mike Carden, born in 1984, is an American musician and talent manager. He is known for his work with and for the Chicago-based band The Academy Is... (now defunct) that he and William Beckett co-founded. A native of Schaumburg, Illinois,[1] Carden now lives in Southern California.[2]

Work with The Academy Is...

In 2002, Carden and William Beckett came together from rival Chicago-area bands to form The Academy Is... .[3] The band was signed to Atlantic Records/Fueled by Ramen.[4] Carden played guitar and was a vocalist, in addition to initially handling some of the band's management.[5] Carden was a founding, core member of the group, along with co-founder Beckett and bassist Adam T. Siska;[1] these three musicians were active members for the band's entire history.[6] Other members at various points included Andrew Mrotek, Thomas Conrad (who departed in 2006 and was replaced by Michael Guy Chislett), AJ LaTrace and Michael DelPrincipe.

Carden and Beckett were the primary songwriters for The Academy Is...;[3] together, they wrote Almost Here,[7] the title song of the band's February 2005 debut album.[3] In addition, Carden co-wrote (with Beckett) many of the band's most popular songs, including About a Girl, Attention, Black Mamba (the third song on the soundtrack album of the movie Snakes on a Plane), Checkmarks, Season, Slow Down and The Phrase that Pays.[8]

Carden also managed important aspects of the band's business, making use of his contacts in and understanding of the music industry. Carden worked closely with John Janick from Atlantic Records[4] and with Jonathan Daniel from Crush Management to help the band sell more than 250,000 records of its independently-released, debut album Almost Here.[9] After nine years and three studio albums, The Academy Is... disbanded in 2011;[10] however, in late 2015, Carden, Beckett, Siska and other members of the band performed across the United States for its final reunion and farewell tour.[11]

Other Work

Carden was recruited to head up Business Development at the tech start-up VyRT which was founded in 2011 by Jared Leto. He also went on to study accounting and finance at Santa Monica College.[2] Along with Gabe Saporta, Carden planned to establish a new talent management company in 2016.[12][13]

References

  1. 1 2 "Suburban band The Academy Is... re-forms to play Riot Fest". Daily Herald (Chicago Daily Herald). September 9, 2015. Retrieved 7 February 2016.
  2. 1 2 "SMC Names Its 15 Student Athletes Of The Year | Santa Monica Mirror". www.smmirror.com. Santa Monica College. Retrieved 2016-02-07.
  3. 1 2 3 Apar, Corey. "The Academy Is... Artist Biography". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved 6 February 2016.
  4. 1 2 Ragogna, Mike (2 September 2011). "Fueled By Ramen's First Fifteen Years: A Conversation with Label Co-Founder John Janick, Plus FBR Band Tributes". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
  5. ↑ Farley, Mike (11 May 2007). "A Chat with Mike Carden of The Academy Is...". Bullz-Eye.com. Retrieved 7 February 2016.
  6. ↑ "Sound Advice: The Academy Is...". City Beat. 15 December 2015. Retrieved 7 February 2016.
  7. ↑ Loftus, Johnny. "Almost Here". allmusic.com. Retrieved 24 November 2013.
  8. ↑ "The Academy Is... | Songs | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 2016-02-09.
  9. ↑ "The Academy Is... Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved 6 February 2016.
  10. ↑ Perpetua, Matthew (10 October 2011). "The Academy Is... Call It Quits". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 6 February 2016.
  11. ↑ "The Academy Is... back together, at 9:30 Club". The Diamondback. 10 December 2015. Retrieved 2016-02-09.
  12. ↑ Payne, Chris (10 November 2015). "Cobra Starship Breaks Up; Gabe Saporta Explains What's Next". Billboard. Retrieved 6 February 2016.
  13. ↑ "Frontman Gabe Saporta says Cobra Starship are splitting up after four albums". BBC. 11 November 2015.
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