Spotlight

Behind the bands with Mike Mulé

Mike Mulé is a musician/PR Agent and Booking Agent. Playing in bands since his teenage years, he’s always been part of the behind the scene process with booking shows, obtaining media coverage on bands’ new releases, and getting interviews (written and video) set up. He really honed in on becoming a publicist during the 2020 lockdown, working with bands such as Alive & Well, Doc Hammer, Loose Ends, Ricky of Western Settings/Hey, Chels, ROT, Inimical Drive, Aeges, and Trove to name a few. 

Spotlight

Mike Mulé

How did you get into your role?

Hello and thanks for taking the time to chat with me! I really got into this role of publicity during the quarantine/lockdown months of 2020. After spending a good 3 months enjoying margaritas for breakfast (yeah, they were wild times back then) I reached out to my friend/mentor Bob Bradley to see if he needed help with PR with his agency Bradley Publicity. I’ve always done the back end PR work of bands that I play in and am one of those crazy guys that really enjoys it! Bob took me under his wing and I started taking on clients with Sweet Beef early in 2021.

Can you walk us through a day in the life of a publicist?

Most days I wake up and check my calendar for anything that may be urgent or time sensitive for the day. Anything from making sure an interview gets set, an outlet gets what they need for a premiere/feature, or just making sure the band(s) I’m working with are in the know and happy! From there I usually take a walk with the dog and start planning out my day. After a cup of coffee, we hit the emails! This is the fun part, getting in contact with outlets I feel would fit my artists and setting up all the features/interviews/podcasts.

Mike Mulé

“Nothing is ever promised so make sure you’re doing cool shit while you can!”

What’s a good starting point for anyone reading this hoping to get into PR?

That’s a fun one! I’d say really just know what the job is and what it entails. I’m still pretty new to this but I dove head in and am loving it. You’ll find out really quickly if it’s for you or not, but if you’re interested, take a shot and see what happens!

How exactly does a press campaign work – can you talk us through it from start to finish?

While every campaign has the same skeleton, they are all different depending on what the artist wants. Whether it be a single release/video/full album, etc. So a brief rundown, the artist and I will figure out what the goal is, make sure we have all the assets (band bio, photos, all that stuff) and get to work on obtaining features with the outlets that are sought after/would fit the artist. It’s kind of a “rinse and repeat” from there, but enjoyable to come up with fun and creative ideas for each feature. 

Out of all the campaigns you’ve ever worked on, was there one that stood out as your favourite?

Since I am fairly, all of these campaigns have been exciting. Inimical Drive and ROT were the first bands I ever really got to help with working under Bob and Loose Ends (great write up by the way) have been the first longer campaign I’ve done on my own. 

If you could grab a drink with five people who’s either inspired you or who you’d consider a muse, who would it be?

Bruce Springsteen, Jimmy Buffet, Keith Buckley, Sunny Singh of Hate Five Six, Biggie Grimaldi.

Any other tips?

This is kind of about anything, but if you care about something, keep progressing and doing it. Be ready for tough spots but don’t stop until it’s not fun anymore. Then find something new! Nothing is ever promised so make sure you’re doing cool shit while you can!

The world will suck forever, you don’t have to.

Keep up with Mike and Sweet Beef Agency at instagram.com/sweetbeefagency

Pin It on Pinterest