Double Side Quest - Mike Mentz "By Heart" Scratch Demo (Patreon)

Despite Packy's assertion in the Side Quest Album Adventure Launch Video that "you can't side quest a side quest", I am about to do exactly that, so hold on to your proverbial hats!

Let's hop in the metaphorical DeLorean and set the dials to February 2009 - the very same month we released Cool Is Just A Number. That month, we also recorded a scratch demo of a new song by Mike Mentz called "By Heart." 

Mike ended up leaving IFD that summer, but I've always thought that this song was just incredible, and up until very recently it had never been released to the world in any way. 

Then just last week, Mike released his new album Souvenir (Spotify / Apple Music). It's a completely wonderful album, and I highly recommend you give it a listen or several. Mike and I grew up with a lot of the same songwriting influences - I still remember leaning over to him at a 2003 Fountains of Wayne concert and incredulously asking if he also thought they were singing "Stacy's mom has got it going on" (spoiler alert, they were). Basically, if you enjoy my songwriting I think there's a great chance you will be very into Mike's as well. 

After giving Souvenir several very enjoyable listens this week, I asked Mike if he would be alright with us releasing this old demo of "By Heart" to our Patreon in the spirit of Side Quest, and he kindly gave his blessing. Also you can tell that he and Bill and I had a fun night making this demo as apparently we decided not to edit out a lot of our silly commentary 😂

So enjoy this scratch demo, go check out the real version on Souvenir, and we'll see you next week when we return to our regularly scheduled programming!