Craig Mitchell and Motor City on Rocket Shop' 4/20/11

Words by Julie Jay Seger

Photos by Sam Donnelly

"I don't do anything small. At least I try not to," says Craig Mitchell aka DJ oLIVERTWISTED and front man of newly formed band Craig Mitchell and Motor City. The group hung out for 'Rocket Shop' with guest host Ryan Krushenick (above right) on 4/20/11, which was coincidentally Craig's 40th birthday.

When Craig was 18, he moved from outside of Detroit, Michigan to Vermont to attend St. Michael's College. Over his lengthy and accomplished career, Craig has gained some important insight about Vermont's music scene: "I'm excited that I think live music is coming back in the Vermont scene. Being a DJ myself for the last 21 years has been great, I'm glad that DJs have thrived for so long. But I remember the days when the club owners actually paid attention to being ahead of the curve. I remember seeing Blind Melon with like fifty people at Metronome, or 311 at Toast, and Everclear coming back to play over and over and over at Toast because they got so much love and support from the Burlington community. So I'm excited to see live music come back and hopefully people will keep fostering new stuff."

These days, Craig has been making tunes with his Motor City band mates, Harrison Schulman on guitar and Dikey on percussion. The band also includes Dan, Jake, Tyler and Josh who couldn't make it in for 'Rocket Shop.' Craig reached out to his band mates to see if they'd be interested in starting up a group, and they enthusiastically agreed. "In the past year I got back on stage with these guys for different projects like Operation Prince, Project Organ Trio, and shows with bearquarium and Sharon Jones. The more I was on stage with these guys, the more comfortable I felt and I realized how much I missed being on stage. Some of those old songs felt really good again and some, for the first time ever, felt really good. So I asked these guys, what do you think? And 4 months later, we're still going strong, nobody's backed out yet. So I'm excited about it, I know I'm going to be with these guys for a while and I think this is going to be a big thing my life. I just want to make good music and hope that people like it."

'Rocket Shop' Playlist:

1) Craig Mitchell and Motor City, "Slow Down" (performed live by Craig Mitchell and Motor City)

2) James Blake, "The Wilhelm Scream" (performed live by Craig Mitchell and Motor City)

3) Craig Mitchell and Motor City, "Outta Sight" (live)

Major thanks to Craig Mitchell and Motor City for hanging out and sharing their tunes with 'Rocket Shop' listeners. Tune in to 105.9 FM The Radiator on Wednesday nights from 8 to 9 P.M. for local music, good conversation, and good times!