Bootsie Merango Vocalist and AzhiaziaM founder Mike "Lopaka" Jones getting some air on the water (above) and on stage. (Below)(Surf Photo by: Shaikenphoto.com )

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BOOTSIE MERANGO
2007 Press Kit and Bio

Bootsie Merango was formed in 1998 by a group of surfers that all loved the ocean and had a life long passion for music. The band has toured the East and West Coasts, opened for acts such as Reggae legend Yellow Man and New wave surf sensation Pepper. Bootsie also headlined on the Grandstand stage for the East Coast Surfing Championships in Virgina Beach. Bootsie is in numerous sports films including Aqua Dulce (2005), Nobody’s hero’s (2005), and The Walk About (2005), Indo Board Trainning video All my Crazy Friends 3 (2006) just to name a few...

FRONT MAN: Mike “Lopaka” Jones mad skills on the mic and on stage antics keep every audience entertained no matter what the venue. Mike is a War veteran that served in the U.S. Navy as a Chemical Warfare specialist and Damage Control man (1991-95), he also earned a Bachelors degree in Psychology from Cal Poly State University San Luis Obispo.

GUITAR: Mark Iseman has a fresh approach to the guitar.

KEYBOARDIST: Paul Knupp is a life long student of the keys....

DRUMMER: Kier Baker is the most dedicated drummer on the planet.

The origin of the name comes from “Bootsie” our guitarist’s cat, and “Merango” a street in the bands home town of Morro Bay. The band thought the words sounded good together and also seemed to capture the Cali-Funk-Reggae flavor of the music. The band started out jamming in an abandoned cannery in the small fishing village of Morro Bay Ca. Thanks to the League Family, and soon after started giging at College parties and clubs all over California. Winning the hearts and ears of many who witnessed their high energy shows.

Bootsie was voted by the people of San Luis Obispo county as one of the top bands for the New Times "BEST OF SLO" readers poll 3 years in a row.
Bootsie Merango recorded their first album “Baked Fresh Daily” and released it in 1999. It was an instant hit locally, so the band hired Flanagan Promotions to get some more exposure. The Band sent 350 radio stations 2 copies of the Album and received a ton of air play and charted on numerous stations.

In 2001 we took our act on the road and started gigging from San Diego to San Francisco, and even did a self funded East Coast Tour that landed us on the Grand Stand stage for the East Coast Surfing Championships in Virginia Beach playing for an audience of 5,000 + beach happy fans.

2002

-The Band recorded a live album from a Local Show at SLO brewing Company. That has become an underground favorite.

2003

-Bootsie took a year long break while vocalist Mike Lopaka Jones finished up his College degree in Psychology at Cal Poly SLO, and also got his Clothing Company Az-hi-az-i-aM (As high as I aM) off the ground.

2004-2005

-Bootsie uploaded some songs to the ever popular myspace.com website and found themselves charting at #2 ( #1 was Tila Tequila ) out of 296,000 bands that have submitted to the myspace.com site Bootsie has been in the studio recording our 3rd album “Tidal Wave” that could quite possibly be out by 2265!

2006

-Bootsie Merango plays with Pepper at The Graduate in San Luis Obispo to a sold out crowd!

-Bootsie Merango gets deleted from MYSPACE.com Losing over 10,000 friends and a song counter that had just went over a quarter million plays! Myspace.com said they had questionable material on the page and the band still has no idea what it could have been besides a conspiracy! yikes!

-Bootsie only plays a hand full of gigs for the rest of 2006 due to lead vocalist Mike Jones needing time to raise his clothing brand Az.hi.az.I.aM to a truely international level.

-Bootsie lands a song in the Extreem sports film "ALL MY CRAZY FRIENDS 3" one of the biggest sports movies of the year!

2007

Bootsie Merango plays select venues in Europe, Hawaii, and Japan. Look for a Mainland USA tour coming soon!