Leader of Billy Mira and the Hitmen

Alex M. Wolff: This is Alex Wolff from Long Island portfolio.

I’m here at Next Phase Sound Studios in Farmingdale with Billy Mira,  leader of Billy Mira  and the Hitmen. Billy , welcome to Long Island portfolio.

Billy Mira: Thank you so much, and thank you.

 Alex: Can you tell us something about your history?

Billy:  Sure. I grew up in Mineola, New York.  And ever since I can remember, as a little kid, I can always remember doing impressions. That was the first thing I remember doing, looking at the television and impersonating everybody on TV. And I guess that was the first inclination that entertainment may be a direction I might want to go into. Then, as I got older and listened to music, but it was more the theater that attracted me. So I’m doing plays and Productions as a young kid in Mineola and then as I got older, I got into sports, but I also got into music and that’s where things really started to get interesting.

I think music and theater go hand in hand,

and I thought that would all work very well, a nice progression.  I had a music career for a long time. I was in a rock band from the 80s until the 90s.  it was local here in New York, but I was actually signed on a for a short lived album, but it was still a release that was officially released, and that was when the albums first started having the bar codes. And, you know, the whole industry got really interesting and, of course, a cup of years later, naturally, everything was getting ripped on Napster; changed the whole face of the industry. Since then it was weird so I had an issue, but it never really took off, but I was always singing in clubs.

Then, at one point. I got into comedy, because that was something I would do all the time and always did Impressions, and never really thought a lot about it until about 2000. A local radio station asked me if I would like to do a show on the radio station and I did it with another co-host, with a friend of mine. And that’s when I really started doing impressions and I realized how people reacted to it.  

This is crazy maybe I should get

 into the stand-up thing.  And so, I started doing stand-up and once again, I’m like, this impression thing, you know, this impression comedy thing. It’s a lot of fun. I got into it for fun and you know within a year I was on the Howard Stern show and my career took off from there. There were voice overs, commercials and you know, everything from Saturday Night Live to voice work; I mean the list goes on. I was doing all these radio shows. I was traveling the country.  This was something I started for fun, and from this, you know, do it because you love it and it’s fun and it’s something that you want to get into, and if there is cash in there, everything else follows.

Alex

 I’ve seen and filmed you many times,

the passion drives the shows.

Billy

I have kept that mindset ever since,

everything I do now is for fun, with of course, naturally an objective. We always would love to do everything that you envision,  like your passion as your career.

So I’ve been pretty fortunate in that aspect, and then I went to Vegas for a while. I was actually covering Sports. I mean, I’m just giving you a condensed version sure. But I was in Vegas for a couple of years, and that is where I came up with the idea for Billy Mira and the Hit Men, because I would go to the studio every day.

I would see all the casinos on let’s say, you know, I’ve done all this stuff. How can I combine everything that I do into one show and that’s when I started writing and I left Vegas. I came back to NY and I started putting down the ideas for Billy Mira and The Hit Men, and that’s how everything came about. I said to myself “when I get back to Vegas, it’s going to be as Billy Mira and the Hit Men.”

Alex: The Hitmen are great really entertaining. It’s not a general concert. You really put on a show for the audience not nothing like we really see out here.

Billy:

Yeah, that’s what I’m really proud of. It’s not a tribute band.  I do a lot of cover music and I do it my way. I work a lot with Eric Schwartz and the people that have come on board with me,  and help support the vision and really believe in what we’re doing. It’s something I’m very proud of, I’m sure in the history of entertainment there have been similar concepts, but as of right now there’s nothing like it, it is like a variety show. We come out, interact with the audience. One of the things I’m really proud of is it’s not a tribute show, it’s a tribute but in pieces, you know.

Alex:  Well you play so many different genres and artists in a single show. You mentioned Eric Schwartz. He leads the horn section and horns really bring a lot of depth to any music and in some cases even leads in parts of the show.

Billy: Yeah, so, you know the greatest thing is that I can sit down for a couple minutes to do stand up. It’s not straight stand up. It’s not straight Impressions and all this and maybe some John Travolta and some David Lee Roth or an Ozzie Osbourne  impression,  but I can incorporate all of that stuff to introduce songs, and also with it telling the story of my life and what really turns me on as a performer, and I think it really comes out in the show.

Unfortunately, you know with 2020 here,  I think it’s been strange for everybody, every performer that I know. And you know, I just hope that we’re able to get through this 2020 phase that we’re in right now and hopefully come out of it and we were able to carry on and you know onward and upward and move the show forward in the direction that we were moving. We were going like a train and then everything hit, so we’ll see what happens.

Alex

 What kind of songs do you do? You know my name a couple….

Billy: Everybody always says stuff like, Eric always says what do you mean you want to do that, and I say I got an idea I want to write a bit around it. I always wanted to do a bit around some doo-op stuff around Rocky, or a but around John Travolta and Tony Montana talking.  So it’s like the music has to make sense. And sometimes, when I first initially say this song, you know, Secret Agent is a perfect example. {Alex – By Detective).  So I take the James Bond segment, where I do a couple of James Bond things, and it’s always different, and then it leads us into the James Bond segment. we do a version that’s our version and that works out really well. So all of the songs eventually fit and they make sense, once you see them in production.

Alex: Covid is eventually going to end. We are going to be back in clubs and stadiums…

Billy: You know, I’ll do that in the right venues, you know, I did for the longest time. I had a residency over at the Westbury Manor in southern Polo Lounge in this formatwe built up such a great vibe in this place, Covid has been such a shame because we built up such great following, and places like that have disappeared, as have other great clubs.  So we’re going to see who’s still standing once this whole thing is over but, inevitably, listen , we can always talk about stadiums, but inevitably if I had to think about myself it’s a broadway-style production that winds up on Broadway and that winds up in Vegas in one of the theaters in lines.

That’s where I see the show and anybody who’s familiar with it would tell you the same. We can always, if it ever became big enough, we could always think amphitheaters and bigger. Amphitheaters always as the audience always feeds everything that we do.

Alex: I saw you July 4th a couple of years ago at the Veterans Memorial Amphitheater in Bohemia and I saw and filmed you at Smithtown Performance Arts Center. That was a beautiful layout for you guys, and several other places both small and large.

Billy: Yes, and if you’ll notice the outdoor summer shows that we do are more musical based shows because I don’t want to give those shows away. Really want the theater shows and to have a different vibe. That’s the great thing about coming to see us.  You never really know what you’re going to get. So, you know, maybe we’ll do like a music centric show, and then more than the theaters. That’s why I’m excited. I love playing the theaters where you can go dark and bring lights up. Really pleasing for everyone.

Alex: That’s awesome. I can’t wait for you guys to play again, saw you back in July, I think it was in Valley Stream.  I can’t wait to see you guys back in the theaters.

Billy: I have to give Village of Valley Stream credit.  It was one of the few shows that you know, we were part of your heart in Long Island. That was like a real show. I felt normal for one night. I want to thank the Village of Valley Stream for that. We had a blast and I’d like to come back and do it. Not only in Valley Stream again next year, but across the country if possible.

More on Billy Mira and the hitmen at https://billymiraandthehitmen.com/

For booking information call Eric Schwartz at 516.808.6610

Visit Alure at www.alure.com