Mike Campbell and the Dirty Knobs

Mike Campbell is the original guitarist for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. While in the Heartbreakers, Campbell was lead singer and guitarist with a side band, the Dirty Knobs, with guitarist Jason Sinay, drummer Matt Laug, and bassist Lance Morrison. “It’s rougher-edged ,” Campbell says of the group, “It’s slightly over-driven, less polished, lots of Sixties influence: The Kinks, Led Zeppelin, The Animals. It’s something I probably should have done a long time ago, but I didn’t ’cause I was wrapped up in the Heartbreakers.” They released a single, “Feelin’ High”, in 2010.

The band released the title track from its debut album, Wreckless Abandon, in January 2020, followed by the album itself in November of that year. The album was produced by Campbell and George Drakoulias, who with Tom Petty produced Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ The Last D.J. The cover art was by Klaus Voormann who created the cover of The Beatles Revolver.

In the summer of 2021, the band released a new single, a cover of J. J. Cale’s “Humdinger”.

In April 2022, the band released their second album, External Combustion.