Mikey Guitar is a musician that I have known for over a Decade when me and the other two lads went to watch Bauer for the first time. Mikey, Greg and the rest of the band were great and always had time for a chat with us after the gigs.
Mikey has also been in other bands and his solo project.
The whole of Glastonbury 2004 was absolutely glorious. I’d go back to then and make a few different decisions about my life afterwards
Mikey’s Top Ten Tracks
The chord sequence was pretty much what I came up with and then Greg added the lyrics and vocal melody. It’s always a little bit of an exciting moment when you know you’ve come up with a really interesting piece of music and then he goes and adds his bit over the top. Was magic hearing him sing this in the studio.
Bauer – Made The Change
This is a Greg track, all the lyrics and chords came from him with this one. It’s a great pop song that I don’t know whether I could come up with myself! I am pretty proud of the lead guitar line though that it added which is a pretty important hook. Shades of Duran Duran in the melodies and some funky little guitar playing on this one which i’m not really know for. The rhythm section pull a blinder off on this one too.
Mikey Guitar – Fugitives
I made (apart from 1 track) an instrumental guitar album around half a decade back. At the time i’d just come off the back of the Mutineers split and was feeling pretty sore. I needed to make myself useful, so i dusted myself off and really experimented with sounds.
16 track set up. This one is probably the best of the instrumentals. I could imagine Robert Plant singing over the top of it somehow. It was a pretty weird time for me. Was sort of at a loose end but it was all in all a pretty positive little project. I needed to prove that i could go it alone and put something out of note. I was getting a little new age hippy at the time party because the guy that helped me produce this is a bit of an old hippy (Hello Steve Davis!). He’s sort of gone on now and reinvented himself as the godfather of the local open mic scene.
I’d say this is possibly my favourite Mutineers track. I added a few guitar parts that are pretty cool but I can’t really take ant credit for the writing of any of it. Some great work by Nicholas Mallins, Iwan Gronow and Jack Mitchell. The rhythm section of this are now playing with Johnny Marr’s band and sometimes when I hear one of this tracks I get weird flashbacks to rehearsing with them guy because their playing is pretty easy to spot. It has a kind of late new order / electronic and inevitably Smiths sort of vibe to it.
Bauer – Don’t You Move (Steve Power Produced Version)
Possibly my favourite ever Bauer song. There’s 2 versions of it out there. My favourite was produced by Steve Power who is sort of an old skool 90’s/2000’s super producer kind of guy. He recorded all of Robbie’s big hits and has done loads of big poppy Indie stuff since. I’m not sure why this was never a single at the time! It really should have been. One day we will sell it to Coldplay and it’ll become a monster hit and i can retire to a cottage somewhere in Wales with loads of money from the royalties. The I wouldn’t be classed as not viable by our joke of a government
Mikey Guitar Feat. Greg Matthews – Cinnamon Park
So this track came from my follow up to the “Fables” album. It’s a 6 track EP that contains to vocals from the ever trusty Greg Matthews.
It has a pretty wistful folky vibe to it. Maybe shades of some Ben Howard in there. It definitely has its roots in the more organic approach I like to give to my “Solo” stuff.
Bauer – Feels Like Heaven (Fiction Factory Reworking)
Am I allowed to stick it a cover version? Well, I will do because i’m extra proud of the way this one turned out. It may even surpass the greatness of the original….and it surprisingly fits in really well in the running order of the first Bauer album I just wish i’d had a hand in writing it because as i said earlier – that cottage in Wales is awaiting.
Red Sided Garter Snakes – Black Horse
I came up with the music and structure for this one in my bedroom on the same gear that I recorded the Fables album on. It seemed a little too moody for Bauer so i gave it to John Lever from The Chameleons for his Red Sided Garter Snakes 2nd album. He was an absolute privilege to work with. Still feel really sad that he left us too early but he’s left a great legacy of amazing music behind and i’m extremely proud to have played a small part in that.
Mutineers – Shadow Kisses
This is possibly the most popular Mutineers song. Just brings back great memories of some really fun times with them guys and some great gigs in the 2nd incarnation…plus some stinkers in the early days! Nick Mallins really is a high level lyricist and proves it on this one. Would love to play it again one day, but that boat has sailed. Mutineers ahoy!
Bauer (Unplugged) – It’s Got To Get Better 2020
I couldn’t possibly not include the latest release. (Plug! Plug!) All i can say about this is that it’s a very prophetic track and probably means more to my life now than at the time it was written. We want it to at the very least give some comfort to anybody out there having a hard time of things in these crazy/unprecedented days we’re all having to contend with. Naturally we will it’s only right that we give all proceeds to the sale of this to Mind Charity who do some outstanding work in helping people with many problems out there.
It’s Got To Get Better is out now!! track is out!! Go grab it via the direct download link below. All proceeds from this single release go to Tameside, Oldham & Glossop Mind Charity.