November 3, 2024
Mic Michaeli has held down keyboard duties with iconic act Europe for nearly the entirety of their ongoing career. We cover that career in some detail and also discuss other projects Mic has been able to complete in between sell out arena and stadium shows. To listen / watch: Audio-only: click on the play button...
The post Mic Michaeli, Europe appeared first on The Keyboard Chronicles.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Alright guys, what you just experienced is what we musicians refer to as a major fuck up.
Hello and welcome to the keyboard Chronicles a podcast for keyboard players.
I'm your host David Holloway and I'm thrilled as always to be here with you.
(00:22):
Apologies for my voice.
I've got a bit of man flu at the moment.
A person who doesn't have the man flu and is in full voice is Mr.
Mick McKaylee.
Now this was a real thrill for us to speak with Mick because as a child of the eightiesand I know a lot of you out there are of a similar era.
(00:42):
As we talk about in the show, there aren't many more iconic keyboard riffs than the finalcountdown by Europe.
There's Jump and there's a couple of others for sure, but this one is right up there.
Now, as you'll hear, Mick has been with Europe pretty much since their inception, so fromabout 1984, but his career and Europe's career is so, so much more than what you may
(01:07):
expect.
Europe have continued to release great albums.
regularly since the 80s.
I know I've listened to all of them and I enjoy it.
And for those that particularly like a harder edge to rock, you may be quite surprised ifyou haven't listened to Europe since their first handful of albums, just how much they've
(01:27):
changed and it is very much worth listening.
So we talked to Mick about his career with Europe, his work with Glenn Hughes and his lovefor other musical projects.
So yeah, I think you'll enjoy this a great deal and I'll talk to you at the end of theshow.
(01:53):
Mick, it's an absolute pleasure to have you on the show, sir.
How are you this fine evening?
I'm very good.
Thank you.
Yeah, really good.
I'm really looking forward to this too.
I've checked out a few of your other guests you've had and it's really interesting, I haveto say.
No, it's a pleasure to have you.
And I know you've had quite a busy year this year, Mick.
mean, just looking at just alone your tour dates with Europe, you played a hell of a lotof dates this year and you're already booking into next year.
(02:19):
How's 2024 gone for you so far?
It's been a good year.
mean, we've been to Southeast Asia, we've been to Japan, Taiwan, and we've been doing, aswe always do in the summer, a lot of festivals around Europe.
So it's been a busy year, but a very good year.
(02:40):
We really had a blast doing it.
Yeah.
No, that's great.
And just, I didn't ask you this before we started recording, but have you been toAustralia?
We have been once.
And that was, I, I'm really bad at, at sort of, keeping track of time, but maybe abouteight, 10 years ago, were in Australia, played about five or six dates.
(03:08):
And, actually, myself and, me and, and some members of the crew, stayed an extra week justto, know,
We have the flights and why not stay for a while and check out Australia?
That's great.
Well, hopefully we get you back at some stage.
(03:30):
So I do want to start off with me just a bit about your musical upbringing.
So as a child and a teenager, what got you into music in the first place?
There was always music around in my home.
And my dad was really interested in music.
mainly classical music.
(03:52):
And my mother was actually a professional singer.
She sang classical music and modern pieces as well.
Modern classical pieces and opera and stuff like that.
So that was her profession.
So I got a lot of music, not popular music, not that kind of...
(04:19):
Not what was popular back then, what you heard on the radio really, but more likeclassical and stuff like that.
So, and we had a piano at home.
So I started playing early, trying it out, you know.
And did you take lessons at that stage and what was your experience with formal lessons?
you did.
Yeah, I had a few lessons both on guitar and also keyboard.
(04:44):
But.
I never, I didn't really like it.
It was just another homework, you know, and I never learned how to read, read music.
So I did everything by ear, you know, more or less.
(05:05):
It's a good club to be in Mick, the by ear club.
So, no, I'm kidding.
No, that's great.
And so was there a first band at school or outside of school that you got involved in thatreally fired up your passion for that type of work?
Well, my first band was about, probably was about 12, 13 years old and I played guitar inthat band and I sang.
(05:31):
And we didn't play any shows.
We just rehearsed and the drummer's
boy room.
We mainly played Black Sabbath and status quo covers.
That was about it.
Because those songs were quite easy to play and sing at the same time.
(05:57):
But then sort of moved on and I played with a lot of different bands.
was a big, where I grew up in a suburb just north of Stockholm.
It was a big, I mean,
The music was happening everywhere and it was a lot of people just playing and moving onand changing bands.
And I mean, if you walk down the streets, you heard one band rehearsing over there,another band rehearsing over there.
(06:22):
So it was a big thing.
But then there was the first band that really started to happen.
were called Avalon.
And by then I just played keyboards.
I stopped singing, thank God.
Do you remember what keyboard you were playing then, Bic?
(06:45):
What was your first keyboard that you I'm really liking this?
Yeah, know, the first one was something called, it was a chord and it was calledpolyphonic ensemble.
yeah.
And it just had a few presets and they sounded about the same, all of them.
so, and then I traded that and I got Fender Rhodes.
(07:09):
Wow.
Piano.
And, but by, by the time I started playing with this band Avalon, which was just before Ijoined Europe, I had, a poly six, know?
Yeah.
Nice.
No, great.
All right.
Well then let's talk about, I have seen it a previous interview.
(07:30):
You jokingly referred to the fact that you joining Europe was only because, that
You might've been one of the only keyboard players the guys knew when it was time for youto come on board.
So, but do tell us about how that initial, did you have to formally audition?
How, or just you knew the guys already?
How did that come about?
You know, we, we played in the same, places, just very small clubs in the suburb, becausewe grew up in the, the same suburb, all of us.
(08:01):
and so it was, they've, they'd seen me play.
And so one day, it was, I think, must have been when Europe released the Wings of Tomorrowalbum, Joe had played some keyboards on that album and he didn't want to do that live.
(08:22):
So they asked me if I'd just not join as a member, but, know, as a just standing very faron the side and play some keyboards on the show.
That's how it all started and I played for a few months and then they actually asked me tojoin the band permanently.
Right.
(08:43):
so it was, yeah, you obviously previous.
I love the fact that originally you were standing off side of stage, like, I don't know,Spike Edney and Queen or the guy from Green Day or whatever.
That's funny.
And so just for those of our, I can't imagine there's any listeners or viewers out therethat aren't aware of Europe, right?
That you're such a world dominating band.
(09:03):
who's continued to put out amazing albums all through the 21st century and even late lastyear single for, we'll link to it in our show notes, everyone viewing, but the Hold Your
Head Up single is just amazing, both the clip and the song.
You've been now a band for more than 40 years.
Yes, you had a hiatus there, but what's changed as far as your...
(09:29):
love of music in the band.
What's kept it fresh and interesting for you?
You know, as you mentioned, we had a sort of a 12 year coffee break in the 90s and smallpart of the beginning of the, what do you say, 20th?
(09:49):
Do you say that?
Yeah.
Okay.
And so, when we discussed if we were
putting the band together or not around 2003 probably.
So it was like a consensus that if we're gonna do this, we're not gonna go back and tryand sound like we used to do in the 80s.
(10:16):
We wanted to feel that what we do is fresh and that we don't wanna have anyone tell uswhat to do.
So we do, we all, we decide a hundred percent what we're going to put out, which we didn'tdo on the last album and that came out in 91.
(10:41):
There was a kind of a sort of a thing going on with the record company back then.
So I think what we do now is just whatever we feel like, which is fantastic.
And that's, I think it's a reason why we.
still can still do albums and do new music.
And actually we've done more albums now than before the long coffee break.
(11:05):
So that's right.
Which is amazing on its own.
And you've raised a really good point there that I want to follow up on.
And that is you, you decided that you would all have a say in what goes on.
how does, even in my own limited way, and all of our listeners of yours tend to be inbands or may have been in bands.
We all understand the dynamics of bands can be challenging.
(11:29):
How have you made the democracy of that band or the working relationship work so well thepast 21, 22 years?
Well, it doesn't always work that well.
That's part of it too.
it has to be, you have to allow everyone to say whatever they think.
(11:51):
But somehow we managed to
have some kind of consensus.
know, for example, Joey, writes the...
He used to write almost 90 % of the material back in the beginning, but now he's still themain writer and he's also the singer, so he has a big say on what songs he feels like he
(12:20):
can contribute with his vocals to.
But apart from that, you know, we, we're still just trying to be actually has a lot, a lotto do with accepting that you work with four other morons.
And if everybody accepts that it's might work and it's done, it's worked for us so far.
(12:43):
I love it.
Yeah.
No, that's a great perspective.
I think I'm guessing as we all get older, we get more tolerant and accept each other'sidiosyncrasies.
So yeah, I think that's a great.
That's a great perspective.
So I do need to ask you, about your keyboard rig and so on.
And I'm going to use the last single and also the last album in 2017, Walk the Earth.
There is some amazing organ work and some more traditional keyboard instruments that flowthrough.
(13:09):
I just love some of the songs.
Kingdom United has some beautiful organ work in it and so on.
So just tell us a little bit about now that you do tour and do lots of festivals.
What is your keyboard, Regan?
What did you have to incorporate from your newer work to make that work?
All right.
So basically, I use on the albums, I try to incorporate as much Hammond organ as possiblebecause I still think that's a magnificent instrument.
(13:48):
And also,
Especially if we're talking vintage stuff or stuff that's always been there.
Almost always, but you know what I mean?
On the last two albums, I've been using a lot of Malatrum as well.
(14:09):
Because there's a digital new one, obviously, that works really well.
Unfortunately, I cannot take that on tour because a lot of the songs we do are
half step down.
But I actually watched one of your shows where I don't remember his name.
I'm terrible at names, David.
(14:30):
I remember you.
But apart from that, the guy played with, I he played with The Cult.
yeah, Mike Mengen.
Yeah, Yeah, Mike.
And he found out this way to detune a Hammond.
half step down.
That's right.
(14:51):
With just a little pedal.
And I thought, all right, maybe I can bring my Hammond and the Melitron on the next tour.
yeah, that was really helpful, you know.
But what I'm using now is Nord Lead 3.
(15:17):
That's an old one, but I just love it.
It's perfect for me.
I don't understand all the knobs, but I'm trying to work my way through it.
And I have a stage, Nord stage three, and also have an old Roland Phantom X7, which is the
(15:47):
buttons doesn't really work anymore.
So I can't edit anything.
It's just the old sound.
So I have to find a way to sort of face it out and just put everything.
But I'm a lazy guy.
I keep the old keyboard as long as I can because otherwise I have to sort of remake thesounds on another keyboard, which is time consuming.
(16:13):
It is, it's very time consuming and it's a lot of work given, well across all of youralbums, but particularly those first three or four, there's such iconic sound sets, it
must be a real pain to recreate those.
So essentially for all those really distinctive earlier sounds, you're running them offthe phantom or you, and then I assume midded up to your, norwoods as needed.
(16:35):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I use, for example, the, the, the final countdown sound is obviously sampled.
And that's, I guess, what I have to do with a lot of the other sounds as well.
You know, try to sample them as much as I can to, for example, the stage, which I findreally handy to work with.
(17:03):
Stage three, I mean.
And with the phantom.
I can imagine that is a challenge having to sort of transition to a new instrument.
I mean, the obvious one is going to the new phantoms, but that's not simple as far as justtransferring sound.
So I can understand the reluctance to change.
(17:23):
it has to be done.
has to be done.
I tried to get it to the workshop and ask them, could you fix this for me?
It's going to cost me fortune to do it.
So I might as well find something else.
And do you, mean, when you're touring, I'm assuming you have to have backup, like furthercopies of keyboards.
(17:45):
Like I'm sure you're not just sitting on one Phantom X7 with all your key sounds and nobackup option.
Yeah, I have two of everything basically.
there's a, and also that's, it's good to have, I mean, sometimes we do shows in one placeand then there's a...
very long distance to the next one and the truck with all the gear is not going to makeit.
(18:10):
then another truck has to go with a B-rig to that place.
But I usually bring, especially with the Phantom X7, definitely, as much as I can, Ialways have two with me all the time.
And same goes for the Nord Lead 3.
(18:31):
And so across the Europe,
set listing.
What are the more challenging songs for you to play technically?
So like myself, as you said, you're a by-year player, obviously a highly accomplishedplayer.
What are the more challenging songs for you to play that each night, if not give youstress, at least make you sort of focus to make sure you can get through them okay?
(18:59):
Usually, the problem I have
The songs that makes me a bit nervous is when I have a keyboard intro, you know, and I'msupposed to play it right.
And sometimes, usually just flows with a muscle memory.
(19:20):
But sometimes my brain just freezes and you just, that happened actually a while ago.
I think it was, yeah, it was this summer when I,
You Carrie, which starts with a just piano intro.
And I just, I just, you know, it just died.
(19:41):
And, so I, I said to the audience, cause I sing back up, so I'll always have a microphone.
So I said to them, all right, guys, what you just experienced is what we musicians referto as a major fuck up.
So please let me start again.
(20:03):
And I actually stole that from Peter Gabriel, because he did that on a tour a long timeago.
He said exactly that, because he fucked up too.
You know, what can you do?
And then there's always sometimes, you know, there's a solo.
Those are the main things.
When the focus is on you, that's the most difficult part for me.
(20:30):
And I think you've warmed the hearts of players all around the world with that mic becauseit is, think, something we all experience.
And I'm sure you'll agree the more you think about the upcoming intro or solo, the lesslikely you are to nail it, that you need to step back and rely on the muscle memory.
I totally get it.
And just just as an aside for your abuse, but I mean, you are responsible for somethingyou play all the time, whether it's carry a final countdown or all those first three or
(20:59):
four albums.
You are responsible for some of the most iconic riffs from that period.
And over the weekend, I played in a band, the final countdown for the first time and Istuffed it up.
So I just love the fact that I'm talking to you a few days later.
So it's wonderful.
All right.
There you go.
(21:19):
And have you ever had, I mean, you've just sort of described a really great train wreckthere of, you know, forgetting a solo.
Is there another example across your career where something's gone spectacularly wrongthat you can look back and laugh at it now?
You know, we haven't had a lot of major things going wrong, but I remember one time.
(21:48):
This is really interesting.
know, everyone in the band wears in-air.
you know, except for the guitar player because it's its own little piece of realitysomehow.
But everyone else uses it and you know how it works.
You plug in your ears, plug them in and you have a belt pack.
(22:14):
And then you can sort of the volume, you can change yourself the overall volume, butthat's it.
Then you have the monitor guy sort of and
And nowadays you have really good boards so they can pre-program everything.
So you have almost your perfect sound every day.
(22:34):
Maybe you have to change a little thing.
But at this point, was, I don't remember where it was.
Probably erased it from my memory.
when this show started, everything sounded wrong.
It almost sounded good, but Joey's voice was this loud and I couldn't really hear mykeyboards the way I usually hear them.
(23:03):
So I say to the monitor guy, I just take Joey's voice down.
Have my keyboards up and then I see Joey going, take the keyboards down.
I need to my voice.
And so this poor monitor guy,
(23:24):
He raises Joey's voice, but that's in my ears.
So we switched belt pack.
Just when we went on stage, we had switched the belt packs.
Then I just ripped them out and had to rely on the side fills or whatever.
(23:46):
But that was a trauma for a while.
someone then had a...
I mean, there was panic in the monster crew, but one of the guys just thought, maybethey've switched belt packs.
yes, had.
Wow.
That's amazing.
That was really terrible.
(24:06):
That was really, when you, that's when you start the show, you want everything to justwork and you, you know, you want to give everything you have.
And then it's just, just terrible.
Everything sounds like a, I don't know.
It definitely affects the enjoyment of playing as well.
So no, totally, totally understand that.
(24:28):
And, what does keep it enjoyable for you touring now, Mick?
mean, how do you manage fatigue?
mean, I'm sure you spread out your dates where you can and so on, but touring can be hardwork.
How do you manage that nowadays when you're not 20 anymore?
That's true.
Back in those days, you could do whatever and go wherever and you were just going for it.
(24:51):
Nowadays, we try to take it easy.
mean, we don't party as much as we used to do.
try to.
mean, sometimes there is kind of a few days of really lot of traveling.
But I mean, it's not the playing that's exhausting.
(25:14):
It's the traveling and the waiting and that doing nothing.
That's what really sort of gets you.
And so, but we're trying to not do too long tours and to get back home, have a few breaks.
And so that's how we try to do it these days.
(25:37):
I mean, when I get home after tour, I'm tired for a few days, but as long as you don't doit,
to the extent that you feel that you don't want to do this and I don't want to do thisanymore.
As long as you still think you're having a good time, which I think, well, I do anyway, tospeak for myself.
(26:06):
yeah, I think we find a good balance between being on tour and not doing too many shows ina row, especially for Joey's sake, because he's a singer.
He really needs a break.
there's usually like three days in a row for him and then one day off and then we can goon again.
(26:29):
And sometimes he can stretch it to four days, but, I really, he takes care of himselfreally well.
Yeah, obviously by the power of his voice still, he obviously does.
And so, I mean, talking about enjoying it.
So there is a bit of a.
what I call a grass is greener on the other side with touring in that when you're on tour,you may dream of going home.
(26:55):
How long after you get home, do you start dreaming of touring again?
Or at this stage of your career that doesn't tend to happen.
Well, for me, I'm going to be honest with you.
I don't, I rarely long for going on tour.
For me, it is.
(27:17):
writing music and being in the studio, that's my main thing.
That's what sort of brings health to my soul.
I could live without touring.
Unfortunately, you don't make money or we don't make money out of records anymore.
(27:42):
touring is one thing that we have to do.
So I really
What I sort of try to do when we're going on tour is trying to, if we have a day off, ifwe're somewhere, I just want to go sightseeing, be a tourist, go sightseeing, just take
walks in the town we're in or hang out with the guys that I enjoy hanging out with.
(28:17):
You know, touring is, as you know, touring is.
I don't know, 2 % being on stage, 2 % and the rest is waiting or traveling.
And, you know, that's how it is.
Yeah.
So just have to make, you have to make the best of it.
(28:41):
Yeah.
No, agree.
There's nothing glamorous about the 23 hours of the day or 22 hours of the day.
You're not playing.
totally understand.
And let's talk about you just talked about how you love being in the studio and writingmusic.
So let's talk about your broader career.
both during the hiatus and I assume now you're involved in other projects.
(29:01):
I do need to just quickly cover off Glenn Hughes because we have a running joke, includingMike Mangum that you've mentioned, we have a running joke on the show of the secret cabal
of Glenn Hughes organists and you're now the fourth
organist that's come on the show that has played for Glenn.
So he obviously has an attraction.
Just tell us about that period of time and what you learned from that.
(29:25):
to start with when we first met Glenn, mean, I grew up with Deep Purple and later withTrapeze as well.
So when I got the question to play with him, I was just, wow, you know, one of your
idols from when you grew up.
(29:47):
so that was really fantastic.
his voice was fantastic and still is, which is amazing.
So that was really a thrill.
Unfortunately, at the time, he had a manager that probably didn't do him
(30:13):
any good really.
So there was a bit of economical issues when we finished the tour.
But I actually met him this summer and we hugged each other and you know, good to see youand all that.
(30:33):
I still love the guy and it was amazing to play with one of your teenage heroes, you know.
And he's still a hero to me.
So that was amazing.
I can testify to his ongoing brilliance in that it's literally a week ago today.
(30:56):
I saw him perform live.
He's just finished an Australian tour.
And as far as him recognizing people that have formerly played for him, two of those fourkeyboard players, obviously Mike on stage, but one of the other ones was also in the
audience watching the show.
And there's a lot of love in that room for him as a person.
And the other thing just for your reference, Mick, is he had awful in-ear problems at thegig last week.
(31:23):
So as you can tell, it doesn't matter how big you get, whether you're Europe or GlennHughes, you never get over the in-ear problems.
He struggled with them for an hour, was a total pro throughout, but it was really throwinghim, you wouldn't know from his voice, but it was really throwing him down.
So, so tell us about what other projects, mean, obviously you do, as you said, youcontribute to the writing in Europe on albums, just tell us what writing and stuff you've
(31:52):
been doing over the last few years and any projects you've got planned coming up.
actually, a few years ago, I started to get into American music, like country music,Nashville, that stuff.
So I've been sort of starting to.
(32:12):
dig into that a lot more.
And that's a totally different thing that we're doing in Europe.
But I really enjoy doing something totally different.
And if you start listening to that music, I really don't know how to say what genre it is,if it's country or Americana.
(32:41):
I'm not really sure, but you know kind of what music I'm talking about.
And it's so different from Europe, but it's so great to dig into that.
And there's so many brilliant musicians playing on those kind of records.
And I started to really enjoy the music and also the storytelling, the way they writelyrics.
(33:07):
And I'm trying to dig into that.
few years back started to write more into that vein.
have a friend who I write with and we sort of reached out to people in the US also andalso working with, we worked briefly with a girl from Ireland.
(33:32):
so that's one thing I've been doing.
I also write film score
for films that hasn't been released yet.
I don't know what to do with it, but I really like, I love listening to music when I see afilm.
(33:55):
So just for my own pleasure, I kind of play and try to do this little, just small piecesthat could be for a film, but...
I don't know how to get it out and I don't know when the film producers or anything.
that's just for my, for my, my own pleasure really.
(34:20):
Which is great.
I mean, and you've obviously got a brilliant, I'm not sure whether that's your home studiothere, but there's certainly keyboards in the background.
So what do you use at home to create your, can see you've got an order there.
I'm not sure what's on the top there.
It looks like it's either a nectar or a Casio or something.
It's a, it's a Melaton.
it's the Melotron, course it's the new, yeah, of course.
(34:41):
I'm just trying to work out with the white body.
Yeah, of course.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I understand.
Yeah.
Well, I usually just use, when I, when I play home, I mainly use just software.
Yeah.
And so I have a MIDI keyboard and then I just use plug, plugs.
So you have some plugins that you particularly love, Mick.
(35:02):
What are some that you love using if you?
happened to remember?
yeah, I don't like having too much stuff because I'll sit for hours and go through soundswhich and that sort of kills some of the fun, some of the creative process but you have to
(35:27):
do it to find the right sounds but recently I tried you
the Vienna strings plug and I didn't really understand how it worked properly.
recently I bought the Spitfire, I think it is that has the BBC Orchestra, which is reallyeasy for me to work with.
(35:54):
And so I've been using that a lot.
Then I use a lot of the
I mainly work in Logic when I work at home.
I can work in Pro Tools as well, but mainly use Logic.
And I use a lot of that stuff that's in there.
But I do realize that if I would do it for real, for example, the piano sounds are sooverused and there are plugins which sound so much better.
(36:24):
So if I'm going to do something for real, I have to get something else as well.
Yeah.
No, great.
And just going back briefly, when you're touring with Europe and that you're not using anycomputers or stuff, you're pretty much switching sounds manually between songs.
Yeah.
have, I have a, I use a computer just to, you know, change sounds on the, on all thekeyboards because I can't, because we use, usually, you know, change songs or, or change,
(37:00):
order of the songs.
So it's really good to have that and just prepare before the show.
Okay, now we know I'm just going to press this for the next song.
And we actually have a computer or actually two there's backup for we have some backingtracks going on for intros and also some some percussive for effects are I'd say that we
(37:27):
use.
I could probably do it myself, but it's so good to just concentrate on playing what you'resupposed to play.
Absolutely.
And now I've got a very deep question, because someone who's got an ongoing and extensivecareer and you've seen in recent years, the challenge of streaming and as you've said
(37:50):
yourself, Europe probably don't make a lot of money out of albums anymore, like any otheract around the world.
It's all about the touring.
How do we keep music human in this era of AI?
How do we make sure that all of us are still, you know, doing wonderful things with musicin a human way and it's not overtaken by the technology?
(38:10):
that's a tough one.
I really don't know.
And I, well, no one really knows what's going to happen.
And the thing is that AI is just starting really now.
I mean, it's been developed.
for a long time, but now it's out there.
But I think there's so much happening and that technique is going forward and I don'tknow, a lot of things gonna happen.
(38:45):
I listened to one thing where AI was supposed to sort of produce a
Beatle song.
Yep.
if they would do a song that if all four were together and they were writing a song, itwould sound like this and it sounded like shit.
(39:14):
didn't see anything like Beatles, like the Beatles.
But the thing is, I don't know where it's going to go.
But the thing is, so far,
the live scene, it hasn't really been taken over by AI so far.
(39:36):
So I think that's the important thing that we have to sort of try and keep for what it is.
mean, okay, you have the avatars, know, Abba has done this show and I think that The Kissis going to do it soon.
That's right.
And, but apart from that, it's, it's, one hand, it's really interesting and it'sintriguing, but it's, it's, it's a bit scary.
(40:14):
Yeah.
At the same time.
I don't know if you look at the music on the charts right now.
it's, I'm sure you could do a lot of that music with AI.
And someone is going to make a lot of money off it, but it's not the musicians, you know?
No, Sadly, you're very correct there, I think.
Yeah.
(40:34):
And you just mentioned about the live scene.
How encouraged are you by the number of younger people both playing in bands and going tosee live music?
So are you still seeing lots of younger people even coming to see bands long establishedlike yourself?
yeah.
Yeah.
I love go.
(40:54):
going to show any, you know, actually, after the pandemic, I've been going even more.
And, and I really love doing it.
And, and there's, I've seen some great acts and I just love it.
I mean, there was a time when I was a bit, all right, play show for one hour and then Iget an entire element going out of there.
(41:18):
But nowadays I just, I just want to see more.
so yeah.
I love watching both bands I already know about and also bands that I'm not that familiarwith.
I think it's just, to me, that's really how...
And it's just a one-off thing.
You just see one time and you get an experience.
(41:44):
My daughters are in their late 20s right now and sometimes they call me and say, hey, dad,
You want to go see this band?" And I'm like, I never heard them.
Well, check them out and come on.
All right.
Yeah, sure.
Yeah, I'll come.
And it's given me great pleasure to do that.
(42:08):
And I also want to, I just want to support the live scene.
Yeah, that's great.
And I think if we all do that, it's got a lot of longevity in it yet.
And I do need to ask, you know, as someone that has been well established for
for a number of decades.
Would you have any guidance for any younger musicians who may want to make a career inmusic?
(42:31):
What would your tips or thoughts for them be?
that's really difficult.
But I would say, try to find, don't try to imitate.
I mean, of course you do that in the beginning, you do that, but try to find your own wayand
(42:54):
above all, have fun with everything you do.
It has to be fun because if you don't have fun or feel that you're creating something, ifyou deliberately try to write a hit, forget it.
Just if you feel you have something going on, yeah, sure, work on it.
(43:18):
As long as you have a passion for it.
You have to have the passion.
Otherwise I'd say, sorry, forget it.
Yeah.
No, great perspective.
Yeah.
Much appreciated.
Now, speaking of passion and fun, let's get into the desert Island discs mix.
(43:40):
So the dreaded question, what are five albums?
If you had to choose only five, would you choose?
yeah.
I always have troubles with, with trying to, to find that.
I'll try and I'll try to start doing it in kind of a chronological order.
(44:01):
But the first band, the first rock, as I told you when I grew up, there was a lot ofclassical music and stuff in my home.
And the first sort of popular music I heard was The Beatles.
And I got an album from my mother.
She bought me an album.
(44:22):
It was called Oldest But Goldest and it was a collection of the songs between 64 and 66 orsomething like that.
And then I, with my own money, I bought Let It Be.
It was the first album I bought.
But then I heard Abbey Road and that really freaked me out.
(44:46):
So I have to mention Abbey Road and that was
1969 that was released.
Then I had a of journey with Genesis and Yes and all that.
But one album that really meant a lot to me also as a keyboard player that was theEmerson, Lake and Palmer trilogy.
(45:13):
And then I went through phases.
I listened to everything, punk rock and
everything.
But I have to mention Frank Zappa as well.
And I could choose any of the albums from their 70s basically.
(45:35):
And I really have to mention Pink Floyd, which you'll hear as well.
I think that was a brilliant album.
Actually, it was a really interesting story.
I was on vacation in England.
I went to this record store and I saw an album with a cow on the front and it didn't sayanything.
(45:56):
I was just drawn to that.
I said to the guy working in the shop, want that.
I mean, I was 75, 13, 14 years and I want that one with a cow.
I didn't know anything about it, but I just wanted that album.
He said, well, you know,
(46:18):
Last year they released this album.
This is the latest one.
You should have that one.
And I was like, but okay.
And that was, wish you were here.
And that was just, yeah, okay.
And it's a brilliant album, I think.
is.
I had really troubles with the fifth one because it could have been Iggy Pop, could havebeen the Swedish band Ghost, which I think is very...
(46:46):
brilliant band, one of the best bands that are now.
Could have been Rammstein, could have been David Bowie.
I love David Bowie.
But actually, I just want to sort of pick one album that I think is a bit overlookedsometimes.
And it's a band called Talk Talk, a British band.
(47:10):
And the album is called Spirit of Eden.
And it was released in 88, I believe.
Back in those days, the 80s sound, there was a big snare drum, so know, everything waslike...
In retrospect, I'm not a big fan of a lot of the sounds in the 80s, especially the late80s.
(47:34):
But this album, it sounds like they had just two mics in a room, and that was justcharming, and you know, it was totally...
totally out of time.
And I think it's a fantastic album.
It's a bit tough.
(47:54):
It's kind of a quiet taste if you want.
But I just want to bring the album Talk Talk, Spirit of Eden, bring it up.
And that's my five albums.
Great.
Yeah, no, great picks, Mick, including Talk Talk.
Yeah, great bands and very much underestimated outside of the UK sometimes.
(48:14):
So yeah.
No great picks.
And then we have our final question, which is our quick fire 10.
So 10 short and sharp answers to some, what I hope are not too hard questions.
The first album you ever heard, if that's possible.
Sounds like it might've been classical, but do you recall the first album you did hear?
The first album I heard, well, that was probably the Brandenburg Concerts, Bach.
(48:43):
But the one I really listened to over and over again was the but gold is the Beatlesalbum.
great.
Yeah.
Your most important pre-gig ritual.
So what is something you do before a big gig to feel balanced before you go on stage?
(49:03):
I just basically try to be by myself and not do anything.
You know, check the setlist because we have a kind of a habit of changing it around for noreason at all, but we do.
So just checking that, checking everything's in place and not eat too much before.
(49:28):
And that's about it.
You've just raised a question.
I'm just going to sort of go off onto a little bit of a tangent with Europe.
You've obviously got a huge discography when you go out on a tour.
I'm assuming you're not rehearsing the whole discography.
No band would tend to do that, but do you have a stable of songs that you give yourselfflexibility to change around on any given night?
(49:49):
Yeah, we do.
We try to sort of more or less, if we rehearse, I have to say, because we don't always dothat.
But if we rehearse, we try to sort of do
(50:09):
have a, rehearse more songs that fits the show so that we can pick and choose a littlebit.
And usually if we do a tour of our own, we have sound checks.
then we can, if someone has an idea that we should put this song in, we can alwaysrehearse it and sort of, that's how it was.
(50:31):
Yeah, all right.
I remember now.
Yeah, know.
Yeah, that's great.
And Mick, if you hadn't been a musician, what do you think your career choice would havebeen?
that's a tough one.
I always was at one point, I wanted to be a doctor, medical doctor.
(50:53):
And I was interested.
I was not as a big thing, but I was interested in architecture for a while.
so that could have been one thing, but you know, I didn't have the grades and so I don't,I don't know.
(51:17):
don't really know.
It obviously worked out well.
So that's the main thing.
I think I know the answer to this next one based on you saying that sometimes you tour,you know, down half a step.
do you use the transpose button or do you.
adjust on the fly.
I'm assuming there's a bit of transpose button use.
know I do.
Yeah, I just do it on the fly.
(51:41):
And for some songs, you can program the transpose thing as you change the sound.
the only problem I have that I have to do it manually is actually the Nord lead three.
(52:02):
The other one says I'm able to just press the program and I'm all good.
But I'm going to go for one of those pedals just in case that Mike talked about.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Good stuff.
If it's at all possible, what would be one of your favorite gigs that you've ever done?
(52:23):
Doesn't matter whether it's Europe or elsewhere, just a gig that stood out to you as beingparticularly memorable.
You know, the weird thing is that I would probably say that is when we did a club gig backin the 80s in Stockholm and it was just announced as I don't even know what we call
(52:50):
ourselves, but it was not Europe, know, it was something totally different.
And it's a small club and we just go up there and play.
played a few covers.
one Elvis cover, one Beatles cover, and, and some, some of our, our own songs as well.
And that's, you know, that's a memorable thing because people weren't prepared that wewere going to be there.
(53:11):
It wasn't probably not even a rock audience, but it was really fun and it was just on thefly and it went down really well.
So just, pulling this little small, small club was fantastic.
No, that's amazing.
And if it's a
possible as well.
Mika, favorite city you've played or one of your favorite cities that you enjoy playing.
(53:35):
there's so many, you know.
I, it's hard to nail a specific city, you know, I can, I can nail it down to, I loveplaying in Japan.
I think it's fantastic.
The audience is very different from the rest of the world or, and especially verydifferent from
(53:59):
South America, for example, which is another place I love to play because the audience isjust going crazy.
And that goes for Italy and Spain as well, if you're talking about Europe.
But so I can't really do that.
(54:22):
But there's different places that are really fantastic to.
to play in.
great.
That's more than reasonable.
Now this is another hard one, a favorite song.
So you've just come off a fairly hefty tour.
Some songs you have to play, others you have a bit of, you know, a leeway on any givennight.
What is the favorite song, say in the Europe set list at the moment, that you look forwardto playing?
(54:47):
If any, there may not be any, but one that you particularly do enjoy.
there are a few.
really.
There's one song that we did a few albums ago that was way back, but there's a song calledNo Stone Unturned that I really like, partly because it's a keyboard solo in the song, but
(55:14):
also because it's a great composition.
to you might not believe me, but I really love playing the final countdown as well.
Because, because it's not our song anymore.
It belongs to the audience and they usually go just crazy.
(55:34):
You just feel that, you know, everybody gives something to everybody and it's just amazingto play the song.
have to say that.
And legitimately so.
I like I think that song and Jump would be the two most iconic keyboard driven songs of awhole decade.
So I can understand why you still get joy out of doing that.
(55:55):
Yeah.
True, true, yeah.
So do you have a favorite music documentary or movie that you go back to?
Well, I love documentaries.
I really thought that there's one on The Eagles, the band The Eagles.
(56:18):
It's a two part documentary.
And I just love the fact that they are so
honest and actually they just tell about all the frictions and everything that was goingon in the band and I really think that's how a documentary should be.
(56:41):
Yeah, no, That's the one that sort of comes to mind instantly.
Yeah, no, excellent.
Name one thing that you'd like to see invented that would make your life as a keyboardplayer easier.
Well, the little pedal is invented, so I can take that.
(57:04):
All All right.
That would be to be able to clone one keyboard to any other keyboard.
The sounds you have in one keyboard, just be able to clone it to anything else.
Cause then I don't have to spend hours, you know, sample or trying to recreate.
(57:24):
that'd be it.
Great.
No, great pick.
I love that.
Yes.
Please someone do that.
and then finally your favorite non-musical activity or hobby, what keeps you outside ofmusic?
Basically, I think music is the only thing that keeps me sane.
But, I, man.
Wow.
I don't have anything.
(57:46):
It's not a bad thing.
Jesus.
I'm trying to keep in shape, that's not because I like the actual thing doing it.
It's because I feel good afterwards I've done it, you know, but, okay.
Well, I like art.
(58:08):
like taking pictures and photography and I like
beautiful things like beautiful paintings or sculptures and that's nature.
you do have some beautiful sculptures behind me.
(58:31):
can obviously see Beethoven.
I'm just wondering what the, the figure with the beard and the hat is.
I'm trying to work out who that is.
Or maybe no one.
can you see them?
Yeah.
Okay, that's Swedish Salvation Army.
(58:52):
there you go.
is too.
That's great.
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah.
So my grandmother on my mother's side, she was a soldier in the Salvation Army.
Yeah.
Amazing, amazing organization.
Mick, I cannot thank you enough.
It's been an absolute honor and privilege.
we were talking before
(59:15):
about you'd only been to Australia once.
Hopefully we get you guys out here again.
I know you've continued to make an impact even down here over the last 40 years.
And so cannot thank you enough for your time.
Thank you.
was pleasure.
And I really hope to we can sort of meet up.
(59:42):
And there we have it.
I hope you enjoyed that chat with Mick.
I just loved his perspective and particularly his guidance for younger musicians, but alsojust his down to earth-ness as a musician.
It's so lovely to hear.
And as we talked about in the show, if you're like me and a weekend warrior who plays ahandful of gigs a year, it's not nice to hear because I wish it was better sometimes, but
(01:00:06):
it's lovely to hear that we all experienced some of the same challenges around.
sound on stage, in-ear monitors, things going wrong, know, trying to work out how totransfer sounds to new keyboards.
It doesn't matter what pinnacle you get to, some of those things don't go away.
So I always find that encouraging in some way.
So again, thank you for listening and a huge thanks to Mick for taking the time.
(01:00:30):
He's an absolute gem and hopefully we do see him down under at some stage again.
In the meantime, I'd just like to give a quick shout out to our Gold and Silversupporters.
So a huge thank you to Tammy from Tammy's Musical Studio.
Thank you, Tammy, for your ongoing and long-term support.
We also have Mike at MidnightMastering.com.
(01:00:50):
cannot thank Mike for his support and the great work he does with mixing and masteringtracks.
I use him personally for my own creative work and I know others that do and highlyrecommend him as well.
And we also have the wonderful Dave
Bryce and the team at themusicplayer.com forums, particularly the keyboard corner.
Love hanging there.
(01:01:11):
Great for a chat with like-minded individuals.
So do check that out.
And Mr.
Dewey Evans from Wales who we do appreciate Dewey, your ongoing support.
And as I've mentioned in a previous episode, we are going to do a live stream with Dewey.
had a test run and that'll be happening hopefully before the end of the year.
(01:01:32):
A huge...
Thank you to you for listening this far as well, particularly you, Joe.
In the meantime, keep on playing.
We'll be back very soon.
Alright guys, what you just experienced is what we musicians refer to as a major fuck up.
Hello and welcome to the keyboard Chronicles a podcast for keyboard players.
I'm your host David Holloway and I'm thrilled as always to be here with you.
(00:22):
Apologies for my voice.
I've got a bit of man flu at the moment.
A person who doesn't have the man flu and is in full voice is Mr.
Mick McKaylee.
Now this was a real thrill for us to speak with Mick because as a child of the eightiesand I know a lot of you out there are of a similar era.
(00:42):
As we talk about in the show, there aren't many more iconic keyboard riffs than the finalcountdown by Europe.
There's Jump and there's a couple of others for sure, but this one is right up there.
Now, as you'll hear, Mick has been with Europe pretty much since their inception, so fromabout 1984, but his career and Europe's career is so, so much more than what you may
(01:07):
expect.
Europe have continued to release great albums.
regularly since the 80s.
I know I've listened to all of them and I enjoy it.
And for those that particularly like a harder edge to rock, you may be quite surprised ifyou haven't listened to Europe since their first handful of albums, just how much they've
(01:27):
changed and it is very much worth listening.
So we talked to Mick about his career with Europe, his work with Glenn Hughes and his lovefor other musical projects.
So yeah, I think you'll enjoy this a great deal and I'll talk to you at the end of theshow.
(01:53):
Mick, it's an absolute pleasure to have you on the show, sir.
How are you this fine evening?
I'm very good.
Thank you.
Yeah, really good.
I'm really looking forward to this too.
I've checked out a few of your other guests you've had and it's really interesting, I haveto say.
No, it's a pleasure to have you.
And I know you've had quite a busy year this year, Mick.
mean, just looking at just alone your tour dates with Europe, you played a hell of a lotof dates this year and you're already booking into next year.
(02:19):
How's 2024 gone for you so far?
It's been a good year.
mean, we've been to Southeast Asia, we've been to Japan, Taiwan, and we've been doing, aswe always do in the summer, a lot of festivals around Europe.
So it's been a busy year, but a very good year.
(02:40):
We really had a blast doing it.
Yeah.
No, that's great.
And just, I didn't ask you this before we started recording, but have you been toAustralia?
We have been once.
And that was, I, I'm really bad at, at sort of, keeping track of time, but maybe abouteight, 10 years ago, were in Australia, played about five or six dates.
(03:08):
And, actually, myself and, me and, and some members of the crew, stayed an extra week justto, know,
We have the flights and why not stay for a while and check out Australia?
That's great.
Well, hopefully we get you back at some stage.
(03:30):
So I do want to start off with me just a bit about your musical upbringing.
So as a child and a teenager, what got you into music in the first place?
There was always music around in my home.
And my dad was really interested in music.
mainly classical music.
(03:52):
And my mother was actually a professional singer.
She sang classical music and modern pieces as well.
Modern classical pieces and opera and stuff like that.
So that was her profession.
So I got a lot of music, not popular music, not that kind of...
(04:19):
Not what was popular back then, what you heard on the radio really, but more likeclassical and stuff like that.
So, and we had a piano at home.
So I started playing early, trying it out, you know.
And did you take lessons at that stage and what was your experience with formal lessons?
you did.
Yeah, I had a few lessons both on guitar and also keyboard.
(04:44):
But.
I never, I didn't really like it.
It was just another homework, you know, and I never learned how to read, read music.
So I did everything by ear, you know, more or less.
(05:05):
It's a good club to be in Mick, the by ear club.
So, no, I'm kidding.
No, that's great.
And so was there a first band at school or outside of school that you got involved in thatreally fired up your passion for that type of work?
Well, my first band was about, probably was about 12, 13 years old and I played guitar inthat band and I sang.
(05:31):
And we didn't play any shows.
We just rehearsed and the drummer's
boy room.
We mainly played Black Sabbath and status quo covers.
That was about it.
Because those songs were quite easy to play and sing at the same time.
(05:57):
But then sort of moved on and I played with a lot of different bands.
was a big, where I grew up in a suburb just north of Stockholm.
It was a big, I mean,
The music was happening everywhere and it was a lot of people just playing and moving onand changing bands.
And I mean, if you walk down the streets, you heard one band rehearsing over there,another band rehearsing over there.
(06:22):
So it was a big thing.
But then there was the first band that really started to happen.
were called Avalon.
And by then I just played keyboards.
I stopped singing, thank God.
Do you remember what keyboard you were playing then, Bic?
(06:45):
What was your first keyboard that you I'm really liking this?
Yeah, know, the first one was something called, it was a chord and it was calledpolyphonic ensemble.
yeah.
And it just had a few presets and they sounded about the same, all of them.
so, and then I traded that and I got Fender Rhodes.
(07:09):
Wow.
Piano.
And, but by, by the time I started playing with this band Avalon, which was just before Ijoined Europe, I had, a poly six, know?
Yeah.
Nice.
No, great.
All right.
Well then let's talk about, I have seen it a previous interview.
(07:30):
You jokingly referred to the fact that you joining Europe was only because, that
You might've been one of the only keyboard players the guys knew when it was time for youto come on board.
So, but do tell us about how that initial, did you have to formally audition?
How, or just you knew the guys already?
How did that come about?
You know, we, we played in the same, places, just very small clubs in the suburb, becausewe grew up in the, the same suburb, all of us.
(08:01):
and so it was, they've, they'd seen me play.
And so one day, it was, I think, must have been when Europe released the Wings of Tomorrowalbum, Joe had played some keyboards on that album and he didn't want to do that live.
(08:22):
So they asked me if I'd just not join as a member, but, know, as a just standing very faron the side and play some keyboards on the show.
That's how it all started and I played for a few months and then they actually asked me tojoin the band permanently.
Right.
(08:43):
so it was, yeah, you obviously previous.
I love the fact that originally you were standing off side of stage, like, I don't know,Spike Edney and Queen or the guy from Green Day or whatever.
That's funny.
And so just for those of our, I can't imagine there's any listeners or viewers out therethat aren't aware of Europe, right?
That you're such a world dominating band.
(09:03):
who's continued to put out amazing albums all through the 21st century and even late lastyear single for, we'll link to it in our show notes, everyone viewing, but the Hold Your
Head Up single is just amazing, both the clip and the song.
You've been now a band for more than 40 years.
Yes, you had a hiatus there, but what's changed as far as your...
(09:29):
love of music in the band.
What's kept it fresh and interesting for you?
You know, as you mentioned, we had a sort of a 12 year coffee break in the 90s and smallpart of the beginning of the, what do you say, 20th?
(09:49):
Do you say that?
Yeah.
Okay.
And so, when we discussed if we were
putting the band together or not around 2003 probably.
So it was like a consensus that if we're gonna do this, we're not gonna go back and tryand sound like we used to do in the 80s.
(10:16):
We wanted to feel that what we do is fresh and that we don't wanna have anyone tell uswhat to do.
So we do, we all, we decide a hundred percent what we're going to put out, which we didn'tdo on the last album and that came out in 91.
(10:41):
There was a kind of a sort of a thing going on with the record company back then.
So I think what we do now is just whatever we feel like, which is fantastic.
And that's, I think it's a reason why we.
still can still do albums and do new music.
And actually we've done more albums now than before the long coffee break.
(11:05):
So that's right.
Which is amazing on its own.
And you've raised a really good point there that I want to follow up on.
And that is you, you decided that you would all have a say in what goes on.
how does, even in my own limited way, and all of our listeners of yours tend to be inbands or may have been in bands.
We all understand the dynamics of bands can be challenging.
(11:29):
How have you made the democracy of that band or the working relationship work so well thepast 21, 22 years?
Well, it doesn't always work that well.
That's part of it too.
it has to be, you have to allow everyone to say whatever they think.
(11:51):
But somehow we managed to
have some kind of consensus.
know, for example, Joey, writes the...
He used to write almost 90 % of the material back in the beginning, but now he's still themain writer and he's also the singer, so he has a big say on what songs he feels like he
(12:20):
can contribute with his vocals to.
But apart from that, you know, we, we're still just trying to be actually has a lot, a lotto do with accepting that you work with four other morons.
And if everybody accepts that it's might work and it's done, it's worked for us so far.
(12:43):
I love it.
Yeah.
No, that's a great perspective.
I think I'm guessing as we all get older, we get more tolerant and accept each other'sidiosyncrasies.
So yeah, I think that's a great.
That's a great perspective.
So I do need to ask you, about your keyboard rig and so on.
And I'm going to use the last single and also the last album in 2017, Walk the Earth.
There is some amazing organ work and some more traditional keyboard instruments that flowthrough.
(13:09):
I just love some of the songs.
Kingdom United has some beautiful organ work in it and so on.
So just tell us a little bit about now that you do tour and do lots of festivals.
What is your keyboard, Regan?
What did you have to incorporate from your newer work to make that work?
All right.
So basically, I use on the albums, I try to incorporate as much Hammond organ as possiblebecause I still think that's a magnificent instrument.
(13:48):
And also,
Especially if we're talking vintage stuff or stuff that's always been there.
Almost always, but you know what I mean?
On the last two albums, I've been using a lot of Malatrum as well.
(14:09):
Because there's a digital new one, obviously, that works really well.
Unfortunately, I cannot take that on tour because a lot of the songs we do are
half step down.
But I actually watched one of your shows where I don't remember his name.
I'm terrible at names, David.
(14:30):
I remember you.
But apart from that, the guy played with, I he played with The Cult.
yeah, Mike Mengen.
Yeah, Yeah, Mike.
And he found out this way to detune a Hammond.
half step down.
That's right.
(14:51):
With just a little pedal.
And I thought, all right, maybe I can bring my Hammond and the Melitron on the next tour.
yeah, that was really helpful, you know.
But what I'm using now is Nord Lead 3.
(15:17):
That's an old one, but I just love it.
It's perfect for me.
I don't understand all the knobs, but I'm trying to work my way through it.
And I have a stage, Nord stage three, and also have an old Roland Phantom X7, which is the
(15:47):
buttons doesn't really work anymore.
So I can't edit anything.
It's just the old sound.
So I have to find a way to sort of face it out and just put everything.
But I'm a lazy guy.
I keep the old keyboard as long as I can because otherwise I have to sort of remake thesounds on another keyboard, which is time consuming.
(16:13):
It is, it's very time consuming and it's a lot of work given, well across all of youralbums, but particularly those first three or four, there's such iconic sound sets, it
must be a real pain to recreate those.
So essentially for all those really distinctive earlier sounds, you're running them offthe phantom or you, and then I assume midded up to your, norwoods as needed.
(16:35):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I use, for example, the, the, the final countdown sound is obviously sampled.
And that's, I guess, what I have to do with a lot of the other sounds as well.
You know, try to sample them as much as I can to, for example, the stage, which I findreally handy to work with.
(17:03):
Stage three, I mean.
And with the phantom.
I can imagine that is a challenge having to sort of transition to a new instrument.
I mean, the obvious one is going to the new phantoms, but that's not simple as far as justtransferring sound.
So I can understand the reluctance to change.
(17:23):
it has to be done.
has to be done.
I tried to get it to the workshop and ask them, could you fix this for me?
It's going to cost me fortune to do it.
So I might as well find something else.
And do you, mean, when you're touring, I'm assuming you have to have backup, like furthercopies of keyboards.
(17:45):
Like I'm sure you're not just sitting on one Phantom X7 with all your key sounds and nobackup option.
Yeah, I have two of everything basically.
there's a, and also that's, it's good to have, I mean, sometimes we do shows in one placeand then there's a...
very long distance to the next one and the truck with all the gear is not going to makeit.
(18:10):
then another truck has to go with a B-rig to that place.
But I usually bring, especially with the Phantom X7, definitely, as much as I can, Ialways have two with me all the time.
And same goes for the Nord Lead 3.
(18:31):
And so across the Europe,
set listing.
What are the more challenging songs for you to play technically?
So like myself, as you said, you're a by-year player, obviously a highly accomplishedplayer.
What are the more challenging songs for you to play that each night, if not give youstress, at least make you sort of focus to make sure you can get through them okay?
(18:59):
Usually, the problem I have
The songs that makes me a bit nervous is when I have a keyboard intro, you know, and I'msupposed to play it right.
And sometimes, usually just flows with a muscle memory.
(19:20):
But sometimes my brain just freezes and you just, that happened actually a while ago.
I think it was, yeah, it was this summer when I,
You Carrie, which starts with a just piano intro.
And I just, I just, you know, it just died.
(19:41):
And, so I, I said to the audience, cause I sing back up, so I'll always have a microphone.
So I said to them, all right, guys, what you just experienced is what we musicians referto as a major fuck up.
So please let me start again.
(20:03):
And I actually stole that from Peter Gabriel, because he did that on a tour a long timeago.
He said exactly that, because he fucked up too.
You know, what can you do?
And then there's always sometimes, you know, there's a solo.
Those are the main things.
When the focus is on you, that's the most difficult part for me.
(20:30):
And I think you've warmed the hearts of players all around the world with that mic becauseit is, think, something we all experience.
And I'm sure you'll agree the more you think about the upcoming intro or solo, the lesslikely you are to nail it, that you need to step back and rely on the muscle memory.
I totally get it.
And just just as an aside for your abuse, but I mean, you are responsible for somethingyou play all the time, whether it's carry a final countdown or all those first three or
(20:59):
four albums.
You are responsible for some of the most iconic riffs from that period.
And over the weekend, I played in a band, the final countdown for the first time and Istuffed it up.
So I just love the fact that I'm talking to you a few days later.
So it's wonderful.
All right.
There you go.
(21:19):
And have you ever had, I mean, you've just sort of described a really great train wreckthere of, you know, forgetting a solo.
Is there another example across your career where something's gone spectacularly wrongthat you can look back and laugh at it now?
You know, we haven't had a lot of major things going wrong, but I remember one time.
(21:48):
This is really interesting.
know, everyone in the band wears in-air.
you know, except for the guitar player because it's its own little piece of realitysomehow.
But everyone else uses it and you know how it works.
You plug in your ears, plug them in and you have a belt pack.
(22:14):
And then you can sort of the volume, you can change yourself the overall volume, butthat's it.
Then you have the monitor guy sort of and
And nowadays you have really good boards so they can pre-program everything.
So you have almost your perfect sound every day.
(22:34):
Maybe you have to change a little thing.
But at this point, was, I don't remember where it was.
Probably erased it from my memory.
when this show started, everything sounded wrong.
It almost sounded good, but Joey's voice was this loud and I couldn't really hear mykeyboards the way I usually hear them.
(23:03):
So I say to the monitor guy, I just take Joey's voice down.
Have my keyboards up and then I see Joey going, take the keyboards down.
I need to my voice.
And so this poor monitor guy,
(23:24):
He raises Joey's voice, but that's in my ears.
So we switched belt pack.
Just when we went on stage, we had switched the belt packs.
Then I just ripped them out and had to rely on the side fills or whatever.
(23:46):
But that was a trauma for a while.
someone then had a...
I mean, there was panic in the monster crew, but one of the guys just thought, maybethey've switched belt packs.
yes, had.
Wow.
That's amazing.
That was really terrible.
(24:06):
That was really, when you, that's when you start the show, you want everything to justwork and you, you know, you want to give everything you have.
And then it's just, just terrible.
Everything sounds like a, I don't know.
It definitely affects the enjoyment of playing as well.
So no, totally, totally understand that.
(24:28):
And, what does keep it enjoyable for you touring now, Mick?
mean, how do you manage fatigue?
mean, I'm sure you spread out your dates where you can and so on, but touring can be hardwork.
How do you manage that nowadays when you're not 20 anymore?
That's true.
Back in those days, you could do whatever and go wherever and you were just going for it.
(24:51):
Nowadays, we try to take it easy.
mean, we don't party as much as we used to do.
try to.
mean, sometimes there is kind of a few days of really lot of traveling.
But I mean, it's not the playing that's exhausting.
(25:14):
It's the traveling and the waiting and that doing nothing.
That's what really sort of gets you.
And so, but we're trying to not do too long tours and to get back home, have a few breaks.
And so that's how we try to do it these days.
(25:37):
I mean, when I get home after tour, I'm tired for a few days, but as long as you don't doit,
to the extent that you feel that you don't want to do this and I don't want to do thisanymore.
As long as you still think you're having a good time, which I think, well, I do anyway, tospeak for myself.
(26:06):
yeah, I think we find a good balance between being on tour and not doing too many shows ina row, especially for Joey's sake, because he's a singer.
He really needs a break.
there's usually like three days in a row for him and then one day off and then we can goon again.
(26:29):
And sometimes he can stretch it to four days, but, I really, he takes care of himselfreally well.
Yeah, obviously by the power of his voice still, he obviously does.
And so, I mean, talking about enjoying it.
So there is a bit of a.
what I call a grass is greener on the other side with touring in that when you're on tour,you may dream of going home.
(26:55):
How long after you get home, do you start dreaming of touring again?
Or at this stage of your career that doesn't tend to happen.
Well, for me, I'm going to be honest with you.
I don't, I rarely long for going on tour.
For me, it is.
(27:17):
writing music and being in the studio, that's my main thing.
That's what sort of brings health to my soul.
I could live without touring.
Unfortunately, you don't make money or we don't make money out of records anymore.
(27:42):
touring is one thing that we have to do.
So I really
What I sort of try to do when we're going on tour is trying to, if we have a day off, ifwe're somewhere, I just want to go sightseeing, be a tourist, go sightseeing, just take
walks in the town we're in or hang out with the guys that I enjoy hanging out with.
(28:17):
You know, touring is, as you know, touring is.
I don't know, 2 % being on stage, 2 % and the rest is waiting or traveling.
And, you know, that's how it is.
Yeah.
So just have to make, you have to make the best of it.
(28:41):
Yeah.
No, agree.
There's nothing glamorous about the 23 hours of the day or 22 hours of the day.
You're not playing.
totally understand.
And let's talk about you just talked about how you love being in the studio and writingmusic.
So let's talk about your broader career.
both during the hiatus and I assume now you're involved in other projects.
(29:01):
I do need to just quickly cover off Glenn Hughes because we have a running joke, includingMike Mangum that you've mentioned, we have a running joke on the show of the secret cabal
of Glenn Hughes organists and you're now the fourth
organist that's come on the show that has played for Glenn.
So he obviously has an attraction.
Just tell us about that period of time and what you learned from that.
(29:25):
to start with when we first met Glenn, mean, I grew up with Deep Purple and later withTrapeze as well.
So when I got the question to play with him, I was just, wow, you know, one of your
idols from when you grew up.
(29:47):
so that was really fantastic.
his voice was fantastic and still is, which is amazing.
So that was really a thrill.
Unfortunately, at the time, he had a manager that probably didn't do him
(30:13):
any good really.
So there was a bit of economical issues when we finished the tour.
But I actually met him this summer and we hugged each other and you know, good to see youand all that.
(30:33):
I still love the guy and it was amazing to play with one of your teenage heroes, you know.
And he's still a hero to me.
So that was amazing.
I can testify to his ongoing brilliance in that it's literally a week ago today.
(30:56):
I saw him perform live.
He's just finished an Australian tour.
And as far as him recognizing people that have formerly played for him, two of those fourkeyboard players, obviously Mike on stage, but one of the other ones was also in the
audience watching the show.
And there's a lot of love in that room for him as a person.
And the other thing just for your reference, Mick, is he had awful in-ear problems at thegig last week.
(31:23):
So as you can tell, it doesn't matter how big you get, whether you're Europe or GlennHughes, you never get over the in-ear problems.
He struggled with them for an hour, was a total pro throughout, but it was really throwinghim, you wouldn't know from his voice, but it was really throwing him down.
So, so tell us about what other projects, mean, obviously you do, as you said, youcontribute to the writing in Europe on albums, just tell us what writing and stuff you've
(31:52):
been doing over the last few years and any projects you've got planned coming up.
actually, a few years ago, I started to get into American music, like country music,Nashville, that stuff.
So I've been sort of starting to.
(32:12):
dig into that a lot more.
And that's a totally different thing that we're doing in Europe.
But I really enjoy doing something totally different.
And if you start listening to that music, I really don't know how to say what genre it is,if it's country or Americana.
(32:41):
I'm not really sure, but you know kind of what music I'm talking about.
And it's so different from Europe, but it's so great to dig into that.
And there's so many brilliant musicians playing on those kind of records.
And I started to really enjoy the music and also the storytelling, the way they writelyrics.
(33:07):
And I'm trying to dig into that.
few years back started to write more into that vein.
have a friend who I write with and we sort of reached out to people in the US also andalso working with, we worked briefly with a girl from Ireland.
(33:32):
so that's one thing I've been doing.
I also write film score
for films that hasn't been released yet.
I don't know what to do with it, but I really like, I love listening to music when I see afilm.
(33:55):
So just for my own pleasure, I kind of play and try to do this little, just small piecesthat could be for a film, but...
I don't know how to get it out and I don't know when the film producers or anything.
that's just for my, for my, my own pleasure really.
(34:20):
Which is great.
I mean, and you've obviously got a brilliant, I'm not sure whether that's your home studiothere, but there's certainly keyboards in the background.
So what do you use at home to create your, can see you've got an order there.
I'm not sure what's on the top there.
It looks like it's either a nectar or a Casio or something.
It's a, it's a Melaton.
it's the Melotron, course it's the new, yeah, of course.
(34:41):
I'm just trying to work out with the white body.
Yeah, of course.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I understand.
Yeah.
Well, I usually just use, when I, when I play home, I mainly use just software.
Yeah.
And so I have a MIDI keyboard and then I just use plug, plugs.
So you have some plugins that you particularly love, Mick.
(35:02):
What are some that you love using if you?
happened to remember?
yeah, I don't like having too much stuff because I'll sit for hours and go through soundswhich and that sort of kills some of the fun, some of the creative process but you have to
(35:27):
do it to find the right sounds but recently I tried you
the Vienna strings plug and I didn't really understand how it worked properly.
recently I bought the Spitfire, I think it is that has the BBC Orchestra, which is reallyeasy for me to work with.
(35:54):
And so I've been using that a lot.
Then I use a lot of the
I mainly work in Logic when I work at home.
I can work in Pro Tools as well, but mainly use Logic.
And I use a lot of that stuff that's in there.
But I do realize that if I would do it for real, for example, the piano sounds are sooverused and there are plugins which sound so much better.
(36:24):
So if I'm going to do something for real, I have to get something else as well.
Yeah.
No, great.
And just going back briefly, when you're touring with Europe and that you're not using anycomputers or stuff, you're pretty much switching sounds manually between songs.
Yeah.
have, I have a, I use a computer just to, you know, change sounds on the, on all thekeyboards because I can't, because we use, usually, you know, change songs or, or change,
(37:00):
order of the songs.
So it's really good to have that and just prepare before the show.
Okay, now we know I'm just going to press this for the next song.
And we actually have a computer or actually two there's backup for we have some backingtracks going on for intros and also some some percussive for effects are I'd say that we
(37:27):
use.
I could probably do it myself, but it's so good to just concentrate on playing what you'resupposed to play.
Absolutely.
And now I've got a very deep question, because someone who's got an ongoing and extensivecareer and you've seen in recent years, the challenge of streaming and as you've said
(37:50):
yourself, Europe probably don't make a lot of money out of albums anymore, like any otheract around the world.
It's all about the touring.
How do we keep music human in this era of AI?
How do we make sure that all of us are still, you know, doing wonderful things with musicin a human way and it's not overtaken by the technology?
(38:10):
that's a tough one.
I really don't know.
And I, well, no one really knows what's going to happen.
And the thing is that AI is just starting really now.
I mean, it's been developed.
for a long time, but now it's out there.
But I think there's so much happening and that technique is going forward and I don'tknow, a lot of things gonna happen.
(38:45):
I listened to one thing where AI was supposed to sort of produce a
Beatle song.
Yep.
if they would do a song that if all four were together and they were writing a song, itwould sound like this and it sounded like shit.
(39:14):
didn't see anything like Beatles, like the Beatles.
But the thing is, I don't know where it's going to go.
But the thing is, so far,
the live scene, it hasn't really been taken over by AI so far.
(39:36):
So I think that's the important thing that we have to sort of try and keep for what it is.
mean, okay, you have the avatars, know, Abba has done this show and I think that The Kissis going to do it soon.
That's right.
And, but apart from that, it's, it's, one hand, it's really interesting and it'sintriguing, but it's, it's, it's a bit scary.
(40:14):
Yeah.
At the same time.
I don't know if you look at the music on the charts right now.
it's, I'm sure you could do a lot of that music with AI.
And someone is going to make a lot of money off it, but it's not the musicians, you know?
No, Sadly, you're very correct there, I think.
Yeah.
(40:34):
And you just mentioned about the live scene.
How encouraged are you by the number of younger people both playing in bands and going tosee live music?
So are you still seeing lots of younger people even coming to see bands long establishedlike yourself?
yeah.
Yeah.
I love go.
(40:54):
going to show any, you know, actually, after the pandemic, I've been going even more.
And, and I really love doing it.
And, and there's, I've seen some great acts and I just love it.
I mean, there was a time when I was a bit, all right, play show for one hour and then Iget an entire element going out of there.
(41:18):
But nowadays I just, I just want to see more.
so yeah.
I love watching both bands I already know about and also bands that I'm not that familiarwith.
I think it's just, to me, that's really how...
And it's just a one-off thing.
You just see one time and you get an experience.
(41:44):
My daughters are in their late 20s right now and sometimes they call me and say, hey, dad,
You want to go see this band?" And I'm like, I never heard them.
Well, check them out and come on.
All right.
Yeah, sure.
Yeah, I'll come.
And it's given me great pleasure to do that.
(42:08):
And I also want to, I just want to support the live scene.
Yeah, that's great.
And I think if we all do that, it's got a lot of longevity in it yet.
And I do need to ask, you know, as someone that has been well established for
for a number of decades.
Would you have any guidance for any younger musicians who may want to make a career inmusic?
(42:31):
What would your tips or thoughts for them be?
that's really difficult.
But I would say, try to find, don't try to imitate.
I mean, of course you do that in the beginning, you do that, but try to find your own wayand
(42:54):
above all, have fun with everything you do.
It has to be fun because if you don't have fun or feel that you're creating something, ifyou deliberately try to write a hit, forget it.
Just if you feel you have something going on, yeah, sure, work on it.
(43:18):
As long as you have a passion for it.
You have to have the passion.
Otherwise I'd say, sorry, forget it.
Yeah.
No, great perspective.
Yeah.
Much appreciated.
Now, speaking of passion and fun, let's get into the desert Island discs mix.
(43:40):
So the dreaded question, what are five albums?
If you had to choose only five, would you choose?
yeah.
I always have troubles with, with trying to, to find that.
I'll try and I'll try to start doing it in kind of a chronological order.
(44:01):
But the first band, the first rock, as I told you when I grew up, there was a lot ofclassical music and stuff in my home.
And the first sort of popular music I heard was The Beatles.
And I got an album from my mother.
She bought me an album.
(44:22):
It was called Oldest But Goldest and it was a collection of the songs between 64 and 66 orsomething like that.
And then I, with my own money, I bought Let It Be.
It was the first album I bought.
But then I heard Abbey Road and that really freaked me out.
(44:46):
So I have to mention Abbey Road and that was
1969 that was released.
Then I had a of journey with Genesis and Yes and all that.
But one album that really meant a lot to me also as a keyboard player that was theEmerson, Lake and Palmer trilogy.
(45:13):
And then I went through phases.
I listened to everything, punk rock and
everything.
But I have to mention Frank Zappa as well.
And I could choose any of the albums from their 70s basically.
(45:35):
And I really have to mention Pink Floyd, which you'll hear as well.
I think that was a brilliant album.
Actually, it was a really interesting story.
I was on vacation in England.
I went to this record store and I saw an album with a cow on the front and it didn't sayanything.
(45:56):
I was just drawn to that.
I said to the guy working in the shop, want that.
I mean, I was 75, 13, 14 years and I want that one with a cow.
I didn't know anything about it, but I just wanted that album.
He said, well, you know,
(46:18):
Last year they released this album.
This is the latest one.
You should have that one.
And I was like, but okay.
And that was, wish you were here.
And that was just, yeah, okay.
And it's a brilliant album, I think.
is.
I had really troubles with the fifth one because it could have been Iggy Pop, could havebeen the Swedish band Ghost, which I think is very...
(46:46):
brilliant band, one of the best bands that are now.
Could have been Rammstein, could have been David Bowie.
I love David Bowie.
But actually, I just want to sort of pick one album that I think is a bit overlookedsometimes.
And it's a band called Talk Talk, a British band.
(47:10):
And the album is called Spirit of Eden.
And it was released in 88, I believe.
Back in those days, the 80s sound, there was a big snare drum, so know, everything waslike...
In retrospect, I'm not a big fan of a lot of the sounds in the 80s, especially the late80s.
(47:34):
But this album, it sounds like they had just two mics in a room, and that was justcharming, and you know, it was totally...
totally out of time.
And I think it's a fantastic album.
It's a bit tough.
(47:54):
It's kind of a quiet taste if you want.
But I just want to bring the album Talk Talk, Spirit of Eden, bring it up.
And that's my five albums.
Great.
Yeah, no, great picks, Mick, including Talk Talk.
Yeah, great bands and very much underestimated outside of the UK sometimes.
(48:14):
So yeah.
No great picks.
And then we have our final question, which is our quick fire 10.
So 10 short and sharp answers to some, what I hope are not too hard questions.
The first album you ever heard, if that's possible.
Sounds like it might've been classical, but do you recall the first album you did hear?
The first album I heard, well, that was probably the Brandenburg Concerts, Bach.
(48:43):
But the one I really listened to over and over again was the but gold is the Beatlesalbum.
great.
Yeah.
Your most important pre-gig ritual.
So what is something you do before a big gig to feel balanced before you go on stage?
(49:03):
I just basically try to be by myself and not do anything.
You know, check the setlist because we have a kind of a habit of changing it around for noreason at all, but we do.
So just checking that, checking everything's in place and not eat too much before.
(49:28):
And that's about it.
You've just raised a question.
I'm just going to sort of go off onto a little bit of a tangent with Europe.
You've obviously got a huge discography when you go out on a tour.
I'm assuming you're not rehearsing the whole discography.
No band would tend to do that, but do you have a stable of songs that you give yourselfflexibility to change around on any given night?
(49:49):
Yeah, we do.
We try to sort of more or less, if we rehearse, I have to say, because we don't always dothat.
But if we rehearse, we try to sort of do
(50:09):
have a, rehearse more songs that fits the show so that we can pick and choose a littlebit.
And usually if we do a tour of our own, we have sound checks.
then we can, if someone has an idea that we should put this song in, we can alwaysrehearse it and sort of, that's how it was.
(50:31):
Yeah, all right.
I remember now.
Yeah, know.
Yeah, that's great.
And Mick, if you hadn't been a musician, what do you think your career choice would havebeen?
that's a tough one.
I always was at one point, I wanted to be a doctor, medical doctor.
(50:53):
And I was interested.
I was not as a big thing, but I was interested in architecture for a while.
so that could have been one thing, but you know, I didn't have the grades and so I don't,I don't know.
(51:17):
don't really know.
It obviously worked out well.
So that's the main thing.
I think I know the answer to this next one based on you saying that sometimes you tour,you know, down half a step.
do you use the transpose button or do you.
adjust on the fly.
I'm assuming there's a bit of transpose button use.
know I do.
Yeah, I just do it on the fly.
(51:41):
And for some songs, you can program the transpose thing as you change the sound.
the only problem I have that I have to do it manually is actually the Nord lead three.
(52:02):
The other one says I'm able to just press the program and I'm all good.
But I'm going to go for one of those pedals just in case that Mike talked about.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Good stuff.
If it's at all possible, what would be one of your favorite gigs that you've ever done?
(52:23):
Doesn't matter whether it's Europe or elsewhere, just a gig that stood out to you as beingparticularly memorable.
You know, the weird thing is that I would probably say that is when we did a club gig backin the 80s in Stockholm and it was just announced as I don't even know what we call
(52:50):
ourselves, but it was not Europe, know, it was something totally different.
And it's a small club and we just go up there and play.
played a few covers.
one Elvis cover, one Beatles cover, and, and some, some of our, our own songs as well.
And that's, you know, that's a memorable thing because people weren't prepared that wewere going to be there.
(53:11):
It wasn't probably not even a rock audience, but it was really fun and it was just on thefly and it went down really well.
So just, pulling this little small, small club was fantastic.
No, that's amazing.
And if it's a
possible as well.
Mika, favorite city you've played or one of your favorite cities that you enjoy playing.
(53:35):
there's so many, you know.
I, it's hard to nail a specific city, you know, I can, I can nail it down to, I loveplaying in Japan.
I think it's fantastic.
The audience is very different from the rest of the world or, and especially verydifferent from
(53:59):
South America, for example, which is another place I love to play because the audience isjust going crazy.
And that goes for Italy and Spain as well, if you're talking about Europe.
But so I can't really do that.
(54:22):
But there's different places that are really fantastic to.
to play in.
great.
That's more than reasonable.
Now this is another hard one, a favorite song.
So you've just come off a fairly hefty tour.
Some songs you have to play, others you have a bit of, you know, a leeway on any givennight.
What is the favorite song, say in the Europe set list at the moment, that you look forwardto playing?
(54:47):
If any, there may not be any, but one that you particularly do enjoy.
there are a few.
really.
There's one song that we did a few albums ago that was way back, but there's a song calledNo Stone Unturned that I really like, partly because it's a keyboard solo in the song, but
(55:14):
also because it's a great composition.
to you might not believe me, but I really love playing the final countdown as well.
Because, because it's not our song anymore.
It belongs to the audience and they usually go just crazy.
(55:34):
You just feel that, you know, everybody gives something to everybody and it's just amazingto play the song.
have to say that.
And legitimately so.
I like I think that song and Jump would be the two most iconic keyboard driven songs of awhole decade.
So I can understand why you still get joy out of doing that.
(55:55):
Yeah.
True, true, yeah.
So do you have a favorite music documentary or movie that you go back to?
Well, I love documentaries.
I really thought that there's one on The Eagles, the band The Eagles.
(56:18):
It's a two part documentary.
And I just love the fact that they are so
honest and actually they just tell about all the frictions and everything that was goingon in the band and I really think that's how a documentary should be.
(56:41):
Yeah, no, That's the one that sort of comes to mind instantly.
Yeah, no, excellent.
Name one thing that you'd like to see invented that would make your life as a keyboardplayer easier.
Well, the little pedal is invented, so I can take that.
(57:04):
All All right.
That would be to be able to clone one keyboard to any other keyboard.
The sounds you have in one keyboard, just be able to clone it to anything else.
Cause then I don't have to spend hours, you know, sample or trying to recreate.
(57:24):
that'd be it.
Great.
No, great pick.
I love that.
Yes.
Please someone do that.
and then finally your favorite non-musical activity or hobby, what keeps you outside ofmusic?
Basically, I think music is the only thing that keeps me sane.
But, I, man.
Wow.
I don't have anything.
(57:46):
It's not a bad thing.
Jesus.
I'm trying to keep in shape, that's not because I like the actual thing doing it.
It's because I feel good afterwards I've done it, you know, but, okay.
Well, I like art.
(58:08):
like taking pictures and photography and I like
beautiful things like beautiful paintings or sculptures and that's nature.
you do have some beautiful sculptures behind me.
(58:31):
can obviously see Beethoven.
I'm just wondering what the, the figure with the beard and the hat is.
I'm trying to work out who that is.
Or maybe no one.
can you see them?
Yeah.
Okay, that's Swedish Salvation Army.
(58:52):
there you go.
is too.
That's great.
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah.
So my grandmother on my mother's side, she was a soldier in the Salvation Army.
Yeah.
Amazing, amazing organization.
Mick, I cannot thank you enough.
It's been an absolute honor and privilege.
we were talking before
(59:15):
about you'd only been to Australia once.
Hopefully we get you guys out here again.
I know you've continued to make an impact even down here over the last 40 years.
And so cannot thank you enough for your time.
Thank you.
was pleasure.
And I really hope to we can sort of meet up.
(59:42):
And there we have it.
I hope you enjoyed that chat with Mick.
I just loved his perspective and particularly his guidance for younger musicians, but alsojust his down to earth-ness as a musician.
It's so lovely to hear.
And as we talked about in the show, if you're like me and a weekend warrior who plays ahandful of gigs a year, it's not nice to hear because I wish it was better sometimes, but
(01:00:06):
it's lovely to hear that we all experienced some of the same challenges around.
sound on stage, in-ear monitors, things going wrong, know, trying to work out how totransfer sounds to new keyboards.
It doesn't matter what pinnacle you get to, some of those things don't go away.
So I always find that encouraging in some way.
So again, thank you for listening and a huge thanks to Mick for taking the time.
(01:00:30):
He's an absolute gem and hopefully we do see him down under at some stage again.
In the meantime, I'd just like to give a quick shout out to our Gold and Silversupporters.
So a huge thank you to Tammy from Tammy's Musical Studio.
Thank you, Tammy, for your ongoing and long-term support.
We also have Mike at MidnightMastering.com.
(01:00:50):
cannot thank Mike for his support and the great work he does with mixing and masteringtracks.
I use him personally for my own creative work and I know others that do and highlyrecommend him as well.
And we also have the wonderful Dave
Bryce and the team at themusicplayer.com forums, particularly the keyboard corner.
Love hanging there.
(01:01:11):
Great for a chat with like-minded individuals.
So do check that out.
And Mr.
Dewey Evans from Wales who we do appreciate Dewey, your ongoing support.
And as I've mentioned in a previous episode, we are going to do a live stream with Dewey.
had a test run and that'll be happening hopefully before the end of the year.
(01:01:32):
A huge...
Thank you to you for listening this far as well, particularly you, Joe.
In the meantime, keep on playing.
We'll be back very soon.
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