Interview

Babble & Beat - 'Book of Lightning' is everything I expected and more! What inspired you to write the powerful words for the track, 'Love Will Shoot You Down'? From the outside, it doesn't appear to be from current personal experience, yet it is convincingly delivered as otherwise.

Mike - This song was written while our ex Prime Minister Tony Blair was in the middle of a will-he-stay-will-he-go crisis. I got to wondering about how people want to hold on to power, and how they start thinking that it is them, rather than the office or people or nation they represent, that is the important factor. I'm not saying Blair felt that, but I'm guessing he did in some degree. The song is also saying that no matter what such a person believes, they will lose power in the end.

Babble & Beat - Being quite a task to pick one, I would say 'Nobody's Baby Anymore' is my very favorite track on this release. I have to add that I love the change in vocal style on this one!

Much of the song was written 20 years ago but it was never finished. If it had been completed then, rather than in 2006, in what ways do you think it would be different?

Mike - It wouldn't have had the same message. The original, which was just a couple of loose verses, was only an exercise in wordsmithery, and not a very deep one. That's why it never got used. When I exhumed the fragment and turned it into a song I brought a new meaning to it, and it is a parable of our modern world, the contemporary western human persona, using up everything around us without much wisdom or foresight.

Babble & Beat - Lately, where do you find you write most of your songs? Mostly while on the road or do you have a favorite chair at home you like to brainstorm in?

Mike - I usually write at home in my music room. The room has a writing desk (old fashioned, leather topped, with lots of drawers with little iron handles), an electric piano, 4 guitars, a bass, a bouzouki, a mandolin, several celtic drums, a table with a computer where I do studio-type work (using Apple's Garageband - a brilliant system) a high shelving unit of hi-fi equipment (CDR and DAT, cassette, amp, EQ machine etc), 8 or 9 lamps, a high bookshelf with all my song books and lots of books by other people - poetry, lyrics, sheet music, a tall thin chest of drawers containing old Waterboys cassette tapes. I do most of my musical work in there.

Babble & Beat - Do you keep a tape recorder by your bed or in your pocket in case an idea or words come to mind?

Mike - There is a little portable digital recorder in the music room. In my bedroom only pen and paper, which travels everywhere with me.

Babble & Beat - Say you were looking to record a duet with a female singer in the near future. I'm assuming Patti Smith would come to mind. Besides her, who would you hope to sing with?

Mike - I like Ambrosia from Shivaree - she has a great voice. We could do a fun duet. If I could I would go back in time and back Nina Simone on rhythm guitar, or jam with the Patti Smith Group onstage circa 1975.

Babble & Beat - Despite all of your years as a brilliantly creative & warm musician / songwriter, what valuable music-related wisdom have you just learned within the last couple of years?

Mike - That I can reconnect with any previous period of my musicial inspiration (whether a period of my own music-making, or my appreciation of another band / artist), by immersing myself in it; that time can be defeated - or at least tricked.

Babble & Beat - Am I correct that you ran a music fanzine in your teens? Can you tell me more about it? Would you consider submitting a scan of it, or of part of it, for inclusion in the interview?

Mike - Yes it is true. The fanzine was called Jungleland and ran for 9 issues. 8 came out in 77-8. The ninth followed in 1980 and was quite different from the first lot.

I have no scans unfortunately. The first 8 had interviews with Richard Hell, Bob Geldof and other punk / new wave artists of the time, and features / reviews on lots of New York bands, UK punk bands plus older stuff like The Beatles and Bowie. The 9th issue had collages, artwork and poetry.

Babble & Beat - You play the guitar, piano, organ, drums, and bouzouki. If you had the time, what other instrument(s) would you fancy learning to play?

Mike - Well I also play bass, mandolin (badly) and the celtic bodhran (pronounced 'bow-raun'). I'd like to be able to play the harmonium and harpsichord, tenor sax and trumpet, but the latter two will never happen.

Babble & Beat - You will be embarking on a tour of the States in November. What about it are you looking forward to the most AND the least?

Mike - Most is 1) the experience of playing for the north American audience, letting our music live and 2) the adventure of being in the States and Canada, with all its possibilities for fun, mischief, great obscure record shops, smart health drinks with a kick, and great restaurants.

Least is the possibility of unlucky hotel choices with over-zealous air conditioning in which I can't breathe, and building works outside the window from 8 in the morning. Let's hope those don't happen at all!

Juicy Tidbits Section

This is where we ask personal questions for the fans. Yeah, they're often stupid questions. We like reading the answers though!

Babble & Beat - What do you specifically miss about Findhorn, the Scottish village you live in, when you are away?

Mike - My wife, Janette.

Babble & Beat - What is Janette's favorite track on 'Book of Lightning'?

Mike - 'She Tried To Hold Me.'

Babble & Beat - Can you suggest a book / author for someone who wants to read something life-changing?

Mike - This is a difficult question because of course 'life-chaning' is a highly individual thing. But let's see... if a young person feels stifled or bored with where they are, they might try reading 'On The Road' by Jack Kerouac. Otherwise I would only recommend 'life-changing' books on a one-on-one basis. But if you just want a darned good read, try 'The Time Traveller's Wife' by Audrey Niffenegger or 'Jonathan Strange And Mr Norrell' by Susanna Clarke. Both are brilliant.

Babble & Beat - Speaking of books, I read that you picked up the latest Harry Potter. Have you read the whole HP series?

Mike - Yes.

Babble & Beat - What is your very favorite photo of yourself? Who took it, when was it taken and why is it your favorite?

Mike - It's one taken by Jill Furmanovsky in 1982. I'm wearing a friend's red jacket. It was taken in my little basement flat near the Portobello Road, London.

Babble & Beat - Mike was kind enough to share this photo with us:

Babble & Beat - It appears you love coffee. I do too! What are a couple of your preferred coffee drinks & flavors?

Mike - I have just given up coffee. But when I did drink it I was overly partial to a Starbucks Espresso Frappucino, grande-size, double-blended.

Babble & Beat - The key to a person's overall happiness, in your opinion, is-

Mike - Love, in all or any forms.

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