Mike Lane Interview

INTERVIEW WITH MIKE LANE FROM TheCelebrityCafe.com ARCHIVES

DM) How did you start in the music industry?

ML) Like most people my age, I grew up wanting to be like the Jackson 5. Not the real Jackson 5,but the cartoon ones on Saturday mornings back in the 70's. I used to watch my Uncle Floyd and his band, the Crabs, as they played nightclubs on the Baltimore Beltway club circuit. Floyd played bass and sang, and the band did a great tribute medley of tunes by British Invasion bands. Watching them and the response of the crowd pretty much made up my mind that I wanted to play music for a living.
My folks bought me a guitar when I was 16,I learned how to play it, and joined my first primitive band at 18. I even got to play with Uncle Floyd and the Crabs one night.
The first time I actually sang on stage was when I was 20. It happened in New York, at a Beatlefest, during a sound-alike contest. I sang George Harrison's "Isn't It a Pity" (from the All Things Must Pass album) in front of almost 2,000 people. My fright only enhanced the adenoidal tone I was going for in emulating George's singing. I didn't win the contest, but hearing the applause was thrilling. From there, I played in cover bands, then all original bands when my writing had progressed to an acceptable degree. And now, here am I.

DM) What kind of bands did you cover?

ML) Oh man. . . we used to cover songs by all kinds of bands. . . from ABC (regrettably) to the Zombies. Smokey Robinson, Squeeze, the Jam, Talking Heads, the Who, Temptations, 20/20, Sex Pistols, Beach Boys. . . anything good beneath the big pop umbrella.

DM) What is the hardest song you've ever covered?

ML) The most difficult song ever covered by a band I was in was probably the "Overture from Tommy" by the Who. No French horns, a bad piano player and. . . man, what were we thinking?

DM) Who were your influences?

ML) My influences are numerous and all over the musical map. I used to borrow my older sister's records and play them on a crude device called a portable phonograph. Fortunately, she had good taste in music. I grooved on Beatles, Monkees, the Who, the Byrds, Neil Young and Joni Mitchell. Top 40 radio was an unending stream of good and bad pop music: Earth, Wind and Fire followed by Neil Diamond followed by Grand Funk. I dug it all. I don't think I thought about writing music till I heard the so-called Next Wave of music: the Clash, Jam, Damned ,and XTC. Suddenly, new music (non-disco) was bridging the gap between 1978 and 1964. I wanted in! I think the following list includes my biggest influences as a writer of songs: Julian Cope, Beatles, XTC, Pete Townshend, Robyn Hitchcock, Television, and The Chills.

DM) What track on this latest work are you most proud of?

ML) Choosing which song from the CD I'm most proud of is a bit tough. I've never written or sung a song like "Lost in this Face" before, and in terms of capturing a mood, performance, and listening experience -its probably the one.

DM) What is your song writing process?

ML) I wish I had a regular sort of songwriting process. Perhaps then I would be a bit more prolific. But instead I tend to let things stew in my brain until they fall out in some sort of order. When at last words do escape the bewildering realm somewhere between the conscious and the unconsciousness, blend and shape them a bit, and work them into chord patterns and melodies I've been working on in the meantime. I never try to force a song to be written, even if I think I've got a potentially good song title.

DM) So the song title can come before the song is complete?

ML) Yeah, it can. . . but not necessarily as a title, as in "here's the theme of this particular ditty"-but rather as a phrase that might come up in the lyric. And it doesn't have to be repeated ad nauseum . At least that's my theory.

DM) Where do you hope to take your music in the future?

ML) To the limit, the max, the top, the whole kit and kaboodle. . . Disneyland. OK, not Disneyland. I guess I'm really very interested in exploring the sound of music-the best possible sonic treatment for whatever songs I write. And the thought of writing music on computer has crossed my mind… that's a whole different kettle of fish of a different horse of a different color. Lots of possibilities there.

DM) If you weren't doing music, what would you be doing?

ML) Writing. . . something. Gardening perhaps. Building my own space vehicle and seeing the solar system up close and personal.