Born in London in 1957, raised and educated in Holyhead on the island of Anglesey, North Wales, UK, Mike has been involved and interested in music from a very early age, listening to a diverse variety of music on records and radio (Caroline and Luxembourg etc) and singing in award winning choirs in his primary years.

 

In the early 1970s, influenced by the rock, pop and progressive bands inherent of his generation, Mike formed his first band at the age of fourteen, with drummer Anton Charles-Hughes (who later went on to play with the Thompson Twins in their pre-commercial years). At 15 Mike was invited to play lead guitar with ‘The Escorts’, a 4-piece close harmony cabaret/club band, which was very popular at that time on the North Wales circuit. Members of the band included brothers Alan and Harry Chandler on vocals/rhythm and bass guitar, with ‘Big G’ (Gareth Roberts) on drums.  They played popular covers of the day, and as Mike recalls - ‘it was an education playing the clubs and pubs with no-holds-barred in some venues - never a dull moment!’

 

On his 16th birthday Mike went off to London where he played with the myriad of musicians found in the city - busking his songs on the Underground by day and jamming with a variety of musicians through the night in such places as The Old Marquee Club in Dean Street and Camden Lock.  Mike recalls these happy days in his song ‘Denmark Street’.

 

On his return to Anglesey, Mike, with friend and vocalist Bryn Jones, embarked on a new band ‘White Savage’ - a 5-piece rock pop band with 2 drummers.  Dave Stephenson providing the rock drive and Bob Williams giving his jazz flavour enhancing the band’s dynamics, with John Haynes supplying a solid bass.

 

When ‘Savage’ split, Mike formed ‘Hammer’.  This was a 3-piece original cover rock band with Dave Stephenson on drums and John Haynes on bass.  They played regularly at The Beach Hotel Treaddur Bay, Rhosneigr Bay Hotel and Three Acres (Cefn Dref) - popular with bikers, and also Plas Goch, a popular venue for bands from around the UK.  ‘Hammer’ was the first band Mike recorded with, recording 6 tracks in a weekend at Siane Studios, Caernarfon, famous for Welsh singer/songwriter Dafydd Ieuan.   After ‘Hammer’ had run its course, Mike continued writing, and was invited to a recording studio to contribute his track ‘7th Sister’ on an internationally released album where he and the band went under the name ‘Cry Wolf’.

 

In the early 1980s, a 6-piece pop rock band ‘Factice’ was formed with Bryn Jones on vocals, Big G on drums, Huw Peters and the late Tony Strode on keyboards, Nick on bass and Mike on lead.  They played successful local gigs as well as in Liverpool, and though there are only garage recordings of ‘Factice’ , it is Mike's view that the band had great potential, and that one track in particular - ‘Life in the Pond’ remains timeless.  

 

 In the mid 1980s Mike and Huw Peters formed ‘Low Profile’ - a 4-piece recording band fronted by Mike on guitar and vocals, Huw Peters on keyboards, Howel Lloyd on drums and Rav (Darren Roberts) on bass.   ’Low Profile’ was an active original recording performing band throughout the 1980s producing 2 original albums - ’The Prophet’ and ’Minute after Midnight’, and single ’Dig for Dirt’ backed with ’Jack and Jill’, which had radio airplay and could be heard on juke boxes around the UK.  ’Low Profile’ had significant media interest with one critique referring to them as the ’Welsh Beatles’ for their ‘diverse song-writing skills, melodic instrumental talent and close harmony from drummer Howel Lloyd‘.

 

Through the 1990s, after ’Low Profile’. Mike buried himself in the studio  writing relaxation, commercial and incidental soundtrack music, apart from a brief spell with ’A Day for Alice’ - a 4-piece band fronted by Lucy Appleton on vocals (later Caren Roberts), with Anton Chares-Hughes on drums, Huw Peters on keyboards, Rav on bass and Mike on guitar. This was an interesting combination producing original pop rock music, regarded by some to be similar to B52’s with a hippie trance fusion. 

 

In the latter part of the 1990s, Mike returned to acoustic guitar song-writing, recording folk rock blues tracks accompanied by Clive Garrad on congas.  With the success of his acoustic writing, and wider audience via the internet, Mike, also known as Museman, was invited to Bodrum, Turkey, playing to both English and Turkish audiences.  He wrote ’Bodrum Seniseviyorum (Bodrum I love you) which he performed live on radio stations, and to the delight of enthusiastic listeners he subsequently returned with a full recorded production incorporating the Saz - a traditional Turkish musical instrument.

 

Following further gigs in New York and New Jersey, Mike returned to his beloved Isle of Anglesey where he continues  his writing and recording.  In 2006 Mike played saxophone with ‘The Comancheros’ - a 4-piece original rock band with gigs at local venues around Anglesey and in North Wales.  He then decided to add the saxophone to his singer/songwriter recordings, incorporating the saxophone within his more recent song ’As One We Breathe’ from the album of the same name.

 

With the release of his latest ‘ITunes’ track ‘Hey Teacher’, 2009, Mike returns to his raw 3-piece electric rock sound with a tongue-in-cheek vocal and soaring melodic classic guitar sound.