Name: Mike
Location: Toronto, Canada
Age: 23
What was the first record you bought?
Probably Rage Against the Machine, I lost the liner notes for the album so my brother made me buy him a new copy. But before that I'm pretty sure I shoplifted Guns and Roses - Use Your Illusion 2 from a K-Mart when I was like 9 years old...but I guess that isnt "bought". Ahh to be young and stupid.
Who is your all-time favorite band or artist, and why?
Tool. Why? I just love the sound of the band. So many of their songs are just crafted in a way thats heavy, but also really melodic, lyrically interesting, and so musically accomplished. They just have such a smug, cooler-than-thou attitude towards things...but they basically deserve it. They focus on their art and the music, way more than just their
PR image and keeping up with trends and doing what everyone wants them to do. Ultimately I love them because their music has insane replay value to me, stuff like Aenima, Salival (live album) and Lateralus I can listen to over and over and over, and never get sick of it.
Did someone in your life influence your taste in music?
Probably my older brother. Generally most the bands I managed to be exposed to when I was a kid was through him. I just remember being 8 to like 12 and him bringing home these tapes by bands like Nirvana, Rage, Pearl Jam, Smashing Pumpkins, Led Zeppelin...and thankfully being exposed to good rock music at a really young age. Also I remember being 13 and him calling me long distance from Vancouver and him asking me if I had heard Tool's Aenima yet...I hadnt, so he literally sent me out a copy, and a year or so later I returned the favour when I sent him this new CD called "Ok Computer" by a band he had previously laughed off as crap, Radiohead. Needless to say....we both have pretty big respect for each others musical recommendations now.
Have you met any of your favorite musicians? How was the experience?
Not really. I just don't have that fan allure thing built into me, the music and the concert, is the more important element than the idolotry. My roomate works for a music magazine and constantly meets and hangs out with bands, I just dont have a huge interest in it. He got us backstage passes for Sigur Ros a little while ago, and I just didnt bother to use them, but we wore the passes around to make others jealous.
What was the first concert you went to?
First proper concert was probably Beck on the Odelay tour with Ben Folds Five and Sean Lennon in 1998. It was awesome, he had a huge stage show with ramps and slides and performed so well in front of a huge crowd at a great outdoor ampitheatre.
What was the last?
The Editors, a week ago or so. Saw them a few months ago too. They are like the poppier more accessable crowd friendly version of Interpol to me.
Favorite concert memory?
Seeing Sigur Ros in a wonderful theatre in 2001. They were trying out the music that would later appear on the "( )" CD, and the final songs that night was track 7 and 8 from the disc, their most powerful, intense, stunning and probably best songs.
Seeing and hearing those for the first time was an absolutely astonishing thing, and the audience was totally overwhelmed afterwards. Massive standing ovations, people crying, I just remember looking at my friend in utter disbelief at how good they sounded. It was perfect.
What is the most embarrassing CD in your collection?
Spice Girls - Spice World. Cmaaan, its great pop music.
What are the 5 (only 5) albums that you would bring if you were going to be stuck on a deserted island?
Tool - Aenima
Explosions in the Sky - Those Who Tell the Truth...
Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It In People
Pendulum - Hold Your Colour
Massive Attack Mezzanine
What was the last album that you bought?
bought? as in a store? people still do that? Just kidding. Probably the last Tool album "10,000 Days" which I'm not a big fan of. Before that was Klute's "No One's Listening Anymore"...an awesome two disc electronica/drum and bass album by a very creative and skilled producer....it was fucking $34 too, but its sooo worth it. That one is worth a download for anyone with an interest in that sound.
Is there a band or artist that you cannot stand, why?
Probably 50 Cent. I just think his entire shtick is a joke and obnoxious as hell. His voice is shit, he's completely image conscious and just comes off as someone as manufactured as a boy band, and they brought in good hip hop producers to make beats, slurs through his lines with cliche gangsta rhymes...buddies up to Dre and Eminem for credibility, and then gets someone to paint his image perfectly to suburban america with the full rags to riches, gunshots story. Laaaaame.
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