Mike Baker - guitars, singing, broken crockery
Other Sounds credited to crafty machinery
Influences
Chris Whitley, Prince, Seymour Hersh, SF Bay AM radio in the '70s (Hellooo, Dr. Don Rose!), Outkast, Crowded House, Juliana Hatfield, Elton John before he turned into an MOR zombie, Nevada, Jimi Hendrix, Charlie Watts, Elliott Smith, Tony Visconti, Deathray, Temescal Cafe, Murray Waas
Hi There!
Thanks for dropping by. My name's Mike, and I have a band called Slim. If you'd like to email me directly about anything, just click HERE.
I should probably also mention that you can get Slim CDs at CDBaby. If you'd like to head over there and pick up a copy, please go ahead--it's cool, I'll wait...
Okay, now what do you want to know about Slim?
Well, probably the first thing to say is that Slim is always a little different. I play solo acoustic shows as Slim, and when the full band comes together, we call it the same thing. Confusing but efficient.
I write all the songs and do the singing and guitar playing. I put the band together and recorded our debut album after five or six years of playing strange house parties and stupid coffeehouses, but there are a few other things that probably have more to do with Slim than the late-90s open mic scene in san francisco.
1) When I was growing up, my family would drive from the Bay Area to Idaho every summer. Back in the day, when you crossed the Nevada and Utah deserts, the only radio you could get was this classical AM station out of Salt Lake. In order to keep the kids from beating each other to death, my mom would make up stories to go along with the sonatas and fugues we were hearing. There was one I especially liked about the bloodthirsty Mouse King and his sworn enemy, the Baron d-Con. So I got imprinted with the whole combination of music, empty roads and stories early on.
2) I played saxophone in my high school jazz band. One class, after the bell rang but before the teacher showed up, our guitar player stopped running dom13b9 arpeggios, whipped out a Boss Metal Zone pedal and started playing Back in Black so loud that one of the clarinet players vomited. Before that, it had never occurred to me that you could actually learn songs that the radio played, and play them yourself (I hear that people who are actually cool had this same epiphany with the Sex Pistols--close enough).
3) When I was six, my dad borrowed my record player to listen to one of the 78s (!) that his band had cut back when he was in high school (The Vagabond Five, rockin' the Montpelier, ID metro area from '52 to '55, yo). When he was done, I trawled through his record collection looking for the shiniest, most colorful album cover and played the lp inside, which turned out to be Sgt. Pepper's. Psychedelicized at six--it's hard to recover.
So that's really the most important stuff. I should probably say some more pertinent things about the band (former members of Primus, Counting Crows, 3rd Eye Blind, Mazzy Star, Van Morrison's band), the record (it's called "Interstate Medicine", you can get it at record stores across the U.S. [thanks, Burnside Distribution!], it's on the radio everywhere too), and the live show (real good, sold out San Francisco clubs [Slim's, Cafe du Nord, Hotel Utah, Red Devil Lounge], opened for Colin Hay, Luce, and, um, that Night Ranger dude's son], but I'm soooo bored of that shit.
So I'll just say some more about me.
I play a black strat that some previous owner apparently took a belt sander to in a vain attempt to give it some Stevie Ray mojo, and I often run it through one of those PB&J-sized Marshall amps--perfect for clipping to your belt and chasing the cat through your house with the riff to Crazy Train.
I crank my amps louder than Tom Petty, but not as loud as Cannibal Corpse.
I'm wordier than Jane's Addiction, but not as yappy as e.e. cummings.
I'm taller than Prince, but not as tall as Krist Novoselic.
I write most of my songs while I'm driving, on an ancient Casio keyboard bungee-corded to the passenger seat. This is not safe. Last summer, I got pulled over doing 80 in a 45 because I was so cranked about this chorus I was writing (Casio rock rhythm no.6 is very inspiring!). Then I almost drove off a mountain.
I have rocked crowds of several hundred people with nothing more than an acoustic guitar and a well-timed Britney Spears cover (were they sober? No).
hey whats goin on its jay sinificance again just wanted to swing by your page an show some love an ask you to check out my new single called "hit the club" it already has like 3500 downloads so help me hit 4000 please its FREE.... but hit me back with some feed back thanks -JAY SINIFICANCE
Are you ready for DETENTION? (Aspektz x iLL KidZ) + [Academic Probation] = DETENTION! Open up your books and enjoy this free download. Pass it on to your friends and soak in Toronto's hottest new mixtape!
Check the video out for the first single below. Hit me up with any feedback, I'd love to hear from you.
Hey check out the new songs and watch my new music video, and if you have twitter follow me http://twitter.com/hueymackwoah.. if you want collab/booking information contact thehueymack@hotmail.com
Thanks for the add! Watch out for our debut Album "Tribulations", produced by Joey Z (LOA) release in January! You can preview a few songs on our page, and sign up for our mailing list too. Rock On!!
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Just added some Beatle-ish instrumentals. Happy New Year!!!
