MJ

I’ve always played in bands. Ever since my first outfit (Broken Strings) took to the sticky stage of The Junction Pub in Birmingham. It was the summer of 1994, I was fourteen and we were genuinely awful. But the ‘fans’ (a hundred or so school mates) were just excited to be in a pub, any pub, so we brought the house down.



But seeing as how we’re reminiscing an’ all, let me take you right back to the start. First guitar lesson - age five. There’s this dim memory of shakily playing ‘Jesus Hands Were Kind Hands’ in a classical guitar lesson. My archaic school still meted out corporal punishment in the form of the paddle, the slipper, the cane and if you were really lucky, the boot. So there I am, doing my best to shred like Slash, while the tutor hawkishly hovers over me with his stick. It was a baton (like orchestra conductors use) and if you made a mistake he'd flick your fingers. It bloody hurt.



Then, somewhere around twelve, I discovered it takes precisely seven seconds to learn a G chord AND it sounded better than anything I’d ever learnt in seven long years of lessons. So I started strumming wildly on that battered old classical (‘Levellers’ etched on the back by my math compass) and soon the original compositions starting flowing. Church songs at first (I was brought up a god-fearing Christian), but then I stumbled across girls and the rest is what you’re listening to right now.



My debut EP is about to come out, but more about that when it's actually does (keep an eye on the blog). In the meantime I’m getting this solo thing up and running with a few gigs, so watch out for shows.



Mostly I’d like you to join the mailing list by putting your email address in the box below. If you do, I promise to send you a free Mike Jack track.



And so it begins.



MJ x