Check out Mike’s new album - ‘how many rivers’

Mike left school at 15 and took a job with the S.E.G.B. in Croydon but all his spare time was taken up playing singing and practising, and it wasn’t long before he formed a duo, “The Sundowners� with a lead guitarist, Mike Benstead, who lived nearby. Together they played the local youth club dances, performing Shadows instrumentals and covering the hits of the day. At the age of 17 Mike joined “GLEN ATHENS & THE TROJANS�! The Trojans were big news in Croydon in 1962; they had a fan club and a manager! It didn’t take long for the Trojans to discover that Mike could cover for the band as a soloist if anyone broke a string or needed a ‘natural’ break.

A couple of years later Mike, along with the TROJANS’ drummer, Ray Cummings and bassist, Dave Coleman, left the band and formed, “THE LIGHT�! It was with this line-up that Mike developed a taste for the blues, which has stayed with him to the present day. The music of Jimmy Reed, Muddy Waters, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Josh White, Nina Simone, Big Bill Broonzy, came marching into his life and took up residence. Another major influence was a South London ‘cult band’ The Preachers, who had a wonderful lead singer called Terry. Mike always said that Terry had more soul in one note than most singers had in their whole range! Also at this time Mike was loaned the first album from Bob Dylan. This opened up a huge vista of music of which he had not been previously aware. The desire to write his own songs had been present in Mike since he’d begun playing. Dylan and the guitarists and songwriters who followed him into the public eye were the fuel that Mike needed to begin the process. Mike’s motive was to become recognised for his own compositions rather than performing well known songs by other writers.

Leaving London at the age of 19 Mike wound up in Kent, back home with his parents, who had moved down there one or two years before. He joined a band called the Sheridans, with Trevor and John Jones and one of the guys who used to come and hang out at rehearsals persuaded Mike to go to Canterbury Folk Club one evening. It was here that Mike heard the playing and singing of Gerry Loughran for the first time and it was a life changing experience. It was the first time Mike had seen someone playing finger-style acoustic guitar, producing bass, rhythm and lead with just one instrument, whilst singing at the same time. Gerry who died in 1986 was, without doubt the single most powerful influence on Mike’s music and how he wanted to use the acoustic guitar to play it. That influence is the reason that he is still playing and still loves music of so many kinds today. In his own words Mike says, “Gerry was the guy that showed me where my heart wanted to live and then gave me the inspiration to try for it.�

Bringing this up to date, many reviewers (see the Real Roots Café review) have mistakenly thought that Mike underwent classical vocal training. Mike is self taught, the sum of his musical tuition, apart from a music teacher at school, who (Mike would tell you) saw his main role in life as one of putting pupils off music rather than becoming involved in it, is three guitar lessons at the age of 16 from a teacher in Croydon and three years later, two sessions with a chap named Guerney, from Whitstable in Kent, who showed Mike the rudiments of claw-hammer finger-style guitar!

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