Instruments
Bands
Biography
Hello Mike K here, just found this page and thought I would write a little about myself.
I started out, in Thunder Bay, Ontario, a fun place to grow up, but like any small town, the scene was what you made it. I met Mike G in business class where we talked about music, guitar, and eventually started the Project Trash Kitten. I got my very first electric geetar in that band through dubious means. It gave me a chance to collaborate with other people and do some minimal recordings.
I grew up in the country, without cable TV and only had books to keep me company. I started to write, poetry and songs and would strum on the acoustic guitar my aunt had lent me. I had written 4 or 5 songs, and approached ROB B whom was in a few classes of mine, and we tossed around the idea of starting a band. We jammed in his basement for a few weeks (months) trying to find our sound, at first we tried playing some Jane's addiction-esque stuff, which really never worked out. We agreed that indie rock bands like Eric's Trip, Tristan Psionic and other east coast bands was where our hearts were. Simple melodies, poetic lyrics, upbeat stuff that had a positive edge, and was not wallowing in macabre. We then brought Derek into the scene and he was the resident drummer and singer. We started to jam quite often and came up with 5 or 6 songs, that we really liked.
It was around this time, that a great project started up, called the 4th dimension youth club. It became my new home and family for awhile. My memories of this, was during the early stages trying to secure funding, and here I am at 16 in a boardroom with a our local aldermen, Kyle's mom, a rep of the trillium foundation and a few other folks. The 4th dimension was beginning to be a reality. It was a sport where we would always hang out, started to play our first shows, and after awhile we brought in bands passing through town to play at our spot, and a bunch of us local bands would open for them. This gave us bigger crowds and other bands.
It was around this time that the Cheers EP was born, I believe Mike G did the mixdown for this, and we issued limited edition tapes and sold them around the school. I hustled the heck out of them to everyone that I mean in the halls, or at shows. We even made shirts featuring Norm from cheers (Rob B financed the whole thing)
Things were good, Brian Milks was brought into the band, because he was a solid guy and his aptitude for the guitar was much further along in his develop due to his jazz training.
I believe the 4th dimension had moved to the new location and we opened for more bands, and became a 4 piece. After awhile, I got caught up in debauchery and started to miss a few jam sessions and was let go. At the time it pissed me off that the band that I had founded with Rob ended so abruptly. Part of it was debauch and part of it, was I lived in the country, had no license, had to depend on my folks for rides, and often they would not give me rides, so I would have to walk for an hour and a half to the closet bus stop, wait another 40 to 60 minutes for the only bus that came out that far, then another hour to get into town. Needless to say, it wasn't the easiest thing in the world to do.
A few years later stricken with reading too much Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs decided to make my way out west.. it was a very spontaneous decision and I did not get a chance to say good-bye to everyone that I wanted to, but I was tired of small town life, and sought new adventurers in unfamiliar territory. I boarded the old Greyhound and made my way out to British Columbia where I shacked up with a girl from Thunder Bay I met once or twice.
Fast forward a few years, I hitch hiked down the west coast of the USA, into Mexico and into Guatemala, just meeting people, finding out the distinctions between people from different countries and walks of life, was very interesting to hear a little girl coo at her pet tarantula in Mexico, whom she had to hide, because her mother hated spiders, and would always try and kill it, so she would whisper at it, and try to set it at ease.
Rewind, before I left the bay, i got my introduction to electronic music at a little party called "Deep" an under the water themed event. I started to think there was something to this electronic music scene.
In my travels i settled down in Banff Alberta/Lake Louise for about a year, where I started to DJ with some laptops and some gear, and we partied all over Alberta. I moved back to Vancouver and bought a bunch of turntables and CDJS and started to play for myself, just developing technique and my sound.
I started to play at Urban Lounges, and a few upscale restaurants, where I would play a subdued sample laced acid/mushroom jazz, with allot of UK elements, such as soulful hiphop and Ninjatune samples. This went on for about 2 years, when I got bored of DJing, went to Art school for 2 years, and started to work in the Vancouver Video Game Industry.
Video games are huge in BC, Vancouver and the lower mainland has the highest per capita studio ratio in the world. I worked on a few games at Backbone Entertainment for the Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS. It was fun, but my heart was not in a studio slaving 4 hours a day overtime and never getting paid for it (thanks EA)
So i left, worked odd jobs, like I always have, and started to work on my own MMORPG, set in a 2d world, that is both early final fantasy and Zelda based, cutsey cartoony, but with dark over tones, and modern MMORPG elements, such as a action battle system, magic system, player economy, player housing and other cool things. Kingdom Of Auspiex Online.
Fast forward late 2008, I own a few successful online businesses with computers (surprised? me with computers?? I only ran one of the first thunder bay BBS's, whats a bbs? yo to young) and continue to develop my own projects, I also teach at an art school in their game development department, and continue to write songs and music using Pro-Tools.
I am super busy, with 3 jobs, and my own business, plus an RPG hobby, but life is rad. I live in the 2nd best neighborhood in all of Canada (Kitsilano) 1 block from the best beach in Vancouver, in a dope pad. I work super hard, but there is something mystical about Vancouver..
Douglas Coupland calls Vancouver the city of glass, and it is. The entire downtown core is all glass buildings, glittering in the mist, like diamonds under an appraises magnifying glass. You will all see what I mean when the 2010 Olympics happen here, and if you look closely, you might see me representing at the opening and closing ceremonies.
If anyone wants to contact me, feel free auspiex@hotmail.com or I am on Facebook as well.
I know I am leaving tons out, but I am rambling at 2 Am after getting nostalgic about the good ole days, and big ups to the tbay scenesters, scallywags and people i know or don't know..
cheers
mike k nov 23 2008