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Quotes 2012.11 - folkworld.eu 2012.09 - Blues Blast Magazine 2012.08 - Blues n Rhythm... UK 2012.07 - Rootstime.be 2012.07 - Crossroads Blues Society 2012.07 - Bluesbytes.net 2012.07 - BluesVan.hu 2012.06 - View Magazine 2012.06 - Smoky Mtn. Blues Society 2012.05 - wasser-prawda.de 2012.05 - BmansBluesReport.com 2012.04 - hamiltonseen.com 2012.04 - Spec 2012.04 - Dave Rubin 2012.03 - TBS 2012.02 - CPR 2012.02 - News Release 2010.01 - Blues-Star 2009.04 - CPR 2008.08 - CPR 2008.01 - The Spec 2008.01 - BluesSource.com 2007.11 - Press Register 2007.04 - Press Register 2006.12 - Press Register 2004.11 - Worchester Mag 1992.02 - The Newspaper 1990.11 - The Spec 1989.11 - The Spec 1986.10 - The Spec 1985.03 - The Spec 1981.09 - The Spec |
ENTERTAINMENT Experienced producer pushes band through first big break The Spectator, Thursday, September 3, 1981 
THE HARDEST part was learning how to relax. For months, ever since his Steel City Blues Band won a UNICEF talent contest at Westdale Secondary school, 17-year-old Mike McMillan had been preparing himself. He knew the day would come when he'd have to pull out all the stops, when he'd be getting his big chance at Grant Avenue Studio. He knew Ian Thomas would be producing a three-song demo. And he knew, just knew, that everything had to be just right. Yet, when be day finally came yesterday, he still hadn't shaken the jitters. "I was a little apprehensive," he said, after the 7 1/2 - hour session was finished. "I had a rough idea of what was going to happen, but when I walked into that engine room it was like walking into a lunar module." Not to worry. McMillan and other Steel City Blues Band members, Greg Simon (bass), Gary Downie (drums) and Greg Brown (harp), found Thomas was a capable studio leader who eventually brought out the best in than. He made sure the rough edges were left on but he eliminated the individual excesses. And he helped make it a day they'll never forget. McMillan, let it be known, was the main reason the Steel City Blues Band ended up in Hamilton's swankiest recording studio. His guitar playing and singing at the talent contest floored each and every judge. 
He had a maturity most 30 year-old musicians only dream about and he fully understood the rationale behind the blues idiom. Reared on the guitar/singing exploits of Johnny Winter (she's been my hero since I was nine") he also has a traditionalist style all his own. The talent contest opened doors for the group a week at Jackson Square, a pub at Mohawk College and a spot at The Festival of Friends and the demo should allow the trend to continue. When it was completed and the final mixing was being done, you couldn't help but be impressed. Thomas had taken a raw and sometimes self-indulgent unit and tightened up the loose ends. Along the way, he had to step on toes, but in the end even McMillan admitted the changes had been for the best. At one point in the after-noon, after nearly all the instrumental parts had been laid down, Thomas suggested McMillan do the vocals on the song, Hanging Around. But the Grade 12 student at Barton Secondary School didn't want to sing. He wanted to add the slide guitar parts instemic McMillan hemmed and hawed, still not satisfied with the order of things. He tried singing, but it wasn't working. Finally tried to call it quits again But Thomas wouldn't budge. 'Tell him to out a guitar on and turn it off," Thomas instructed. "He can play dead guitar while he's singing. It might make him relax more. " That seemed to rectify part of the problem, but McMillan Still had to be coaxed through the vocals. Thomas pushed, McMillan squirmed, but eventually the work was done right. 
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