TEMPLEBALL
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ABOUT MIKEY BOLTON aKa: THERIFFMEISTER
Fortunately I was born in 1971 into a musical household, with my father playing in a well known band across the country. Also growing up in our own recording studio environment....16track 1" with 16 Channels of external Dolby noise reduction was pretty happening for the 70's! So from a very early age I was surrounded by musicians and a great deal of Equipment and of course, WIRES! I was encouraged to get involved, even though making tea 'n stuff aint exactly rock 'n roll, from about the age of 5 it was to me!! With my father quitting touring around '77 more time was spent at home in the studio... Of course by this time I started school...Hmmmmm, we won't go into that, but lets just say I would have rather have been at home in the studio!
I learnt to play the various instruments that were lying around at home and in the studio(Guitar,Bass & Drums) and also got more into my own project recordings within the studio.....picking a few guys up along the way from school, we got a band together (Called "what she Said") mainly doing covers of our favourite stuff (The Smiths, The Cult, Talking Heads, The Primitives etc...)after playing gigs in the local area we all just drifted apart as we got older...
By the time I was 16 the studio closed and we turned our attention to the LIVE P.A scene...creating a F.O.H f/x rack from the various outboard stuff from the Studio (including: Rebis gates & comps, Yamaha reverbs and delays, and aces graphics) We got a 3K rig together and was doing all the local gigs in our area. As time progressed the rig just got bigger and bigger, eventually maxing out at 40K of Martin BSX....plus the introduction of Drawmer gates and Comps and industry standard Mics and stuff
One of my oldest and best
friends Eddie Neal used to drive the 7.5 tonne truck (as me been under 25 was a
no go for insurance!) Bob Brewitt came on board and started doing monitors, and
hey I can tell you, we had some fabulous journeys not only across the country
but In our minds too! Mainly down to the thriving Rave scene of the 90's(and the
mind altering substances of course) Which brings us up to around the '95 mark
when I fancied getting another band together! I had been working with a band
called "Incarcerated" recording in the studio and F.O.H live work, and they had
just split up, and Mark Cooper(now with
enemymaker888) was
an outstanding drummer, so we decided to hook up and start jamming. After the
first jam with just drums and guitar we realised that we had something going, so
I called upon FEZ(vocals) to see if he was interested in joining...he came along
and man, we had the start of something good..M.I.A was born. After Nik(guitar)
and Gary(bass) joining the band we soon had a set to take out live....We were
fortunate to have the P.A gear for rehearsals and gigs, so we used to practice
with 5k of sound with everything going into a Soundtracs 24/8/2, with gated
drums and all the trimmings...most rehearsals were recorded as we didn't like
the idea of going into a studio to get "polished up" as they say...we were a
LIVE band with a raw live energy. 
An M.I.A cover Track from the LIVE rehearsal can be streamed here Many
labels were keen to pick us up and a support tour with Pantera was on the
cards...But little did we know that Mark was been primed up to move to another
band with an imminent tour schedule and an established record deal....so he
left! and that was the end of us! We looked for a new drummer but with marks
shoes hard to fill this was a hard task, so in the end we just split up! Very
unfortunate.....
So I got back into touring with bands doing F.O.H live sound, working with bands including Napalm Death , Cradle of Filth , My Dying Bride , SymphonyX , Anathema , Lacuna Coil , Skyclad , Return to the Sabbat/The Clandestined , Torsohorse , Deicide , Akercocke , the list goes on, but there's plenty there for you to view!
Present day I am still doing selected limited F.O.H work due to family commitments, so I am available if it's the right tour, money etc!!!!!!
My new and ongoing passion is recording at home with old friends and guest appearances from artists I have met and worked with in the past. This is an ongoing project and more tracks will feature on the TEMPLEBALL page
I have just re-opened Powerstage Studios , running a PIV 3.4 with 4gig DDR400 ram, 2x M-Audio Delta 1010 soundcards and an Allen & Heath Saber 40/16 on the front end of the DAW....visit the Powerstage Studios link and have a browse around, prices, info, some streaming tracks etc...
Cheers
Mikey Bolton aKa: theriffmeister
If you fancy a collaboration on
some tracks, or just wanna get involved
or visit my
Page Updated 28th September '05 by theriffmeister
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