This Month's 6 Questions is with Singer/Songwriter Mike Garrigan. You may have heard of one of his 90's modern rock bands Collapsis or Athenaeum, both of whom made marks on the Modern rock charts. Now he's back with his new project, The MG4 (aka the Mike Garrigan band). He was nice enough to sit down with us and let us pick his brain. For more info on Mike Garrigan, check out his Website
A1. No. For me, music isn’t about money. Other than money being a necessity to pay bills and make a few things happen here and there, I generally despise it. If I ever became a mega millionaire, I would want to give most of my money away to people who really need it. Near the end of college, I was headed to law school. If money were my modus operandi, then I would have gone to law school. I got into some really good schools, but that path didn’t seem right to me.
As for my time with Collapsis and Athenaeum, I feel as though both bands got a fair “roll of the dice,” so to speak. Unfortunately, neither band ever really garnered more than minor commercial successes. That’s true. However, there is a sense of pride I feel in the music each band made together. I get several emails a month telling me how much people still love Dirty Wake and Athenaeum (the self-titled record in which I was involved). The fact that both bands made lasting music means more to me than having a flash in the pan. Disposable music creates disposable fans. I can’t seem to get rid of the fans once I win them over. That’s a great problem to have.
A2. R.E.M. and The Beatles are the two bands from which I’ve drawn the most influence. Vocally, I do a lot of the things Stipe does; I learned how to sing by listening to Document (the fifth R.E.M. album) over and over. From The Beatles, I’ve gathered a sense of harmony and song structure.
The biggest influence on my music is my life. One of the things my fans appreciate about my songs is their personal dimension. I have a song called “The Original Pullman Palace Car Dream,” for example, which is a personal musing about a train model in Pittsburgh. Needless to say, I had a lot of free time that day. I also draw influence from what I read. I read a lot. The structures and conventions of four writers (Stevens, Joyce, Palahniuk, and King) have informed most of my writing.
A3. No. I don’t feel much connection with other artists.
A4. MG4 is the moniker for The Mike Garrigan Band. I’ll probably be changing the name of the project to just The Mike Garrigan Four for the next recording project. It amazes me how so many people have a hard time understanding the name, MG4. “What does the MG stand for?” too many have asked.
Yes, there are three familiar faces from past projects, more specifically, from Athenaeum. On drums is Jeremy Cannon, who joined Athenaeum when I did in 2001. On Guitar and Bass are Mark Kano and Alex McKinney, respectively. They were founding members of Athenaeum.
The Mike Garrigan Four is essentially Athenaeum with me singing and handling songwriting duties.
A5. I think a big turn-around is coming in the foreseeable future. Once the record labels figure out how to better regulate the digital domain (downloads, mp3’s, etc…) there will be less of a necessity to sell, sell, sell albums, although that will always be a priority. I think once a manageable system is in place, labels will be able to take more risks by funding stuff that’s not a “sure thing.” It’s embarrassing to turn on MTV these days. Most of the music on there is just awful. I’m glad U2 is being featured, though. The lack of profits from labels has opened another door to artists like me: internet distribution. Last year, I cut all the dead weight from my income chain and set up a way to distribute my own albums via my website with no middle men. It takes me a few hours a day to handle the business, but I don’t mind doing the work myself.
A6. Illegal downloading is unethical. It breaks copyright laws. It’s wrong, any way you look at it. Legal downloading is great. If an artist approves a download or two (like I do on my website), then it’s a great promotional tool. Also, pay peer-to-peer networks like peer impact or pay-for-download sites like iTunes are the way to go.The reason Collapsis was ultimately dropped was because our radio spins weren’t translating into album sales the way they should have. Interestingly, in the summer of 2000, “Automatic” was one of the most shared songs on Napster. If these “shared” files were sales rather than “freebees,” Collapsis would probably still be around today.
A7. Murray, my artist’s mannequin. He and I go way back.
Q1. You've had a pretty steady career of being in bands that grow large followings and brush mainstream sucess but never seem to get the full shot of Limlelight, first with Collapsis and then with Athenaeum. do you feel like you're missing out, or is mega millionaire really not on the top of your "to do" list?
Q2. Who are your influences, musically and lyrically?
Q3. there seems to be a six degrees of seperation thing going on with singer/songwriters these days. you revealed once that you jammed with john mayer, who jammed with glen phillips (formly Toad the Wet Sproket) who did an album with nickel creek, who.. you get the picture. Do you feel a sense of community within these types of circles or is it more just trains passing in the night stuff?
Q4. Tell us about you newest project, MG4. Any familiar faces from past projects?
Q5. What do you think of the music business as a whole right now?
Q6. You offer quite a few downloads on your site for fans, what's your feeling on illegal downloading?
Q7. If you were going to be any inanimate object, what would you be?
Archived by J. Hodge
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