Blame Frank and Hank, if you like. Trini, too.
See, Mike McGill is a computer programmer. A good one ---- one of the few still working on mainframes ("although we're also moving into Web applications," whatever that means). He makes a good living at UC San Diego and enjoys the work. He's a husband and a father as well, the two most important roles that define his life and bring him his greatest joy. But he's also a musician ---- one so enchanted by the muse that he spends dozens of hours atop his regular career and family time practicing and playing out at local restaurants, coffeehouses and cafes, with four shows scheduled this week.
And to hear him tell it, as he did by phone from his home near the San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park last week, it goes back to his mom's record collection ---- specifically the records by Frank Sinatra, Hank Williams and Trini Lopez.
His first musical involvement came while growing up in Connecticut.
"When we were younger, my brother and I were in a barbershop quartet," he said of his preteen years. "We won a citywide contest ---- it was a ball."
His formal music training in his youth consisted of his learning from his sister.
"I always liked singing and stuff, but I never picked up an instrument until the mid-'80s. My sister took piano lessons, and I picked up a few things from her."
The singer-songwriter approach to his music is a direct outgrowth of the popular music he listened to as a teen, he said. "Growing up in the '80s, with the whole big-hair thing going, I always liked Jim Croce, Paul Simon, the storyteller-type songwriter. Although I love all music, that was the kind I really liked." But he was more into sports than music in high school, and so he never really got serious about music until he was out of school and into his career.
"I taught myself how to play guitar, got to the point I could actually play a little bit, but then I started traveling and I put it away," he said of his early forays into music performance. His first marriage had ended in divorce, but when he met his current wife a little more than a decade ago, he brought the guitar back out as a weapon in his courtship. "I started writing corny love songs I could tape and send to her," he said, laughing. It worked, as they were married a few years later and ended up in San Diego County in 1998.
It was only a couple of years ago that he began performing at local coffeehouses. He said he'd been writing a bunch of new songs in his spare time, and it was the existence of those songs that prompted him to go sing in public. "In August of 2005, I finally told myself I have a bunch of songs I want to get out and play," he remembered. "I started playing at the coffee shops around town.
I had been doing that for a month, maybe a month and half, and Lee Coulter and his wife walked in one night near the end of the set." McGill said he and Coulter struck up a conversation between sets. Not knowing Coulter or that he's a well-established presence on the local acoustic music scene, McGill asked him to sit in for a few songs while he took a needed restroom break. "He played three songs and blew me away. A month and a half later, he e-mailed me and asked if I wanted to open for him at Hennessey's ---- and we just became friends."
Coulter helped him record his first CD, and McGill said he's at work on the second, hoping to release it this year.
But he's not looking to get big, doesn't dream of becoming the next Jack Johnson. He's a computer programmer, after all, and a good one. "I really feel for the musicians with the talent, like Lee, who are trying to make it. It's hard. "Luckily for me, I'm doing it for fun ---- if I get paid, it's just a bonus. I'm one of the lucky ones ---- I'm having such a ball with it." - Preview story By: JIM TRAGESER - Staff Writer - The North County Times
Link to The North County Times January 31st, 2008 story
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"File the new CD from Mike McGill under beach-folk-pop.
Not to name names, but if someone were to ask me the question, 'What does it sounds like as far as influences go?' I'd say, 'Equal parts Jimmy Buffet, Jack Johnson, and Don McLean's ÔVincent' mode.' It works in a coffeehouse. It works at a beach bonfire.
This 14-track collection of music was primarily written on acoustic guitar and then built into the mix with supportive arrangements contributed by producer, multi-instrumentalist, and accompanist Lee Coulter, along with Jared Gianquito and Jim Woodruff.
This is a friendly, breezy-sounding work. The songs are good, well-written songs, which possess a charming quality to them by way of their gentleness and simplicity. The melodies are simple and right where they need to be, managing to maintain a sing-along quality. What's most interesting here is the relationship between the writer and the producer in that the writing weaves between the moves of, say, the '70s pop-folk thing and more current trends that are still being defined. The productions are really cool, sometimes leaning toward retro Ñ sometimes leaning forward Ñ sometimes combining both and always finding the perfect middle.
Lyrically speaking, you'll find nuggets of light irony and humor, personal insights and experiences, doses of spirituality, a few good questions, and tender relationships. Thematically speaking, McGill sings along the lines of hope Ñ sort of an inspired 'chin-up' attitude, with a soundtrack evoking seagulls, salt air, five-knot southwesterly on-shore breezes, and the hush of soft surf at the green-flash moment of twilight. It is the CD's common denominator, the thing that threads it together.
And even though there are 14 cuts on here, the running time of each is inside two or three minutes, which is amazing, because I usually think records have one or two too many songs on them, diminishing a certain 'wow-ness' for the overall listen. I kinda get the same feeling when I overeat. I was ready to say that here, but I retract the thought. He gets into the song, does his business, and he's back out. Finding another spot on the beach and another song to sing.
Nobody does that anymore. Cool.
Make yourself a tropical bevy with those little paper umbrellas, sliced pineapple, a curly straw, and ice cubes. Then cheer up, have a nice day, and pop in this Mike McGill CD." - "KEEP ON" CD Review - The San Diego Troubadour
Link to The San Diego Troubadour February, 2007 review
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"Crisp, clear guitar chord patterns brings this track to life. The bass line comes in strong and offers a solid presence along with your first rate lyrical hook. Your vocals add a passionate telling of the consistant tale that mingles advice with soome well placed roles that can offer support on a personal level for listeners. The message is simply crafted yet it carries a big heart on its sleeve and the vocals match the passion of the wording to near perfection." - "Keep it Clean" Song review - TAXI.COM
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"Mike makes it look and sound so easy. His voice, his style and his attitude puts laid back smiles on faces. Never stop playing." - Lee Coulter comment
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"Wonderful work! "Pink Balloons" bravo! Keep it real, keep it alive; in&out of time. Knock em dead in every "ring" placed in and let God guide every step. Keep the music alive and the love for real and always let inspiration have its way with you. God bless." - LeAnna Mosely comment 