Interview: 5 questions with MIKEI GRAY

Mikei Gray has started band The Frst after playing live guitar with many musicians for the past decade. A review of The Frst will be posted tomorrow, but today we get to know Mikei a little better.

This interview was conducted via e-mail.

"Another One" relates to distracted driving and road rage, less common for song topics; tell us about some other song inspirations?

Well, Cycles was written about the cyclical nature of everything in life- music, fashion, politics, culture. Rules is pretty self explanatory, although it's meant more light hearted than it's often taken.
Ammo is about letting go of the past and more troubling times.

Pawn Shop, while a fun ode to a long standing Rock & Roll tradition of using what you've got around you and having to make it work, is also tribute to growing up in Gainesville, FL. At the time, there was no Guitar Center or anything and Lipham's (the only music store in town) wasn't keen on Punk then, so I spent a lot of time jamming in Pawn Shops with my Dad. He was always haggling them down on some weird guitar that we'd chop up and try to make sound better.

"There is no I in First" but, you are the driving force behind the band; how do you balance leadership with listening?

The nature of the song determines everything; which musicians are going to play on the record, who's going to mix it, etc... Ultimately, the music gets played for a small group of folks that we trust for honest feedback, not 'yes man kinda crap', but it's more about watching reactions and movements more than what people are saying.

What do you like most and least about being based in Nashville?

We wouldn't exist if it weren't for Nashville. Rock and Alternative music are a tightly knit underground community, which plays a large part of what led us to form in The Frst place (pardon the pun). And that in itself really is the best and worst part of Nashville. Okay the CMA traffic maybe the worst, but aside from that.... [Laughs]

You have spent a decade playing guitar for and with other musicians; what are some things that you have learned during that time?
Do exactly what you want to do now, because tomorrow probably isn't going to happen the way you think it will. When it does, it 's a wonderful surprise. Musically speaking, it may only take one song to catch an audience, but if you want to keep them you better have a plan, and fast. Otherwise they'll split because we have every flavor in the world at our finger tips. It's inspiring, but it also raises the bar. Finally, just ride the waves, there's a lot of ups and downs in any musicians career, be happy for your peers and just make music every single day!

What do you bring to the studio?
For the most part we're operating out of our own studio at the Missing i Records office, Jeff probably has to bring the most and that's just an extra snare drum and maybe a few cymbals. The rest of the gear is setup, mic's placed, ready to flip a switch and start rocking. We record everything we play, because you never know when the magic is going to hit, and when it does, it isn't the same on the second pass, (Are you catching a theme here?) so we will frequently stop and rewind and see exactly how a few bars of a jam transpired. 

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It sounds like Mikei is doing exactly what he should be. Tune in tomorrow for more on The Frst!