MIKE SLAMER – SEVENTH KEY, CITY BOY, STREETS

MIKE SLAMER – SEVENTH KEY, CITY BOY, STREETS Axe Man Gives Update

By Martin Popoff

Frontiers recording artist MIKE SLAMER, originally from the UK but based in LA since 1985, recently gave BW&BK this update on his numerous projects:

“Well, I've just started an album with TERRY BROCK, his solo album, on Frontier Records. Just completing the writing, so you could probably mention that. And yeah, my solo album’s been out for a while, so I don't know if I need press on it now (laughs). And then towards the end of the year, I'm starting a new SEVENTH KEY album with BILLY GREER.”

Do you tour any of these situations?

“We did a couple of gigs in Atlanta with Seventh Key, and then we did the live DVD. And then we played in Germany two years ago, at one of the rock festivals in Stuttgart. I mean, we would like to play live, but it’s just very difficult. Because Billy has his obligations with KANSAS.”

“You know, I'm not really sure,” begins Mike, asked about his particular guitar style that has had him playing with some heavy hitters over the years. “I mean, obviously I'm influenced by anybody who can play well (laughs). But I'm probably just my own guitarist, really. I play for myself more than anything else. I probably appreciate the great guitar players that a lot of people do, so no different in that respect. But I don't listen to it a lot. Because I also write for film and TV, so I'm not really doing rock music around the clock. And when I do take a break I tend to like to get away from music, so that when I come back, I’m fresh. So I don't really spend a lot of time listening to too much material anymore. I'm basically just creating my own for whatever project I'm working on.”

In closing, we asked Mike to sum up the strange and somewhat revered CITY BOY, a major label recording artist through the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, best known for their The Day The Earth Caught Fire pomp rock classic from 1979.

“I don't know, we were just sort of a theatrical pop band, really. I didn't really see us as anything else. We weren't really a rock band, although some of the music was rock, but I wouldn't say that we'd be in a category with QUEEN or bands like that, rockier or heavier most the time. Steve and Lol and Max were all university preppies (laughs), so there was a lot of that sort of artsy elements within the band – call it an artsy pop band, really (laughs).”

See www.myspace.com/mikeslamer or www.billygreer.com for more.