Funky lines that take you back to the good old times of this music. Improvisations to satisfy the most demanding among you! Read our interview with the amazing Mike Gotthard below!
Describe your sound in three words please!
Power, emotion and soul.
9 Wheels and most of your other songs have a vibrant, funky rhythm. Where do you draw your inspirations from?
I came from blues and rock music. When I was a child, I always listened to these kinds of genres. For me, funk is basically blues, so I started to mix my funk and blues influences with jazz elements.
That’s where I started. But as I go down the road we call life, I meet new inspirations almost every day, so it’s a never ending learning cycle I guess. I really enjoy listening to every kind of music.
You have experience from touring around. We’d love to hear a memorable story from your travelling days, if possible.
In 2017, we had a Russian tour with The Electric Shock. No day off, basically no sleep. 🙂 Before the last gig my alarm didn’t ring and we almost missed our plane because of me.
The receptionist couldn’t tell my room number, so the guys had to figure out where I am… Of course finally we caught the plane. I was very angry with myself in the taxi, but now when I look back, it’s actually really funny.
You come from a musical family. Did your family encourage you to become a musician, given the difficulties young artists face these days?
Absolutely! I got all the support from my parents and my whole family. My dad used to play bass in a couple of bands, so I started my first band with him. They’ve been supporting me ever since I was a little child.
What characterises the Hungarian music Jazz scene nowadays?
I think it’s quite good. Here in Hungary, we have lots of great jazz musicians and jazz bands, year- round clubs and in the summer more and more jazz festivals. I mean when everything’s normal, not when there’s a lockdown.
Did you hear any good albums recently?
Yes, a lot. Let me share with you some of my new favorites:
John Scofield – Swallow Tales, Vardan Ovsepian – Tomorrow is Yesterday, Shai Maestro – Human, Joe Lovano – Garden of Expression.
Should we expect an album in the near future?
Yes. 9 wheels is the first single from my upcoming new album featuring a lot of great musicians from all around the world. The official video will be out in the middle of March,
make sure you subscribe to my YouTube and Facebook page for that, and I’ll continue to record the rest of the songs, so the album can come out at the end of the year or early 2022. It already features Gergo Borlai, Anton Davidyants, Hadrien Feraud, Kornel Fekete-Kovacs, Daniel Szebenyi, János Nagy, Martin Gudics, Marcell Gudics and will feature many more.
How as the pandemic influenced your productivity , if at all?
I try to do my best. I practice as much as I can, work on my new solo record, and the first Electric Shock album and lots of new stuff, so I try to spend my time most usefully.
Thanks Mike!
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