Mike Brandon and L.A. Solano have been in many different versions of The Mystery Lights under assorted monikers since their teens. In a heroic jump from the small town of Salinas, California to NYC, the band solidified its lineup. The explosive live shows gradually became the stuff of legend, as the quintet won their following one fan at a time in dives from Brooklyn to the Bowery. 2016 finds these rock’n’roll knights unleashing their own brand of kick out the jams on tour and a stunning debut album that is captivating, intense and highly accessible… We talk to Mike Brandon about guitar styles, his English roots and Making a Murderer…
TSH: Whilst fleshing out your excellent self-titled release, did you anticipate a certain course?
Mike: We kind of had these songs ready a year before we recorded them; we were very used to playing them around town. Eventually, we got together and created new parts like verses and solos - the album just grew naturally from there on. After a while, the crew form Daptone records brought us into the studio and they had their own things to say about the songs, they suggested some changes here and there, which was cool. We ended up messing a bit with the tracks and just got the structures all pieced together.
TSH: How would you characterise the mood and feel of the record?
Mike: I think it pretty much defines what we sound like as a band right now, it captures the live energy perfectly. I’m really happy that the energy and the raw sound of us playing live is captured on the record. I’d say the mood is rough, raw and not tampered with at its core. I mean the only thing we tampered with was the reverse solo on ‘Follow Me Home’, but that was just good fun man.
TSH: With the wide variety of styles within the record, was it a pleasant outlook to be able to create your own type of themes and have your own stamp of approval?
Mike: Yeah, absolutely. Me and L.A. have known each other since we were kids, we started the band 15 years ago. Growing up we were listening to The Kinks, The Yardbirds, Nuggets and Back From The Grave compilations, as well as the Velvet Underground and Television. We thought let’s start our own band and see what comes out. We never tried to sound like those great bands, it’s just because we were so inspired and influenced by them - I guess that’s why we get compared to them.
TSH: The impetus on guitar certainly defines the raw sound…
Mike: Ah man, in terms of guitar it’s all L.A.; he’s my favourite guitar player of all time. When I was was younger and met him, I admired him, I wanted to be in a band with him and the fact that I am is kinda cool. He’s the guitar genius in the band, I just keep the rhythm. My guitar playing is me hitting the wrong notes and the nasty notes – my style is nastier and a little off...
TSH: In tandem you work so well..
Mike: Yeah, I think we do. I play the Washburn HB35 semi hollow body which carries that bluesy jazzy sort of nice warm sound and L.A. has that nasty twangy Phantom guitar that he plays, he’s the one with all the crazy solos and he’s so impressive.
TSH: For yourself, lyrical ideas come often from your subway journeys, walks and via listening to other songs…
Mike: Yeah, it fluctuates. Usually I’ll have an idea, record a demo on my iPhone and when I take the subway I come up with different melodies and different ideas to sing about. Lyrically, my writing comes from pretty much anywhere. The mood of a song musically often compliments what I’m about to say.
TSH: What was the process like in bringing together the brilliant ‘Follow Me Home’?
Mike: Sometimes I’ll wake up in the middle of the night and I’ll pick up the guitar and play, or I’ll make voice memos and hum them into the phone, which was the case with this song. I have the whole process of the song in my phone voice memo – me humming into the mic, the guitar parts and then the fuzz guitar parts. I wanted it to be a song that includes a nice bluesy clean guitar and a nasty fuzz. The bass fits so well, as well as the reverse solo, the simple drumming and tremolo guitars. I really like the song because it’s a collaboration of all my favourite types of music. It’s The Mystery Lights all in one song, hence it being the perfect single.
TSH: How did you decide on your vocal delivery for ‘Flowers in my Hair, Demons in my Head’?
Mike: Well, whilst forming that track I was at practise one time just playing around, I started doing a flamenco thing on the guitar and I thought about slowing it down and making it ominous and dark. The vocals were so organic at practise, we were messing around with the chords and I started to mumble into the mic and it just made sense to me.
TSH: Was ‘What Happens When You Turn the Devil Down’ the natural choice as album closer?
Mike: Yeah, I thought it was a good closer because that’s what we close with at the shows. That’s why the first track is ‘Intro’, because the way that the record is supposed to be is that it’s supposed to capture the live show, like a setlist intro tune and progress from there on. The album layout is how we play the live show…
TSH: This song was also featured on Viceland…
Mike: Yeah, that was cool. When I watched the episode it was used in I thought it was so weird that the song was played during a strange and slow scene. However, it was nice to see one of our songs used in a TV show show and hopefully more of our stuff will get used. It’s funny because our skater buddy Corey Duffel, who is someone we admire very much expressed interest in one of our songs too. L.A. and I used to learn about new bands watching his skate videos; we were huge fans of him. Anyway, he hit us up one day to use our song too, his company used ‘Too Tough To Bear’ in his skate parks and that was an honour. For me, I was like ‘do you realise the reason we play the music we play is because of watching your skate videos’ – such a cool moment!
TSH: What matters most with the band’s live offerings?
Mike: We want it to be a genuine raw experience for people to see. We don’t ever want to get too good at the instruments. I like hitting the wrong notes, or when the guitar strings beak, when the amp goes out, people trip or a chord gets unplugged. I just want the audience to have a good time; I want them to be empowered when they walk out – a liberating feeling.
TSH: What was it like performing in London recently?
Mike: London was amazing! The Shackelwell Arms was packed wall to wall ready to have fun. Half of my family is from England. My father was born and raised in England and even though my family moved to the States, I was raised very English – we all had accents, but I didn’t. Growing up, the food we ate was English, we did English things and manner-wise I’m very English too. So when I was in England this time, I felt at home, it just reminded me of my grandparents and my dad. You know, drinking pints at an English bar is amazing - there’s’ nothing like it. My grandfather used to tell me when he was 11 years old he’d be drinking pints at the bar!
TSH: You made sure you got some fish and chips too…
Mike: Yeah! We made sure we did. In Brighton we got some fish and chips down by the beach, it was great man. I was raised on fish and chips and mushy peas - it was good to have it form the source!
TSH: What inspires you most about spiritual teacher Ram Dass?
Mike: Ram Dass lives in the moment and that is so inspiring - that’s how people need to live their lives, to stop stressing about the past and future. Once you can truly experience the moment, that’s when the raw energy will come out. His book ‘Be Here Now’ was extremely inspiring and I actually wrote a song with the same title, which I hope to release someday.
TSH: How does the band like to unwind?
Mike: The guys like to go upstate camping to drink some beers and smoke. Skating used to be the ultimate unwinding for me, but now I love watching documentaries. I watched a crazy one lately called ‘Welcome To Leith’ on Netflix. It’s about a little town in North Dakota and this famous white supremacist guy moves in and he starts to try to take over the town and move in other white supremacists. It’s so intense and thought provoking.
TSH: Was ‘Making a Murderer’ right up your alley?
Mike: ‘Making a Murderer’ was amazing! Perhaps they angled it to make Steven Avery look more innocent, but when you research you discover all these other things. There’s so much additional information about why he may be innocent that wasn’t in the show too, stuff like jurors being forced into making their decisions. He has a hot shot wrongful convictions lawyer now, who is apparently going to set him free. Who knows what the real story is. It’s the most interesting and well done documentary I’ve ever seen – I simply can’t believe it’s real either! If he’s innocent, which I don’t even know anymore, that’s amazing and great news. Also, it will be sad given the amount of time he’s spent in jail.
TSH: The Mystery Lights have made impressive strides, what defines your band spirit form here on in?
Mike: I want to keep making real genuine music; we don’t want to ever start making music because we have to. I see a lot of people change their sound to appeal to the mainstream, they get more money or whatever, but we want to keep it real and keep it us. I never want to compromise for the wrong reasons and I hope we keep our creative freedom intact to allow us to make cool music.
