From teenage hits to going solo in your 30s
Balerno’s Mike McKenzie won recognition as Scotland’s best singer-songwriter. This is what he did next.
Mike McKenzie was BBC Scotland’s singer/songwriter of the year in 2019. Since then, he’s released three solo EPs, been played on BBC Radio 2, performed live on BBC Radio Scotland and everywhere from TRNSMT in Glasgow to SoFar Sounds in Paris. He’s just recorded his debut album at Metro 13 Studios, home to Snow patrol, Mogwai and others.
And another milestone is chalked up this week, with the release of his debut album and, from it, his first single. You can listen to the first single on the album here.
But this isn’t McKenzie’s first rodeo as a performer. In 2003, he was a founding member of the young band Jakil who won BBC Radio Forth’s “One to Watch” award, soared up the UK download charts, and sold out gig venues as mere teenagers.
We spoke with Mike about growing up in Balerno, the journey that has brought him back to his hometown twenty years later, and the difference ten years of experience makes when going full time as a musician again.
Inspiration in the sticks:
McKenzie grew up in Balerno, at the foot of the Pentlands, and credits the music department of Balerno High School for his career. “That man is the reason I am doing music,” he says, with affectionate nostalgia, about the music teacher who welcomed Mike and his friends into the department, giving them equipment and rehearsal space which they would never have had otherwise. At first, McKenzie wasn’t even studying music formally, but was encouraged to do Music, Art and Drama.
“It gave us that confidence to consider music as something you can do not just a hobby, or just to give it a try, even if it is a hobby, just for the love of the thing,” Mike said about the atmosphere of the school music department.
But despite Jakil’s huge success, at 21, McKenzie decided to part ways with the group to pursue a “more grown-up” career, writing and producing for other artists. It wasn’t until he was invited to run a cafe with his friend that he had enough time to focus on his own music again.
As well as free time, McKenzie had met his husband by this time; working in music and theatre, the pair encouraged each other to “just do what we love to do.”
Edinburgh’s music scene
With time, McKenzie decided he would perform some of his own songs. But having spent his performance days behind a drum kit at the back of a stage, he had no idea how to perform solo. So, he started doing some homework.
McKenzie spent almost a year skulking at the back of the Wee Pub in the Grassmarket, watching the open mic sessions. When he eventually started playing at open mics, the Edinburgh musical community was opened up to him. “The Edinburgh scene is so amazing and diverse, you get everything from R and B to folk singers,” says McKenzie. He describes the collaborative atmosphere among Edinburgh’s musicians, who will rally together to provide a full band for a musician doing a headline gig. McKenzie says that through helping out other artists he’s performed in venues and with people that he’d never have been connecting with otherwise.
While the Wee Pub no longer hosts open mics, McKenzie talks highly of key live music venues like Sneaky Pete’s, Leith Depot and Leith Arches. The future of these venues is never certain, though.
“A lot of grassroots venues are barely surviving, or haven’t survived,” he says.
McKenzie discussed how the cost of living crisis has created a huge gap between what a musician has to spend to create a live performance, and the price that punters can pay for tickets. This makes it hard for artists to make a living. He has found Creative Scotland funding hugely helpful but is sadly aware of the lack of pennies in that kitty. McKenzie says the best thing that individuals who want to support musicians can do is buy tickets – and preferably in advance. He explains that if not enough advance tickets are sold gigs can be cancelled, and in turn this leads to a negative cycle where folks are afraid to buy advance tickets in case of cancellation, venues cancel, and so it goes on, the negative cycle which creates a lose-lose for venues, performers and audiences.
Finding confidence to be your authentic self
Winning BBC Scotland’s singer/songwriter of the year in 2019 was a huge confidence boost to McKenzie: “I’d gone from figuring out how to play open mics to getting this amazing award in a couple of years,” he says. More than that, the song he won with, “Love Like This” was one of his most personal pieces; about his long distance relationship with the man he later married. This gave McKenzie the confidence to work on his own music, not whatever he felt the industry might expect of him.
He also feels that releasing his solo music in his 30s, he has more confidence in himself and more patience in his approach to his career. Far from burning the candle at both ends to release music as fast as possible, McKenzie is based back in Balerno with his husband and their dog. Sure, he tours a lot, but he maintains a healthy base to come back to and recharge.
McKenzie was also keen not to rush into releasing his first album; but the five years it has taken between winning his award and this year’s release is certainly to do with the pandemic too. Once again, McKenzie sees the value of this delay; it gave him the time to consider who he wanted to be as an artist. His album title says it all about his willingness to go with the flow of life and career: “I’d Wait Again.”
A whole life worth of songs
“They say you have your whole life to write your first album, and I think it’s true- you just have this pile of songs from your whole life,” says McKenzie, laughing about his “shortlist” of 40 songs for his album, which he eventually whittled down to 12.
The selection of tracks, he says, is like a coming-of-age album through the eyes of a 35-year-old. It includes songs about major life events like coming out as gay on Hogmanay at 16 years old, or songs which are addressed to himself, like his first single release “Out Alive.”
McKenzie feels particularly strongly about telling his story as a member of the queer community. He wants to provide the musical representation he felt he lacked as a kid. But he also wants to tell his positive story; he says the song Out Alive is the happily married man speaking to his younger self saying “Don’t worry, you’ll make it out alive.” This positivity comes through in McKenzie’s music too; which he describes as fun, dynamic, and drawing from the mod rockers, the Beatles, Paul Simon and other influences that he picked up from his parents.
We can expect two more single releases before McKenzie’s album release in April. His website will also publish details of a live album launch he’s planning; and I, for one, will be booking my tickets in advance!