Mike, Mike and Mike! Meet Mike Leslie Band

There is a new band around town that is already making quite a name for themselves already and are definitely worth your while to check out. The Mike Leslie Band may be pretty new, but they have a fun, psychedelic sound that really peaks your interest. They have a new EP coming out and a show coming up this weekend. We happened to run into 2 of the 3 Mike's last week and not only great musicians, but really nice guys. 

I asked Mike Leslie a few questions about the band and their upcoming show and EP. See what he had to say!

hipindetroit- Mike Leslie Band is a fairly new band. How did you guys get together/meet? 

Mike- Yep the band is Mike Leslie on Guitar/vocals, Mike Parrott on bass/vocals, and Mike Swain on drums/percussion. It was formally formed this past spring/summer. I met Swain from playing in another band called 3 Sheets a little over a year ago. When I needed somebody to help me with my new project, he was the first person I had in mind. He’s also an amazing producer. I’ve been playing with Parrott for years, he is one of the most talented musicians I’ve ever met. We’ve been in a couple of bands together. We drifted apart for a little bit, but when I needed some help with bass and vocals on the project, he answered and delivered his usual 110%.

hipindetroit- All 3 of you are named Mike...is that just a crazy coincidence?

Mike- Lol, yeah those are our actual first names, it’s not a gimmick. Best name ever!

hipindetroit- How would you describe your music to someone that hasn't heard it yet? What are your biggest influences?

Mike- I’d describe it right now as a beautiful marriage between 60’s psychedelic pop and 90’s alternative. But it’s definitely influenced by Detroit soul. It is familiar sounding but I don’t think it’s something you hear too much right now. It’s also really hard for us to stick to one genre. I think as long as the core elements of songs are good, it doesn’t really matter the genre. I could take up a whole page listing the influences but right now I’ll go with The Beatles, Brian Wilson, Elton John, Elliott Smith, Jimi Hendrix, Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Cream, Led Zeppelin, Grateful Dead, Sam Cooke, Stevie Wonder, and many others.

hipindetroit- You guys have done a wide range of covers (nice Benny and the Jets!) and have done a 'Magic Mike Monday Request' video. What is this exactly? How 'Magic Mike' alike are we talking here?

Mike- The Magic Mike Monday Request videos are the Youtube videos we put out on Mondays of us doing song requests. It was started around the same time Magic Mike came out, so I thought it’d be a cool stupid name. We don’t strip, but music is a lot like sex so I guess you can say we are musically stripping. The idea is that anyone can send us a song request, and we choose one for the week and shoot a video of us covering the song. We thought it would be a good way of building a buzz about the band while we were recording our songs, since we didn’t have material to release yet. We got a ton of song requests, and made a lot of videos. It was a lot of fun learning the songs, and even more cool how something simple like that can make someone’s day. We still plan on shooting more videos, we’ve just been crazy busy with other stuff lately.  

hipindetroit- You have a show coming up soon to release your new EP. How many songs? What was the process like getting it together? Where can we purchase it? 

Mike- Yep we have our album release show this Sat. Dec. 8th at the Magic Stick in Detroit. I’ve been watching awesome bands there for years and this will be my first time playing there so I’m insanely exited. The EP’s called Mike Leslie Band EP and there’s 5 songs. We spent the whole summer recording the album at Tapwater Productions in the Elevator Building in downtown Detroit. It was definitely the best recording experience I’ve had. It’s at a real pretty location off of Jefferson between Chene Park and the Renaissance center. It was a lot of fun hanging out Downtown all summer. The album was mixed and mastered by our friend Tyler Duncan in Ann Arbor. All in all I learned a lot through the process and I’m extremely thankful and grateful to all those who have helped out. It will be up on Itunes, Amazon, and all the other places soon. Right now you can buy the album from our website www.mikeleslieband.com or directly from http://mikeleslieband.bandcamp.com/ 

hipindetroit- Tell us about the show Saturday! Who else is playing, where is it?

Mike- This show is going to be epic!!! It’s at the Magic Stick in Detroit. The doors open at 8 p.m. and the first band goes on at 9 p.m. It’s also an all ages show so bring the whole family!! We have our friends Mos Scocious and Marlboro Adams sharing the bill with us. Mos Scocious is an amazingly talented “freak funk” band from Chicago, and Marlboro Adams is an insane high energy Rock band from Clarkston. We’re very grateful to share the stage with them. We will have our album and T-Shirts for sale plus a lot of other free stuff. And they have really good pizza there too! Tickets are only $7!!


Yes, I can agree that the pizza is very good at the Stick! But that shouldn't be the only reason you head down there this weekend. Give the Mike Leslie Band a listen and check them out Saturday! Check out their new music video until then!

~B