Recorded in NZ with Evan Short 2013 at both of our houses, mine had a spare room and his had a studio. I played a borrowed Jaguar and one of Evan's basses, brother Dan on drums. Super fun.

Until The End

Coming out of Hawaiian Islands I wanted to see if I could write a song with no loud part, no screaming or yelling, no cymbals even. There is one open hihat in the whole song, if you listen for it. It's a 2013 Evan short recording in NZ at both our houses, I used a borrowed Jaguar from my brothers mate, one of Evans basses and little bro Dan was on drums. Was going for a Kim Deal bass feel...she is one of my favs. Always so tasty! 

Easy Come Easy Go

Another 2013 recording with Evan Short in NZ. I was really trying to push my voice and song writing and see what I could do with it...writing something that was dark and kind of heavy without resorting to screaming or sounding metal or loud washy cymbals. It was a song where I tried to write the drum part as the hook in the chorus, and make the song feel tense the whole way through. Lots of fun to make and I still like hearing it. Super different to anything I ever tried before.

Paint It Black

Recorded in NZ 2013 with Evan Short, I did all guitars and bass and vocal parts, my little bro played Drums. My old band Hawaiian Islands was fading out of my mind and I wanted to make some new music and not rely on old habits. I swapped a 1998 Gibson SG Special for the recording time, which I had bought from Evan in 2000 I recall, his condition of sale was that I never sell it to anyone but him. I used a Jaguar on all these sessions, I loved it. This song was an attempt to write a rock song but not use heavy handed tactics. It was tricky to come up with movement only adding layers, and not just making the drums default to loud cymbals for the lift. Also when I wrote the main verse riff, I immediately thought "I'd never make a song out of this" so I knew I needed to use it.

Your Bones

I had just gotten a great Les Paul, and used a strat for the main guitar part and the Les Paul for the leads. Never tried to write a classic rock song before, was vibing on Keith Richards/ Hendrix/ Brian May pretty hard hahaha...2010 I recorded this I think.

Dark Before The Dawn

Got my hands on a tele, used a funny tuning, had some fun trying to get Keith as I could.

Heart Of Stone

I had a melody maker and it really sounded like a classic LAMF guitar sound....so I tried to go for a late 70s rock n roll vibe, sleazy and grimey. Zebra humbuckers. Johnny Thunders rad loose lead playing is still some of the most exciting to me.

Stay Clean

Probably 2000 or 2001 recorded with Matt Short at his house. It's still one of my favourites. I had the chords/ guitar melody and I did the vocals freestyle, which worked this time haha. Matt added the slide guitar parts and the bass line, working with Matt was great, he always had cool ideas to add to the mix. It was a really creative time. We were both on the dole just making songs everyday...a couple of years later we'd be in LA, show-casing for Jimmy Iovine and Interscope records. 

She's A Woman

This is a cover of John Lennon.....have a fun holiday everyone....I had fun for an hour this afternoon recording this cover. I became enamoured with this song last night.

Instant Karma! cover Mike T

Today is the anniversary of Johnny Thunders death. 23 April 1991.
His album LAMF is the greatest punk rock n roll album of all time.


Mike Tea