Mickey Lyxx | Matt Connarton Unleashed

0:00 Speaker 1: I didn't want to talk over the end of that

0:01 Speaker 1: that that echo at the end is so cool. That

0:03 Speaker 1: is Persepolis. If I'm saying that correctly. I think I

0:06 Speaker 1: said it wrong earlier. And the artist is Mickey Licks

0:08 Speaker 1: and we've got him on the line with us via WhatsApp.

0:12 Speaker 1: Mickey are you there?

0:14 Speaker 2: Yeah? I am here.

0:14 Speaker 1: Hell are you good? Good, Welcome to the show. I'm

0:16 Speaker 1: excited to talk to you. I love that track. I

0:19 Speaker 1: love I listen to a whole bunch of your stuff

0:21 Speaker 1: online on Spotify. It's all all really good. But that

0:25 Speaker 1: is that is that is fantastic? I am I saying

0:28 Speaker 1: it correctly? Perseis?

0:31 Speaker 2: Yes?

0:31 Speaker 1: Okay, well let's start with the really obvious question regarding that.

0:34 Speaker 1: What does that mean?

0:36 Speaker 2: So this song is written about the ancient city and

0:39 Speaker 2: or on.

0:40 Speaker 3: Okay, the theme I've been taking with my music is

0:44 Speaker 3: just writing about history.

0:46 Speaker 2: Oh love history.

0:47 Speaker 3: So for me, you know, when writing this song, I

0:50 Speaker 3: wanted to write about something agent, but I didn't want

0:53 Speaker 3: to go so obvious.

0:54 Speaker 2: I wanted to tell a story that was maybe not

0:57 Speaker 2: so told.

0:58 Speaker 1: Okay, okay, interesting, Yeah, because I noticed Sue from you know,

1:03 Speaker 1: watching your videos and watching the video for that it definitely, Uh,

1:09 Speaker 1: has that, you know, in terms of the imagery, has

1:10 Speaker 1: that vibe. I was thinking about it too, you know.

1:12 Speaker 1: I I'm old enough to remember, you know, when I

1:14 Speaker 1: was growing up and MTV was still a thing. You know,

1:17 Speaker 1: sometimes major artists would make these these uh, these videos

1:21 Speaker 1: that look like they cost a million dollars to make.

1:23 Speaker 1: And now with the technology that we have, you know,

1:26 Speaker 1: you can do something that looks like it costs a

1:28 Speaker 1: million dollars. But but obviously it didn't. But uh, but

1:33 Speaker 1: the video, I guess that's my long winded way of saying.

1:36 Speaker 1: The video for that is really cool and I definitely

1:38 Speaker 1: think it it goes with what you're trying to put

1:40 Speaker 1: across with the song. And now that that's cool that

1:44 Speaker 1: you that you write from a specific because I too,

1:47 Speaker 1: I noticed, like you, you know, you've got a song called

1:49 Speaker 1: Gates of Buddha, for example. I notice you seem to

1:51 Speaker 1: to write from that perspective of wanting to do something.

1:55 Speaker 1: I don't know who else does that necessarily, at least

1:57 Speaker 1: as consistently as you are writing about his story with

2:01 Speaker 1: their music. But I think that's really interesting.

2:04 Speaker 2: Well, thank you, I appreciate it. I mean, it's for me.

2:06 Speaker 3: History is one of my biggest passions besides music, of course,

2:09 Speaker 3: so it's really fun to combine it to right.

2:13 Speaker 1: No, that's great, that's great. Now who is that singing

2:15 Speaker 1: on that? Because I noticed it. It looks like that's

2:17 Speaker 1: someone you collaborate with a lot, right the vocalist on that?

2:20 Speaker 3: Yeah, so that's Jill Joya. She was in Trance hiberianal Chestra.

2:25 Speaker 3: She was on CBS's rock Star with Tommy Lee.

2:28 Speaker 2: Oh she sank back up for like a million artists.

2:31 Speaker 2: I think, like Anya third, I've blind. I think the

2:35 Speaker 2: list goes on.

2:36 Speaker 1: Okay, So she's a heavy, heavy hitter. She's a serious person.

2:39 Speaker 1: How did you How did you come to work with her?

2:41 Speaker 1: How did that come about?

2:42 Speaker 2: Uh?

2:43 Speaker 3: Well, crazy enough, she's actually my stepmom, so I'm no kidding.

2:47 Speaker 2: It works out really nicely.

2:49 Speaker 1: Oh that's perfect. Yeah, yeah, that's fantastic. So, uh, you

2:54 Speaker 1: I assume you grew up you grew up in Wang Island?

2:57 Speaker 1: Is that correct?

2:58 Speaker 2: Yes? I grew up a long island still here?

3:00 Speaker 1: Okay, excellent, And so obviously you grew up surrounded by musicians.

3:04 Speaker 1: I assume yes, that is true. Okay, very good. So

3:07 Speaker 1: when did you start playing guitar because I suspect you

3:10 Speaker 1: started at a really young age.

3:14 Speaker 2: I actually didn't. I started at twelve.

3:18 Speaker 1: Twelve, okay, fairly young.

3:19 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, fairly young, and then just kind of went

3:22 Speaker 2: from there.

3:23 Speaker 1: Yeah. Is it something that you picked up quickly?

3:27 Speaker 3: I would say, I mean, it's it's in the family.

3:30 Speaker 3: So I think for me, it just kind of came

3:33 Speaker 3: a little bit more natural than other things. Sure, you know,

3:36 Speaker 3: not everything for everyone is easy, right, So it's like

3:39 Speaker 3: certain things you try, you just just it just doesn't

3:41 Speaker 3: play right right, you have to really try.

3:43 Speaker 2: But with a guitar, I found it. It really sat

3:47 Speaker 2: comfortable with me.

3:48 Speaker 1: Yeah, no, that's that's great. I wish I had been

3:51 Speaker 1: like that. So when I was a kid I started

3:53 Speaker 1: out on guitar, I took guitar lessons, but unfortunately I

3:56 Speaker 1: was one of those lazy kids that if I wasn't

3:58 Speaker 1: good at something quickly enough, I would give up on it.

4:01 Speaker 2: So I think we all have that.

4:05 Speaker 1: With some things. Yeah, but that's how I ended up

4:07 Speaker 1: being a bass player. And bass players hate when I

4:10 Speaker 1: say this, but it's just the truth. So I got discouraged.

4:13 Speaker 1: I kind of hit a wall. I plateaued with guitar.

4:15 Speaker 1: But then when I picked up a bass for the

4:17 Speaker 1: first time, which really wasn't until high school, I was like, oh,

4:20 Speaker 1: two less strings and I don't have to know any chords.

4:23 Speaker 1: I think I found my instrument and then I and

4:25 Speaker 1: then I ended up playing in a bunch of bands

4:28 Speaker 1: and everything playing bass. But I turned out to be

4:30 Speaker 1: kind of okay at bass. But but I so I

4:33 Speaker 1: always admire and respect people who have the discipline to

4:36 Speaker 1: start an instrument and then you know, really see it

4:39 Speaker 1: through and get get really really good at it when

4:42 Speaker 1: you started at twelve years old, was your goal to be?

4:45 Speaker 1: I don't know if shredder is maybe an outdated term

4:47 Speaker 1: or maybe it's not, but was.

4:50 Speaker 2: That always really uh what you know? Because so I

4:55 Speaker 2: grew up playing ice hockey.

4:57 Speaker 3: Yeah, so guitar was never my passion until maybe I

5:02 Speaker 3: was fourteen, Okay, Like so for me, I was like, oh,

5:05 Speaker 3: this is just fun, but I'm still playing hockey. Yeah,

5:09 Speaker 3: and then but I got you know, I got injured.

5:12 Speaker 3: Time happens. And then the more I played guitar, the

5:15 Speaker 3: more I fell in love with it. And you know,

5:17 Speaker 3: growing up, my dad was a shredder. Okay, he's been

5:21 Speaker 3: like he's raised on that stuff.

5:23 Speaker 2: You know, he's he's he's my inspiration for that cool.

5:27 Speaker 2: So it was in the house and then uh I just.

5:31 Speaker 3: Kind of as my journey went along, I started just

5:34 Speaker 3: doing more shred stuff and really fall in love with it.

5:37 Speaker 3: But I did grow up on stuff like Van Halen

5:39 Speaker 3: where it's it's not technically shred, but you know it's

5:43 Speaker 3: rock playing. But then I would listen to the bands

5:46 Speaker 3: like Santa Cruz or Falling in Reverse, which at the

5:49 Speaker 3: time the guitar players were shredders.

5:52 Speaker 2: Yes, and you know you hear that and it's just

5:55 Speaker 2: like ooh.

5:56 Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. Who's who? Who would you say is

6:00 Speaker 1: your biggest I mean, obviously your dad is a big

6:02 Speaker 1: influence on you in terms of that, but like, who

6:05 Speaker 1: would you say? You know you mentioned van Halen like

6:07 Speaker 1: you is there is there kind of a someone who

6:10 Speaker 1: stands out above all of them in terms of influence.

6:15 Speaker 2: Uh?

6:16 Speaker 3: Well, I think as a lot of guitar plays, I

6:18 Speaker 3: think Eddie is always the main. Without Eddie, none of

6:23 Speaker 3: this is possible, at least I don't think.

6:26 Speaker 2: So.

6:26 Speaker 3: I don't think a lot of this goes this far

6:30 Speaker 3: besides Eddie because I feel like he's always the big choice.

6:34 Speaker 2: I have a few I have.

6:36 Speaker 3: I talked under Jackie Vincent for about two years okay

6:41 Speaker 3: from Falling Reverse, and he's he's just a super nice dude,

6:47 Speaker 3: great player, great musician. Him, Paul Gilbert, I was always

6:52 Speaker 3: big on Oh okay Veay Moldstein.

6:55 Speaker 2: Of course. Yes, I got to learn from.

6:58 Speaker 3: Him a bit because I did a uh tour opening

7:01 Speaker 3: for him last summer.

7:03 Speaker 2: Really and yeah yeah, and it just got you know,

7:06 Speaker 2: get to see him play every night, and it's just like, Okay,

7:10 Speaker 2: this is serious.

7:11 Speaker 1: Wow, Wow, that's really cool. It's funny. I remember growing up,

7:16 Speaker 1: my friends and I used to argue about how what

7:17 Speaker 1: the correct way to pronounce his name.

7:19 Speaker 2: Is, like a few ways.

7:26 Speaker 1: No, that's really cool though, that you got to tour

7:28 Speaker 1: with him. Who so, so who else have you? Well,

7:30 Speaker 1: how did you so Jackie Vincent? You said, like, is

7:33 Speaker 1: he kind of a mentor to you? It sounded like

7:35 Speaker 1: it sounds like you have to spend a lot of

7:36 Speaker 1: time with him, right.

7:38 Speaker 3: Yes, uh so I took lessons with him for a

7:41 Speaker 3: long time. Okay, but not only just being a student,

7:45 Speaker 3: just being friends. Like he's a he's a super cool dude. Yeah,

7:49 Speaker 3: he came on to one of my tracks and did

7:52 Speaker 3: like a guest solo. Wow, And yeah, he's honestly, he's

7:57 Speaker 3: just a sweetheart and just really helped develop what I was,

8:01 Speaker 3: you know, going for.

8:02 Speaker 1: Sure sure in terms of you know, learning how to play,

8:08 Speaker 1: how to play fast, how to shred? I mean, what

8:11 Speaker 1: what's kind of the most important thing? Because I've always

8:13 Speaker 1: so for me as someone who who can play a

8:16 Speaker 1: little bit of guitar. But like I said, I told

8:18 Speaker 1: you my my journey with that and how derailed it

8:22 Speaker 1: it became. But I've always been under the impression the

8:26 Speaker 1: best way to do it. Tell tell me if this

8:28 Speaker 1: was your experience is you just learn. You just learn

8:32 Speaker 1: everything technical that you can, and then you just what's

8:36 Speaker 1: the expression, I've heard different variations of it, but slow

8:39 Speaker 1: as steady, steady as fast, meaning first you learn how

8:43 Speaker 1: to do it, like anything that you learn in life.

8:45 Speaker 1: First you learn how to do it correctly. Don't worry

8:48 Speaker 1: about doing it fast, just worry about doing it right

8:51 Speaker 1: and doing it as efficiently and effectively as you can.

8:54 Speaker 1: And then speed just comes. Speed comes over time once

8:58 Speaker 1: you learn how to do it. Correc and my my

9:02 Speaker 1: assumption as someone who never learned how to shred? Is

9:05 Speaker 1: that that's how you learn how to shred? First you

9:07 Speaker 1: learn how to play as you know, all the technical stuff,

9:10 Speaker 1: and then the speed comes over time Or Am I

9:13 Speaker 1: wrong about that? Are there specific techniques that that you

9:16 Speaker 1: have to use to learn to play fast?

9:20 Speaker 2: No?

9:20 Speaker 3: I think that's perfect. I think it's exactly that. You

9:23 Speaker 3: have to build it, right, Yeah, you don't just get

9:25 Speaker 3: from zero to one hundred.

9:26 Speaker 2: Yeah, you know you have.

9:27 Speaker 3: You have to think of it like even if you're

9:29 Speaker 3: driving a car, right, if you want to get on

9:31 Speaker 3: that gass, it's a it's a you know.

9:33 Speaker 2: Yeah, it takes a build up. Yeah, it doesn't just

9:36 Speaker 2: go from zero to one hundred. But uh. The only

9:40 Speaker 2: like thing I usually say for people who want to

9:43 Speaker 2: get into.

9:43 Speaker 3: It is, well, one, you have to be friends of

9:47 Speaker 3: the metronome, even if even if it's annoying, you have

9:51 Speaker 3: to like it.

9:52 Speaker 2: It is what it is. You'll be hearing it for

9:53 Speaker 2: the rest of your life, right.

9:54 Speaker 1: Uh.

9:55 Speaker 3: Two, if you're gonna get into the shred guitar stuff,

10:01 Speaker 3: the most important.

10:02 Speaker 2: Thing to learn is scales.

10:03 Speaker 3: Okay, because most of what it is is scales. Yes

10:08 Speaker 3: I shouldn't say most, but a lot of it is scales.

10:12 Speaker 3: It's combining scales, using multiple just doing maybe three or

10:16 Speaker 3: four notes from one scale.

10:19 Speaker 2: It's all about that.

10:21 Speaker 1: Okay.

10:21 Speaker 2: So if you want to be able to really rip,

10:23 Speaker 2: that's your founded.

10:24 Speaker 1: True Okay, Okay, that's good advice, good advice. And so

10:30 Speaker 1: tell us about so the first single, Defiance that was

10:33 Speaker 1: the debut single, right, your first single that you officially released,

10:35 Speaker 1: and then that that did really well, right ten k

10:38 Speaker 1: plus on YouTube? And I mean you were starting out.

10:41 Speaker 2: Yeah, I was really happy that.

10:44 Speaker 1: That's really cool. I mean, did you expect to have

10:46 Speaker 1: such early success with it?

10:48 Speaker 2: No, no at all.

10:50 Speaker 3: I was really young at the time, so I just

10:53 Speaker 3: put it out, yeah, no winging a prayer.

10:55 Speaker 1: How old were you when you put it out?

10:58 Speaker 2: I think I was sixteen? Wow?

11:00 Speaker 1: Wow?

11:00 Speaker 2: Yeah?

11:01 Speaker 1: What do you think, like, what do you attribute the

11:03 Speaker 1: early success and attention to. I mean, obviously you're doing

11:06 Speaker 1: something right at sixteen, you've already got you know that

11:08 Speaker 1: for a single right out of the gate, you're having

11:10 Speaker 1: success with it online. But I mean, what what do

11:12 Speaker 1: you attribute that too? Is is there something about about

11:15 Speaker 1: it that you think just really connected with people?

11:18 Speaker 2: Yeah, I'll be honest with you. I don't really know. Yeah,

11:21 Speaker 2: maybe it was just right time, right place, you know.

11:23 Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I mean, I'm just I'm grateful it went

11:26 Speaker 3: how it went.

11:27 Speaker 2: Absolutely, I wouldn't really know. Maybe it was just yeah,

11:31 Speaker 2: maybe it was just right for the time.

11:33 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, apparently. And what does that song represent to

11:36 Speaker 1: you personally? Like? Why is it called defiance?

11:39 Speaker 3: Ah? I'd have to let me think, because I think

11:44 Speaker 3: at the time it was just like I was young, right, Yeah,

11:49 Speaker 3: And I think when you're a young kid and you're

11:52 Speaker 3: trying to make it in something, there's going to be

11:55 Speaker 3: a lot of.

11:55 Speaker 2: Hate you get.

11:56 Speaker 3: Yeah, right, yeah, and I you know, I hate to

11:59 Speaker 3: be that whole A lot of people parted me at

12:01 Speaker 3: the takers now. But you know, as a sixteen year

12:04 Speaker 3: old navigating this career, and you know, thirty years ago,

12:09 Speaker 3: there wasn't social media, right, so people weren't going on

12:12 Speaker 3: Slasher's post dog dude, you suck. But you know, as

12:16 Speaker 3: a sixteen year old, do you get that quite a lot?

12:18 Speaker 1: Yeah, It's a different world.

12:20 Speaker 2: Yeah, So I.

12:21 Speaker 3: Think it was just kind of maybe learning to deal

12:23 Speaker 3: with that and be like, all right, I'm my own thing,

12:27 Speaker 3: m hm.

12:28 Speaker 2: I'm strong in what I do, and I think it

12:31 Speaker 2: was just like, all right, we're gonna name it that.

12:32 Speaker 1: Yeah, No, I think that's cool. And I think that,

12:35 Speaker 1: you know, because we live and people might take something

12:38 Speaker 1: from this that's valuable, is you know you really just

12:42 Speaker 1: the best thing to do is just be yourself in

12:44 Speaker 1: terms of what you do creatively and how you choose

12:47 Speaker 1: to express it. I don't work, don't worry about the

12:49 Speaker 1: critics and the you know, the people who aren't gonna

12:51 Speaker 1: like you, because you know, I'm old enough to remember,

12:54 Speaker 1: you know, when we didn't have social media and all

12:56 Speaker 1: of this, and you know, it is a different world

12:58 Speaker 1: and you get instant feedback. No matter what you do,

13:01 Speaker 1: there's going to be haters, you know, so you have

13:03 Speaker 1: to just embrace that. And you know, hey, at least

13:07 Speaker 1: the haters are paying attention to you, you know, even

13:09 Speaker 1: if the haters are watching your music video while you're

13:11 Speaker 1: still getting those clicks. So you know, there's always going

13:15 Speaker 1: to be people who love you and people who hate you,

13:16 Speaker 1: and just you know, you got to embrace all of it.

13:18 Speaker 3: And I always think it's like a ninety ten or

13:21 Speaker 3: like a ninety five five, right, Yeah, it's like I

13:26 Speaker 3: hate you get The rest is loves exactly. Just who cares,

13:31 Speaker 3: you know, and you know it's a keyboard warrior.

13:34 Speaker 2: You're gonna argue with the keyboard.

13:35 Speaker 1: Warrior, right, exactly exactly. I think that's a very healthy

13:38 Speaker 1: way of looking at it and thinking about it. Also,

13:42 Speaker 1: So tell me about Holy Mother. You're you're also in this.

13:45 Speaker 1: You don't just do solo work as Mickey Mickey Les.

13:48 Speaker 1: You've got this band Holy Mother that you was Oh

13:52 Speaker 1: you are? Okay?

13:53 Speaker 2: Yeah? I left in full.

13:55 Speaker 1: Oh okay, okay, what happened.

13:59 Speaker 2: Just creative, different instance. Just felt it was better to

14:02 Speaker 2: go my own way.

14:03 Speaker 1: Okay, Okay. How long were you in the band?

14:06 Speaker 2: I'm gonna say three years?

14:08 Speaker 1: Oh okay, so you were there for a while. Yeah.

14:10 Speaker 1: And is it true that you did a tour? You

14:13 Speaker 1: toured North America and also you went to Europe opening

14:15 Speaker 1: for Doro Pesh.

14:17 Speaker 2: I toured in Europe?

14:19 Speaker 1: Oh you did? Okay? Okay, Wow, now that must have

14:22 Speaker 1: been that must have been cool. What was that like

14:24 Speaker 1: opening for Doro Pesh because she's kind of kind of

14:27 Speaker 1: a legend, you know.

14:28 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, that was really cool. Definitely.

14:30 Speaker 3: I mean, it's it's always great to play Germany, you know,

14:34 Speaker 3: I look forward to the times in the future.

14:37 Speaker 2: But the fans are always great. I always love the culture.

14:40 Speaker 2: So yeah, I really dig it.

14:42 Speaker 1: No doubt, no doubt. So is are you are you

14:45 Speaker 1: in another band now or are you strictly are you

14:49 Speaker 1: focused on releasing music as Mickey Lix?

14:52 Speaker 3: Well, so, I'm I do the Mickey Licks band, right,

14:55 Speaker 3: But I also I work with a singer named Andrew Okay,

14:58 Speaker 3: she's a Greek like power metal singer. Oh so I've

15:02 Speaker 3: gotten lucky enough to tour all over with her. I've

15:05 Speaker 3: done my most work probably with her. Oh wow, that's

15:09 Speaker 3: what I opened with Ingbay with her, opened for Dave

15:14 Speaker 3: Ellison of Mega Death. Uh, we did our own like

15:18 Speaker 3: solo headlining tour and there. You know, there's always more

15:21 Speaker 3: in the works. But it's been a really really fun project,

15:26 Speaker 3: met some really cool people with it, and yeah, that

15:29 Speaker 3: that I have such a blast with.

15:31 Speaker 1: Oh that's really cool. That's amazing. And then so you're

15:34 Speaker 1: still do you have any plans to Uh, you're still

15:37 Speaker 1: living in Long Island, right, so do you have any

15:39 Speaker 1: plans to to? You know, I don't know, go to

15:41 Speaker 1: Hollywood or something or what NA stick around where you

15:45 Speaker 1: are at all.

15:48 Speaker 2: I'm not you know, this is what I'll say.

15:51 Speaker 3: I think being from the East Coast, no shot, not

15:56 Speaker 3: gonna happen.

15:56 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, you know I've been to La now it's cool,

16:02 Speaker 2: but it's just not my thing, you know.

16:04 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, we're I mean, you know, the traffic is

16:08 Speaker 1: terrible either place, right, So.

16:10 Speaker 2: Yeah, that's that's true. I mean, by me, it's not horrible.

16:14 Speaker 1: That's good.

16:15 Speaker 3: It's not like New York City traffic, right yeah. Yeah,

16:17 Speaker 3: but yeah, I don't know if I could be in

16:20 Speaker 3: that lifestyle.

16:21 Speaker 2: You know, it's just not my thing. It's not it

16:24 Speaker 2: doesn't feel genuine to me.

16:25 Speaker 1: Right right. Well that's also a very healthy way of

16:29 Speaker 1: thinking about it, I think. So that's good. That's good. Yeah. No,

16:33 Speaker 1: I like the Northeast. Obviously I still live here, so yeah, absolutely.

16:38 Speaker 1: So what's kind of the So what's next for you?

16:40 Speaker 1: You've got a lot going on. Do you have well,

16:45 Speaker 1: Persepolis is relatively new, right as a single that that

16:48 Speaker 1: came out recently?

16:50 Speaker 2: Yeah, I came out. I think it's been like two

16:52 Speaker 2: and a half three weeks.

16:53 Speaker 1: Oh, so it's really new. Yeah. So do you do

16:55 Speaker 1: you have another single that you're getting ready to least

17:00 Speaker 1: soon or what's what's kind of next?

17:02 Speaker 2: Yes, I do so.

17:05 Speaker 3: I don't want to like give away too much, okay,

17:08 Speaker 3: but I'll give away like a little.

17:09 Speaker 2: So we have a we have a new release coming

17:12 Speaker 2: out in early May. Okay, another metal track, history metal.

17:18 Speaker 3: Oh, but this time it's written about a story here

17:22 Speaker 3: in the States.

17:23 Speaker 2: Which is the first song we're gonna be doing about that.

17:26 Speaker 1: Oh and I think it's intrigued.

17:29 Speaker 3: Comes fun in time for America's two fifty. So okay,

17:33 Speaker 3: I'm really I'm really stoked about it.

17:35 Speaker 1: Okay, Okay, I'm very intrigued. I'm very intrigued. Well, when

17:39 Speaker 1: it's when it's ready, you'll have to send that to

17:40 Speaker 1: us because we'd love to play it here for me absolutely.

17:43 Speaker 1: And and will it be your your uh? Is funny

17:46 Speaker 1: about it?

17:46 Speaker 2: Well?

17:46 Speaker 1: Will it be your stepmom singing on it?

17:49 Speaker 2: It will be Yeah, So she's handled all the duties

17:51 Speaker 2: with that. Okay, I'm not I'm not a power metal singer.

17:54 Speaker 2: I can't do that.

17:55 Speaker 1: There is there is one song you sing on though, right,

17:58 Speaker 1: what is it? Fight You? Is that the song?

18:02 Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah? So we did a few last year. We

18:07 Speaker 2: did a few like pop rock tracks.

18:09 Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, and you know what they're.

18:11 Speaker 3: Not, so I they're not available anymore because I'm trying to, like,

18:16 Speaker 3: you know, get this power metal branding going.

18:18 Speaker 2: And I was like, I feel like these.

18:20 Speaker 3: Probably don't help it, okay, but I'm still gonna upload

18:23 Speaker 3: them like sometime in the future. But I released three

18:28 Speaker 3: pop rock tracks and yeah, I did sing on them.

18:31 Speaker 1: Yeah.

18:31 Speaker 2: I love the tracks. Yeah, I just don't think it

18:34 Speaker 2: fits what I'm doing now.

18:35 Speaker 1: Okay, So but I think.

18:37 Speaker 3: It's great because it kind of like I got to

18:41 Speaker 3: learn with these tracks how to really craft the hook, right,

18:46 Speaker 3: so I was able to kind of take that training

18:49 Speaker 3: and then put it over to what I'm doing now.

18:51 Speaker 3: It has been like it's like all right, great, so

18:53 Speaker 3: they they serve their purpose and you know, they'll still

18:56 Speaker 3: be out there so people can find them. But I

19:00 Speaker 3: think I put M off Spotify and everything's like, you know,

19:05 Speaker 3: kill the metal stuff.

19:06 Speaker 2: Yeah.

19:07 Speaker 1: I found I found fight You on YouTube and I

19:09 Speaker 1: checked out the video and I was like, oh, that's cool.

19:10 Speaker 1: I like it, and but I noticed right away it

19:12 Speaker 1: was different from your other stuff. But it is you know,

19:15 Speaker 1: it is very very very catchy, and it's a fun

19:17 Speaker 1: I like the video. It's fun.

19:20 Speaker 2: We had fun who's who's the the.

19:22 Speaker 1: Older gentleman in the video with the gray hair, Who's

19:24 Speaker 1: who sits at the drums at one point?

19:27 Speaker 2: So that is our drummer Steve, his dad.

19:32 Speaker 1: That's his dad who comes in and sits down at

19:34 Speaker 1: the drum set.

19:35 Speaker 3: Okay, you know, with what we do, it's very like

19:40 Speaker 3: very family reacted. Yeah, right, like everybody's into it. Like

19:45 Speaker 3: nobody's like, nobody has anyone who's like, nah, that's stupid.

19:49 Speaker 3: Because my dad is like, he's super helpful me and

19:53 Speaker 3: you know, I always bounce a lot of ideas off him.

19:56 Speaker 3: He's just great for this stuff. And then our drummer dad, Steve, well,

20:01 Speaker 3: his name is Nick the dad.

20:03 Speaker 2: Okay, he's super helpful, super supportive.

20:06 Speaker 3: So we're really lucky that we have family who will

20:11 Speaker 3: support us with this.

20:13 Speaker 1: No, that's great and having a yeah, having a supportive

20:16 Speaker 1: family makes all the difference. And and you know, like

20:19 Speaker 1: I said too, I mean, you know, we talked about

20:20 Speaker 1: it a little bit. You grew up in a great

20:22 Speaker 1: situation there with your family in terms of what you're

20:25 Speaker 1: doing now for a career. And I think I think

20:27 Speaker 1: that's uh, I think that's amazing. Well, Mickey Lix this

20:31 Speaker 1: has been wonderful. Like I said, I can't wait to

20:33 Speaker 1: hear the new single when it comes out, and and

20:35 Speaker 1: we'll be happy to play it here.

20:37 Speaker 2: Uh.

20:37 Speaker 1: We did open with uh Persepolis. I was thinking about

20:42 Speaker 1: closing our conversation with Gates of Buddha, another great track.

20:47 Speaker 1: What do you unless there's something else you'd prefer we

20:49 Speaker 1: play to close out the segment, but you know I

20:51 Speaker 1: like to bookend the segment music so.

20:56 Speaker 2: Perfect. Yeah, that's a great choice.

20:58 Speaker 1: So tell us about that one.

21:01 Speaker 2: So this song is written about the scene to Buddha

21:05 Speaker 2: in sixteen eighty six.

21:06 Speaker 3: Okay, So last summer, when opening for en Bay, I

21:12 Speaker 3: went to Hungary. I've been before, love love the country,

21:16 Speaker 3: but it was my first time in Budapest.

21:18 Speaker 2: Oh, never been to Budapest. And I didn't have much

21:21 Speaker 2: time in Budapest.

21:22 Speaker 3: I had the gig and then the whole band woke

21:27 Speaker 3: up early the next morning just to be tourists until

21:31 Speaker 3: like I'm gonna say, like twelve or one o'clock because

21:35 Speaker 3: then we had to we had to haul to Greece

21:38 Speaker 3: because they're like, all right, we have a show in

21:39 Speaker 3: Greece the next day. So looking at a map that

21:43 Speaker 3: was about like a nine ten hour drive. Yeah, like

21:45 Speaker 3: that was in a short drive that we.

21:46 Speaker 4: Did, so you know, I didn't get to spend too

21:52 Speaker 4: much time with Budapest, right, Yeah, but from what I

21:55 Speaker 4: did get to see, I was really into it.

21:58 Speaker 3: There was just the beautiful churches, beautiful scenery. The people

22:02 Speaker 3: were just great. I really liked the fans, Like you know,

22:06 Speaker 3: there's there's certain countries I think you fold near and

22:10 Speaker 3: deer right to like how they react to music. So

22:14 Speaker 3: like I've always been I've always obviously been a big

22:17 Speaker 3: fan of the German fans.

22:18 Speaker 2: They're really into the music.

22:20 Speaker 3: But I've also always been into Eastern European fans. There's

22:24 Speaker 3: just a certain energy they bring that I just haven't

22:27 Speaker 3: seen anywhere else. But I felt in Hungry they were

22:32 Speaker 3: very appreciative, even the staff working, Like when I walked

22:37 Speaker 3: in the building, they were super friendly. They you know,

22:41 Speaker 3: they were talking to about other projects that I've been in.

22:44 Speaker 3: So you know, as an artist, that just makes you

22:47 Speaker 3: like it's super heartwarming. Oh it's like really you've heard it,

22:52 Speaker 3: And like even I've had people that were like, oh,

22:54 Speaker 3: I saw you when you played here, and I saw

22:56 Speaker 3: you when you played here, So getting back to where

23:01 Speaker 3: I was, so I had a really good experience there.

23:06 Speaker 3: I really enjoyed it. So when I started doing this

23:10 Speaker 3: power metal stuff, I've always been in the power metal

23:13 Speaker 3: but starting to write this stuff.

23:16 Speaker 2: I came up with the song which was Gates.

23:19 Speaker 3: Buddho wrote the whole song, but I didn't know what

23:22 Speaker 3: it was going to be about.

23:23 Speaker 2: I had no clue.

23:24 Speaker 3: Yeah, I just knew it was going to be about

23:27 Speaker 3: a battle and that's it.

23:29 Speaker 1: Yeah.

23:29 Speaker 3: So I started doing my studying of what I thought

23:33 Speaker 3: maybe all right, so testing out different ideas, and then

23:38 Speaker 3: I started to kind of get into the CG Vienna

23:40 Speaker 3: a bit.

23:41 Speaker 2: But the CGVN is something that's very popular.

23:44 Speaker 3: Like a lot of people know about the seas of Vienna,

23:46 Speaker 3: a lot of people know about the wing Hissars.

23:49 Speaker 2: So for me, I was like, all right, well, let's

23:52 Speaker 2: shift same war, different battle. And then that's where Buddha clicks.

24:00 Speaker 3: I was like, ah, okay, because just a quick geography lesson,

24:04 Speaker 3: because I love geography. Budapest is separated by the Danu, right,

24:10 Speaker 3: so the north of the city I might get I

24:13 Speaker 3: might get.

24:13 Speaker 2: This wrong, so people could correct me if if I long.

24:16 Speaker 3: The north of the city is Buddha, and then the

24:19 Speaker 3: south of the city is Pest and then they just

24:22 Speaker 3: combined it.

24:24 Speaker 2: But so the north of the city Buddha is where

24:28 Speaker 2: all the historic stuff is. It's where Castle Hill.

24:31 Speaker 3: Is, where it's mentioned in the song. That's where Buddha

24:34 Speaker 3: Castle is. So that's the siege of Buddha, okay, right,

24:38 Speaker 3: and the real thing. So I really loved the story

24:42 Speaker 3: of how you know, in history, this stuff gets conquered,

24:46 Speaker 3: it's gets claimed, it happens. But I really enjoyed the

24:50 Speaker 3: story of nationality and a group of people trying to

24:55 Speaker 3: reclaim what was theirs right and so they've came closed

25:01 Speaker 3: but they failed a lot of times, but it was

25:03 Speaker 3: like after one hundred and fifty years they finally got

25:06 Speaker 3: what was theirs back, okay.

25:08 Speaker 2: And I thought that was such a interesting story.

25:12 Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, and you know, I think with this

25:15 Speaker 3: you get a little risky because there is religion involved.

25:19 Speaker 3: But you know, like like I've said to millions of

25:22 Speaker 3: people who have had this question, it's just talking about history.

25:26 Speaker 2: There's no religious prejudice. I love everybody, you know what

25:30 Speaker 2: I mean.

25:30 Speaker 3: But it's just such an interesting story, and I think

25:33 Speaker 3: it's a story that needs to be told and that's

25:36 Speaker 3: why when the song released, it was so cool to

25:40 Speaker 3: see the outpouring of Hungarian fans who just came out

25:43 Speaker 3: of the wood work, and I was like, oh my god,

25:45 Speaker 3: you gotta see this.

25:47 Speaker 1: Oh, that's really cool, that's really cool, that's amazing. Okay, well,

25:50 Speaker 1: very good. So we're going to share that with everybody

25:52 Speaker 1: in just a moment. But before we let you go, Mickey,

25:54 Speaker 1: where's the best place to go to keep up with

25:56 Speaker 1: everything that you're doing, with everything that Mickey Licks is doing.

25:59 Speaker 2: Well good check w w W Mickey licks dot com.

26:04 Speaker 2: That's my website. Okay, I'm at Mickey.

26:06 Speaker 3: Underscore Licks on Instagram, Mickey Licks on Facebook, and then

26:11 Speaker 3: just hit the Spotify's just Mickey Licks and lix is

26:15 Speaker 3: spelled l y x x uh. And hopefully I'll be

26:19 Speaker 3: in your state, in your country very soon doing what

26:22 Speaker 3: we're doing, having fun, and yeah, I hope to see

26:25 Speaker 3: you there.

26:25 Speaker 1: Very cool, very cool. All right, Well, it is wonderful

26:28 Speaker 1: to talk with you. You can't wait to hear the next

26:30 Speaker 1: single when it comes out, And I'm sure we'll do

26:32 Speaker 1: this in the future as you're releasing new music and

26:35 Speaker 1: doing doing a lot of things. Uh, you know, we're

26:37 Speaker 1: we we became fast fans here, so really really love

26:41 Speaker 1: what you're doing. Man, keep it up, and uh we'll

26:44 Speaker 1: let you go for now and we're gonna hit this track.

26:46 Speaker 1: But Mickey Licks, thank you so much, thank you. All right,

26:49 Speaker 1: you got to take care, all right. That is Mickey

26:53 Speaker 1: Licks from Long Island, a real New Yorker by the way, Jenny,

26:56 Speaker 1: really that's right, that's right, that's right, all right, that's

26:59 Speaker 1: a that's a little bit in side. But if you know,

27:01 Speaker 1: you know, but no, but he's amazing, very very talented.

27:05 Speaker 1: And let's give this a spin. This is another great track.

27:08 Speaker 1: I actually listened to all of these, but this is

27:10 Speaker 1: called Gates of Buddha.