For Immediate Release – All Media
Mike Webster : New Album Release
Available on iTunes
“ Mike Webster’s songs are an almost perfect marriage of classic Les Paul guitar grind and the holy country music trinity of sin , suffering and booze , relayed with a gutters edge worldview worthy of noir masters Jim Thompson and James Ellroy. If there is someone better in North America working this turf I haven’t heard them.” - John Armstrong/The Vancouver Sun –
“ I wasn’t born this way / I was made”…
Steering Wheel Confession by Mike Webster
Mike Webster came by his acquaintance with the seamier side of show business and life in general honestly. Born in Canada but raised on the road in the American Southland while the family fallowed his father on the pro wrestling circuits, young Mike was witness to the fixes, hustles and outright scams of “ rasslin” and the even shadier moonlighting jobs many of the athletes worked.
“These guys made maybe 15,000 a year tops but they all drove brand-new Cadillac’s,” Mike says, “so it was pretty clear something else was going on.” Ask him if he can be more specific and he adds , “debt collection, strong-arm work and (with a wry smile and lifted eyebrow) sales.” This education came with a soundtrack, delivered via the AM radio in his fathers Impala SS as it followed the state highways and routes through Florida, Georgia, Texas and other mythic locations.
“They had these strange country and pop hybrid stations down there and the playlists would switch from hardcore country and western to soul and rock with every song so you might hear CCR then Johnny Cash followed by Otis Redding and The Stones. I think some of the radio stations were actually down in Mexico. And it was the late 70’s so there was a lot of pure crap in there too.”
Those eclectic playlists and hundreds of hours spent listening to them from the backseat helped form a strong sense of “ what the good shit was and what was just shit” in Mike’s mind… What that boiled down to , he says , is his own version of the great songwriter Harlan Howard’s dictum that “ country music is three cords and the truth.” Webster just plays those three cords a little harder, louder and faster than Mr. Howard might have figured on.
Artists and audiences somewhat more contemporary than Ol’ Harlan would surely get it though- Webster’s songs sit squarely in the outlaw tradition of popular music, weather the outlaw is Johnny Cash, Joe Strummer, Steve Earle or Social Distortion’s Mike Ness.
The local press has already weighed in with much the same verdict: The Georgia Straight’s John Lucas pegged Webster as “one to watch” after the release of his debut CD Podunk in 2002 and The Vancouver Sun’s John Armstrong called him “ part of an honorable punk-outsider continuum that stretches from Hank Williams to Johnny Thunders and Charles Bukowski.”
His colleagues in the West Coast independent music community seem to agree as well.
In 2004 Webster was invited to participate in a recording project ( Escovedo 101) to help the legendary Texas singer songwriter Alejandro Escovedo with medical bills resulting from
Hepatitis C treatment, and Webster’s version of Escovedo’s I Was Drunk appeared alongside heavyweights Herald Nix, Ray Condo, Linda McRae, Kevin Kane and members of Blue Rodeo. This culminated with Webster being invited to headline one of the benefit shows at The Railway Club. A nice vote of confidence by the organizers of Escovedo 101. With his debut CD (Podunk) and Escovedo 101 under his belt Webster is ready and anxious to release Steering Wheel Confession. This time Webster assembled a Rock and Roll band of Roots and Punk Rock veterans to flesh out his songs.
“ I just want to be part of that tradition of musicians whose work I respect and admire as being the real thing, no matter what genre they might be lumped into. There’s a few things I can write knowledgeably about and sing with conviction and that’s what I’m going to keep doing. So far it working out.”
Media Inquiries and Bookings: mwebster11@shaw.ca
604 916 7558
Mike Webster : New Album Release
Available on iTunes
“ Mike Webster’s songs are an almost perfect marriage of classic Les Paul guitar grind and the holy country music trinity of sin , suffering and booze , relayed with a gutters edge worldview worthy of noir masters Jim Thompson and James Ellroy. If there is someone better in North America working this turf I haven’t heard them.” - John Armstrong/The Vancouver Sun –
“ I wasn’t born this way / I was made”…
Steering Wheel Confession by Mike Webster
Mike Webster came by his acquaintance with the seamier side of show business and life in general honestly. Born in Canada but raised on the road in the American Southland while the family fallowed his father on the pro wrestling circuits, young Mike was witness to the fixes, hustles and outright scams of “ rasslin” and the even shadier moonlighting jobs many of the athletes worked.
“These guys made maybe 15,000 a year tops but they all drove brand-new Cadillac’s,” Mike says, “so it was pretty clear something else was going on.” Ask him if he can be more specific and he adds , “debt collection, strong-arm work and (with a wry smile and lifted eyebrow) sales.” This education came with a soundtrack, delivered via the AM radio in his fathers Impala SS as it followed the state highways and routes through Florida, Georgia, Texas and other mythic locations.
“They had these strange country and pop hybrid stations down there and the playlists would switch from hardcore country and western to soul and rock with every song so you might hear CCR then Johnny Cash followed by Otis Redding and The Stones. I think some of the radio stations were actually down in Mexico. And it was the late 70’s so there was a lot of pure crap in there too.”
Those eclectic playlists and hundreds of hours spent listening to them from the backseat helped form a strong sense of “ what the good shit was and what was just shit” in Mike’s mind… What that boiled down to , he says , is his own version of the great songwriter Harlan Howard’s dictum that “ country music is three cords and the truth.” Webster just plays those three cords a little harder, louder and faster than Mr. Howard might have figured on.
Artists and audiences somewhat more contemporary than Ol’ Harlan would surely get it though- Webster’s songs sit squarely in the outlaw tradition of popular music, weather the outlaw is Johnny Cash, Joe Strummer, Steve Earle or Social Distortion’s Mike Ness.
The local press has already weighed in with much the same verdict: The Georgia Straight’s John Lucas pegged Webster as “one to watch” after the release of his debut CD Podunk in 2002 and The Vancouver Sun’s John Armstrong called him “ part of an honorable punk-outsider continuum that stretches from Hank Williams to Johnny Thunders and Charles Bukowski.”
His colleagues in the West Coast independent music community seem to agree as well.
In 2004 Webster was invited to participate in a recording project ( Escovedo 101) to help the legendary Texas singer songwriter Alejandro Escovedo with medical bills resulting from
Hepatitis C treatment, and Webster’s version of Escovedo’s I Was Drunk appeared alongside heavyweights Herald Nix, Ray Condo, Linda McRae, Kevin Kane and members of Blue Rodeo. This culminated with Webster being invited to headline one of the benefit shows at The Railway Club. A nice vote of confidence by the organizers of Escovedo 101. With his debut CD (Podunk) and Escovedo 101 under his belt Webster is ready and anxious to release Steering Wheel Confession. This time Webster assembled a Rock and Roll band of Roots and Punk Rock veterans to flesh out his songs.
“ I just want to be part of that tradition of musicians whose work I respect and admire as being the real thing, no matter what genre they might be lumped into. There’s a few things I can write knowledgeably about and sing with conviction and that’s what I’m going to keep doing. So far it working out.”
Media Inquiries and Bookings: mwebster11@shaw.ca
604 916 7558
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