Exclusive Interview with 'MYKEY MASSACRE'

Mykey Massacre is a Brooklyn, New York-based independent solo artist. He creates all of the music he performs, records, and produces. His latest two-song EP, “A Class Act,” pays homage to the early thrash/speed metal bands of the 1980s. This EP is perfect for any classic metalhead, with its heavy riffs, captivating guitar solos, and over-the-top corny lyrics! Check out the EP and the exclusive interview below:

1. Can you tell us a bit about where you come from and how it all got started?

MYKEY MASSACRE: I come from a small place called Brooklyn, New York…you might have heard of it before. It all got started waaaaaay back when I was about 2 years old and my uncle introduced me to these two bands called Black Sabbath and Judas Priest. It all changed after that! I got my first guitar a few days after Christmas in 2002 and I’ve been playing ever since.

2. Did you have any formal training or are you self-taught?

MYKEY MASSACRE: Nope, I’m 100% self taught!

3. Who were your first and strongest musical influences and why the name ‘MYKEY MASSACRE’?

MYKEY MASSACRE: So obviously Judas Priest was my first and still is my strongest influence to this day. I’ve always been heavily into the metal bands from the 80’s…throughout all the sub-genres, ranging from bands like Megadeth to the L.A. Guns.

Hah, funny story with how I came up with the name Mykey Massacre! I was about 15 and was really getting into this band Avenged Sevenfold at the time. They all had cool names so I wanted to have a cool name of my own…so I came up with the name Mikey Massacre. But then I thought to myself…how could I make the name even a little bit COOLER? Well, the lead guitarist of Avenged Sevenfold’s name is Synyster Gates…he replaced all the ‘I’s in his name with ‘Y’s so naturally, I replaced the ‘I’ in Mikey with a ‘Y’ and Mykey Massacre was born! Hahahaha and the name just stuck with me over time so I guess I’m Mykey Massacre!

4. What do you feel are the key elements in your music that should resonate with listeners, and how would you personally describe your sound?

MYKEY MASSACRE: I think the overall compositions and the catchiness of my songs is what I hope will resonate with my audience…and of course my guitar solos, DUH! I would describe my sound as rather diverse and unpredictable…I try not to limit myself when creating songs because I don’t limit myself when listening to music. I even released an album earlier this year titled “Limitless Composer” that is basically a catalogue of all different songs I’ve created since I started my journey as a solo music producer a few years ago…it has songs ranging from rock to funk to hip hop.

5. For most artists, originality is first preceded by a phase of learning and, often, emulating others. What was this like for you? How would you describe your own development as an artist and music maker, and the transition towards your own style, which is known as METAL?
**MYKEY MASSACRE**:
I mean, all music rips off some other music in one way shape or form. To be honest, my goal has never been to forge my own “sound” or “style”. The goal has always been to make music that sounds good which the listener enjoys and THAT is what will give you your unique sound; a product that you know is going to sound good and enjoyable every time.

6. What’s your view on the role and function of music as political, cultural, spiritual, and/or social vehicles – and do you try and affront any of these themes in your work, or are you purely interested in music as an expression of technical artistry, personal narrative and entertainment?

MYKEY MASSACRE:

So almost all of my lyrics are about personal experiences and all my music is about technicality with my guitar playing and just creating a catchy sounding tune…However, I actually just wrote my first politically charged song recently! It’s in regards to all the uneasiness in the world right now about nuclear weaponry and how it can ravage our existence…I’m hoping to release it early next year (2023) because I’m in the process of recording it as I’m doing this interview!

7. Do you feel that your music is giving you back just as much fulfilment as the amount of work you are putting into it, or are you expecting something more, or different in the future?

MYKEY MASSACRE:

As of now, not really. I’m still trying to make my presence known a bit more. I’m hoping with the more tunes I pump out and being active across all my social media platforms will help me reach a larger audience…it’s definitely a sprint, not a marathon.

8. Could you describe your creative processes? How do usually start, and go about shaping ideas into a completed song? Do you usually start with a tune, a beat, or a narrative in your head? And do you collaborate with others in this process?

MYKEY MASSACRE:

Believe it or not, I’ll often times come up with basic ideas for songs, song titles, lyrical content, riffs, arrangements while I’m sleeping, half asleep or in the shower hahaha.

Usually it starts with me discovering a new song that resonates with me. This will inspire me to create a song of my own…I almost always start the writing process with my guitar and I’ll come up with a main riff. From there I flesh out the arrangement; determining verses, choruses, bridges, will there be vocals? Will it be instrumental? If something significant is going on in my life at the time, the song will likely have lyrics and I’ll start coming up with vocal arrangements and melodies after I record a quick scratch take of me playing the song all the way through on my guitar using my phone’s voice recording feature.

After I get that all sorted out I will start recording…often times I’m still composing while I’m in the recording phase…several of my guitar solos I come up with on the fly while I’m recording. I’ll record a bunch of takes and piece them together.

9. What has been the most difficult thing you’ve had to endure in your life or music career so far?

MYKEY MASSACRE: Coping with loss and overcoming perfectionism, by far. These two concepts seems to follow me like a plague and I still struggle with coping with them to this day.

In terms of the career aspect, it’s been consistency…not from myself, but from the outside. It’s very difficult building a consistent client base that will allow you to make this a full-time living and I’m working hard on achieving that as we speak.

10. On the contrary, what would you consider a successful, proud or significant point in your life or music career so far?

MYKEY MASSACRE: That’s hard to say because there are quite a few things. I released two albums with my former band Tragedy Awaits Us many years ago and have physical CDs to represent that which is cool…I can actually stare at my accomplishment. Being able to go from complete amateur mixer/producer to pretty good at it in relatively short time while learning on my own for the most part is another success I’m proud of…my most recent (and one of my biggest) successes was creating an intro theme song for an animated series a client of mine is working on. Doing something like this has been on my bucket list so it’s really cool that I got to check that off!