Mike McKenna (musician)
| Mike McKenna | |
|---|---|
| Born |
April 15, 1946 Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Genres | rock / blues |
| Instruments | slide guitar |
| Years active | 1960's – present |
| Associated acts |
Luke & The Apostles McKenna Mendelson Mainline Slidewinder Downchild Blues Band DiamondBack McKenna-Gibson band |
Mike McKenna (born April 15, 1946, Toronto, Canada) is a professional Canadian rock / blues guitarist noted for his electric slide playing.
McKenna began playing professionally in the early 1960s in Yorkville where he formed the group Luke & The Apostles. McKenna was one of the first Toronto rock guitar players to play a hollow body (i.e..Gibson Les Pauls) while most rock musicians were still playing solid bodies (for example and Telecasters). McKenna got a particularly rich sound by playing through 200 watt Marshall Plexi stacks and using banjo strings on the high end to make note bending easier (a trick he supposedly learned from Robbie Robertson - then playing with The Hawks and backing Ronnie Hawkins).
Luke and the Apostles were asked to open for Jefferson Airplane and The Grateful Dead by Bill Graham (of Fillmore East / Filmore West fame) for a week-long stint at Toronto's O'Keefe Centre in 1967. Jerry Garcia apparently liked the sound of McKenna's Les Paul so much he bought it (reportedly it's the black Les Paul Garcia once posed with when he was being photographed for Rolling Stone magazine). An invitation to visit New York to open with the Dead followed and the Apostles recorded a single for Elektra Records (produced by The Doors' Paul Rothchild). Unfortunately inconclusive contract negotiations and conflicting priorities saw the band returning to Canada and eventually disbanding.
Back in Canada and a couple of years later, a newspaper ad put Mike in touch with Joe Mendelson, leading to the formation of the McKenna Mendelson Mainline (later known simply as Mainline), recording the album McKenna Mendelson Blues - a demo recorded in Canada but unreleased till after the band had gone to England (at John Lee Hooker's suggestion) and had great success with the landmark (and seminal McKenna mendelson Mainline) album Stink (recorded in 1969 in the UK). "Stink" garnered considerable success in England and throughout Europe and the band returned to Canada to critical and popular acclaim. However for various reasons MMM disbanded in the early 70s . There were a couple of posthumous reunions as "Mainline", including two very successful tours of Australia, and the notorious "Bump and Grind Review" which yielded a live album "The Mainline Bump and Grind Review Live at the Victory" (recorded at Toronto's famous Victory Burlesque Theatre) in 1972. A final album with Joe Mendelson entitled "No Substitutes" was released in 1975 to a poor reception, after which McKenna and Mendelson never played together again.
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