Singer/guitarist/songwriter Mike Lee remembers vividly when he got his first big break. The founder of Grin Cynic played a friend a recording of his and was instructed to show it to another friend, Jimmy, who was building a recording studio and record label.
“Jimmy called me up a few days later and invited me to his office for a meeting,” recalls Lee. “I was excited and also nervous at the same time.”
The pair met, listened to Lee’s songs and Lee was offered a one-album deal.
“In the back of my mind, I was like ‘This is awesome, but I don’t have a band — it’s just me solo playing all the instruments. I need to find bandmates.”
Lee remembers driving home that fateful afternoon with some precious cargo: an 80-page recording contract — “I just kept looking at it with a big smile.”
ED Magazine caught up with Lee, courtesy of StripJointsMusic.com, to discuss how he ended up putting Grin Cynic together, his appearance on the Howard Stern Show, playing at CBGB’s and the band’s single “Walk the Fire”.
ED: Mike, how’d you go about recruiting your bandmates for Grin Cynic?
LEE: Back in the day in central Florida, we had several print publications that had a section for musicians wanted. I ran an ad for bandmates and also added that I was backed by a label. As you can imagine, I received tons of calls. Sifting through the calls (no email back then) interviewing, shortlisting and then meeting up with the selected ones was one long process. But I finally found the guys that fit personality wise and that were great at what they do. Our label then provided us a rehearsal studio and we began jamming and writing material.
ED: How big a break in terms of confidence-building and exposure was your appearance on the Howard Stern Show?
LEE: The Howard Stern show was a quite interesting story. So being a new band out of Orlando, label backed, new album out and being promoted, we started to gain some traction in our city along with South Florida where we had contacts. What we were not getting was the support of our local radio station. They had several local shows and would not feature us. We eventually learned the reason for this was due to the fact we were new and making a lot of noise while bands on the scene back then were struggling. People were like ‘Who are these Grin Cynic guys and where did they come from? We have been working the scene for years and have yet to land a deal of some sort — they must know people.’ After countless tries to get on our local rock station with no success, we decided to take our story nationally and Howard Stern not only was a good supporter of local music, but also a big hard rock fan! Clearly we had to do something ‘interesting and funny’ for Howard and the listeners. We came up with a bit where Howard dirtied up his underwear by wearing the same pair all weekend, then soaking it in his toilet bowl and finally ringing out the underwear water into a cup where our band manager at the time had to drink it on the air. He did, said it was gross! But it came off pretty funny, everything was filmed and made for some good, humorous TV. We appeared on his show on a Monday morning at around 8:15 am during prime time and got great exposure from the appearance. I remember we were sitting in the green room waiting for our time to go live, and Donald Trump was on the show and in the studio. He came by the green room after his interview and wished us luck; additionally AC/DC was on the show. It was a pretty cool experience for a bunch of young boys!
I ran an ad for bandmates and also added that I was backed by a label. As you can imagine, I received tons of calls. Sifting through the calls (no email back then) interviewing, shortlisting and then meeting up with the selected ones was one long process. But I finally found the guys that fit personality wise and that were great at what they do. — Mike Lee
ED: What was the most memorable thing about performing at CBGB?
LEE: Being from New York, I have played CBGB’s in the past and always loved the vibe there. Such an incredible place of history and the local support was always awesome. I think the most memorable moments from the Stern show performance there was the film crew from E! channel, a place packed with fans thanks to Howard promoting the show and our energetic performance. We also did several televised interviews after the show, had a meet and greet, signed some CDs — we were treated like rockstars. It was quite the experience.
ED: Mike, how did you find out about (bandmate) Marc Nichol’s stroke — how did that news re-shift your focus to get Grin Cynic back together?
LEE: So a friend of mine called me up out of the blue one day and asked me if I heard about Marc — I was like, ‘What did he do now?’ Told me he suffered a massive stroke and was in the hospital. I went up to Daytona and visited him and it was like seeing a totally different person. He was in a wheelchair, had a feeding tube and couldn’t talk too well. This was very shocking to me. I was told by his wife that this is permanent and that his time was limited. Holy shit! This is my boy I have known for 25-plus years! I went up to Daytona once a month to visit and I remember us talking about revisiting some of the old Grin Cynic songs and some of the ones that never made it to the album or live. He asked me if I would go back into the studio (I was already in the process of writing a solo album) and record some of these tunes, rewrite some of the old ones and let the legacy live on. I was onboard and I did. That’s where Grin Cynic Resurrection (first EP) came from; I recall bringing up pre-production demos to him and we were fine-tuning it together. I then recorded the EP and played all the instruments myself including singing on it. It came out really cool and was more of a dedication to him. Towards the end, I received the call from his wife letting me know they were taking him off life support and if I wanted to come up and say goodbye. I did, he was in a coma. Last thing I did was played him our songs through my phone and I could see that he knew I was there. He passed that evening. After that day, I really wanted to put a lot of effort into not only getting Grin Cynic back out there but write, record and perform more. I made it my mission to do so.
ED: What was the biggest challenge in getting the band back together?
LEE: Now that’s a great question! I was scrolling through websites that have musician wanted ads and musicians available. I didn’t want to join an established band but wanted to select the right group of people that understood my goals, enjoyed the music I liked to write and importantly shared the same vision. So, I put myself out there as a songwriter/guitarist/singer looking. I received several emails from bands looking for guitar players, some newbies looking to start bands, but nothing solid. I then remember getting an email from this dude who was in a well-known local band in South Florida. They just fired their guitar players and where on the hunt to replace them ASAP as they had some studio time and tours lined up and wanted me to join. I enjoyed their music, but I really didn’t want to join something — I had a lot of material that I wanted to record and a vision to get Grin Cynic on the map. The singer of that band and I became really good friends and we actually gelled very well together from a writing perspective. He had a home studio and invited me over to collaborate. We wrote some killer shit together and still do to this day. So back to getting the bandmates, I received an email from a guitarist that was also in an established band that did some European touring and he was kind of over it (the band that is). We chatted on the phone for a long time, I explained to him my vision and goals and he said, ‘Let’s jam!’ We did and immediately clicked on all angles. He also had a drummer (from that band) that was looking to move on — I said, bring him on! They both learned the songs of my first EP, we got into the rehearsal studio and the magic happened. I knew of a bass player that was interested, so we all got together and it started to take shape. I was singing lead and playing guitar. I am actually a guitar player first, singer second. We played shows with me singing lead and I just didn’t feel it. The songs I wrote required a lot of guitar work and there were a lot of harmonies. I said to the boys, let’s look for a lead singer and I will focus on guitar and harmonies. Now here comes the interesting part, a singer that responded to an ad I had out probably a year or so prior to that came up on this site I was looking on. I emailed him and he responded and said ‘Didn’t you and I talk about a year or so ago? You never called me back’ (This is when I decided I was going to front the band). I explained the vision and invited him to a rehearsal. He came very prepared, and we all hit it off. It was also kind of weird in a way because he looked like the original Grin Cynic singer Marc and even had some of the same stage behaviors and movements Marc had. About two weeks into rehearsals, I get a call from our bass player telling me that he doesn’t think he was the right guy for the job. I respected that and appreciated his honesty. At the next rehearsal I told the guys that we need to start looking for a bass player. Brendan (our lead singer) immediately said, ‘I gotta guy!’ and called him right then and there. I remember the phone conversation and as Brendan was telling Greg (bass player) about Grin Cynic, like halfway into the conversation Greg just said, ‘I’m in, send me a Spotify link so I can learn the tunes.’ And he did, and very well I may add! He came down to rehearsal a week later and I was so happy that we had a killer group of talented and “cool down to earth” professional musicians.
Towards the end, I received the call from (bandmate Marc Nichols’s) wife letting me know they were taking him off life support and if I wanted to come up and say goodbye. I did, he was in a coma. Last thing I did was played him our songs through my phone and I could see that he knew I was there. He passed that evening. After that day, I really wanted to put a lot of effort into not only getting Grin Cynic back out there but write, record and perform more. I made it my mission to do so. — Mike Lee
ED: StripJoints services DJs at gentlemen’s clubs nationwide, so, in your words, why would “Walk the Fire” be a good choice to play at a gentlemen’s club?
LEE: “Walk the Fire” I believe has a really cool message behind it…. All around – not giving up, determination and keep pushing forward in life and not letting anyone or anything stand in your way. Very relatable to everyone! In addition, I feel it has a very catchy melody and chorus all backed by melodic guitars and a killer beat that everyone can either dance or bang their head to!
