Mike Ross Gives Afterglow a Fresh New Shine to Promote His ‘Origin Story’ Crowdfunder!
16th July 2021Multi-talented, many-storied and ever-creative Mike Ross is releasing a special double A-side single to promote his pre-order crowdfunding project. Released on 27th July, the single brings together two songs: Side A: ‘Seabirds’ and Side AA: ‘Acceptance’ both previously recorded by Durham rock band Afterglow. Mike is also premiering new videos for both tracks.
Reviewer Moray Stuart enthusiastically praised the music: Two radically diverse yet congruent songs, united by the passionate vocal and deft musicianship that have become the Ross hallmark.”
Mike’s new release aims to draw attention to help fund the production and release of ’Origin Story’: a brand-new album of re-recorded songs from his rich back catalogue, from 3 bands along his musical journey. At present, the project is part-funded — currently at just short of 50% of the £3000 target — and the fundraising will end on the 29th July. Hopefully, the special single will give the venture an extra push: Mike’s fans having been keen to support a similar project earlier this year, when Mike successfully crowdfunded for the remix and restoration of an unreleased album — ‘Lay it Bare’ — by his old band, Taller Than.
Encouraged by that success — and fans’ overwhelmingly positive response to the back catalogue and archival material — Mike has decided to put together another album of previously unreleased recordings.
“This time I’ve gone back to my archive of cassette and DAT tapes, CD-Rs and 1/2″ tape masters to curate a collection of songs that have lain mostly undisturbed and unheard since 1997. Digging past this treasure to find assets to support the Taller Than project reminded me of the great material from bands that I’ve been a part of as far back as 1994 and it is from there that the idea for this record was born.”
‘Origin Story’ includes 4 songs from each of 3 bands Mike played in: Afterglow (1994-1996); Mother Sugar (1996-1997); and Taller Than (1998-2006).
“All my life I’ve been blessed to work with exceptional musicians, albeit mostly in bands that you’ve probably never heard of!” says Mike, with a grin. “The main difference between the ‘Lay it Bare’ record and this new ‘Origin Story’ project is that I’ve chosen to re-record the songs (with Mike Ross Band stalwart Darren Lee on drums). The decision to do this was twofold, let me explain…
“Firstly: unlike the Taller Than album I don’t have the original multitrack tapes of any of the sessions, just a rather motley collection of tapes and stereo masters, so working with the original audio is out of the question.
“Secondly: although the songs are of what I consider to be a high standard, some of the arrangements (and performances – including some of my own!) could certainly be improved on, so where necessary I’ve re-arranged the material into what I now consider to be ‘ultimate’ guises.”
“The funds raised from this project will go towards the production and manufacture of the final recording: essentially this is a pre-order campaign that will allow me to finally give these songs the high-quality representation that they’ve been denied of for so long!”
Check out the double A-side single, its videos on YouTube, and Mike Ross’s pre-order crowdfunder campaign at https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/origin-story-album-pre-order-project .
Mike adds, “If you have time to watch the full-length interview conducted by Adam Hayward as part of his ‘Narrative in Motion’ series then you’ll get a much deeper sense of the background of this campaign.
“I’ve been incredibly grateful for all the support I’ve received from my friends, family & fans over the last 18 months and I hope that you will choose to support what will hopefully be the last of my ‘lockdown-era’ projects.”
SIDE A
Side AA
