mikeburn and friends

Who is Mike Burn?

Mike Burn joined the German underground formation "Secret Society" in 1985, where at this time Sebastian Teufel sat on the drums (he is today the bandleader of the successful Indie-Band Yellow Jumps Twice). Before that he played with drummer Jaro Forejt since his early youth, later supported by bassist Mike Debus and keyboarder Willi Bopp, the so called "Eschborn Connection" (all members were living in the city of Eschborn near Frankfurt am Main/Germany).

Who is Kate Cassidy?

Kate Cassidy was born and brought up in Glasgow, Scotland and is the third youngest of one of eleven of a family. Kate started singing at a very young age and can never remember wanting to be anything else. As a teenager she entered numerous talent computations winning many, with her soulful and powerful voice, but her real desire was to travel and see the world as an original recording artist, so she started by travelling to London finding a management contract and learning the craft of co-writing with other artists. Kate then went on to New York, and spent 4 years on and off writing and recording with many great writers and producers. In 2002 Kate received an e-mail from Mike Burn with an invitation to come to Germany. Six months later Kate landed in Frankfurt/Germany to meet MBAF for the first time with her acoustic guitar.

What about the band?

In the beginning Mike and the band worked on new material, integrating the use of computers. Soon we got support from Jaro Forejt on drums, the local matador out of Eschborn near Frankfurt am Main. We also enlisted the well-respected Secret Society bassist Werner Wenzlitschke. In 1992 the "Funkfurter Mitternachtsorchester" touched the planet, with the support of theatre musician and sound designer Willi Bopp. Music performance was celebrated with the action artist Guntram Prochaska. Everything was improvised to theatre lyrics as well, such as "Fax an Gott" or "Penthouse in the Jungle" and "Cemetery of Love". At that time Delta-Mike (also known as "Delta Pomp") played the percussion. Jaro then joined again in 1994 and Delta Mike took the Congas & the rogue. We practiced for 3 years in spontaneous, harmonious improvisation before we recorded our 1st CD "Suicide Solution", at that time we acted under the Dadaistic name "Haschpapa und die Gabriels".

Why this bandname "mikeburn and friends"?

In 1996 we released the Live CD "Zapped". In 2000, we decided to give ourselves a new name. Because we were unable to agree on a name, Mike Burn began to publish our music on the Internet under the name of "mikeburn and friends". The encouragement from MP3.com has been enormous. Many titles achieved no1 for weeks on the MP3.com Charts. Meanwhile, our ceremony master, Guntram Prochaska was in use worldwide. In 36 countries, his peace angels - wooden Totems - stand and preserve the peace of the world, and we search for a singer. The year of decision and joyful surprise was 2002. On the Internet, Mike Burn found singer/songwriter Kate Cassidy from Scotland. Just one month later, Kate Cassidy landed in Frankfurt for a couple of solo gigs with the acoustic. After our departure session, we were so amazed by Kate's voice and her person. It was going to be a further 15 months before Kate was to return to Germany due to other commitments. In the spring of 2003 Kate returned where Kate and MBAF have rehearsed and have played numerous gigs in Frankfurt and the surrounding area up to Birmingham/England to the delight of the audiences that have been surprised and fascinated, by the spontaneous power of the band, and at the ability of Kate's voice and the power from where it comes. Surprisingly for all involved, we still are together and have lots of plans for 2011 and the future!

Various collaboration partners from all over the world and of course the "mikeburn and friends"-band... Bass: Werner Wenzlitschke, Drums: Jaro Forejt, Git./Voc./Keys: Mike Burn, Keyboards: Willi Bopp, Sax/Flute: Gabriel Herbst, Percussion and disturbing Vocals: Delta Pomp.