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Mick Clarke (musician)

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Mick Clarke
Mick Clarke at the Simply The Blues Festival, Mumbai, India in 2014.
Mick Clarke at the Simply The Blues Festival, Mumbai, India in 2014.
Background information
Born (1950-07-12) 12 July 1950 (age 74)
Merton Park, London
GenresBlues rock, garage rock, pop rock
OccupationMusician
InstrumentGuitar
Years active1968–present
Labels
WebsiteOfficial website

Mick Clarke (born 12 July 1950) is a British blues rock and pop rock guitarist and songwriter based in Surrey, England.[1] He is a founding member of the British band Killing Floor.[2][3] He also co-founded SALT in 1975 and The Mick Clarke Band in the early 1980s.[4] Clarke began his professional music career in 1968 and has released 22 solo albums as well as four studio albums with Killing Floor on various record labels.[5]

Life and career

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Clarke was born to Fred and Vie Clarke, in 1950, in Merton Park, London. He attended Rutlish Grammar School where he took violin lessons and joined the school orchestra. In 1964, Clarke formed Stonewall Blues Band with his school friends and performed at local youth clubs. In 1966, he left Rutlish Grammar School and joined Advision Studios as an assistant engineer where he worked on sessions with Vic Flick, Big Jim Sullivan, Jimmy Page, Graham Bond and others.[6]

In 1968, Clarke formed Killing Floor with Bill Thorndycraft in London.[7] Stuart McDonald, Bazz Smith and Lou Martin joined the band later that year.[8] In 1969, the band recorded their first album Killing Floor which was released on Spark Records as well as Sire Records in the United States. Later that year, the band toured to multiple locations in England alongside Howlin' Wolf, Otis Spann and Freddie King.[8] Killing Floor toured in Europe several times, and played with The Nice and Black Sabbath at the Hamburg Easter Festival in 1970. The same year, the band released their second album Out of Uranus on Penny Farthing Records.[9]

In October 1971, Clarke joined Funky Fever, a rock band formed by Lenny Zakatek and toured extensively with them to Germany and the United Kingdom. In 1972, Clarke performed with Killing Floor at Huntington College in London after which Killing Floor disbanded and did not perform for the next 32 years. Later that year, he joined Cliff Bennett's band Toefat along with Lou Martin. Toefat released their first single Brand New Band shortly which received good airplay on British radio.[10]

Between 1973 and July 1974, Clarke joined Daddy Longlegs who were signed with Vertigo Records and continued to gig with them.[11] In 1975, Clarke formed a new band, SALT with Steve Smith, Stuart McDonald and Tony Fernandez.[7] From 1975 to 1977, SALT toured across England and Germany and played at multiple locations including at the Reading and Leeds Festivals, the biggest festival in England at the time.[11] By the end of 1978, SALT disbanded and Clarke moved to California.[12]

Clarke returned to London in the early 1980s and formed The Mick Clarke Band.[7] In 1984, he was offered a deal with an Italian record company, Appaloosa Records.[13] Three albums were released subsequently; Looking For Trouble in 1984, Rock Me in 1986 and All These Blues in 1988. During those years, Clarke performed at various festivals and concerts throughout Europe including Italy, The Netherlands and Belgium.[14]

Between 1986 and 1989, Clarke toured to the United States with his band and performed at various locations including concerts with C. J. Chenier and Linda Hopkins in Los Angeles, California, with Johnny Winter in Olympia, Washington and with Canned Heat in Eugene, Oregon. Subsequently, an album with the name West Coast Connection was released in 1989 by Brambus Records.[15]

In 1991, Mike Vernon produced Clarke's fifth album, Steel and Fire which was released on the German label Line Records as well as on the British label BGO Records.[16] Steel and Fire was followed by Tell the Truth in 1991 and No Compromise in 1993.[17][18] Tracks from No Compromise spent six weeks on the Virgin Radio playlist in the United Kingdom.[19] Roll Again featuring Chris Sharley, Lou Martin and Dave Newman was released on Taxim Records and BGO in 1995.[16]

In 1998, Lou Martin and Clarke collaborated for a duo album Happy Home followed by the release of New Mountain featuring Chris Sharley, Lou Martin and Ian Ellis in 2000. In 2004, Killing Floor recorded and released their reunion album, Zero Tolerance featuring all the band members including Clarke.[9] The album was released by Appaloosa Records after which the band travelled and performed at various festivals around Europe.[8] In the meanwhile, Clarke toured with The Mick Clarke Band to England and Luxembourg. They played with Bo Diddley at the Big Blues Festival in Luxembourg which was released as an album, Live in Luxembourg, in 2003, and with The Yardbirds at the Rocking The Blues Festival in England.[20]

After a pause of five years, Solid Ground was released on the German label Taxim Records, in 2008. The Rambunctious Blues Experiment featuring the drummer, Russell Chaney, was released in 2011. Later that year, Clarke embarked on the project for reforming SALT and subsequently an album, The Cobra's Melodies, was released featuring all the band members. In 2012, Clarke toured India and played at the Simply The Blues festivals in Mumbai and Bangalore.[21][22]

In 2013, Clarke produced and recorded Ramdango which was released by BGO. Between 2014 and 2021, Clarke produced nine albums that were released by BGO including one album with Killing Floor known as Rock'n'Roll Gone Mad released on Rockfold Records. In 2018, Clarke toured Sweden and played at Sweden Rock Festival with The Mick Clarke Band.[1]

Discography

[edit]
Mick Clarke
Year Title Label & Country
1984 Looking For Trouble Appaloosa (Italy)
1986 Rock Me Appaloosa (Italy)
1988 All These Blues Appaloosa (Italy)
1989 West Coast Connection Brambus (Switzerland)
NebulaCircle (USA) <be> BGO (UK)
1990 Steel and Fire Line (Germany)
Burnside (USA)
BGO (UK)
1991 Tell the Truth Taxim (Germany)
Burnside (USA)
BGO (UK)
1993 No Compromise Taxim (Germany)
Burnside (USA)
BGO (UK)
1995 Roll Again Taxim (Germany)
BGO (UK)
1998 Happy Home Burnside (USA)
Allegro (USA)
2000 New Mountain Burnside (USA)
Allegro (USA)
2003 Live in Luxembourg Taxim (Germany)
BGO (UK)
2008 Solid Ground Taxim (Germany)
2011 The Rambunctious Blues Experiment Rockfold (UK)
2013 Ramdango Rockfold (UK)
BGO (UK)
2014 Crazy Blues Rockfold (UK)
BGO (UK)
2015 Shake It Up Rockfold (UK)
BGO (UK)
2016 Ruff'n'Roar – Live at Scratchers Rockfold (UK
2017 Diggin' Down Rockfold (UK)
BGO (UK)
2018 Bent Frets Rockfold (UK)
BGO (UK)
2019 Steppin' Out Rockfold (UK)
BGO (UK)
2020 Big Wheel Rockfold (UK)
2020 Crazy with the Blues Rockfold (UK)
2021 Relentless Boogie Rockfold (UK)
2023 House of Cards Rockfold (UK)
With Killing Floor
Year Title Label & Country
1969 Killing Floor Spark (UK)
Sire Records (USA)
1970 Out of Uranus Penny Farthing Repertoire (Germany)
Akarma (Italy)
Mailbox (Japan)
2004 Zero Tolerance Appaloosa (Italy)
2012 Rock'n'Roll Gone Mad Rockfold (UK)
With SALT
Year Title Label & Country
2011 The Cobra's Melodies Rockfold (UK)

References

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  1. ^ a b Wetnight, Rainey (23 June 2019). "Mick Clarke – Steppin' Out – Album Review". Blues Blast. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  2. ^ Thomas, Bryan. "Artist Biography – Killing Floor". AllMusic. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  3. ^ Lobo, Joanna (2 November 2014). "Mirror fixes-it: A riff apart". Mumbai Mirror. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  4. ^ Muise, Dan (2002). Gallagher, Marriott, Derringer & Trower Their Lives and Music. Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 40. ISBN 0634029568.
  5. ^ "Mick Clarke - Albums and Discography". AllMusic. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  6. ^ "Mick Clarke – in-depth bio". Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  7. ^ a b c "Artists and Albums of the '70s and '80s". Jazz Rock Soul. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  8. ^ a b c Walker, James (27 September 2012). "Featured Blues Review – Rock 'n' Roll Gone Mad". Blue Blast Magazine. Archived from the original on 5 August 2019. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  9. ^ a b Schmidt, Epu (1 February 2005). "CD-Review – Zero Tolerance" (in German). Hooked on Music. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  10. ^ Breznikar, Klemen (13 July 2011). "Killing Floor came together in 1968 when singer Bill Thorndycraft and guitarist Mick Clarke met up in a South London blues band". It's Psychedelic Baby! Magazine. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  11. ^ a b Bennuman (28 March 2017). "Recensie: Mick Clarke – Diggin' Down". Blues Magazine. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  12. ^ "Mick Clarke – Artist Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  13. ^ Bertoncelli, Riccardo (1987). Enciclopedia rock anni '70. Arcana. p. 390. ISBN 8885859143.
  14. ^ Rausch, Burghard; Graf, Christian (2005). Rockmusiklexikon Europa Vol. 2 (in German). Germany: Fischer Taschenbuchverlag. pp. 976–978. ISBN 9783596164295. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  15. ^ Brunning, Bob (2002). Blues The British Connection. United Kingdom: Helter Skelter. p. 94. ISBN 9781900924412. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  16. ^ a b "Living Blues Issues 119–124". Living Blues. United States: Living Blues Publications. 1995. pp. 111–127. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  17. ^ "The Mick Clarke Band Tell The Truth". CD Review. Vol. 10. United States: WGE Pub. 1993. p. 79. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  18. ^ "Back Porch Blues Back to basics". Blue Suede News. Vol. 1–24. United States: Blue Suede News. 1991. p. 30. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  19. ^ "Mick Clarke Band – No Compromise". Rapport Volume 21. United States: Rapport Publishing Company. 1999. p. 40. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  20. ^ GQ Staff (24 October 2014). "GQ Playlist: Mick Clarke". GQ. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  21. ^ Mankani, Sneha (22 October 2014). "Blues musician Mick Clarke on India, EDM and all that jazz". Vogue. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  22. ^ Setty, Sushrita (23 October 2014). "Britain's Bluesman, Mick Clarke Comes To India". Grazia. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
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