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Mike Whitaker

Instruments played:

• Guitar
• Voice
• Bass
• Keyboards

Ok, ok. I'll come clean. I love playing melodic heavy rock. My idea of musical heaven is somewhere between Rainbow, Magnum and Vixen, with a sneaky leavening of Fairport Convention when no-one is looking. And Phoenix let me arrange our stuff. Happy Mike. Just look for the guy stage right playing the graunchy riffs and screaming lead breaks, while trying to conduct with arm waves, nods and the pointy end of a white electric guitar. That's me.

What the rest of Phoenix thinks:

• Tim: I've never heard a duff song by Mike, although he assures me that this is because he is a bit of a perfectionist and is selective about performing (or not ) stuff that he isn't happy with. A seriously talented guitarist of the widdly-squeeee school, a multi-instrumentalist on more than just the ones he's happy to list above and a whizz of an arranger, Mike is REALLY easy to get on with and is more than happy to show you how to play all his songs. Just like he did with Phil....
• Annie: This man plays lead guitar breaks I would like to marry. Sadly I think Anne already beat me to it. And naming your instruments isn't weird, Mike. It's normal, isn't it? Mike? Mike?
• Anne: Well I married him, didn't I!
• Lissa: Mike is a lot of fun, and very talented, and it's all his fault! His enthusiasm sometimes gets the better of him, but now there's five of us to sit on him as necessary. And I can always drown him out if I really want to.
• Phil: Of course naming your stringed instruments isn't wierd. It's simple necessity when one has 11 of them in the house. Of course that might be considered wierd...