KICK
In 1992, XL was put together by Mikey (vocals/bass) and Chris Jones (guitars) – the XL songs were of the time, Def Leppard meets Poison and Alice Cooper. The Jones boys chose 6 songs from their XL project and headed to Los Angeles for three weeks with a view to get signed. However, just around corner, the ‘grunge’era was rearing its head and the glam-rock, pretty boy bands were about to be replaced by Nirvana and Pearl Jam - and so the party ended for XL. However, the 6-Tracks EP, ‘Rock All Over You’ became a cult classic and the limited edition CD (only 500 copies pressed) was one of the most sought after ‘Def Leppard-sound-a-like’ recordings of the past 20 years – it was selling for £150.00 on eBay at one point! But little has anyone realised that there were more than a dozen fist-raising XL songs recorded in ’92-93 - and iTunes has the lot right here, all togther for the first time!
In 1996, the Jones Boys created another project, Freefall and another truly great album, ‘Rebel Hard’ - the songs were far more original than XL and a new sound was created. The album was released in Japan initially and sold up to 10,000 copies. The CD was strongly featured in many of the main stream rock magazines and showed the mid-90s set how to break down musical barriers. Check out ‘Breathless’ and the title track to hear why this record was so highly regarded. The abum was remastered by Chris Jones in 2011 and never sounded so good!
In 1998, the Jones boys hooked up with Nick Workman (vocalist) and created KICK. KICK were signed by Steve Harris (Iron Maiden) and their debut album, ‘Consider This...’ was released into Japan and later, Europe with Beast Records. KICK were a superb live band and toured in Europe, as well as with Thunder (Morley/ Bowes) in 1999 and Magnum (Catley/Clarkin) in 2002. KICK released two further albums, ‘Sweet Lick of Fire’ (2001) and ‘New Horizon’ ( 2004) –www. melodicrock.com hailed them as one of the best new age modern rock bands. But although the quality of song-writing and performance was of a very high standard, KICK failed to hit the heights expected, which will surprise you when you hear their critically-acclaimed repertiore!
In 2006, Mikey Jones recorded his first solo album, ‘The Light of Day,’ which was recorded at his own Tower studios in the county of Kent, England. The 10 songs were highly regarded and combined 80s style melodies and modern sounds. However, the main criticism was that his vocals were too low in the mix and were difficult to hear... BUT this has now been rectified and all 10 songs (plus a bonus track) were remixed in May 2012 and mastered by his brother, Chris. The songs are timeless and unique – Malcolm Dome (Kerrang/Totalrock radio) was a fan of the new style that Mikey created and interviewed him on his rock show in late 2006.
In 2012, Mikey’s second solo album, ‘Memoirs’ was finished – at last(!) – following the births of his two daughters in 2007 and 2010. Mikey’s combination of catchy melodies and crunching guitar riffs captures a wide variety of moods and styles on this straight- ahead, no nonsense rock album . The opening track, ‘Doesn’t Take Much,’ ‘Round and Round,’ and ‘Radio’ (written for Malcolm Dome’s rock show) epitomise Mikey’s songwriting ability. ‘Urban Refugee’ is a stand out track with reference to today’s troubled world, and ‘Words of Advice’ shows a previously unseen side to Mikey’s song-writing. As with ‘The Light of Day,’ Mikey played the instruments, sang and produced the album, which was mastered by Chris Jones – only available on iTunes!