A pioneer in MIDI technology and a pillar in introducing the technology to Waikato musicians, Mike Lynch has witnessed revolution and evolution alike in the Waikato world of music.
Lynch, a working musician in Huntly for several decades now, began at the beginning with digitally imitated instruments–the very beginning.
“When it first came out, there were no MIDI available on the internet, so we had to make our own. I’ve still got the TR-66 or whatever it was that I used, one of those old Roland drum machines.
“So I would sit there and listen to the song and work out how many drum patterns there were in that song, what the basic rhythm was, and then I’d write it all out.”
That painstaking work was what made him and an old school-friend so successful in their two-piece, four-instrument band.
“We’d be playing live, and we would make sure we put all our songs in an order that we wanted to do. I’d play my five songs, and then while he’s playing something, I’d flip the disc and shove it in,” Lynch said.
He and Phillip Hart were just about the only ones working live with MIDI instruments in the Waikato, joined only by one or two other groups.
“Basically all we did was pretty much the drums, a bass line, and then you might add some strings that you couldn’t do on the keyboard while you’re playing piano, and that’d be about it.
“They were all just amazed. They all said, wow you guys have got such a big sound! Because at that stage it was new, you know, and there were only a few of us in the Waikato.”
Opportunities for gigs grew in numbers, and Lynch and Hart found themselves playing weekend after weekend, sometimes twice in one day. But things have begun to change, said Lynch, or rather–they haven’t changed enough.
“We’re getting paid the same for gigs as we were in the 80s or 90s. Sure the price of food and drink has gone up, but the price of musicians apparently hasn’t. You really have to pick and choose which gigs are actually worth it.”
However, Lynch said he feels glad to be in a central location such as Huntly, where he can travel to neighbouring towns on rotation, always pleasing a new crowd.
And some things have certainly changed for the better, Lynch said.
“All the new technology makes it easier. In one day I can probably add about six, seven songs to my repertoire easy, right from scratch even. We didn’t have the amount of chord charts that are online before.”
Today Mike Lynch plays with No Exit band, among other musical ventures.
