Mik showed up to our interview in a wild-orange trench coat and I just thought ‘Wow, we need more of that in Halifax!’ I realised straight away that I wasn’t just talking to a musician, but someone who has self-expression down to a T.
The man who is so loved by so many (including none other than Iggy Pop) went on to explain his position on fashion and shared a recent shoot that a photographer had done for his 70th birthday. In the photos, he wears the same outgoing orange trench, posed around various spots in Armley, his hometown. I wondered if this was a widely uncomfortable experience for him, having not done anything like it before.
“I see myself as a person, a Christian, an artist, a dad, a grandad, and I’m privy to a lot of interesting projects. People ask me to do stuff. So someone asked me to do a fashion shoot. I’d never done anything like that, but I just play about.”
Mik’s passion for art is expressive and limitless – music, performance, fashion, drawing and writing. He gives the impression that he just doesn’t take himself too seriously and is up for exploring new things in the creative world. Mik attended art school in Bradford, but his entry into art – and performing – wasn’t especially traditional.
“I used to be in there drawing people. It kind of made sense to me. I found my vocation.”
Mik explained that while visiting his friends and family in Ireland, he asked to take some paper bags from a local bakery. He went across the road and asked someone if they’d like their own personalised paper bag and, before he knew it, he had been paid to draw their portrait on one of the bags.
“I found my foothold in the world. This is what I am. I’m a portrait artist. I’m good at this and I can make a living at it. I can make a living with it in a way that I like.”
The paper bag business all seemed to have started on a whim and that’s evidently what Mik thrives on. It’s precisely the kind of way of living that landed him in the live music scene. He heckled a singer and then ended up taking his place and winning the crowd over.
“We’re all here on ground zero and I’m standing here going: ‘What’s going to happen now?’”
Unlike a lot of us out there, always planning the next 15 steps and worrying about what’s round the corner, Mik seems to relish sporadic heckling, saying ‘yes’ to fashion shoots and simply trying something that might seem a little ridiculous. He believes in what he’s creating and doing, and has an outstanding attitude of ‘because I can’.
On his way to becoming the cool orange coat man we know today, Mik’s led an interesting life. Born in Ireland, Mik moved to England before he had chance to settle into the world. It was a challenge trying to relate to his peers.
“I came to England and it was hard. It was just cars. It was cars and people and everything was like grey and black and there was no grass! It was hard to fit in because I was Irish. But I was determined that I was going to live here in Yorkshire and make it.”
And that’s what he did. Mik hasn’t lost his Irish heritage by any stretch of the imagination. It’s clear that he’s proud of where he was born and the journey he’s been on. Facing such a big change so early on might be the reason he doesn’t seem to be phased by anything, but who knows.
Having made his mark on the music scene, from crowded pubs in Leeds to Glastonbury stages, Mik explained his thoughts and experiences on grassroots venues.
“Those places are good for you, because everybody needs to hear a song, to be transported away from your life and from all the shit and the rubbish. And those places are like little healing places because you hear, almost, your thoughts bounce back. So those places are really important. They’re about dreaming.”
Many people do find comfort, peace and connection in our small grassroots spaces, which is why it’s so unfortunate that we are seeing them close down so often.
You can support your local community by attending small, independent gigs and visiting your nearest grassroots venues. Even if you don’t know the band, you never know what you might find.
Mik plays as Mik Artistik’s Ego Trip at The Grayston Unity’s Town Festival. Follow Mik Artistik and The Grayston Unity on Instagram.
Words: Niamh Robinson (Content Manager at The Grayston Unity)
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