Mike Rogers
1) Tell us something about yourself that your fans may not know.
A: Roger used to play (professional) soccer/football at ADO Den Haag.
2) How did the 3 of you come together to form the band?
A: It was at some underground electro (Electro, French House, Fidget and Techno) parties called Rauw and DumDum early 2000. Roger and I met when we both performed there as a DJ. After those years passed we both started to develop our own sound resulting in playing in different scenes (me in the house scene and Roger in the Techno scene), but we kept in contact and updated each other from time to time with new productions. After a while we noticed we both had a similar dream; to start a live act inspired by the acts they grew up with going to festivals like Lowlands (like Mike Snow, Foals, Editors, Van She, Goose etc). After making some music with a featured singer, we realized we couldn't get our own signature if we didn't have a singer on board. SO our search started and we pretty quickly bumped into Micha, who was a great singer and above all a great guy.
3) What was the initial studio process like and how has it changed since you've done more work together?
A: Within the writing process there are identifiable roles for the band members, but the overlap in roles are so big that there is hardly a set structure recognizable. Yet broadly we could say that all 3 members make songstarters, Micha (vocal) melody lines, Mike lyrics and Roger production. Since both Roger and me have a dance background the production and writing music go hand in hand. Most of our 'studio process' was actually on whatsapp where we'd send over ideas and work parts out individually in our own studio's.
4) What was the inspiration behind your single Can't Stop?
A: Most of the music was written in 2021. In our minds that year was a year where we had a lot of questions. Like, what is freedom, what should one fight for, how should one fight for something, how do we move forward as a society and also, how do we judge our past behaviour. We believe questions are the biggest inspiration. We’re trying to ask questions more than to send a message, although that's also a bit of a vision we want to share. Can't Stop in particular is about coming to terms with the patterns formed by your younger years. It's about a man who’s looking back at his life as a young boy trying to do everything right but having the feeling of failing since people didn't understand him. He is in a personal struggle with his past and is 'protesting' against this feeling, to get rid of those negative thoughts.
5) How hard is it for you all to come together and decide when a track is complete?
A: Not terribly hard. Our way of working is one where we create loads of ideas and even finished songs, we just work them till we can't find anything to work on. Then we select the best ideas / songs. Most of the time, then it's a couple of tweaks. Roger is mostly the guy nitpicking the sounds etc, but always improving the tracks. When he has now remarks, the track is done.
6) What's next for you for 2022?
A: This single is the first of our debut album. We are going to release a bunch more singles, video's and live registrations and start building our live show. In the beginning of next year our album will be out and by that time we probably have written loads more songs...cause (wait for it) we CAN'T STOP.
Follow Mike Rogers:
Facebook - @wearemikerogers
Instagram - @wearemikerogers
