"The impact of music on the socio-cultural implications in our world is massive, absolutely enormous. Music is a powerful way of entertaining and communicating, and it has always been used with great effect to reach, teach, influence and in some cases, to brainwash and control societies."

Michael Messer: Fusion (Pure) Roots

Michael Messer is a virtuoso slide guitarist, singer, songwriter and roots & blues innovator. Throughout his 45plus year career his music has remained individual and contemporary. Michael Messer's reputation as an innovator of the blues and master of slide guitar is well known. Being British with an international reputation for blues slide guitar is a rarity in itself, but Messer's obsessive appetite for knowledge of his art is virtually unrivalled. His stunning slide guitar playing and superb vocals ooze authenticity and integrity. His use of turntables in the Second Mind Band marked him as one of the trailblazers of the noughties blues sound and his blues-Indian trio, Michael Messer's Mitra, has once again broken new ground by playing an exhilarating and accessible fusion of rural blues and Indian classical music. Johnny Cash was a fan of Michael Messer's music and wrote the liner notes for his 1993 album Rhythm Oil, a rare honour shared only with Bob Dylan on the Nashville Skyline album. Second Mind won Best International Guitar Album of the Year and the American magazine 'Spirit' listed Michael Messer as one of the greatest slide guitarists ever, alongside Duane Allman and Ry Cooder.

(Michael Messer, 2024 / Photo © by Aubrey Simpson)

Michael Messer's latest project is an album he has recorded with the renowned songwriter and musician, Chaz Jankel. A recording artist in his own right, Chaz Jankel is most widely known as the co-writer of many hit records with Ian Dury & The Blockheads. The album Mostly We Drive was released in January 2024. Michael Messer has released ten albums, produced albums for other artists, toured worldwide, recorded numerous live radio/TV sessions, and appeared in his own 'Blues' episode of BBC TV show, Zingzillas. Michael also has a successful line of MM guitar products; including Michael Messer Resonator Guitars and Michael Messer Newtone Guitar Strings.

Interview by Michael Limnios                 Archive: Michael Messer, 2014 Interview

How has the music influenced your views of the world and life’s journeys you’ve taken?

Music has played a major role is shaping my character. Just listening to music from around the world affected how I viewed those places and the people. Then through meeting and working with musicians from various parts of the world, it has affected my views, opinions and understanding of our world and its people in the most positive ways. I grew up with music around me. My Mother loved music and introduced me and my brothers to Elvis Presley, Bill Haley and others at a very young age. By the time I was ten years old I had seen many of the early 1960s pop bands. I didn’t know it at the time, but this affected me and my sibling’s life choices and paths greatly.

How do you think that you have grown as an artist since you first started making music? What has remained the same about your music-making process?

I started making music when I was very young. Back then I played mostly rock and pop of that time, and I tried different instruments - I played guitar for a while, then bass guitar, drums and piano. Then I stopped for a few years and when I returned to playing, I was focused on slide and roots styles on guitar. Around that time, I became completely focused and dedicated to playing slide guitar in various styles - mostly blues, but also country, folk, African, Indian, reggae and all kinds of stuff in between. When creating my own music, I have never been a copyist, I have always found a way to be original and make my own sound. This has remained with me right through my life. I am now in my late 60s and I still strive to find my own sound. I have never had to search for that sound, it has always fallen into my music naturally. It is so important with any form of art to be yourself. Nobody else can be you, that is what makes every one of us unique. The artists I admire are unique and original, they are not trying to be someone else.

"Absolutely. Life is way more than just music. I am influenced first and foremost by my family and friends, by the world around me, by people, by the natural world that I love to walk in every day, and of course by the music I listen to. Without all those other parts of my life the music could not exist." (Michael Messer & Chaz Jankel / Photo © by Aubrey Simpson)

Currently you’ve one release with Chaz Jankel, and new tour dates with project MITRA. Do you have any stories about the making of “Mostly We Drive” and on the road with Mitra?

The Making of Mostly We Drive was a wonderful experience for both of us. Chaz and I have been friends since the 1970s, but we had never made music together until we recorded “Mostly We Drive”. The album is a real fusion of our tastes and our history. One story that springs to mind is how we created and wrote Slow Down Billy. We had a jam one evening with Chaz playing his nylon strung Spanish guitar and me playing one of my resonator guitars. We jammed around a theme of two chords and passed solos back and forth in a conversational way, like talking. I recorded the jam on my phone and listened to it a few times, really liking what I heard, the interaction between the two guitars and the vibe…the feel, the groove. A few months later Chaz had started writing a song and the first few words were “Slow down Billy slow down Jane….” Chaz asked if I liked the song and maybe could do something with it. He also had some musical ideas laid down to go with the lyrics. So I took the song home and couldn’t really find my groove with it, but I really loved the whole Slow Down Billy Slow Down Jane thing at the beginning. Then while out walking in the woods this whole other song, stemming from Chaz’s intro lyric, started to appear in my head and it fitted beautifully with the jam I had recorded a few months earlier. Slow Down Billy was an absolutely perfect merging of our music and creativity.

I love travelling and playing in our trio Michael Messer’s Mitra. We have been touring together for ten years and just gets better and better. Manish Pingle and Gurdain Rayatt are absolutely superb musicians. Our sound and the music we make together is completely our own, it really is a unique thing. What started as a fusion project very quickly developed into a band with its own sound, a sound that nobody else makes and it rocks! I have so many good times travelling with my friends Manish and Gurdain, that I just wouldn’t know where to start or stop. The best part of it is when we are on stage playing our music and seeing how much our audiences and the three of us are enjoying what we do.

"I have always believed that my music is relevant to the time it was created in, and hopefully into the future. I do not do that consciously; it is just how I am. I do not make music sound like it was created in the past, it is always for the present and maybe the future, who knows." (Michael Messer, an innovator of the blues and master of slide guitar is well known / Photo © by Sue stalbow)

What moment changed your life the most? What is the driving force behind your continuous support for your music?

There isn’t “a moment” as such, there is just a driving force and an energy within me that needs to play music. At home I play almost every day, I always have done, and I guess I always will. Occasionally I go through periods when I don’t play or even want to play, but those times don’t stay for long. Music is a powerful force that heals the musician and their audience.

What are some of the most important lessons you have learned from your experience in the music paths?

I have learned so many lessons from 45+ years as a professional musician, too many to list. Music and the music business are separate entities, and it is so important for professional musicians to be aware of that, and in their minds to keep the two things as far apart as possible, otherwise one will destroy the other. Playing music is not a job, it is a gift and an honour to be to do what we do. A good friend of mine with a lifetime of professional playing behind him, said to me that he does not get paid to play, he gets paid to travel and to be there. That is a great philosophy to have when taking your art out and being paid to do it. I have learnt that it is a wonderful gift and that we should respect our talent and craft, we must always give 100% and always we must respect our audience. Without them we have no work.

What is the impact of music on the socio-cultural implications? How do you want the music to affect people?

Music can and does affect people in different ways. At 68 years old I really feel that I have something to talk about in my music and that is evident with the new album “Mostly We Drive”. I feel I can now reach deeper into the listener’s consciousness and hopefully touch their soul with this amazing magical thing we called music. The impact of music on the socio-cultural implications in our world is massive, absolutely enormous. Music is a powerful way of entertaining and communicating, and it has always been used with great effect to reach, teach, influence and in some cases, to brainwash and control societies.

"Music has played a major role is shaping my character. Just listening to music from around the world affected how I viewed those places and the people. Then through meeting and working with musicians from various parts of the world, it has affected my views, opinions and understanding of our world and its people in the most positive ways." (Michael Messer's Mitra, 2016 / Photo © by Charles Shepherd)

What's the balance in music between technique (skills) and soul/emotions? 

Good questions! Technique and soul are not connected. Look at primitive musicians and how their soulfulness reaches us. Then there are technical musicians that can run faster than anyone else on their instrument, but their music has no soul and is almost like partaking in a sport. However, to express ourselves to our full potential we do need to study, practice and have the technique to be able to use our instrument accurately and with dexterity so we can reach into our souls and present those emotions to our listeners. Phew…this is deep stuff!

What are you doing to keep your music relevant today, to develop it and present it to the new generation?

I have always believed that my music is relevant to the time it was created in, and hopefully into the future. I do not do that consciously; it is just how I am. I do not make music sound like it was created in the past, it is always for the present and maybe the future, who knows. Did Robert Johnson know or even consider the possibility that his music would be relevant 90 years after it was recorded, and that people all over the world would include his songs in their repertoire. Of course he didn’t, so none of us know where our music will go in the future.

Life is more than just music, is there any other field that has influence on your life and music?

Absolutely. Life is way more than just music. I am influenced first and foremost by my family and friends, by the world around me, by people, by the natural world that I love to walk in every day, and of course by the music I listen to. Without all those other parts of my life the music could not exist.

Michael Messer - Home

(Michael Messer / Photo © by by Alan Messer)