Today we’d like to introduce you to Mike Baker.
Hi Mike, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Mike Baker has been performing as an actor/musician for over 30 years. The recent acting slowdown(Covid then the SAG strike then just Hollywood slowing in general) led him to focus on songwriting again. Even with the slowdown he has worked a little recently as an actor. His most recent credits include “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” “The Wedding Singer” at Colony Theatre and “Hairspray” through 5 Star Theatricals.
Baker’s favorite music genres are rock, pop, soul and country. He started a musical performing group, called The Mistery Machine, with his friend Vince DiFranco in 1995. He started with music as a child and started playing around with songwriting at around 18 years old and started seriously writing songs when he was 20 or 21. He also had a singing group in high school. He also has written songs with fellow musician Reg Huston, who is based in Monterey, CA. Baker is from Monterey originally.
Baker learned the guitar first. His dad is also a songwriter and Baker toyed around with music as a kid. His dad taught him guitar when he was 14 years old and he started exploring it more at around 18 years old. His dad taught him basic chords, but the rest of his music has been mostly self-taught. He started playing piano around 18 or 19. He took a half semester of piano class.
Baker sang in choir in high school starting at age 15 and has performed in choirs outside of high school later on. His first musical theater production was “The Music Man” in high school. He was also in “Babes in Toyland” in a local production.
Recently Baker attended the Songwriters of North America annual awards.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
His struggles have definitely been financial, first and foremost. The challenge has been to give enough focus and time to the craft, but also needing to make enough of a living as well. The other struggles would be doubt, such as is he really cut out for this? As he’s getting older, the doubts combine to how much time he has left to actually make a sustainable career out of this.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Baker said he’s known for his acting since he has done so much onstage over the years. During The Mistery Machine years from 1995-1999 it would have been mostly music, but now he’s working on a career as a songwriter, which is behind the scenes as opposed to being the performer so that aspect of him isn’t as visible.
He is most proud of his versatility which shows up in his music. He writes rock, soul, country, pop, etc.
He said the versatility sets him apart, but he also draws a lot from classic comedy as an actor and many eras of music from over the years, so he has more material to draw from for inspiration, styles, etc.
Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs or other resources you think our readers should check out?
He uses Bandlab to work on song demos, belongs to casting sites and follows a podcast/YouTube channel called Songtown which has been helpful to him for songwriting. He’s a SONA member and SONA holds many events, etc. which are helpful to him as a songwriter.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @mikebaker_mjb
- Other: IMDB: imdb.me/MikeBaker
Image Credits
For the Hairspray photos, the credit should be given to Ronnie Slavin. (The cast photo with him in the yellow suit and the one in the business type suit)
