User:Mikemcgrother/sandbox

As the founder and frenzied fiddling frontman of Teesside’s The Wildcats of Kilkenny, Mike McGrother is known as one of the festival circuit’s most engaging and energetic crowd pleasers – performing relentlessly from New York to Beijing and most of the places in between. Now, as The Wild Rover, Mike has lost none of his ability to hold a crowd but does so through his rich repertoire of self-penned songs that tell the stories of people and places he meets in pubs, prisons and en route during one of his epic and emotive walks.

Mike’s Wild Roving guise came about when, determined to uncover his family and musical heritage he took a one way flight to Ireland and walked home to his beloved Teesside retracing the journey of his 19th century ancestors – a stock made up ‘Of Rogues and of Honest Men’. A ‘Trip to Kilkenny’ followed shortly after as again, armed only with guitar and ‘a bit of cheeky wit’ Mike followed the 1778 journey of Stockton writer Robert Elstob, walking to Kilkenny via Whitehaven, the Isle of Man and using the generosity of the people he met to help him along to his busking way. An altogether more tragic adventure was next as Mike retraced the final days of Stockton WWI soldier George Hunter, arrested in Easingwold and taken to Poperinge where he was shot for desertion before being buried in France. Mike’s latest trek paid tribute to his musical ‘godfather’ and inspiration, the late Vin Garbutt as the Wild Rover led fellow walkers around the ‘Valley of Tees’. He is currently planning his next set of walks as he fulfils his anthemic promise to ‘walk 500 more’…

Mike’s walks and weekly ‘Joe’s Speakeasy’ story sharing sessions in a local Pub have resulted in a wealth of rich and extraordinary songs being written. With a philosophy that everyone should be remembered as ‘much more than a name’, Mike writes with a real passion and, as he puts it, an ‘ordinary’ poetic style. He is often accompanied by his very own 50 strong male voice choir, Infant Hercules – a pub-based rebel rousing ensemble who provide harmonic anarchy in the ‘key of ale’. He can also be found fronting his raggle-taggle skiffle tinged Haverton Hillbillies, creating a thumping sound somewhere between that of The Pogues, Johnny Cash and The Men They Couldn’t Hang.

McGrother’s debut album, ‘Where Do The Memories Go?’ was recorded during the Covid 19 UK lockdown and gives just a flavor of his craft. Mastered and assisted by Dan Donnelly, (Celtic Social Club and The Wonderstuff), it is a collection of ‘extraordinary’ stories and showcases mike’s songs as well as his multi-instrumental ability.

The Wild Rover will make your audience laugh, cry, remember and share their own stories. Life affirming and always inspiring, a night in the company of McGrother never disappoints.

Outside of his musical life, Mike works as creative partner to a number of local authorities, prison and schools in his native North East. He is married with two daughters and suffers the trauma of following Middlesbrough FC on an annual, addicted and despairing basis.