Mike Lamb spends more time in front of a microphone than almost anyone you can contemplate.
Besides being a local, on-air personality for 96.1 BOB FM, Lamb sings and plays guitar in two bands that perform throughout the Westman region. For the past two years, Lamb has been a vocalist and rhythm guitarist with Brandon’s 8 Track Shuffle; a five-piece cover band that plays both country and rock at various venues in the city.
However, the 27-year-old Brandon resident expresses himself more personally in a duo called Balloons for a Million. Here, he and drummer Spencer Hildebrand of Boissevain, Man. perform a handful of numbers Lamb has written himself on a set-list that also incorporates songs by the Eagles, Elton John, Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR), the Beatles, Sublime, the Black Keys, John Mayer, Stevie Ray Vaughan and more.
“Spencer is my best friend from childhood. We have been playing music together since the beginning, so starting a band together seemed natural. It was a no-brainer,” says Lamb. “In 2013, we decided to take it a bit more seriously and see what we would be able to pull off as a duo outside of jamming in one of our basements.”
Lamb has been playing music since the age of five when he took piano lessons. In his mid-teens, he took up the guitar, teaching himself the instrument after one year of lessons in Grade 9.
“I love so many different genres, but my biggest musical influence and love is Led Zeppelin. My other favorites include anything from Jeff Lynne, Brian Wilson, and CCR. My love of music stems from classic and hard rock,” he said.
“There’s a very excellent chance my parents had something to do with the classic rock part. Jimmy Page is my biggest instrumental influence. It would not be out of sorts to say that he is the main reason I started playing guitar in the first place.”
In terms of his own songwriting efforts, Lamb only puts a tune together when there is a strong compulsion to do so. He doesn’t have any particular goals or writing habits.
“And once (the writing) happens? I can’t stop. I zone in on what I’m doing and ignore everything around me for a straight hour or two,” he said. “By that time, I’ve usually written the main skeleton for what I want to achieve. I’ll slowly pick away or tweak things after that, but it’s usually an hour or two of heavy focus when the majority happens. I tend to write about experiences I’ve had or locations I’ve visited.”
Lamb’s song, “Blues of the Day,” is a mainstay of a Balloons for a Million show. He says it’s the first song he wrote as a member of the duo and believes it’s “quite catchy.”
Although Lamb’s work has not yet been recorded, permanently documenting his music is something he wishes to accomplish.
8 Track Shuffle, meanwhile, could be characterized as a “party band.” The group includes Lamb on guitar and vocals; Frank McGwire on drums and vocals; Kelsey Schoonbaert on lead guitar and vocals; Cary Clark on bass guitar; and Morgan Ashcroft on rhythm guitar and vocals. They have most recently performed at The 40 nightclub and the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair.
The setlist for 8 Track Shuffle – which is, at times, booked up to three nights per month – includes a variety of country hits by the Old Crow Medicine Show, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Garth Brooks and Keith Urban alongside classic rock tunes by Billy Joel, the Proclaimers, the Georgia Satellites, Tom Petty, Bad Finger, John Fogerty, the Rolling Stones, Trooper and others.
“The band actually formed a little bit before I joined it,” said Lamb. “I think it was a pretty standard case of some local musicians wanting to put a group together and have some fun. I’ve known Frank (McGwire) for roughly eight years through radio. He gave me the call to join the group, and I answered.”
Regardless of with whom he is on stage, Lamb’s love of music and the adrenaline rush of performing live keeps him behind the microphone, regardless of the fact that he’s speaking into one at his day-job.
“There’s something that I find so incredibly fun about playing music that I love with others,” he says. “On top of that, having family, friends and strangers share the same experience is incredible. We’re all bonding over the same songs. It brings a joy that’s tough to compare with anything else.”
