Bio
Mick, son of Philip D. McMains and Helen Muir Ware was born in
Washington D.C. and immediately moved to Vietnam where he spent
his baby years. Then it was off to Europe, 2 years in Vienna followed
by 5 years in Paris. It was in Paris that Mick began a life long study of
music having the good fortune to take piano lessons from Russian-
born Madame Friedenson who herself was a protégé of the great
Nadia Boulanger. After his dad retired from the USIS (information
gathering), the family moved to Southern California where his older
brothers – both excellent musicians – were at USC. It was in SoCal
that Mick started playing the guitar in earnest, finding an excellent
teacher in Long Beach by the name of Horace Hatchett. Hatchett had
studied with the legend Charlie Christian.
Mick has Co-Produced 2 startling CDs for the art ensemble known as
dj monkey. Acting also came natural to Mick. He can be seen in the
horror classic Hard Rock Zombies. He’s the piano-playing Zombie on
the left. Mick has played on all the main stages in and around Los
Angeles, also touring Europe as a bassist for punk rock band The
Generators. A 2-year stint as lead singer for Earl Slick’s NYC brought
Mick into the heights of rock royalty sharing the stage with luminaries
like Joe Walsh (Eagles), Ray Manzarek (Doors), Earl Slick (Bowie),
etc… and later he was found touring Japan and the Pacific Northwest
with 80’s power-pop icon John Wicks of The Records.
You will now find Mick spending most of his time working on his own
music in his Temple City (CA) studio.