Mike Shipway

Mike Shipway first got involved in making music in the late 1970’s, playing guitar (very badly) in a series of punk bands in the Swindon area. He eventually settled into a pop/rock band playing original and cover material around the west country, but by the mid 1980’s decided that playing live was just too time consuming. Following this, he was able to spend a lot more time in the studio writing and recording material, which led him to design and sell the ‘AI’ sampler for the ZX Spectrum, probably the first time he really got into using technology in a big way in recording. This was quickly replaced with synthesizers and bigger samplers so that by the end of the 1980’s Mike had created his first album length set of instrumental electronic music.

The early 1990’s saw the acceptance of his first album by label ‘Surreal to Real’, but only after he agreed to play it live at the ‘UK Electronica’ festival in Sheffield, 1990. This was followed by 2 more albums for ‘Surreal’, and a live schedule that saw one performance a year until 1996…. when due to his day job in IT, he was needed on a project in California and did not return until 1998! During this time, the ‘Surreal’ label ceased trading so Mike started looking for something new.

As a complete change from the structured arrangements of music he had previously composed or covered, he decided to try recording lengthy Electronic Music (EM) pieces, improvised with Steve Smith, a long time collaborator in his musical adventures. These sessions went so well that they decided to form a duo, which they named VoLt, and look for interest from record labels. The Dutch based Groove label released their first album and have since released 4 more CD’s, while expecting them to play live occasionally – and they are averaging approximately one concert a year (again!) with the latest CD being a live album.

As well as Mike's writing/recording activities with bands, he has also written and recorded jingles for local radio for both DJ’s and advertisers. One of the most interesting areas however, is working with other local musicians and singers and producing their work. He finds the production stage one of the most interesting in the whole process and enjoys taking a track with just voice and guitar from Dave James and arranging it, sometimes with a full band or orchestral production. One of his current projects is a set of film-style orchestral music for a gaming site on the Internet, proving that his eclectic interests, from punk to folk, are always being expanded!

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