The Polite Rebel
When Mikey Powell was thirteen years old he stumbled upon a dusty black case in the attic of his Carthage, NY farm house while looking for an old lacrosse stick. When he opened the case he had no idea that he was actually opening a new chapter of his life. He opened the case to find an old beat up acoustic guitar that his Father had played years ago. The guitar was equipped with only the top three rusted strings, the others had snapped, but MP was amazed by it’s unique presence. He began posing with the guitar in his bedroom mirror, pretending to be Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan, until he eventual started video taping himself lip synching to the vinyl records that spun in the background.
Mikey never asked his parents to put new strings on the guitar because he wasn’t sure if he would be allowed to play this antique instrument. Instead, he would sneak the guitar in and out of the attic each night. Over time, Powell started creating old country bass lines with the out of tune top three strings of his Fathers guitar as a foundation in which he could lay his poetry. He was immediatly consumed with the art of songwriting. He was eventually discovered playing in the attic by his Mother and she agreed to get him new strings as long as he agreed to treat the guitar with respect.
Eleven years later... Not much has changed. Powell remains consumed by the emotions that are associated with the songwriting and performing process. In a recent interview, Powell describes the process of songwriting as "bregotanova." "BREGOTANOVA" My friend from Camillus, Jimmy Mitzen, and I were watching a band perform in Syracuse back in July. He began to tell me about the crazy dream that he had the night before. He explained that in his dream he was watching some band (he wasn’t sure which one) perform and the music was the most incredible thing that had ever hit his ear drums. Every beat of the drum was pure, every stroke of the guitar was crisp and emotive, and the lyrics were sang as if they were exiting the lungs of an angel.
The word BREGOTANOVA would repeatedly flash throughout the dream. Neither of us know the origin or the defintion of the word but the way that Jimmy defined it will be forever embedded in my brain. He explained "Bregotanova is that moment in music when you forget about everything...and I mean everything. You lose touch with reality and you enter a dream world. You forget about your job, your family, you even forget you’re alive. Every hair on your body stands at attention as your mind, your heart, your soul, and your body become so stimulated that you become hypnotized in a sense. That is BREGOTANOVA." Writing songs gives me this felling. It allows me to escape my life and enter someone or something else’s. I love the whole songwriting process from front to back. From the moment my pen hits the paper I feel like I am hypnotized."
