Guest Book & Fans' comments

Mike's book is an excellent read. His story deserved to be told. It is especially interesting on the origins and early years of The Searchers. And, without taking sides, on the split from the original band. For me, and many fans I suspect, it is a shame that musically the split happened.

I would like to wish all the Fans a very happy christmas and a peaceful,happy and successful new year.
A special thanks to all those long standing fan club memebers who continue to support Mike and the band and this web site. For those of you have not yet purchased a copy of Mike's book please get in touch because it makes a super Christmas present to a friend or partner or even a present for yourself - and why not - you deserve it! Best wishes Roger

Have just finished reading your book really enjoyed it and the part about the lady who has not seen you for 46yrs. It has really cheered us up as my husband is fighting cancer at the moment. Hope to see you next year Merry Xmas to you and your family.

Dear Mike,

The word Legend is sometimes overused but in this case it's true. Songs such as 'Sweets For My Sweet', 'When You Walk In The Room' and 'Needles And Pins' changed the shape and direction of popular music forever. I've always been a fan and I hail from Ormskirk. Originally I lived in Southampton for 18 years and call it home. I've had brain damage for all of those years but now after a bleed on the brain I'm fine and am now a very happy grandad.

My mum Norma lives in Branford CTT and in fact in the 80s I was over in America and we went to see you play live and you were AMAAAAZING! She moved to America in the very early 60s from Speke after I was given up for adoption. She knew the Beatles - John Lennon in particular.

I just wanted to say 'Hello' and pay tribute to one of the most important artists in modern day popular music; you helped shape the music landscape forever and for the better, unique, groundbreaking, game-changing music... wow!

Much love from a lifelong fan
TF XXXX

I am delighted to read that your autobiography has now been published.
Many congratulations !
It was a great privilege for me to work on it with you.

With kind regards to you and May and family, and best wishes for Christmas and the New Year.

Richard ( and Wendy ) Mahoney

Hello Mike,

How are you? My name is Frank Malerba. I am the owner-operator of music and movie publication CrypticRock.com. We provide a broad range of music and movie news, interviews, reviews, and live concert photography/reviews.

I am contacting you because we provided a live review/photo coverage of British Invasion at NYCB at Westbury Theatre in NY on September 14th featuring yourself. Today we published an in-depth article with some amazing images from the evening.

Copy & paste the link to that article... http://crypticrock.com/?p=31862

GOD bless you Mike. As long as you're still rockin the world is a brighter place. Thank you for making me smile when I wanted to quit.

Hi Mike I was sorry you did not appear at the Cavern last month I had bought two tickets and booked into the Alephi Hotel for one night.I have noticed you are appearing in Newcastle next year so hope to see you then

Mike:

After a 4 and 1/2 hour flight from Chicago seeing Felix Cavaliere's Rascals I made it to the Mountain Winery, Saratoga, CA for the 50th Anniversary Of The British Invasion Tour Show. Had a Blast! Your segment was AWESOME!

Hope to see you perform again someday soon!

Take care!

Paul

Hi Mike, I saw your show with the British Invasion 50th Anniversary Tour at Mountain Winery in Saratoga, California last Sunday night. It was an amazing show and I enjoyed meeting you and the rest of the boys at the signing afterwards. You looked and sounded great! It was so cool turning my Persian wife on to your music thru the years.

I just wanted to tell you that as a 63 year old American bloke, I was in 7th Grade when the Brit Invasion came and it was literally the soundtrack to my life and millions of others. But, of all the bands, including The Beatles, The Searchers were my 'Go To' band. And they still are. As much as I loved all the other groups, The Searchers were my favorite. I even thought the name for the group was so cool and appropriate for your sound…..a kind of searching for love, or a place in the world kind of thing….perfect! I was instantly and instinctively drawn to your incredible Everly Brothers-like harmonies and the unique sound of your guitars, which I assume was a function of using the electric 12-strings with the Vox amps.

I always thought that you Mike, had one of the greatest voices in rock. I would listen to those early songs, headphones on, and hear every nuance of your vocal interpretations and phrasings; the way you would pronounce words in the lyric; the way all your voices blended together.

Hell, I still catch that BOUNCE or MOVEMENT, for lack of a better term, when your harmonies mesh on the word 'Bound' (as in "…BOUND FOR MOVING ON…”) in your version of the great 'Four Strong Winds'. In my estimation, by far, the best version!!!!! It changed my life. 'Don't Throw Your Love Away' was 'our song' for my first girlfriend and me. And coincidentally, our other song was 'Bad To Me' played by Billy J Kramer just the other night. What memories. What innocence!!!!!

I guess my favorite album (and I don't remember the name of it?), contained amazing gems like the beautiful 'Each Time' , 'Four Strong Winds', 'You Got no Love', and the really exquisite 'Till I Met You' (one of the great love songs of all time). What can I say? I'll never forget seeing you all on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show. I remember really enjoying the drumming and antics of Chris Curtis. What charisma! I remember hearing 'Bumble Bee' (the one you ridiculed the other night) for the first time and just wondering how you got that sound? I couldn't tell if it was the organ or the guitar or both getting that rich warm ANALOG sound. How did you get that sound?

I could go on and on. But, I'll close by saying that ever since I first heard your band and the others, like millions of guys/girls, I started playing guitar and have ever since. Again, I would love to know what the recipe was on how you got that distinctive sound? Was it simply the Vox amp and the 12-String? Were there other tricks? Beside being a guitarist, I'm a amateur sound engineer with my own studio in my house, so I'm always trying to pick a part sounds, almost like an alchemist, fumbling around with the knobs blindly hoping to strike gold. And I even have an old Vox AC30 hoping that I'll someday know how to use it to approximate your sound.

Thank you so much for the great music and inspiration!

Regards, absolutely your greatest fan, Tim Goodrich San Francisco.