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see a young white guy walking into trouble in that neighbourhood and got me out of there fast.

Guess I’m grateful to those cops. They gave me a huge education about where to go and where not
to go in Chicago in 1974.

LL: You’re enjoying a long, successful and varied career in the music business. Could you do
your best to give us an overview? Please don’t be shy!

MF: Well, it’s quite a story. I’ve described the first forays to America but after the Shakey Jake
debacle I found work at an instrument repair shop in Chicago for a month or two. There I met the
sound engineer for The Shadows Of Knight who was about to work for a Chicago band called
Pezband. They became the poster children for Power Pop and I was signed on as their road
manager. They were the darlings of the Chicago club scene and it was quite a time with them. I got
tired of that life and moved on, publishing a monthly music newspaper called Stage Pass for a
couple of years. I had to return to London for family reasons for a few months and was asked to
come back to run a tour for Pezband who

had just been signed. That lasted for about Pezband
nine months and I found myself back in
Chicago and went to see some friends who
had opened a recording studio complex in a
Chicago suburb and had been advertising in
my publication. I used to hang out there
from time to time and we had become

friends. Well, they were looking to replace
their studio manager and asked me to fill the
position. Within a few moments of walking
into one of the studios I realized I had found
“home” and the light bulb went on! I spent Pezband - 1976
every hour imaginable learning the craft of making records and the next 9 years there were my
apprenticeship recording every style and genre of music imaginable.

In 1986 the studios closed, and I went out freelance and never looked back. Blind Pig Records
called one day and asked if I would take over a Joanna Connor recording at the recommendation of
the engineer who had become very ill and tragically died as I finished the record. I owe Mike
Rasfeld much. That call led to 24 or 25 titles I worked on for Blind Pig as either an engineer or
mixer or a producer. That also led to so many other recordings and to date I have worked on 70
plus titles with a couple more in the works. Three Grammy Nominations, A Grammy Award, Blues
Music award nominations and a Blues Music award and a recipient of a “Keeping The Blues Alive
Award”. It doesn’t get much better than that. I am humbled that my peers think so well of my work

and proud to work on so many meaningful recordings that will last for future generations.

One fun memory revolves around uber-producer Mike Vernon who became a dear friend. I had
recorded an album for Blind Pig with Eddy Clearwater, and he had a fine guitar player in the band
at that time named Wil Crosby. Wil rang me up one day and asked if I would engineer a session for
him for some demos he needed to cut for a “producer from New York” who was interested in
possibly signing him. We set up at the studio and started to run down the songs. No producer.

Finally, a very harried Englishman arrived, asked where Wil was, went into the studio and we
began recording the cuts. About an hour later he came into the control room, said “Hi, I’m Mike
Vernon, sorry I’m late”. I said, “No problem, I’ve been waiting 25 years to meet you so welcome to
Chicago!”. We laughed a lot and it led to a working relationship for his Chicago sessions that