FEATURED ARTISTS

(Alphabetical By Band or Artist)

Video Collaborations

(O-Z)

FEATURED ARTIST

Olga

Mikey was looking for the perfect song and the perfect singer for a Valentine’s Day release. He found both with ‘Ever Fallen In Love’ by the Buzzcocks, sung by Olga of the Toy Dolls. The whole performance is joyful, energetic and classic ‘Olga’. He’s an ageless icon, admired as a songwriter, singer and gifted punk guitarist. This is another of my personal favourites from the series, also featuring Jonny ‘2 Bags’ Wickersham and Doug Carrion.

OLGA

DIG THAT GROOVE BABY
ACOUSTIC VERSION

From the album Olgacoustic featuring acoustic versions of 15 classic Toy Dolls tunes

Dickies cover

Where’d his Eye Go?

Pulley

FEATURING

scott Radinsky

FeAtured artist

cj Ramone

What an honour to have CJ Ramone on the cover of ‘Something to Believe In’ from the Ramones classic album, Animal Boy.

CJ was the youngest member of the Ramones by almost a decade. He was only 24 when he joined them in 1989 as Dee Dee’s replacement. At the time, tensions were high and morale was low within the band, and CJ’s youthful energy was considered ‘a breath of fresh air’ that helped move them forward following Dee Dee’s departure. He remained with the Ramones until their final show in 1996, and contributed greatly to their ongoing success and relevance as one of the most influential punk bands of all time.

Joining CJ on lead vocals for this classic cover are Nikola Sarcevic of Millencolin and Chris Cresswell of The Flatliners.

The stacked crew also includes Randy Bradbury of Pennywise, Karina Denike of NOFX and Dance Hall Crashers, sisters Rose and Matilda Farrell of Yee Loi, Dave Raun of Lagwagon/Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, Scott James of Movin in Stereo, Amy Gabba of Amy Gabba and the Almost Famous, and a special guest appearance by Joey Ramone’s brother, Mickey Leigh.
This was a fun one!

Cj ramone

In this video, CJ explains how he became a member of the Ramones, provides examples of his own evolution as a guitarist and songwriter, shares memories of Dee Dee, Joey, Johnny and Mark, and discusses the Ramones’ incredible influence and legacy as a band.

Featured ArtisT

nikola sarcevic

Best known as the bassist, vocalist, and primary songwriter for the Swedish punk band Millencolin, Nikola Sarcevic has been a great friend to ‘Mikey and his Uke.’ His appearances in ‘Dope Sick Girl’, ‘Bonzo Goes to Bitburg’, ‘No Cigar’ and ‘Something to Believe In’ have all been highlights of the series.

Nikola’s incredible vocals on ‘Bonzo’ have helped to make it the most popular collaboration so far. That particular video also includes stellar performances by Chris Cresswell (Flatliners), Noodles (The Offspring), Karina Denike (Dance Hall Crashers/NOFX), Jessie and Justin Bivona (The Interrupters) and Amy Gabba (Amy Gabba and the Almost Famous). From start to finish, we love everything about it!

Nikola sarcevic

millencolin

‘True Brew’

Featured artist

Walter schreifels

Mikey was thrilled to have legendary punk artist Walter Schreifels on the cover of The Jam’s ‘In the City’. Walter began his career at CBGBs in the late 80s and has been an influential figure in the hardcore/punk scene ever since.

For myself, I thought the little ‘Walter Easter Egg’ that Michael Crusty added to the end of the video was a perfect wrap on a perfect collaboration.

Walter schreifels

Walter Schreifels discusses his evolution as a musician, his work with Quicksand, Rival Schools and Gorilla Biscuit, and how the hardcore/punk scene shaped his career.

On March 28, 2015, my band the Fairmounts were lucky enough to open for The Muffs at the Horseshoe Tavern, here in Toronto Ontario.

At the time, The Muffs weren't playing very often, and they hadn't played Toronto in a long time. It was a huge thrill for me and my band to get to share the stage with them at this sold out show.

We showed up early for soundcheck. The Muffs arrived shortly after and began to set up their gear. I watched in awe as they played 4 or 5 songs for their soundcheck in that empty venue. The way they sounded, and the way Kim screamed her vocals, you would never have known there were only 4 or 5 of us watching at the time. It was incredible, and such a privilege to get to share that with my bandmates. It was like a private Muffs concert just for us.

After they were done, I introduced myself to Kim and made some small talk. I think we chatted about where the bands would be setting up our merch, and I of course told her what a huge fan I am. She really couldn't have been nicer. We got a picture together, and I asked her and the band to sign a Muffs LP that I had brought with me. I've been a huge fan of hers since the first time I heard her voice when she did a guest vocal on the song ‘Lori Myers’ on NOFX's Punk In Drublic. Once I found out she fronted a band called The Muffs, I went all in.

Kim Shattuck unfortunately passed away 4 years later from complications of ALS at age 56.If she were still around, Kim would have been the first person I reached out to in hopes of collaborating on a song together. To this day, no one has a scream like hers!
RIP Kim.

- Mikey

MIKEY AND HIS UKE COVER

Big mouth

By the muffs

With Heather Tabor, Dan Vapid, Mass Giorgini, Dan Wleklinski and Dan Panic

ThE muffs

lucky guy

Featured artisT

DavE smalley

Dave is one of Mikey’s favourite singers. His work with Dag Nasty, All, DYS and Down by Law has made him a truly legendary figure in the punk scene.

Aside from his stunning vocal skills, Dave has a reputation as being an exceptionally genuine person and an all round good guy, which was certainly Mikey’s experience in collaborating with him.

Dave identifies the Clash and the Jam as his two all-time favourite bands, and that love of the Jam definitely shines through in his incredible performance of ‘In the City’ also featuring Davey Warsop, Walter Schreifels and Danny Thompson.

Dave smalley

Discusses favourite bands and musical influences

Featured artist

kye smith

Kye Smith is a world class drummer based in Newcastle, Australia, who has a huge YouTube following. He creates covers, medleys and chronologies with a particular focus on the punk bands he grew up with, and still loves.

Mikey knew Kye was a fan of Rancid so he reached out to him for the cover of ‘Dope Sick Girl’ and was thrilled when Kye agreed.

This is one of my favourites in the series so far!

Kye smith

green day CHRONOLOGY

When Mikey decided to cover ‘I Forget’ it was an especially personal choice for him. He not only loved the song but also wanted to pay homage to one of the most influential Canadian punk bands of the early 90s, SNFU. The band was characterized by the unique voice and lyrics of Mr. Chi Pig and the high octane guitar performances of twin brothers Brent and Marc Belke.

They’re an important band for Mikey, having headlined one of the first big shows he ever played back in his hometown of Sault Ste. Marie. At the time, SNFU were famous for their wildly energetic stage performances, and that night was no exception. Mikey was lucky enough to meet them several more times over the years, but never forgot the excitement of that first meeting, or the thrill of sharing a stage with them. He’s looking forward to having the Belke Brothers on an upcoming video and remains a huge fan of their work.

Unfortunately, Chi Pig (Ken Chinn) died in 2020 at the age of 57 after a long battle with addiction and mental health issues. He was a singular talent who left an indelible mark on Canadian punk. Mikey’s proud to own a custom painting that Chi completed for him just weeks before his death, bearing some of the ‘I Forget’ lyrics. This painting is one of many SNFU items Mikey has collected over the years, and can be seen in the background on many of his videos.

For this cover of ‘I Forget’, Mikey and Darrin were joined by Russ Rankin (Good Riddance), Chuck Coles (RULES/Creepshow/Organ Thieves), Joe Principe (Rise Against/88 Fingers Louis), Al Nolan (Almighty Trigger Happy/Downbelows/Cursed Blessing Records) and Dave Brownsound (Sum 41).

Featured artist

Bill stevenson

Bill Stevenson has been the drummer and primary songwriter for the Descendents since 1978, and has also toured and recorded with Black Flag.

In 1987, when Milo Aukerman left the Descendents to pursue a career in science, Bill and bandmates Karl Alvarez and Stephen Egerton formed ALL, and brought in a series of talented artists to cover lead vocals; these included Dave Smalley, Scott Reynolds and Chad Price.

Over the years, Bill has been active as a producer (for Rise Against and NOFX, amongst others), and widely recognized as a gifted songwriter and drummer. However, he is not generally known as a guitar player, so his unexpected guitar performance on Mikey and his Ukes’ version of Black Flag’s ‘Jealous Again’ is all the more captivating.

And what a great performance it is!

bill stevenson

In conversation with

chris demakes

Aside from his professional accomplishments, Bill Stevenson is an exceptionally interesting and articulate individual. He’s faced a number of significant challenges in his life, including a cancer diagnosis that led to surgery for a brain tumour in 2008.

In the following Podcast, Bill discusses his complex relationship with his father, and their final days together. This heartfelt and compelling conversation is well worth a listen.

FEATURED artist

Tosh the Drummer

Tosh Peterson was born in L.A. in 2001. He started playing drums at age 2 and was touring professionally by age 16. Over the past several years, he’s performed with Machine Gun Kelly, Bad Bunny, Carlie Hanson, Bryce Vine, Nik West and many others.

When asked about his drumming style in a 2019 interview with Gary Benson of ‘Stop the Creep’, Tosh said “I don’t know. I get called so many different things, different types of drummers. It’s really funny hearing all the different ones. I guess you could say I’m a rock drummer with a lot of hip hop influences. But when I was growing up my dad would always have me play along with different things. One second I’d be playing along to Parliament Funkadelic and then Snoop Dog and Motley Crew. So much different stuff. Carlos Santana. My dad loved every type of music so that shaped me into liking every type of music. I guess since I hit pretty hard on the drums people call me a rock drummer.”

Describing his first tour at age 16, Tosh said “I got the job playing drums for an artist named Nik West. She’s a really great bassist. She’s played with Prince. So it was a lot of that type of stuff. Funk rock. That was really fun. It was my first time touring. We were playing in some crazy places. My first summer playing with her we did a few shows around the U.S. then we went to Russia. So I played in Russia, Serbia, Czech Republic, Austria, Spain. I was all over the place. I played with her for about a year and a half and in that time I got to go to some places I’ve never even heard of. I went to Azerbaijan, that’s right above Iran. That was so much fun. The people there are just so stoked. That really opened my eyes to how awesome music is. I’m playing for people who live somewhere that I didn’t even know existed and we can be best friends. Sometimes they don’t speak any English and we could become good friends through music. That’s just crazy to me. I thought that was so cool. So that was my first experience touring.”

The full interview is available at https://bensonsmusic.com/blog-talk/tosh-the-drummer/ and includes links to various performances with a range of artists.

Mikey, who also started out as a drummer, is a huge admirer of Tosh’s skills. He knows Tosh has a great future ahead of him, and was excited to have him join Tony Lovato of Mest, Paul Thomas of Good Charlotte and Joe Taylor of Knuckle Puck for a cover of Disconnected by Face to Face, which is one of Mikey’s all-time favourite songs.

Featured artist

Frank turner

By Guest Contributor

Maggie Gasparetto

English born Frank Turner is a rare breed of rock star. The prolific singer-songwriter has turned out an impressive 8 studio albums since Sleep Is For The Week released in 2007. He’s a consummate storyteller; once you’re a fan, his music has a way of becoming a soundtrack to your life. With recurring themes of everything from drug addiction, the thrill of playing music, and of course, heartbreak, his haunting prose resonates with many. And it also helps that Frank writes really catchy songs – check out melodic bangers like “Glorious You”, “Reasons Not To Be An Idiot”, and “Live Fast Die Old”.

You can’t help but think of Frank as likable, industrious, and humble. He was honoured by AIM as the ‘Hardest Working Act’ and ‘Best Live Act’ in 2011, and he roused the crowd by playing the opening ceremonies for the London Olympics in 2011. While some artists waste their energy gate-keeping music, Frank supports the scene, noting on his touring schedule which of his shows are all ages. It’s clear that Frank, as accomplished as he is, has not forgotten his roots. Although he may stray far from home, he knows that England will keep his bones.

Frank’s performance on the Mikey and his Uke cover of ‘My Name is Jonas’ is one of my personal favourites in the series so far. Joining him on this Weezer classic are Lindsay McDougall, Jason Cropper (co-writer of the song), Evil Jared Hasselhoff and Ricky Fitness.

Frank turner

Reasons not to be an idiot

FeAtured artist

adrian young

As the drummer for No Doubt, Adrian Young became famous for his fast tempo percussions, his distinctive stage presence and his exuberant personality.

In describing the single ‘Sunday Morning’ from No Doubt’s 1995 Tragic Kingdom album, Rolling Stone magazine said,“From the moment Adrian Young's opening drum solo builds up, the song grows more and more massive and searing.”

It’s such a pleasure to see Adrian on the cover of Bad Reputation!

His performance is a perfect complement to the talents of Josie Cotton, Klaus Flouride, Noodles, Kevin Preston and Amy Gabba, and a joy to watch.

adrian young

Live at Superbowl with no Doubt and sting