“Genre fluid” is how singer-guitarist Mikei Gray describes his Nashville-based duo the Frst, and judging from the swirling array of musical styles he and partner singer-bassist Laura Dobransky trade in – pop rock, punk, hip-hop, blues, country, metal, surf and so on – the term fits.
Classical music seems to be the only art form these two upstarts don’t tackle on their incandescent debut album, This Never Happened, but give them time; they’ll get there.
“We love all kinds of music, but blues is closest to my heart,” Gray says. “I grew up playing VFW halls with people who were a decade older than me, so I learned Muddy Waters and Robert Johnson. It was fun, and I earned money to buy guitars.”
Intent on a career as a session guitarist, Gray left his native Florida for Nashville, and after a six-month stint working as a dishwasher, he began getting gigs.
“It seemed as if every country artist was looking for a metal guitar player,” he says. “I could play whatever they wanted, so I got lots of work.”
Gray even gave bluegrass star Ricky Skaggs a guitar lesson. “Ricky’s mainly a mandolin player, and he saw me playing my Tele at the Grand Ole Opry. He asked me to show him some things, and I was glad to. What an honor!”
Gray was already plotting his own group when he met hardcore punker Dobransky. Their musical chemistry was immediate, and the two began testing the waters by issuing singles – Tarantino hit Number 78 on iTunes’ Rock chart, and last year’s hook-filled Bruce Lee cracked the Top 30.
The duo have spent the past four years putting together This Never Happened, and Gray says they’re hot to perform the album on the road this summer. “Our van breaks down all the time, but that won’t stop us,” he says.
No doubt he’ll draw attention on tour with his self-made “hubcap guitar,” fashioned from a 1950s Buick hubcap. “People think it’s a banjo or a toy, and they’re stunned when they hear it,” he says. “I put a Slash humbucker and some SG electronics in it, and let me tell you, it rips!”
- This Never Happened is out now.
- This article first appeared in Guitar World. Subscribe and save.
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