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" Welch makes leap to the pros. "
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By Norm Shaw
Of all the up and coming players interviewed for our look at newcomers, perhaps none has more going for him than "Monster" Mike Welch. And none face more pressure. But if 17-year-old Welch is feeling the pressure of a national record deal, write ups in Rolling Stone and People magazines, and international tours, he sure doesn't show it. When you talk to Welch on the phone you talk to a self-assured, extraordinarily comfortable person. There's a lot of confidence, but no arrogance. There's a lot of pride, but no ego. He's playing the game very well. And the game becomes a professional career this month. Welch graduated from high school a semester early and now is a true, full-time, professional musician. He's got a new record titled Axe to Grind coming out in mid-February, and he's hitting the road to support it. "We've got a few road trips planned for the next few months," Welch says from his Lexington, Mass., home. "We're going to Detroit and gigging on the way there and back. Then we're going to Florida, which is great because we've never been there. After that we spend a month in Europe. We went last year and it was a really great experience. That puts us up to late April, early May." That's about as far down the road as Welch is willing to look right now. He says he's not too interested in long-term planning because so far it hasn't worked. "Every time I've made a plan, it's changed on me. So I just let things happen as they'll happen," he says. "And any number of things could happen." What has happened so far almost reads like a fairy tale. He started playing guitar at the age of 8. Instead of contemporary music, he turned to the blues by listening to his father's record collection. His early influences included Magic Sam, Earl Hooker and other guitar greats. He was a regular at Boston blues jams by the time he was 11. He got his big break when he was asked to play at the grand opening of the House of Blues in Cambridge, Mass. He entered "Little Mikey" Welch and left "Monster Mike" Welch, a name applied by House of Blues co-owner Dan Akroyd. He recorded his debut, These Blues are Mine, for Tone-Cool Records with the "Monster" Mike Welch Band. The band featured George Leroy Lewis, Jon Ross and Warren Grant. The record featured all original songs either written or co-written by Welch. It was decided early to focus on nothing but originals, a decision Welch believes was the right one. "We had a bet we started really early on," he says. "Everyone else was doing a cover of 'Mustang Sally,' so we decided we wouldn't bother with it. We decided if our opening band didn't play it, we'd have to. But we never had to. "Every so often we come up with a really good cover. But making it an all-original band was a good choice. It meant we were doing songs people hadn't done to death, and there's something very satisfying about playing something you're responsible for." Welch also says he's uncomfortable doing cover songs because he's basically too hard on himself. "I'm not Magic Sam," he says. "Whenever I play his songs, I'm doing comparisons in my head. And even though it may sound all right, in my head I'm still hearing the song they way Magic Sam did it." Welch is well-versed in blues history, which may come as a shock to many of fellow students. He says Lexington High School is well-known for its music program, but most of his peers he's just another kid in music class. "My friends know what I do, but a lot of (my classmates) have no idea," he says. "I like to keep kind of separate. I don't go around saying, 'I'm Monster Mike,' and that's a deliberate decision. Playing the blues doesn't bring huge amounts of stardom." But it just might. Axe to Grind finds Welch sticking with the basic formula of his first record. Again, it is all originals, recorded at the same studio with the same band. But it does offer a little more mature sound and songwriting, something that will continue. And if all goes as it should, we'll be hearing from Welch for a long time. Welch sees this as his life's calling. It's what he does, what he has to do. "There's so little money to be made playing the blues that you might as well get it right," he says at the end of the conversation. "If I do it, I do it with pride." At this point, "Monster" Mike Welch has a lot to be proud of.
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