Mik Artistik

Latest News

OBSERVER REVIEW! - Monday, 13 February, 2012

Great write up about us, from Fiona Banner in the Observer...https://mail.google.com/mail/?tab=wm#inbox/13576f7769da822b

JIMMY SAVILE RETURNS!!! - Monday, 14 November, 2011

You can hear our new singler "JIMMY SAVILE HAD MY ALBUM"..it's a blaster ..it's a fantaster .. a madagaster!!! ..tomorrow morning 8.45 am on radio Leeds 92.4 FM when I'll be chatting and singing live with Martin Kelner.. The new single is available to download Friday on AWAL Records.

WATCH HORROR!!!!!!!! - Monday, 15 August, 2011

We're in the bloody papers again!!!! Harve a look at our lovely picture and equally lovely article in the Yorkshire EveningPost...

By Suzanne McTaggart:

He’s a zany street artist and musician who is well-known for drawing portraits on paper bags using just a pencil or a biro.

But now, Leeds-born Mik Artistik is taking his musical talent forward by releasing a brand new single – based on a real-life experience at Kirkgate Market.

Cheap Watch From The Market tells the story of a £3 watch, which lasted an impressive four years before the strap broke.

But unfortunately for Mik, 56, his girlfriend in the song “detests” the watch so instead of getting it repaired, he has to buy a £40 replacement from Argos, which lasts just seven months.

The video for the song was filmed entirely at Kirkgate market and even features cameos from market traders, who are seen holding up felt-tip drawings of watches and singing the song’s catchphrase – “it’s just a cheap watch, from the market.”

Mik, who performs alongside Jonny Flockton and Benson Walker as part of Mik Artistik’s Ego Trip, told the YEP: “Most of my music is autobiographical and the idea for this song came from something I did at Glastonbury. I was on stage and I started telling this story about my cheap watch, and it mushroomed from there.

“We went to the market to do the video on a Saturday morning and I took a felt-tip and drew about 40 of these watches.

“It all just fell into place. All the traders were really up for appearing in the video. It was brilliant.”

He added: “The people of Leeds should really know about this song. It’s about the market and it’s about the city; and I grew up here, so it means a lot to me.”

Mik, who now lives in Armley, is known for drawing portraits on paper bags, having “bagged” thousands over the years.

His work has been displayed at exhibitions.

He said: “I’m holding an exhibition of my work in Newcastle next month and I’m hoping to do a radio show following me on the streets with the paper bag art.

“In terms of the band, we’ve been at the Port Eliot Festival in Cornwall, we’ll be at the Grove Festival at Bridgewater Place next Sunday and we’re going to the Electric Picnic in Dublin next month.

“It’s a lively time and we’ve had a wonderful year.”

The single is available to download from iTunes. For more details, visit www.mikartistik.com or join the fan club on Facebook.

TICK..TICK..TICK.. - Friday, 5 August, 2011

Well, well, well..Finally we've released our first single"CHEAP WATCH FROM THE MARKET". It's a dad straddler!..a gorgeous marriage of funk and fresh fruit! To get a copy, go to Youtube , type in 'mik artistik cheap watch' and there's a link under the film. It costs 79p.Tell five people and let's watch this bastard go nuclear! ..here's the link http://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/cheap-watch-from-the-market/id449833210

The Leeds Guide: Interview with Mik Artistik - Sunday, 20 February, 2011

"The artist-musician-comedian talks about his life in Leeds"

There is a big double page interview with Mik Artistik in The Leeds Guide.

You can also read this on-line on the website. Read the interview now.

Radio 4, Afternoon Play @ 2:15, Monday - Sunday, 13 February, 2011

Mik Artistik's track Castaway will be featuring in the Radio 4 afternoon play tomorrow, tune in and listen out for it! You can pick up a copy on the Lissenn album.

Who is Mik Artistik? & Mik Artistik's Ego Trip now showing at Hyde Park - Friday, 28 January, 2011

Chances are you'll recognise Beeston boy turned Armley man Mik Artistik. Maybe you've seenhim around Yorkshire drawing on brown paper bags or spotted him throwing straws and syllables at a stunned Glastonbury crowd. His paintings have graced many a gallery wall and his celebrity fans include the likes of Faust, Keith Allen and the Kaiser Chiefs. Dublin Filmmaker Jackie Jarvis's attempt to commit to film the world of this Leeds legend is charming, poignant, and humourous whether you're an old friend or a first time greeter of the man himself.

Find out more on the Hyde Park Picture House website.

Beeston boy Mik Artistik's on a roll with his Ego Trip - Saturday, 25 December, 2010

Guest blogger Jude Cosgrove takes a look at the surreal punk, funk, electric comedy phenomenon that is Mik Artistik's Ego Trip - and speaks to the man himself.

Read full article on the Guardian Leeds website

Bespoken Word - Tuesday, 14 December, 2010

Mik has recently performed on Radio 4's Bespoken Word from the Cheltenham Literature Festival, if you're quick you can listen again on BBC iPlayer.

Not A Calendar - Wednesday, 8 December, 2010

Cripplin' heavens.. it's arrived. 'Mik Artistik's Ego Trip Not a Calendar'. It's a mumstunner, a chapwhapper. Packed with highly inflammable material about Anglesey, and Harry Rednapp..

Lasts a life-time, costs twelve quid fifty pence including postage! .. and it's not a calendar!!

Grab yours for £12.50 by sending Mik an email.

Good Vibrations! - Wednesday, 12 November, 2008

There's a secret Leeds; oh yes. It's a Leeds of bygone pubs and underground streets, disappeared signage and long lost shops. There's also a secret on the Leeds music scene, and it's a secret that deserves to be spread like a wild rumour around this fair city and beyond.

Mik Artistik is already onto his fourth studio album and although, at 53, he not the springiest of chickens, he's hatched from an alternative cabaret scene with a mix of punk, poetry and panache that would put many younger, less worldly wise artistes to shame. His stage persona ranges from amiable host to a wild-eyed lunatic, leaping into the audience to humour and scare almost at the same time.

Album Review: SANDMAN - Tuesday, 14 August, 2007

A mysterious and shadowy figure in the smoky boozers of Leeds these last ten years, performance artist, proper artist and prankster Mik Artistik is rarely forgotten once encountered. Time was his main channel of expression was accosting people in the pub and asking of they wanted their portrait painted. He's expanded his portfolio considerably these days and this, his third full length CD, is chock full of the usual originals full of surrealism, mystery, back handed poignancy and just plain daftness, or familiar melodies given Mik's own inimitable makeovers. It's just Mik on vocals with minimal backing from guitar, mandolin, banjo and bass and everything is intoned in a nasal whine studded with flinty, flat northern vowels.

'Condoleeza Rice' is the story of how Mik lumbered his baby daughter with the US politicians "truth is stranger etc" name. 'Life and soul of the party' gets revenge on those effortlessly garrulous entertainers at parties by giving them a hollow and empty existence away from the social round. On the other hand, 'Turning into dad' may be based on twee cartoon theme 'Walking in the Air', but the lyric is the harrowing but hilarious tale of Mik watching himself gradually become his detested Dad as he grows older. Weirdest of all is the 36 second 'Joyce Grenfell's teeth' (exploded in my face!) and the belligerent and sinister updating of George Formby's millstone in 'Window Cleaner'. Hugely entertaining, the CD bears repeated plays because the songs often have depth beyond their superficial hilarity. John Cooper Clark used to pull off a similar trick.