PROFILE
MIKE ROWLAND
By Andrew King
T he live production game is all about reciprocity . Do right by somebody and they ’ ll do right by you . Do a good job for someone and you ’ ll be rewarded with more work . It ’ s a constant give and take , and Mike Rowland knows that well . He ’ s worked hard to earn the opportunities he ’ s had , touring with some of Canada and the world ’ s bestknown artists , and now he ’ s in a position to continue that ongoing cycle .
Rowland grew up near Chester , a city in northwestern England just 30-some km south of the immortalized-in-music-history Liverpool . “ I was big into music , brought up around a lot of it ,” Rowland recalls – “ especially being from near Liverpool , so the Beatles and a lot of new wave British stuff in the ‘ 80s , all of which my folks listened to .”
That ’ s about as good a primer for the on-the-road lifestyle as any , though there were a few stops along the way . When he was 17 , Rowland ’ s family had a chance to move to Australia and took it . “ I realized while I was over there , I didn ’ t know anybody . I could really hone in on my craft , whatever I wanted it to be ,” he tells Professional Sound . “ I was drinking a coffee in Brisbane reading a magazine and I turned to a page [ with an ad for ] an audio engineering school . I thought this might be what I wanted to do . It was music-based , but there was a lot of science and math behind it , so that ’ s what I went for .”
The program was for studio engineering , though many of the basic skills are easily transferrable to live audio work . After two semesters , Rowland met Gil Norton , an engineer who produced some very wellknown acts like The Pixies and Foo Fighters . “ He taught me the basic principles of sound and the right attitude to have in the business .”
The first “ big gig ” he worked was for rapper Dizzee Rascal , who hails from Rowland ’ s homeland . “ So to move across the world and do a show with him was pretty surreal – especially only being 18 at that point .”
His family ended up moving to Canada , though Rowland stayed down under and maintained a house mixing gig in Brisbane . When his visa expired , however , his choices were to head back to the U . K . or join his family in Canada . “ So I decided to go with them and it was the best decision I have ever made ,” he states .
Freshly arrived in Calgary , Rowland landed a temporary gig at a small 300-cap room . After mixing a sold-out show – one of his first there – a woman in the audience approached him , praised his work , and invited him to mix monitors at the venue where she was house engineer . Even though he ’ d primarily been at FOH until that point , he jumped at the opportunity . That venue ended up being MacEwan Hall at the University of Calgary – one of the most prominent in the city .
“ I mixed every gig that went through that venue for over a year ,” he says . “ So acts from Moby to Angels & Airwaves to some really interesting sort of world acts that would come in . It was a great place to focus on monitors – all analog – and really get into grips with mixing for the artist and not the crowd .”
After a year-and-a-half , he moved to Toronto after arranging a gig with Clair Canada . “ And that ’ s when things really started rolling .” Since then , he ’ s hit the road with a number of top touring artists including Canadians such as Big Wreck , Marianas Trench , and Theory of a Deadman .
“ Touring is what I love . Every show still excites me and I love building new relationships with artists and fellow crew members as we travel around the world together ,” he says , though as is often the case , he ’ s starting to seek a balance of road work and something steadier that will keep him close to home .
That ’ s because , last year , Rowland married his longtime girlfriend . After the wedding , he took several months of downtime ; however , he ’ s been back on the road throughout 2016 , and now starting to be able to reciprocate some of the opportunities he ’ s had over the years . “ I ’ ve been working closely with VER Canada and they recently asked me to go out and tour on their behalf ,” he says . “ I actually just got back from City and Colour ’ s national tour .”
Rowland has a busy year ahead . Being a longstanding crew member with Marianas Trench , he ’ ll shortly embark on a U . S . tour with the band , followed by a trek through Europe in the fall .
“ I ’ m fortunate to work with such a great group of people on and off the stage and never take that for granted ,” he says – many of whom he recommended for tours . It ’ s an ongoing circle of reciprocity – one that put Rowland on his current path of success and one that he ’ ll continue on the high-profile gigs to come .
Andrew King is the Editor of Professional Sound .
20 PROFESSIONAL SOUND