Mike Alexander website

Mike Alexander memorial website:

http://www.mikealexander.co.uk/

Mike Alexander R.I.P.

Mike Alexander R.I.P.

I’d got an email from Lucy saying Evile were leaving the Amon Amarth tour whilst I was in the hotel in Kathmandu, Nepal. I thought to myself “Shit what bad luck have the guys got into now? I hope Ol’s been eating right and not breaking his jaw, I hope they’ve managed to get the ferry, I hope none of them have got ill” I was frustrated, thinking about Ol’s bad feeling about the tour before they started thinking “Come on guys whatever it is you’ve got to stick it out” So I wrote back to Lucy from Kathmandu saying “Tell me what’s going on”

I didn’t get a reply until I reached Tibet and my Blackberry started working. The first thing I read upon arrival. Mike’s dead.

Evile didn’t want to tell me, they didn’t want to spoil my holiday, but they were worried I would see it on Facebook and not hear it from them.

I’d just landed in a really surreal place and I was getting really surreal news.

I still don’t think it’s sunk in for me. I still don’t know what to write.

Mike was a very private person. I only found out that he had a daughter about 6 months ago. I’d been drinking with him enough, I’d laughed with him enough, but his private life was his private life, and in some ways Mike was the quiet one in Evile. Until you went out on the piss with him. Or until you had one of those natural moments of hilarity with Mike where his easy going sense of humour caught the room.

Mike was a giggler. He didn’t have a big booming laugh, he giggled. Please note this example when we were in the woods doing the Evile photoshoot for Infected Nations. I’d told the boys this story about Mad Bess. (Just like my guide leader had told me the story about Mad Bess when I was a girl guide) and whilst we were waiting to take photos (it was fucking pissing it down) we did this YouTube clip. Mike’s trying to hold himself together and not dissolve into laughter. I’m trying to hold it together and not dissolve in to laughter from looking at Mike (although you can still hear me giggle behind the camera)




Mike wasn’t the guy I would contact to get press done with Evile; he certainly wasn’t the guy who would respond to emails quickest if ever. He never had a facebook; he didn’t really like his mobile phone. He always wore headphones. He wasn’t really one to take the lead or to be confrontational. He was a King Diamond virgin until Louise and I initiated him to the King in the car from Bloodstock to a Supermarket one hungry morning at the festival. Louise and I tortured him without mercy by singing Madonna classics at him all the way home from Bloodstock. But he actually didn’t seem to mind, said it reminded him of his sisters. He was the guy everyone wanted to hang out with especially when press were in town, he was the guy everyone wanted to be around because he was so easy going. It was never any fuss or stress with him. Everything was done with no bother; anything you did for him was always received so gratefully and humbly. He was never one of those guys to be disappointed with a rider at a show, he was always grateful there was anything at all. He was never the one to be in bed early, he was the one who used to like to party, in his own understated hilarious way.

I feel bad I didn’t get to know him better, to make the most of his fun loving, no hassle personality. I always loved the way his eyes lit up mischievously when he would witness something cheeky. Those eyes gave away so much.

He was the first Evile member to dress up in stupid masks with me at Bloodstock. He danced Reggae with me outside some market stall. He was a really good guy. He was a really solid guy.

All that without even mentioning what a talented bass player he was.

I can’t imagine how hard it is for his brothers in Evile. Ben, I know you’ll make it through this ok, Ol you’re so brave, and Matt I’m glad you’ve all got each other. I know you’ll be back on stage soon enough, as I’m sure Mike would never have wanted you to stop, and I know that nothing and no one will be able to replace him, as he was so special, but I also know that everything Mike gave to the band will carry on with you, and his sound will carry on when you play the tracks he wrote with you and when you get on stage and see the fans that were fans of him too, and love you all still. The support Evile have from fans has always been huge because they are such genuine nice guys. Thankful and grateful and sweet, and enjoying every minute of their career with the band. And you guys will enjoy it again, even though Mike will be no longer with you physically, you know he’ll be there every time you play in your heads and hearts and in the minds and hearts of the fans too.

I’m writing this on the train, and we’re just going through Market Harborough near where Evile recorded the album Infected Nations. Near where this video happened where Mike pops through looking cheeky.
Near where he tasted a chilli in the Indian restaurant by the recording studio (on the Evile DVD)

Something about him was so magic, he had a self-awareness and comic timing in everything, whilst still in many ways being the “quiet one”. I hope that his work lives on in his music and his kids. Having met Tom at the weekend, I know his sense of humour lives on, and I see with Tom and Matt both that his love of metal will continue. My heart goes out to his family, to his Mum and Hayley and his Lumpy Georgie, I hope you can take solace in how much he was loved all over the world and that his memory will live on in his music and with his fans.

It’s still so hard to believe no one will hear his giggle ever again.

Uncle Brain R.I.P.

Brian Redman R.I.P.

I can’t pretend that Uncle Brain and I hung out all the time cause we actually only met the one time. I can’t believe that! Looking back, I would have thought that we’d hung out a whole bunch. But the truth of it is, that we only hung out face to face that first night I met 3 inches of Blood in London. But we got on pretty fucking well. I adopted him as a big brother soon after, but then later christened him Uncle as everyone needs an Uncle that behaves badly. I had 2 – Uncle Bob Slayer and Uncle Brain. We kept in touch with emails, I called him now and again, he helped me with my love life, I stayed in touch when he left 3 inches of Blood, as he was and is one of my favourite members that band has had. No offense to the others but Brain was the man. We had a mutual love of Pinky and the Brain. I was Pinky, he was Brain. We had a Pinky and the Brain referencing friendship. We had a talking shit friendship. We had a talking Black metal friendship. I tried to get to visit him in Tacoma, but I didn’t have the time or the money in the end last year. He was gonna come to London in January. When we discovered facebook we had a “poke” ing friendship. When we discovered we both had Blackberry messenger we had a “BBM” ing friendship. I spoke to him on BBM when I was in Delhi a few hours before he died. He sent me this photo:

He told me “I want to molest China”

As I was on my way to Tibet.

That was the last I heard from him.

Uncle Brain was a guest on my radio show. I wanted to phone him every week. Sometimes I couldn’t get hold of him cause he was sleeping. Sometimes he picked up and was fuckin funny. 2 weeks before he died from a moped accident he was on my show talking about bike accidents. My friend Lucy had been hit by a car whilst on her bike in Camden. She was shaken up but reasonably unhurt. I dedicated my radio show to her as she’s one of my best friends and we played various accident related tracks. I phoned Uncle Brain; he picked up and was on the show about half an hour discussing accidents and telling stories. He told me a story about how a car went into him once when he was drunk cycling home. He got real mad and got up off the floor ready to fight the guy behind the wheel who’d knocked him off the bike, only to find out that the car was parked and there was no one behind the wheel – it had been stationary the whole time. Doh!

Uncle Brain was a party animal. But I only got to party with him once. What a fucking loser I am I should have made the journey out to see him. It’s the nature of friends in this business, sometimes you meet people who you get on with so well, you know you’ll be friends for life, and just hope your paths cross again soon. Well, life was a shorter time than I expected. And our paths didn’t cross again as soon as I hoped they would. I know that all the people who got to spend more time with him, and Dana who I know loved him to bits must miss him a whole bunch because I miss him and I only hung out with him that one time face to face. I hope you all can treasure the memories and times you’ve had with him – all I have is a photo of his smelly feet and Pinky and Brain cartoons.

What a fucking awesome guy. I’m so sad you’re not around to make the world more rock n roll.

Arriving in Lhasa

Lhasa.
The forbidden city. The capital of Tibet. The home of the Dalai Lamas. The Potala palace. The Jokhang. The Norbulinka.
I ride on the bus towards the Forbidden city listening to Kansas and the big chinese billboards pass by the divine Tibetan landscape. Its very strange.

We get stopped by the police 3 or 4 times on our way to the big smoke. They check our passports, they check our visa, they check out our driver and guide.

We drive along round the mountains, by the lake and it looks so magic.

On the sides of the mountains and hills are ladders painted in white, wishing people long life. There are paintings of buddha on the sides of the mountains and hills too. But no political graffiti.

After passing the last 'traditional' Tibetan house and going through the new tunnel through the mountain we get into Lhasa.

There are 60th anniversary decorations everywhere celebrating the 'liberation' of Tibet in 1949.

There are shopping malls and stalls and people and wide roads and steak houses and alot of armed guards. Platoons of them patrol the streets. But people just get on with their business.

 Dirty old prayer flags hang from the bridge going across into town. I know that putting prayer flags up in a lot of Lhasa is now forbidden. The once Forbidden city is now open to tourists, but closed to prayer flags.

Irrespective of the gulf between what Lhasa was and what it is now, i was very upbeat, think of all the travellers that went before me, all the amazing events that took place in this great city, the sadness, the happiness, the culture that lived untouched for so long.

And then you get treated to something that i'll never forget. My first view of the Potala palace. I didn't take a photo right at that moment cause i was too busy enjoying it. It is truley magnificent. Totally majestic sitting high up and looking down on all the crap that's happened. It's totally awesome. And the next day i was gonna turn 29 and go and visit it.

Here's a photo from the top of our hotel the next morning, so you get the picture.

Samye on the way

So i'm catching up with blogs and trying to remember every little thing that happened whilst i was on my trip.

I blogged about Samye already from Tibet whilst i was in the bus on the way to Lhasa. Taking the tiller of that little boat across the lake/river to Samye that day was one highlights of my time in Tibet up until that point. And Samye was such an interesting monastery, especially as a lot of it was original build, and in light of my 2 friends passing away its meant to be where souls go to rest before they get reincarnated. Not that i believe in that, but it was nice to think about, and i spun a lot of prayer wheels in the hopes my friends were somewhere near.

Tibet - the hope

I've written about how it was strange and sad to land in Tibet, and why. And i've written about the confusion i experienced and what a headf**k it was, and still is - but i've tried to write in chronological order and those weren't the overall feelings i experienced or what i now think, although it is still confusing dealing with the contradictions and the emotions and the oppression.

After our first night in Tsedang, capital of the Yarlung valley, and ghost town of the Chinese tiles we set off for the fortress/chapel of Yumbulakhang. I had seen photos of this building high on the hill, and i was excited to see it. Its been rebuilt of course, so it's not the original anymore, and to be honest although i was worrying about all the things i've spoken about in my previous blogs and didn't know what to think. This is the chapel with the vacant seat of the Panchen lama and where i was first struck by the Mao money everywhere. But it also has the most magnificent vista, and infront of the temple in a field to the left is where the first cultivated field in Tibet was supposed to be sewn from the first Tibetans who in their beliefs descended from monkeys.

I climbed up to the top of the mountain behind the temple and watched the few pilgrims go up the path. Its really quite incredible, and now i'm home i can't believe that last week i was standing there with the wind in my hair looking out over the Tibetan fields below.

Here's a picture of some of the money collected in the temple

And the view from the top of the hill of a older monastery now covered in dust

Monk population in this little temple = 3 i think. Monk populations all over Tibet are dwindling. Temples without monks are a very sad affair.

Next stop was the Traduk monastery which is being rebuilt after being mostly destroyed during the 'Cultural revolution' (occupation)

On the back of my ticket into the temple it says "Traduk Lamasery is one of the twelve Tibetan Buddhist lama temples buillt by the Tibetan king Songtsen Gampo in the 7th century as well as one of the important sacred places among the three sacred pagodas, three sacred caves and three sacred places Yarlung Valley. The temple was constantly maintained in the different stages of history. It remains what it is after is was renovated and added to on a large scale during the time of Tahle Lama X. It is a major national culture relic worthy of preservation."

* Postage stamp on the back of the card from The People's Republic of China

Translation by cynical Londoner: tourists will like this place, so we are rebuilding it after having destroyed it

It was however in this temple under what was a very grey sky i began to get a feel for the fact that Tibetan culture still lives. As although the vistas and views are spectacular it was the people and warmth and smiles i wanted to see. Then we were lucky enough to witness some ladies laying the new floor on the upstairs of the temple. This wasn't something organised by the Chinese for tourists, this was just something we walked in on.

And from that point on my time in Tibet got a lot brighter.

We went to the Tomb of the Tibetan Kings where there was a new old monastery (circa 1982) and i made friends with a Tibetan lady who'd gone a bit mad and she gave me a crystal. Then we made friends with some people in the fields and i tried to make friends with some Yak.

I began to get a feel for the Tibetan people and started trying to understand who was who and what their intentions were. From being utterly shocked when we first got to Tibet, i started being incredibly happy and grateful to be here, witnessing the real geniune smiles of the Tibetans in their own land.

The Road to Lhasa

The Pilgrim's progress: from this world to that which is yet to come: delivered under the similtude of a dream

The Dalai Lama often states in his books that its best to stay with the religion of your parents if you can. For me, even as a confirmed and baptised Christian, Christianity hasn't been an option since i was 13.
At one point in my patchwork religious history, i used to go to a Hare Krisna temple.
My mother isn't Jewish, and i've never converted so that wasn't on the cards.
I work in death metal and heavy metal, so hatred of all religions and faiths is always an option. And i like Black metal, so Satanism is an option too.
Hell, i have a lot of options.
I've even taken part in a pagan naming ceremony on Stone Henge courtesy of my brother and sister in law, so i could go with the ancient tradition of the British or i could just ignore it all.
Truth is however, that i'm interested in it all, i'm fascinated by religion and rituals, and i've grown to think that a place where people have faith is a special place irrespective or religion.
I dont think people who have faith are weak or stupid, which is a common misconception here in the west. You dont have to blindly follow a religion to believe in better things...
But a pilgrimage doesnt mean i've chosen a religion to follow or i'm compliant in all teachings. Although in many ways i'm on a Buddhist path. After all Buddha taught that all his teachings should be questions anyway.
In religion and spirituality, a pilgrimage is a long journey or search of great moral significance.
Buddhism normally offers four sites of pilgrimage: the Buddha's birthplace at Lumbini, the site where he attained Enlightenment at Bodh Gaya, where he first preached at Sarnath, and where he achieved Parinirvana at Kusinagara.
None of these places were where i was aiming at althought we nearly ended up going to Lumbini when we thought our Tibetan visas wouldn't come though. I wanted to get to Tibet which was, and is for me a place of great moral significance.
So along the road to Lhasa, i saw what Tibet could have been when i saw Bhutan, i gave up meat (because it was also convinient) and i travelled by plane. So i guess the hardship wasn't at all great. I stayed in hotels, i didn't go it alone maybe this wasn't much of a pilgrimage?
But i had wanted to get to Tibet for so long, even my Mum had wanted to get to Tibet since she read 'Seven years in Tibet' - i had read books, watched films, been to teachings by the Dalai Lama, listened to monks tell stories about the occupation. I was certainly very interested, and i made it my goal to be in Lhasa for my 29th birthday, which i was - past the visa trouble, the tummy trouble, the dog trouble, the mortal coil trouble, the insurrection trouble, on the 9th October 2009 i woke up in Lhasa.
And when i went up to the roof of the hotel, look what i saw: