Robert Michael

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Locals Only: Robert Michael
Singer-songwriter, actor is living the musical dream
By Greg Glasgow (Contact)
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Back before the Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC were a gleam in manager Lou Pearlman's eye, Thornton-based singer-songwriter Robert Michael was gaining valuable music-industry experience at a young age.
"One or two years out of high school, I got booked on a national tour for a group called the U.S. Rockers," says Michael, 37. "This is embarrassing, but it was right before the New Kids on the Block; we were like the heavy metal version of the New Kids.
"We toured around the country for a year doing a 'Just Say No to Drugs' campaign and tour. A lot of strange experiences there, but just that kind of stuff you can't pay for. A year on the road doing tours of high schools and things like that, then doing full concerts. It was a very cool gig."
Michael stuck with music after that, forming the Denver band Silence about 15 years ago and, most recently, recording his solo debut, Feel It Coming. A collection of nine originals plus his versions of Crowded House's "Don't Dream It's Over" and Saigon Kick's "Love is on the Way," the disc is a set of mostly acoustic, Hootie and the Blowfish-style pop-rock, with a few heavier numbers sprinkled in here and there.
"Some of them were brand new, some I'd had for a couple of years and had just sort of been simmering, basically," Michael says of the songs on Feel It Coming. "Silence is really kind of a blues-funk band, and these songs were never a good fit for that, so I just kept them in the queue and then finally got to put them together exactly how I though they would be. Several of the guys from Silence came and played on that project for me, same as I would with them.
"After 15 years, that's kind of family."
Michael already is receiving Internet and terrestrial radio play around the country for a few of the songs on the album, including "Days of Eldorado," an ode to the lazy days Michael — who grew up in Broomfield — and his high-school friends spent in Eldorado Springs.
"That one is by far and above everybody's favorite," he says. "If it's a local person, they've been there, they know of it. It's somebody I know, they've probably been there or we had some sort of experience there.
"It meant something to somebody at some time, and the people that really aren't involved in it can put themselves in their own Eldorado, their own place, and it's kind of a little time capsule of sorts."
Michael is in the fortunate position of being able to pay the rent purely from creative endeavors. In addition to his music, he's an actor who plays the "musical narrator" in the Aurora Fox Art Center's current production of the romantic comedy "Almost, Maine"; he's a voice-over artist who can do anything from a Steve Irwin-style Australian adventurer to a tony British announcer; and he recently starting managing a 14-year-old dancer and singer named Brityn Mykhail.
"She was one of the finalists from 'America's Most Talented Kids' two years ago as a dancer," Michael says. "I met her on one of my shows. I was in the Denver production of 'Urinetown' a few months ago, and she was on that with me.
"She's a tremendous dancer, she's a great little actor, and she wanted to add the next thing, which is singing and playing instruments. I used to drive her to the show, and so we just kind of hung out and it was just one of those things that developed into a little bit of a mentor situation. I'm trying to save her 10 years of paying dues.
"I'm helping her with songwriting and (her) stage show, and now I'm booking her gigs and I'm producing her demos and writing music with her and stuff like that. It's been really reinvigorating to actually worry about somebody else's career for a change."
As far as his own career, Michael — who cites "performing songwriters" like Billy Joel and Marc Cohn as influences — isn't doing too much worrying these days
"I'm almost there, as far as making a living doing what I love to do," he says. "That was the goal; that was the dream. I'm not worried about the rock star thing. Those big, giant things are wonderful, and if they happen I would embrace it, but that's not what I chase.
"I chase the lifestyle of making music, playing music, performing it, managing other people — just all aspects of it. Being able to make a living doing it is the greatest thing ever."
Musicians and bands that want to be featured in Locals Only should send a CD, photo and bio to Greg Glasgow, Daily Camera, 1048 Pearl St., Boulder, CO 80302, or e-mail

- Boulder Daily Camera