Mike Alexander

Growing up within a musical family, Mike Alexander took a lot of his inspiration from his late father who in his younger days played drums going on to DJ at family gatherings, weddings etc.

Not having much interest in the style of music his father played, Mike gravitated more to the likes of the Sex Pistols and Guns n Roses.

While at school a friend of his introduced him to Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden, but there didn’t have much interest towards those bands, so he stuck with the Sex Pistols and Guns n Roses.

In the summer of '92 he encountered Metallica for the first time and became an instant fan of the band.

It would be another two years before he would pick up a bass and start learning how to play.

Much to the dislike of his family, Mike started listening to more and more metal bands such as Exodus, Slayer, Carcass, Overkill and Pantera.

After moving to West Yorkshire in '96 the search to join a band started very quickly, but to no avail.

After trying out in a handful of bands which didn’t work out, he was all set for giving up the hunt, but decided to have one last try after finding an ad in a guitar shop in Huddersfield, to this day Mike still has the ad at home.

Not being totally sure about going for it, it was his girlfriend who made him call the number, this changed his life forever.

After having a meeting with Matt the two of them arranged to go to a rehearsal room and play a few songs and see how things would go.

About half an hour into playing Mike started feeling this wasn’t right for him. The level of playing by the three other guys was so high he just wanted to hide in the corner and cry.

Mike still remembers standing outside the rehearsal room when they finished playing, and Ben asking him why he wasn’t already in a band. That and how blown away he was with the playing that day made him want to join the band immediately.

A week later he was in.

In October 2009 Evile's bassist, Mike Alexander, passed away whilst on tour in Sweden. He died of a pulmonary embolism, he was 32. Two months after the tragedy, in December 2009, Evile arranged two memorial shows (Leeds & London) to honour the memory of Mike and to raise money for his family. While Mutant and Seregon played the show by request, Matt, Ol and Ben got together with members of the other bands and Nick Barker to play some covers by some of Mike's favourite bands including Sepultura, Testament, Metallica, Pantera and Slayer. Below are videos of the entire covers set, including messages read out from Mike's family and Earache Records, at the Mike Alexander Memorial Show in London on December 8th, 2009.

Evile lead guitarist, Ol Drake, had the following to say: "The two nights we did in December meant so much to us all. It was our own way of saying goodbye to our friend, Mike. We attended his funeral with his family and friends, and it was a good ceremony, but we wanted something we know Mike would have loved; two nights of Metal. It was tough to get back on stage again without looking over and seeing him there, as that's what we'd all seen on stage for the past 10/11 years. I don't think people realise how long we all played together. We still miss Mike dearly and can't believe he's gone. Thank you to everyone involved in helping us make these nights happen, and thanky ou to everyone for coming and paying your respects.

Source: http://www.mikealexander.co.uk/news.php accessed 9th April 2013