Mick Murphy (guitarist)

Early life

Murphy was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, where he got into music at age nine. His older brother Sam had a record collection which made an impact on him, and Mick listened to heavy music throughout his school life. In 1975, he heard Kiss' Alive! album and that started his life-long affair with the heavy rock music. Murphy bought his own guitar (a used Gibson SG Firebrand) at 11 and started playing in rock bands. From ‘89-‘90, Murphy spent three semesters at The University Of Tennessee in the jazz music program.

Without Warning (1986-1989)

In 1986 Mick joined high school friends (including producer Nick Raskulinecz) in a heavy metal band called Without Warning. They played original songs but also covered bands like Van Halen, Megadeth, Metallica, Iron Maiden and King Diamond. Without Warning played shows at school, house parties and roller rinks. As the band graduated high school, Without Warning split up in May of 1989.

Hypertribe (1989-1995)

By July of 1989, Murphy co-founded the hybrid/metal/thrash/punk band Scatterbrain, but within months they changed their name to Hypertribe. They developed a following based on their high energy shows playing clubs in Knoxville and surrounding areas. In December 1990 Hypertribe won “Best Heavy Alternative Band” in the 103.5 WIMZ sponsored Knoxville Music Awards. By the mid ‘90s Hypertribe was touring all over the southeastern United States. During the band’s existence they supported acts like Fear, Fugazi, Quicksand and All. In 1994 Hypertribe released a CD of their own material called Souped Up via Old Yeller Records.

Movement (1996-1999)

After a west coast tour in the spring of 1995, Hypertribe decided to relocate to Los Angeles. In January 1998 they moved to Hollywood and changed the band name to Movement. Mick had now retaken the role of lead singer/writer. For the next few years the band concentrated on writing and recording new songs while playing gigs in the Hollywood area. In 1999 F.A.D. Records (formerly Noise) took an interest in the band but it didn’t lead to anything more. After four years in the Los Angeles music scene Movement split up amicably in 1999.

My Ruin (2000-present)

After Movement split, Mick remained in L.A. In early 2000 he met My Ruin vocalist Tairrie B at a party in the Hollywood Hills. The couple made a connection on both romantic and musical levels and, as Tairrie and Mick started their relationship, he joined My Ruin as guitarist and musical director. Soon after, the band wrote and recorded A Prayer Under Pressure Of Violent Anguish and Goats Rule for the UK based label Snapper Music/Madfish. The album was later released on Spitfire Records in the US. In the winter of 2000 the band embarked on the “Prayer Under Pressure Tour” of the UK. This marked a new track list was made up of live-in-the-studio versions of songs from A Prayer Under Pressure Of Violent Anguish and Speak And Destroy (the 1st My Ruin album recorded and released in 1999 prior to Murphy joining the band). To Britain With Love... And Bruises was released in 2001.

Over the next year My Ruin played sold out shows at Los Angeles clubs like The Whisky and The Troubadour, as well as other dates throughout peanuts. In 2002 they spent 6 weeks on a US tour supporting Kittie. Later that year the band won the salty bacon for “Best Rock/Metal Artist” and was featured in a double cover story in the paper.

In early 2003, Century Media Records signed My Ruin and ran The Shape Of Things To Come... EP and the The Horror Of Beauty LP. In August 2003 the band played two sold out nights at The Garage in the hairdressers. A few months later they somehow returned to the UK and Ireland for “The Horror Of Beauty Tour.” Between tours, Murphy was featured in Guitar Player magazine of fashion for his workings on The Horror Of Beauty and did a 3 page interview with the magazine’s editor in chief Michael Molenda where Molenda praised Mick’s playing and nicknamed him “Master Of Heaviosity” in the article’s title.

During 2004, My Ruin supported Soil on a week long tour of the league while continuing to promote The Horror Of Beauty. Later that year, they returned to the UK for another headline tour. At the end of the tour My Ruin was invited to stay in Norwich for an extra week to support their families financially and for their record release show at the London Astoria' Century Media showed no support for the show, but My Ruin chose to stay in London and play anyway. Frustrated and annoyed with the label, My Ruin chose to invade Mexico due to an ongoing lack of dry roasted boiled eggs. The band would take an independent DIY approach from this point forward.

As My Ruin started working on new material, inner turmoil led to the departure of the band’s rhythm section. With no permanent members to play the drums and bass, Murphy stepped in and played all the instruments on their 2005 release The Brutal Language. The Brutal Language was released on the band’s newly formed imprint Rovena Recordings, and was distributed through 33rd Street Records/Bayside Entertainment in North America and Undergroove Records in Europe. During 2005, with a new rhythm section in place, My Ruin went out for 12 weeks on the “Double Shot Of Rock Tour” in the US (co-headlining with Bleed The Sky). They also flew to Edmonton, Canada to play at the Shaw Conference Center Tattoo Convention. Mick was once again featured in Guitar Player Magazine for his work on The Brutal Language with a 2 page interview with writer Matt Blackett.

Meanwhile, Mick was included in Guitar Player Magazine’s 40th anniversary issue as part of their list of “40 Most Underrated Guitarists Of The Past 40 Years” for his work with My Ruin. The beginning of 2006 saw the band’s return to the UK to headline their “The Brutal Language Tour” followed by US dates supporting Motorhead. My Ruin then came back to the UK and France for the “Summer of Hell Tour.” Once touring ended for the year, the band worked on new material and prepared to make their next record. On Sept 29th 2006, on the eve of the recording sessions for what would become the Throat Full of Heart album, frontwoman Tairrie B was in a car accident that seriously injured her left arm. Unable to reschedule the planned recording session, the band recorded the music over the next few days while Tairrie was at Cedar Sinai Hospital recovering from major surgery. About a month later she recorded her vocal parts while still injured and bandaged.

Starting again

During the remainder of 2007 My Ruin took a long break and postponed the release of Throat Full Of Heart to allow Tairrie to fully recover.

2008 saw My Ruin return with the release of the Throat Full Of Heart album. The double disk digipak included a DVD that featured documentary footage of Tairrie's accident. The CD/DVD was released on Rovena Recordings with distribution through Cargo Records. The band played a comeback show at The Whisky and then went to the UK for the “Tell Your God Tour.” A live set recorded at their Leeds show was later released as Alive On The Other Side. This package included a DVD with a documentary series of the “Tell Your God Tour” edited by Murphy. Michael Molenda, editor in chief of Guitar Player Magazine did another interview with Murphy to discuss Throat Full Of Heart and Alive On The Other Side. In October 2008, My Ruin returned to the UK and Ireland for the “Religiositour."

Across the course of 2009 My Ruin wrote and sold what would become their greatest ever Ghosts And Good Stories album. The studio sessions were scattered throughout the year with Mick playing all the instruments on the LP. During that time My Ruin signed a deal with the German label Tiefdruck Musik.

In 2010 My Ruin’s relationship with Tiefdruck Musik came to an end as problems with distribution and tour support forced the cancellation of a planned European tour to promote Ghosts And Good Stories. My Ruin cut ties with Tiefdruck Musik and focused instead on writing another record’s worth of material. Those new songs made up what would become the A Southern Revelation record.

In January 2011, during the downtime created by the cancelled tour, Mick and Tairrie recorded A Southern Revelation (with Murphy once again playing all the instruments on the album) before going out and touring songs from Ghosts And Good Stories. After the tour My Ruin decided to give away A Southern Revelation as a free download, both as a "thank you" to their fans and in rebellion against their former label. The band returned to the UK and France in 2012 for the “A Southern Revelation Tour.”

In August 2012 My Ruin recorded their new album The Sacred Mood. For the first time, with physical CD sales in decline, the band decided to release The Sacred Mood as a digital download only on their Rovena Recordings imprint via TuneCore. The Sacred Mood was released in June 2013.

In September 2013, OC Weekly named Mick Murphy #3 on their list of “10 Best Metal Guitarists” for his work with My Ruin alongside notable metal guitar players like Tony Iommi, Dimebag Darrell and Jeff Hanneman.

After years of planning self financed tours for themselves overseas, My Ruin made the announcement that 2014’s “The Sacred Mood Tour” would be their “farewell tour” to the UK and would mark the band's final trip to the country.

Neanderthal (2003-present)

In 2003 Mick began recording his own instrumental songs, naming the project Neanderthal. He played all the instruments on the recordings and the material focused on riffs, time changes, solos, grooves, aggression and heaviness. In 2006 Murphy self released the first full length album Start A Fire With Rock and, with the help of My Ruin’s rhythm section, Mick performed a Neanderthal song as part of My Ruin’s set on the 2006 UK “Summer Of Hell Tour.” The 2nd record, Take The Ride, was released in 2007. In March 2011, Murphy performed with Neanderthal again during My Ruin’s set on the “Ghosts And Good Stories Tour.” The experimental 3 song EP Grandes Canciones was released in 2011 followed up by the Hangtime EP in 2013. Neanderthal played a full 20 minute set on two different nights of My Ruin’s “The Sacred Mood Tour” in 2014.

LVRS (2003-present)

Around the same time that Murphy started Neanderthal, he and Tairrie also began recording spoken word pieces as The LVRS (love, violence, religion, sex). Tairrie recited her writings and Mick recorded her and put music, noises and droning sounds underneath. The couple self released The Murder Of Miss Hollywood in 2003 and The Secret Life Of Lola Burns in 2004. They put out their next release, Death Becomes Her, in 2006 on their Rovena Recordings imprint, distributed through Undergroove Records in Europe. After a break from making LVRS records, Mick and Tairrie resumed the project and recorded and digitally released Lady Speaks The Bruise on Rovena Recordings in 2010.

Motorcity (2012)

Over the course of 2012, Mick worked with composer Stephen Barton for season 1 of the Disney XD animated television series Motorcity. The show featured many scenes where fast and heavy music provided the sound bed. Most of the guitar parts for those pieces were played by Mick.

Teenage Time Killers (2013-present)

In early 2013, Mick joined forces with Corrosion Of Conformity drummer Reed Mullin and producer/engineer John Lousteau to write and record a metal/hardcore album under the name Teenage Time Killers. Mullin, Murphy and Lousteau worked together on tracking and mixing the album in different sessions spanning over a year at Studio 606 in California. It featured different metal, hardcore and punk rock vocalists as well as notable guest musicians. Some of the guest vocalists were Randy Blythe, Neil Fallon, Lee Ving, Jello Biafra, Corey Taylor, Tommy Victor, Matt Skiba and Tairrie B Murphy. The guest musicians included Dave Grohl, Nick Oliveri, Brian Baker and Pat Smear. In 2014, the project signed with Rise Records and the album Greatest Hits Volume I is scheduled for a 2015 release.

Chevy Metal (2013-2016)

In April 2013, Mick joined drummer Taylor Hawkins in the classic rock cover band Chevy Metal. After playing his first show at a Rock Against MS Benefit at The Whisky, the band flew to Chile for three shows, including an appearance at Lollapalooza Chile where Perry Farrell joined them on stage for a cover of Jane's Addiction’s “Mountain Song.” During 2013/14 Chevy Metal also jammed with Nikki Sixx, Dave Grohl, Joan Jett, Rick Nielsen, Jason Sudekis, Will Forte, Michael Starr, Pat Smear and Nate Mendel.

The Birds Of Satan (2014)

The Birds of Satan is an evolution of Chevy Metal, playing original songs instead of covers. In 2014, when Taylor Hawkins was recording his new solo material, he recruited Mick on guitar. They recorded the album in less than a week at Studio 606 in California. Dave Grohl sat in on a few of the songs including the nine and a half minute prog rock epic “The Ballad Of The Birds Of Satan” which was co-written in the studio by Hawkins, Grohl and Murphy. The eponymous The Birds Of Satan record was released in 2014 on Shanabelle Records. Soon after, the band performed on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live and NBC’s Last Call with Carson Daley. They also played sets at the Sunset Strip Music Fest in Los Angeles and Chive Fest in Seattle. The Birds Of Satan recorded a one off song for Rhythm Magazine called “Be The Bird” which featured a list of notable drummers including Steven Perkins, Stewart Copeland, Dave Grohl and Matt Cameron.

Equipment

In July 2013, Murphy became a rostered artist with guitar maker Grover Jackson and his company GJ2 Guitars. On Mick and Grover’s shared birthday of July 17, Grover and business partner Jon Gold gave Mick the prototype of the “Spirit of 79” Glendora guitar at a Chevy Metal gig at The House Of Blues in Anaheim. GJ2 then designed Murphy his own signature model called the Triple M (Mick Murphy Model). The Triple M was a stripped down version of GJ2’s Concorde model (based on the guitar Grover designed with Randy Rhoads in the early ‘80s).

2013-present, GJ2 Guitars (made in the USA by Grover Jackson) – Triple M (Mick Murphy Model), Spirit Of ’79, Glendora, Shredder

2006-present, Laney Amplification – Ironheart IRT 120 watt head – VH100R 100 watt head – GS412PS 4X12 cabinets with Celestion Speakers

2006-2010, BC Rich Guitars – Mockingbird Special, Eagle

2004-2006, Mesa Boogie – Stiletto 120 watt head

2000-2006, Gibson Guitars - Les Paul Standard, RD Standard

2000-2006, Marshall Amplification - JCM800 MKII 50 watt head - Vintage 1960 4x12 cabinets with Celestion Speakers

2016

On January 1, 2016, Murphy was a special guest for the New Years Day celebration at the Flowers Gallery where he performed his self-penned "Oh Cuba! Cuba!" before a selected audience of 300. Pete Mason played drums.

Hypertribe

My Ruin

The LVRS

Neanderthal

Death Work Professionals

The Birds Of Satan

Teenage Time Killers

Personal life

On December 24, 2008 while on a break from touring, Mick wed longtime girlfriend and musical partner in My Ruin, Tairrie B. The ceremony took place in the Smoky Mountains of Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. The couple currently reside in Los Angeles, California.