Mike Fraser - Toby and the Whole Truth artwork
Toby and the Whole Truth

Mike Fraser - Toby and the Whole Truth

  • S2E1
  • 59:56
  • April 16th 2021

Chances are you will possibly own at least one of the BIG records legendary producer Mike Frazer has been involved with. Maybe it’s The Cult ‘Sonic Temple? Aerosmith ‘Pump’? AC/DC ‘The Razor’s Edge? Coverdale/Page? Metallica ‘Load’? Slipknot ‘Iowa’? The list goes on…

I met Mike back in 1993 when Little Angels were touring the ‘Jam’ album, and he was the last producer to work with the band, recording the '10 Miles High' single. 

Years later I worked with him on The Virginmarys 'Cast The First Stone' EP and we struck up a great friendship. Since then he has mixed a number of records for me and we continue to stay in touch and plan to work with each other whenever we can. 

I think Mike is one of the greatest mix engineers the world has ever seen, his ability to get the best of a recording is quite simply staggering and something of a dark art, so it's a delight to be able to offer this podcast as a way of understanding the man behind the legend.

Toby and the Whole Truth

TOBY AND THE WHOLE TRUTH PODCAST

My name is Toby Jepson and I have spent over 30 years working as a musician at an international level.

I’ve written and produced hit records, toured the world umpteen times, hung out with and befriended outrageously successful people, recorded at some of the world’s most amazing studios, stayed in some of the world best hotels and dined at the finest restaurants, as well as survived on one kebab a week whilst making the back of a transit van in the winter my home. I’ve made a life in the hardest game there is and for what reward?

Often very little.

Who are we? The rock stars? What does that even mean?

I’ve long thought that the music business, with all its perceived glory, debauchery, wealth, privilege, stardom fame etc etc, has been badly misrepresented; the reality is so very different, so much harder and demanding than you could ever know at the beginning of the dream.

Why is this? Yes, It’s certainly the media at large that are to blame for the perception as they love to ramp up the bad behaviour of ‘rock stars’ and attach drama to every aspect of their lives; it’s good column inches and sells newspapers - we know this - but it’s SO much more than that. It takes a certain character, a certain focus, a dogged determination and a willingness to never quit to really succeed - often at the expense of personal relationships and your own mental health.

So, who are we? These so called ‘rock stars’? And who are the people that surround us? The managers, agents, merchandisers, road managers, record label bosses and music producers? What’s their story? How does all this fit together?

My question is: What do the musicians and the key workers themselves think of themselves? and what does the successful working musician really feel about his or her music and the journey they have experienced to get there? What’s the motivation behind the glittery curtain and how, in the face of overwhelming odds, do you keep going?

In my new series of podcasts - TOBY AND THE WHOLE TRUTH - I seek to uncover the reality of what it means to live and work as a successful person in the real music business. I’ve interviewed characters from every sector of this crazy yet obsessively addictive world to try uncover what it really takes to reach beyond the dream, step out of the garage and bedroom to escape the ‘normal’ world and become a success against the odds in the most competitive business there is.

Successes, failures, mental health battles, dreams verses reality, relationship struggles, excess, boredom and the mediocrity of a world hidden from view are all tackled in this compelling series of conversations between two working music business professionals.

Think you know the truth about a life existing in the world of ‘rock no roll’?

Think again.

Learn more: https://www.tobyjepsonofficial.com