10 years ago today my debut single and first ever self-penned original song, "Mean Mikey" was released. While others may still get a good laugh out of listening to it today, whether that's laughing with or at me I don't know (most likely the latter), but at least they're laughing that's what's important, I struggle to revisit it - not just because the song itself is embarrassing (I'm sure you'd feel the same listening back to your thirteen year old self), but because of the difficult period of my life - and trauma from that - during which I wrote it. That said, I'm still remarkably proud of it, and while it is certainly not something I would sit down and listen to, I have no regrets about it, and wouldn't go back and change or erase it - though it would spare me the last decade of embarrassment - even if I could. The character I created, Mean Mikey, was more than just a parody of and ode to my cartoon heroes, Dennis the Menace, Horrid Henry and my all time favourite, Bart Simpson, it was a reflection of my ADHD and childhood self, and the angry, troublesome, outspoken, yet lonely, naive and insecure, but generally creative and optimistic young man I was, elements of which still reflect me, both personally and musically, today. Like Peter Pan, Mean Mikey is a symbolisation of my youth and will always be a part of me and my persona as an artist, even though I've matured a lot in recent years... Well kind of! Maybe not a lot, but somewhat!
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