Interview with Michael Gaines

Michael Gaines chooses to live a very quiet life in an undisclosed mountainous region, away from the pop music business and culture. Though he counts as his friends some of the world’s music heroes, he refuses to drop names, and made me sign a long non-disclosure statement before we talked. The following is a portion of an interview done in early fall, 1999.

Q Tell me about life in the Gaines family.

MG: "Chris and I got along great when we were kids…playing cowboys and all that stuff. And though we played in bands together when we first got guitars, the problems actually started with the music. It started out well enough. We listened to a lot of stuff from the 50’s and 60's. We both loved The Beatles and we were together on that whole deal, but my musical interests really exploded with I heard Elvis for the first time. He never quite understood how life changing Elvis was…along with Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee and Johnny Cash…all those guys that mixed up country and hillbilly and rhythm and blues. That’s what I still call rock and roll. The Beatles looked at it the same way. And like I said, we both loved The Beatles…but that was about the end of any common ground between us. I loved James Brown. He loved James Taylor. For me, it was Van Morrison and Credence Clearwater. He was into Crosby, Stills, and Nash. When I was rediscovering Hank Williams Sr., he was off into Kiss and Journey and Foreigner and Styx. That stuff makes me want to puke. Devo changed my life. Billy Joel changed his."

Q: There's quite a lot of information about Chris and his past. Why is there no mention of his brother, Michael?

MG: "I don't know when he did all that stuff he talks about in interviews. It may all be true. I certainly don’t know anything about it. He really turned his back on me, and that part of his past. I can’t even remember the last time we spoke. Chris denies I even exist. Not just to the world, but I think he denies it to himself. You know…that's all right with me. I wish him the very best. I do my deal. He does his."

Q: Is there any one thing you want the world to know about Michael Gaines?

MG: "Tell them Michael Gaines is fully Y2K compliant."

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"Pump It Up" genre: Pop
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	Credits: Michael Gaines

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