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| Welcome, this is my first attempt at something like this. It should be fun to see what I will come up with for this Web Page. I have been playing drums from about the age of 4 or 5. I would bother my Dad to lower the seat so that I could reach the bass drum and hi-hat pedals. I wanted to use all of my arms and legs so that I could make as much racket possible. That brings me to my Dad, Larry Gene Borton. He played drums for many many years with a lot of people who have turned out making a name for themselves in the music biz. He was the biggest influence in my musical life and neither of us even knew it. I lived with my Mom until the age of about 9 or 10 then went live with my Dad. At that time he (my Dad) was in between drum sets and wasn't playing. Eventually he came home one night after work with this awesome brand new Pearl Export kit. Black, 5 piece all Zildjian cymbals. Nice! It wasn't purchased for me but I didn't care because I knew he'd let me play. He taught me a few beats. I call em' AC/DC beats. 16ths on the hi hat. 1/4 notes on the bass and snare. I was so lucky. A new drum set and a personal teacher. It didn't take long before I was playing the drums along with tapes and records using the headphones so I could hear the music. The first tape I learned was "Cargo" by Men at Work. Remember them? That was at the age of 12 or 13. Ever since that time I have played or have tried to play every day as much as I can. For many years I sat in my room on hot beautiful days or cold rainy ones. It didn't matter, playing for litterallty hours at a time. My favorite was MOTLEY CRUE. Tommy Lee really knows how to keep good time so it was fun to play along with Too Fast For Love, Shout at the Devil, and Theatre of Pain. Other big influences were Jon Bonham, Led Zep's drummer. Neil Peart, from RUSH. He's simply the best. AC/DC's drummers Phil Rudd, and Simon Wright. Those guys are solid. Never out of time. At age 16 my Mother paid for drum lessons from a local guy named Rick Walker. Mom says she asked who was the best of the teachers in Santa Cruz and everyone said Rick was it. He was quite good I say. Teaching me the basics of reading and writing sheet music for drums. Tuning and muffling the drums also. "It's all math" he said. A little discouraged because I couldn't memorize the note's names I put any work I did down and never looked at it again until a couple of years ago. |
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| I gave my first drum lessons when I was 17. Bon Jovi songs to a friend. I've played drums and auditioned for many bands around Santa Cruz. A former bandmate (Bill Slye) gave me the idea of teaching to make some money. After about a thousand times telling me I should teach he helped me to make my first business card. I wish I would have done it years ago. I love it! The best feeling in the world is doing something you love and getting paid for it. Mad Mike Borton |
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| Mike Borton; drums, stuff and back up vocals. Over 20 years of drumming experience; Uses Pearl drums, Paiste, Zyldjian (cymbals) and Drum Workshop, double bass drum pedals. A student of Rick Walker, a drum teacher in Santa Cruz County; Now a teacher, Mike has been giving private drum instruction since the year 2001. Has auditioned or played for many bands in the last 15 years, including: Smash Mouth, Cold Mourning, Bloozer, Wyrm, MLX, Mudfrog, Ballistic Minds, Abrupt, Harms Way, Sack of Bones, Santa Cruz Hecklers (Hekla), Prophecy, ohms and Third Bowl. Biggest influences. John Tesh, The Monkees, Nelson, David Hasilhoff, nsync, The Spice Girls, and Celine Dion, The Back Street Boys, The Carpenters, Lawrence Welk. Now that's funny! Third Bowl, Slayer, Pantera, Venom, Motley Crue, Led Zeppelin, David Bowie, Spinal Tap, Jim Naibers, Tiny Tim, Metallica, The Muppet Show band, Judas Priest, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Megadeth, Quiet Riot, Black Sabbath, OZZY, DIO, Clapton, Mudvayne, Nirvana, AC/DC, Sepultera, Van Halen, Scorpions. |
| Mad Mike Borton (831) 761-0772 |
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