P and J – two letters that figure prominently in Mike Southworth’s life.
The 1997 Salmon Arm Secondary grad’s skills as a recording engineer and producer are in great demand on the Coast – demands he is meeting with his company Collide Entertainment.
And he believes the credit for his success and joy in a musical career goes primarily to SAS teacher Brian Pratt-Johnson, known affectionately to his students as PJ.
“PJ was so influential. I was in his musical theatre program for two years, the jazz choir, jazz band and music composition,” he said, noting that, following graduation, he attended Selkirk College in Nelson who uses the Berklee College of Music curriculum. “PJ pretty much taught us all the first year of the course so we already had an excellent base.”
Southworth maintains it was this leg up that allowed him to set up a recording studio in the basement of the Nelson house he shared with three other Selkirk College classmates, and get involved with other extracurricular activities such as playing with several groups and having his own band, Melophobia, with another Salmon Arm grad, Craig Newnes.
“A lot of Salmon Arm people were there when I went there and that had a lot to do with PJ. He definitely was a huge, huge influence and a factor in where I am today,” says Southworth, who believes Pratt-Johnson could easily be teaching at Berklee or another influential college.
As for Southworth, he graduated from Selkirk College’s Music & Technology Program in 2000 and is now on the Coast, operating a recording studio in North Vancouver and a recently rented space in Richmond, where he and another SAS grad, Adam Thomas, are building sets for seven different music videos.
His company, Collide Entertainment, has more than 10 years experience and success in promoting, branding and marketing.
His multi-faceted company creates customized promotional campaigns that can include photos, videos, styling, web design, presence on the Internet, blogs, music site submissions, radio tracking, show and tour promotion, merchandising, grant writing – and more.
While his business is extremely busy, Southworth still finds the time to feed his musical soul.
He plays drums with his wife, Hilary Grift, a singer-songwriter and piano player. The couple has toured across Canada several times and, last summer, played to enthusiastic audiences in Korea and Japan.
“I play quite often,” says the enthusiastic drummer, who has been to Asia several times with a band called Scatterheart. “It’s too bad they’re not doing musical theatre (at SAS) any more – that was a huge thing for me.”
While he laments the loss of opportunities for current students, Southworth says his mom was a music teacher in School District #83 and has filled him in on program cuts.