We recently connected with Mike Bay and have shared our conversation below.

Mike, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

I got my first electric guitar for Christmas when I was 12 years old. My parents made me agree to take at least one year of lessons and I could decide what to do from there. I did the one year of lesson, hardly practiced and once that year was over I was done. I didn’t understand that there was a structure to this thing that felt to freeing to me. By 13-14 I was neck deep in punk rock and all the things that came with it. I was trying to play in punk bands but I wasn’t quite good enough to keep up. I would try to learn my favorite songs in my bedroom but the songs I loved at the time were played loud and fast. I could only do one of those things and not very well. I could get my fingers to make the shapes of the chords but I couldn’t move between them fast enough. At the same time I had all of this teenage angst begging to get out. So I started journalling. At some point I realized that some of the songs I love felt like journal entries. I started to take the chord shapes i’d learned, slow them down to a comfortable pace and sing my journal entries over them. This went on for a while but I had no idea I was songwriting. Or even that this is how all my favorite songs began.

At about 15, still in the throws of the punk rock scene, I was going to all kinds of VFW or YMCA DiY punk shows but I had never been to a REAL show, ya know one where there’s actually a stage and maybe a PA haha. One of my favorite bands, MxPx, was coming to town and I begged my parents to let me go. They agreed and weeks later I found myself in the middle of a mosh pit, covered in sweat and singing like my life depended on it. I was in heaven. This music had taken a room full of rowdy strangers and joined us all together as one.

The band came back for their encore and on the last note of the last song the singer and bassist threw his bass straight up into the rafter, 20-30 feet. When it came down the band landed on the final note of their set. I remember standing there in awe. Like what had just happened must have been a dream or and act of the gods. I knew right then that was what I wanted to do with my life.

It took years to realize that what I loved about that wasn’t the theatrics but the connection. The gathering of all kinds of different people with only one thing in common. That one thing was strong enough to pull them together. That’s the magic of music and songs. No one bonds with a room full of people because they all like the same kind of burger or have the same favorite color. But, the same favorite band? Same favorite song or album? Ya you’re gonna be friends. I’ve learned that is what I’m really after. My hope is that I can use what I’ve learned and what I’ve been through to bring people together in a way that nothing else can.

Mike, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Mike, I’m the singer-songwriter for a project called Borrowed Sparks. I’d been playing guitar in bands of all genres my whole life. After some good and some bad years I came to a crossroads. I had to decide if I was going to keep doing this or not. If yes was there a way to still enjoy it instead of being a slave to it? Was there a way to do it in a sustainable capacity? I decided that the only way to move forward was to be in the drivers seat. I had a loose stash of songs and was getting more and more comfortable being the one telling the stories and singing the songs. But I was only going to start something new if it was honest and true above everything else. So I gathered the parts of my musical upbringing that felt most honest, pulled together the songs that felt true, and Borrowed Sparks was born.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

So many. Elizabeth Gilbert’s Big Magic, Austin Kleon’s Steal Like an Artist, Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird. All have been staples that kept me moving forward and chasing after the creative life. The way Big Magic addresses creativity like an ancient spirit that you choose to connect with. Steal like an Artist reframed creative ownership and license for me. Bird by Bird helped me be kinder to myself in those season I don’t feel prolific or creative at all.

I think another big thing is seeing other people inspired and chasing their dream. It’s easy to get burnt out and feel like you’re crazy for doing this. That’s why Nashville has always been special to me. There are so many dreamers here. Surely we can’t all be crazy.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

I think the biggest one is not a book or anything like that, it’s just people and the power of vulnerability. I’ve grown so much when I’m just willing to admit that I’m struggling or that I don’t have a solution. Almost without fail people, other creatives especially, are quick to tell you how they’ve been there and how they survived.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.borrowedsparks.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/borrowedsparks/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Borrowed-Sparks
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/borrowedsparks
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@borrowedsparks

Image Credits
Photo 1: Connor McCourt Photo 2-4: Katty Driggers