About "Mick"
MICK & THE SHAMBLES / PHILADELPHIA, PA
M.G.M. recording artists Mick & the Shambles was started in 1966 by Mike Joyce while he was enrolled at Temple University in Philadelphia along with two other original band members Joel Ziev, who played drums, and Harry Feinhals, Jr., who played keyboards. Joining the band was lead guitarist Bob Youngs, who originally taught Mike to play guitar when they were at Bordentown Military Institute in New Jersey, and Phil Orlando from Trenton, NJ who played bass.
BEST & GOLD RECORD DISTRIBUTORS / BUFFALO, NY
When the original members of Mick & the Shambles began graduating from college, Mike Joyce moved from Philly to Buffalo, NY to take over as the Promotion Manager for Best & Gold Record Distributors, which had every independent record label in the country. “It was the best job I ever had in my life” he said, adding, “ I was hanging around with stars like Ray Charles, Lenny Welsh, Frankie Lane, Sergio Franchi, and Andy Williams and I got to know every top DJ in the region as well as the top marketing and PR guys at 50 record labels. It was probably the most explosive time in the history of popular music with hits coming from artists in New York, LA, San Francisco, Memphis, Muscle Shoals, Liverpool, and Nashville. The Beach Boys, the British Invasion, Rhythm & Blues, Acid Rock, Heavy Metal, Folk, even orchestras – they were all on the Billboard Top 100 at the same time!
Mike Joyce shown with WSYR TV host Denny Sullivan and Ray Charles
Singer Andy Williams (L) shown at an “After Concert” party in Rochester, New York with Mike Joyce (R)
Photo of original members of Sly & the Family Stone, Mike Joyce (R) standing next to Sly
RECORD-ON-FILM, INC. / NEW YORK, NY
During this same time period, Mike Joyce was also producing records for several labels including MGM, RCA, Diamond Records, and Cameo Parkway. Eventually, Fred Frank, the National Promotion Manager for Epic Records which was a division of CBS, got Mike the job as General Manager of Record-on-Film, Inc. in New York. When Epic decided to launch an unknown band using only a music video and then the song went to number 1 in the country within weeks it was a total game changer in the record business. The song was “Dance To The Music” by Sly & the Family Stone, and Joyce flew to San Francisco to film the band in Jack London Park in Oakland and then film a live performance at Frenchy’s nightclub in Hayward, CA.Joyce would appear on the cover of Billboard Magazine
Sly and the Family Stone" Dance to the Music"
Record-on-Film was a pioneer in the music video field and Mike Joyce would appear on the cover of Billboard Magazine explaining to the older generation of executives who controlled the record industry why music videos were vital to their future. “It was the start of a huge paradigm shift in music” he said, “similar to when radio in general was being replaced by television after WW II, and we could see that the pop music audience would demand the visual experience as well as the audio in the decades to come.”
HARGRAVE CUSTOM YACHTS / FORT LAUDERDALE, FL
Mike Joyce (R) shown with Hargrave president Michael DiCondina at the Miami Boat Show
NEW RECORDINGS FOR RELEASE
Mike continued to be active in the music industry over the years, and decided to go back into the studio in the summer of 2016 and start recording several unfinished songs he had written. The first EP - FATE IS A LONELY HUNTER – was released in March 2018, and was followed by COLLEGE TOUR ’66 LIVE and LONELY NIGHTS AGAIN LIVE. The band’s latest EP titled BACK AT IT was released in the spring 2025.
Mike will be recording again this summer at Sub Cat Studios and will release a new EP before Christmas 2025 (hopefully!).