drawing forth

Mikey Welsh

Mikey Welsh (born April 20, 1971 in Syracuse, New York) is a former bassist of the band Weezer.

Biography

Early musical career and joining Weezer

Welsh started off as a Boston-area musician, playing in bands such as Heretix, Chevy Heston, Jocobono, Left Nut, and Slower. He also was Juliana Hatfield's touring bassist. In 1997 he joined the first incarnation of The Rivers Cuomo Band, the side-project of Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo.

He joined Weezer following the departure of Matt Sharp in 1998. During Weezer's hiatus he played with Verbena and the first incarnation of Patrick Wilson's band The Special Goodness. He wrote a large number of bass lines in this period, recorded them and sent them to Rivers Cuomo for writing inspiration., although Cuomo never used any of them. Instead, he contributed four of these to Juliana Hatfield's 2000 album Juliana's Pony: Total System Failure. Welsh was given a co-writing credit for four songs.

He toured with the band from their resurgence in the summer of 2000 and most of the way through tours supporting The Green Album, the only Weezer album he'd ever appear on. He would also appear on their limited edition Christmas EP (re-released in 2005 as Winter Weezerland) and on a number of b-sides and unreleased songs. He also played on the road and in the studio with Patrick Wilson's band The Special Goodness.

Mental breakdown and exit from Weezer

Mikey Welsh left Weezer in 2001 for reasons that were left unclear to the public for several years after it occurred. It was eventually revealed that he did in fact have a nervous breakdown due to drug use, undiagnosed mental conditions, and the constant wear of touring. The combination of these factors ultimately led Welsh to attempt suicide via drug overdose. He was checked in to a psychiatric hospital sometime during August 2001. He later spoke about the ordeal in an interview with the website Rock Salt Plum:

Weezer shot a new version of their (at the time) most-current single's video, "Island in the Sun" to disinclude Welsh. In the fall of 2001, the band hired Scott Shriner to fill Welsh's place in the band.

Retirement from music

In late 2001, Welsh returned to the Boston music scene by temporarily joining Nate Albert's (guitarist for The Mighty Mighty Bosstones) band, The Kickovers. In an interview, he expressed his distaste for the corporate music process, stating that, "It’s actually fun to just be playing in the studio without some major-label idiot standing over your shoulder."

Soon after, he retired from music to become a full-time artist and was married. The couple have two sons and live in Vermont.

Welsh attended a Weezer show on July 12th, 2005 in Lewiston, Maine. Cuomo dedicated "Hash Pipe" to him, the very mention of his name drawing forth cheers from the crowd. Welsh also got to meet current Weezer bassist Scott Shriner.

Present

Welsh is now an artist, and as of August 2008, has had 13 exhibitions of his artwork. He is a member of Outsider Art.

A quote from Welsh's official website explains his methods of creating his art:

Welsh attacks his canvases with pure spontaneity and aggression, almost never using a brush and preferring to work only with his hands and fingers. This technique gives him the opportunity to get as close and "inside" to his paintings as he needs to be. For him, this is a necessity. Welsh also works in sculpture, working with found objects. Constructing creatures out of broken and dismantled chairs and furniture, to vacuum hoses, tupperware, wire, and rope. All painted with his usual explosion of color.|cquote

His artwork is featured on a Burton snowboard, in a line of snowboards entitled "The Farm.