Mikey Hawdon is a musician currently living in Toronto, Canada. When COVID hit, Mikey started making “quarantune” videos. Having bought a ukulele a few years earlier and not really ever playing it, he decided to break it out. He started with a little video with just himself playing ukulele and covering “Infected” by Bad Religion (which just happens to be my favorite Bad Religion song). He became very prolific in creating his videos, taking requests and eventually inviting friends to join him for his cover songs. The brand has grown to the point now where he has been enlisting well known musicians to cover songs they love. As time went by, he began reaching out to all kinds of great musicians he didn’t even know, and the songs are so well done that musicians are now reaching out to him as well.
I had no idea who Mikey was until recently, and I had never heard of his videos, of which there are probably a hundred or more at this point. Definitely worth a deep dive on YouTube. I’m not interested in the early ones which truly were solely by Mikey, just playing his uke. But I am totally addicted to the brand this thing has become. Holy cow, these guys are choosing the very best songs from my youth and rocking the hell out of them. Sometimes you can barely tell them from the original, other times they are quite unique, but they are almost always fantastic. Each one consistently begins with a little ukulele intro, but don’t let that throw you off, they turn into full blown rockers quickly.
The first one I ever heard featured Dave Hause, Johnny Two Bags from Social Distortion, Greg Kuehn from TSOL and Anton Fig (Dave Letterman Show) on drums, covering “You Wreck Me” by Tom Petty. I found it uncanny how much Dave Hause’s vocals sounded like Tom Petty. I have listened to Dave Hause for years and it never really occurred to me that he sounded like Petty, but he kind of does. After that one, I realized there was a bunch of them out there. You want punk? There are killer covers of Dead Kennedys, The Dickies, Rancid, Ramones, Stiff Little Fingers and The Damned. You want big hits like Joan Jett’s “Bad Reputation” or “Just Like Heaven” by The Cure? How about “When You Were Mine” by Prince? These are all excellent renditions. One of my favorites is “Radio Radio” by Elvis Costello and the Attractions. “I’m So Bored in the USA” by The Clash can be found, as can “In the City” by The Jam. “Cherry Bomb” is out there, and my personal favorite DEVO song, “Girl U Want.” The Runaways ”Cherry Bomb” cover has a bunch of great women on it, including Kathy Valentine from The Go Go’s. Like I said, these are songs I grew up on, and Mikey and his amazing collaborations are totally doing them justice.
So here you go, give a listen— these are six of my favorites, and I don’t think you will be disappointed.
And one more thing, I think Colin Gawel of Watershed should reach out and see if he could get a guest spot with Mikey and some others to do a rip-snortin’ cover of a Cheap Trick song, don’t you? Cheap Trick would be a perfect fit for this collection, and as far as I know, Mikey hasn’t covered them yet.
“You Wreck Me” / Tom Petty
“Radio Radio” / Elvis Costello
“Alternative Ulster” / Stiff Little Fingers
“Just Like Heaven” / The Cure
“Cherry Bomb” / The Runaways
“When You Were Mine” / Prince