Mike Smith (guitarist)

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Mike Smith
Background information
Born October 11, 1973 (1973-10-11) (age 34)
in Middle River, Maryland, U.S.
Genre(s) nu metal
Instrument(s) Guitar
Years active 1998(?) - present
Associated acts Snot
theSTART
Limp Bizkit
evolver
Notable instrument(s)
PRS Guitars

Mike Smith (born on October 11, 1973 in Middle River, Maryland, U.S.) is a musician, best known as the former guitarist of Snot, theSTART, and Limp Bizkit. Currently he is the singer and guitarist for the band evolver.

Contents

[edit] Snot

Snot's original guitarist, Sonny Mayo, left in May 1998 and Smith was recruited soon afterward. Snot set out to work on their second album, but in December, lead singer Lynn Strait died in a car accident. The group decided not to continue on, although the album Strait Up was released in 2000 as a tribute to Lynn, with guest vocalists from various bands contributing.

[edit] theSTART

Smith then went on to form a band called Hero with former-Snot drummer Jamie Miller, as well as Aimee Echo and Scott Ellis of Human Waste Project. In July of 1999, Hero were signed to 143 Records/Atlantic Records and recorded their debut album named "Circles." The band was forced to change their name due to legal issues (it was already taken). At the suggestion of Aimee's mother, they changed it to theSTART. In late 2000, Mike Smith left the band. After various issues, the album was eventually released in July 2001 under The Label/Geffen Records and renamed Shakedown!, with some changes made.

[edit] Limp Bizkit

In late 2001, Limp Bizkit was left without a guitar player with the departure of Wes Borland. The entire ordeal of choosing a new guitarist was taken very slowly, with various options taken into consideration. Initially, a nation-wide audition, entitled "Put Your Guitar Where Your Mouth Is" was carried out to find a guitarist for the band, but nobody was chosen out of the thousands of participants. Smith had known members of the band previously, as they were friends with Snot. They decided to give him a shot at the position, and in 2003, he was chosen as the band's guitarist. Fred wanted Mike to create a full album of songs with the band in between Wrestlemania and The Summer Sanitarium Tour. Together they wrote and recorded at least 14 songs of which 7 of them made it onto the "Results May Vary" record.

Mike toured with the band throughout 2003, and in mid 2004 they parted ways. To this day both parties keep very quiet on the issue.

[edit] External links