Rooftop Screamers Rising

Rooftop Screamers is an eclectic rock and power-pop studio project founded by drummer and songwriter Mike Collins. Blending melodic rock, synth-driven textures, and cinematic songwriting, the project has featured collaborations with acclaimed musicians and vocalists including Randy McStine, Tim Smith, and Royston Langdon. Influenced by artists such as The Beatles, Jeff Lynne, David Bowie, Muse, and classic power-pop bands, Rooftop Screamers has gained recognition for its emotionally resonant music. Mike Collins recently spoke with us about the project’s journey and the road so far.

 

MBTM: Can you tell me a bit about your childhood? Where did you grow up, and what was your hometown like?

 

MC: I grew up in Beaverton Oregon, a suburb of Portland. I had a typical ‘70s/’80s upbringing there. Riding bikes, playing sports, Cub Scouts and hanging out with friends. I was a latchkey kid who would get home before my mom got off work. Luckily, my grade school and high school were within walking distance. 

MBTM: When did you fall in love with music, and why?

 

MC: Some of my earliest memories are of listening to the radio and 8 Tracks in my mom's 1966 Mustang. The Carpenters, Bread, Simon and Garfunkel, Neil Diamond, Elton John, The Beatles and all the AM Gold hits of the day. My mom had Abbey Road and the Bee Gees’ 1st on vinyl. I remember playing those albums all the time. They eventually wound up in my collection after I got my first turntable when I was five or six years old. 

MBTM: Were you always a songwriter as well as a drummer?

 

MC: I caught the drummer’s bug at a very early age. I have a photo of me sitting at a drum-kit when I was about eighteen months old and I have a grin from ear to ear in the photo! The drum-kit belonged to a neighbor of my Grandparents when they lived in Altadena, California. A few years later they moved to the Sacramento area and as luck would have it, there was a neighbor across the street that had a drum-kit. I guess you could say it was fate that led me to the drums. 

 

As a youngster I would play on the seat of a kitchen chair with wooden spoons. My mom got sick of me destroying the furniture and bought me a practice pad and actual drum sticks when I was around ten years old. At the age of fourteen I bought my first kit with the money I earned from my paper-route. 

 

The songwriter in me emerged when I was around eleven years old. That's when I came up with my first melody and lyrics. From that moment on I would hear melodies in my head, but it wasn't until I was in my late teens/early twenties that I started to compose songs on the guitar.  

MBTM: Do you remember your first song?

 

MC: Yes, it was the aforementioned one I wrote when I was eleven. The song was called "1977", as that was when I "wrote" it. Ha! It was kind of disturbing. The lyrics were about a boy who lost his feet after they were run over by a sleigh. Pretty dark stuff for an eleven-year-old!

 

The lyrics were: "One day I was walking down the street. I saw a young boy who had no feet. I asked that young boy how they got that way. He said they were cut off by a sleigh, going down a hill in 1977." Maybe I should record it? Or not....

 

MBTM: Can you tell us a bit about Throwback Suburbia?

 

MC: Throwback Suburbia was a band I started with my pal Jimi Evans around 2005. We were previously in a band called Red Sector. That band fizzled and we started a songwriting partnership and wrote and recorded several songs together. Our emphasis was on strongly crafted, melodic songs that had more of a Power Pop vibe to them than the previous band. Once we had a handful of songs, we began the search for a lead guitarist and bass player.

 

Eric French (bass) and Paul Bond (guitar) rounded out the band and we were off and running. We released a four song EP in 2006 that was produced by Mark Plati (David Bowie) and Tom McKay (Joydrop). We followed that up with a full-length, self tilted album in 2010. We sort of produced it ourselves, but had several engineers mix the songs. Mark Plati mixed the bulk of the songs, but we also had Chris Manning from Jellyfish, Marc Desisto (Pink Floyd, U2) and the legendary Jack Douglas mix the rest of the songs. 

 

After we recorded the self-titled album, we realized that our sound could really benefit from having a keyboardist in the band. A few songs that we recorded had piano, organ and synthesizers on them, but we weren't able to fully replicate those songs live. That's when we found Mark Ricker. Once Mark was in the band, our sound was full, and the live shows became much stronger. Our third and last album, titled Shot Glass Souvenir was produced and engineered by Jeff Stuart Saltzman. Jeff is a big fan of Jeff Lynne's style of songwriting and production and that was right up our alley. The album features some of our best material. The band disbanded in 2013. We had a great run and gained a lot of acceptance and respect in the global Power Pop community. 

MBTM: You’ve worked with quite a few well-known artists. How did your collaboration with Jack Douglas, for example, come about?

 

MC: Throwback Suburbia had a relationship with Phil Jaurigui. Phil was the owner of a rehearsal facility and recording studio in Los Angeles called Swinghouse. While we were looking for engineers to mix songs from our 2010 self titled release, Jack was working with Aerosmith at Swinghouse. From what I recall, Jack asked Phil if he knew of any artists he should listen to to potentially produce. Phil played Throwback Suburbia for Jack and Jack like what he heard. Once we got that news, we were over the moon with excitement! Jack has always been one of my favorite producers and the opportunity to work with him was a dream come true. We flew down to LA and sat in the studio and watched Jack mix two of our songs. 

 

I do need to say that as I'm writing down the answers to these questions, Jack passed away a few days ago. It's a huge loss to the world of music and the world in general. Jack was a super nice guy with no trace of ego. He was gracious and he had the BEST stories. He shared many stories with us about his days with John Lennon, Cheap Trick and of course, Aerosmith. He is a legend, a true mensch and I'm sad and heartbroken over his passing.

 

MBTM: We reviewed one of your releases, the fantastic “Our Story.” What is that song about?

 

MC: “Our Story" is a song about recognizing true love the moment it appears. The song is about knowing when resistance fades and a genuine connection begins. Moving away from loud, overly dramatic tropes, it focuses on honesty, vulnerability, and the emotional peace that comes when two people are finally seen for who they truly are. When your missing piece is also your missing peace.

MBTM: The featured artist on “Our Story” is Roy Langdon. How did that collaboration come together?

MC: "Our Story" is the second song I've done with Royston. The first one is called "Blink of an Eye". On both songs he absolutely blew me away!

 

What's extra special about "Our Story" is he also played bass on the track. He used the same Rickenbacker bass he played on the Spacehog hit "In The Meantime". It has a nice warm growl to it. And his voice is always amazing. My longtime collaborator/producer Mark Plati reached out to Royston on my behalf. I knew Mark knew him from working on an Earl Slick solo album. In fact, Earl Slick's album Zig Zag is a big influence on the concept of Rooftop Screamers. On Zig Zag, Slick had several guest singers featured on the album. I sort of borrowed the concept as well as the Santana album Supernatural that also features different singers on each track. I was the drummer in the Earl Slick band back in the early 90's and through Slick I met Mark Plati. Slick has been featured on a couple of Rooftop Screamers songs as well. It's been a very full circle kind of experience.

MBTM: Your production style seems influenced by producers like Jeff Lynne and George Martin. Has that always been the case?

 

MC: Well, I'm a HUGE fan of both Jeff Lynne and George Martin, so the influence is hard to escape. And yes, I'd say it's always been the case.

 

I've always been a fan of lush, layered production. Being that Rooftop Screamers is a studio project, I feel I can get away with having a bigger production quality and experiment in the studio as opposed to something more minimal. And I do love a minimalist approach as well. It all depends on what serves the song.

 

MBTM: What’s your least favorite aspect of the music industry?

 

MC: Probably the aspect of the hustle and the constant need to feed the algorithm.  

It'd be great if I could just write and record songs and release the music without the anxiety and worry that it's going to reach the right demographic and be successful or go viral as they say these days. Then again, I guess it depends on your definition of success. I think having the ability to express yourself and put your best foot forward by creating art/music and sharing it with the world is an element of success in its own right. I'm happy just knowing I have my own little corner of the music world and have people out there that appreciate the music I'm creating.

MBTM: How did you come up with the band name The Rooftop Screamers?

 

MC: Being that the term is defined by being excited about something so much that you want to scream it from the rooftops, I felt that it was fitting for this new project that I had invested a significant amount of time and energy into. I started the project after my former band Throwback Suburbia split up and I suppose I felt I had something to prove and was genuinely excited to announce the arrival of the project. And some of the songs lean into socio-political statements, so there's that as well. 

 

MBTM: What’s next for The Rooftop Screamers?

 

MC: I currently have three new songs in production and about ten more written and demoed. I'll be releasing a new single every sixty days or so from the current batch. In the meantime, I'll be reaching out to potential singers and musicians to hopefully collaborate on the newest songs I've written. One of the songs I have in production features Denny Fongheiser on drums. Denny is a session legend and has played with Heart, Tracy Chapman, Roger Waters, Counting Crows, John Paul Jones, etc, etc. His feel is impeccable and he's such a tasty player. One of my favorites! I've always played drums on all my previous songs but wanted to invite someone new into the fold. I already know how I will approach a song. I wanted to get a different perspective and Denny did a tremendous job!

MBTM: What’s your philosophy on life?

 

MC: I suppose it's the Golden Rule with a little bit of "Follow Your Bliss" in there. Life is a gift, and it's very short. So, make the most out of it. Find what makes you happy and inspires you. Use your gifts to better the world and try to leave behind a positive legacy.

MBTM: Do you have a favorite quote?

 

MC: "Follow Your Bliss"- Joseph Campbell

Explore further:

Rooftop Screamers Facebook

Rooftop Screamers Spotify

Rooftop Screamers Bandcamp

Rooftop Screamers YouTube

Interview by staff at MBTM

 

“You Come To Me” by Mark Andrew Hansen

There are songs that have quality written all over them, and “You Come To Me” by Mark Andrew Hansen is one of them. As you listen, so many influences run through your mind, but one that very few people will recognize is the British group The River Detectives from the late ’80s. I mean this as high praise — they are one of my all-time favorites.

Hansen’s offering is a singer-songwriter gem with terrific orchestration and heartfelt vocals. There isn’t much going on arrangement-wise, but then again, the balance of everything here is perfect. I like the way the song slowly develops toward its understated yet effective crescendo. And that’s the key thing in folk-pop, isn’t it? To build a song that begins with just an acoustic guitar into something that sounds full without overproducing it. Hansen succeeds admirably.

“You Come To Me” is a must-hear for anyone who appreciates quality folk-pop, including anyone with a taste for such legends as Nick Drake, Gene Clark and, yes, you guessed it, The River Detectives.

Listen here: “You ComeTo Me”

Explore further:

Mark Andrew Hansen website

Mark Andrew Hansen Facebook

Mark Andrew Hansen X

Mark Andrew Hansen Spotify

Mark Andrew Hansen YouTube

Mark Andrew Hansen Instagram

Mark Andrew Hansen TikTok

Mark Andrew Hansen Soundcloud

Review by staff at MBTM

"Digital Poison" by Joshua Scurfield

Joshua Scurfield’s “Digital Poison” is a tense, emotionally charged pop-rock track that taps into a familiar modern anxiety: the feeling of being consumed by screens, algorithms, and digital dependency. 

Released in May 2026, the single blends pop sensibilities with alt-rock aggression, creating a sound that feels both contemporary and timeless. It features strong vocals, driving guitars, and a compelling melody that immediately grabs the listener’s attention. The production is first-rate, with impressive vocal tones and richly textured acoustic guitars. There’s a lot to love here, particularly in the way the song channels the spirit of the nineties while still sounding fresh.

“Digital Poison” sits comfortably at the intersection of industrial rock, electronic metal, and alternative pop-rock. It succeeds as a dark, immersive single that transforms digital-age anxiety into a memorable and emotionally resonant sonic experience.

Listen here: “Digital Poison”

Explore further:

Joshua Scurfield website

Joshua Scurfield Bandcamp

Joshua Scurfield YouTube

Joshua Scurfield Instagram

Joshua Scurfield TikTok

Review by staff at MBTM

 

The Songs That Wouldn’t Let Him Go: 

Pete Scales in Conversation

Pete Scales spent most of his life building a career as a psychologist while quietly sustaining a 55-year journey as a songwriter and performer, including years touring nationally as a contemporary Christian artist. His album "Blue Without You", which we reviewed recently, blends folk with elements of country, jazz, and blues through acoustic-driven songs that feel both reflective and deeply personal. Although not his first release, the album carries the spirit of a debut, shaped by songs with roots stretching far into the past and by Scales’ wholehearted, emotionally committed performances, resulting in a compelling and intimate listening experience. We sat down with Pete a few days ago to talk about his journey through life and music.

MBTM: Tell me about your childhood. Where did you grow up?

PS: I spent until 4^th grade growing up on a farm in Pine Brook, New Jersey. My uncle was the foreman. It was the largest vegetable farm in Northern New Jersey at the time. I remember riding around on the back of farm trucks with no railings—and no doors either! 

In the middle of 4^th grade, we moved to Bloomfield, a suburban town about 10 miles due west of New York City. So I had a ton of times in the City in high school, hearing all sorts of street music and an occasional actual concert, but mostly the vibes of a city alive with music, from saxophonists in the subway to guitar players on 42^nd street.

MBTM: What were your parents like?

PS: My wife says I had a Leave It to Beaver life. I’d say pretty typical post WWII working class family that moved up to middle class thanks to the GI Bill that paid for my Dad’s college. My Dad served in the Navy, then went to college and got a business degree and opened up his own commercial photography and print shop. My Mom was an RN who worked at the hospital where I was born. They were both moderate liberals, gregarious, especially my father, and both enjoyed discussions about current events and culture, so we talked a lot. I never felt like I couldn’t bring a subject up. 

My Dad and I argued a lot about Vietnam, as so many young men and their parents did. But they always listened, and they came to change their minds, finally, deciding that the war was wrong and had to be opposed.

MBTM: Was music an important part of your home life growing up?

PS: Absolutely. My Mom had a fabulous soprano voice and played piano. I remember being in church and people turning around to sneak a look at who was singing like that, and it was my Mom they were looking at. My Dad didn’t play an instrument but was always playing records of big band and jazz and all the Great American Songbook vocalists of the 50s. I listened to a ton of Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, and so forth. My sister played the accordion and I think won trophies, but I don’t think she liked it all that much. 

My parents also wanted to hear the music I was listening to, so I played them everything from the Beatles to Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young, to Bob Dylan, and Joni Mitcell. I don’t think they liked the music as much as they wanted to understand me by understanding the music that was important to me, which was great. My Nanie was a self-taught honky-tonk style piano player. She could cook! She really knew how to lose herself in the music. On the album, I tried to capture in "For You It Was Love" her style of honky-tonk. 

MBTM: Your musical journey began in 1958 at a church talent show. Can you tell us more about that experience?

PS: Oh it was awful. Scared out of my mind. I had to play some clarinet and sing, to my Nanie’s piano accompaniment on "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling", and "With a Shillelagh Under Me Arm". This is a farm community and everyone knows everyone, and there had to be 200 people in that old church, including my friends. I was petrified. I remember nothing of how I played or sang. All I remember is, right before we went on, my Nanie said, “Just keep the beat, lovie—no matter what happens, keep the beat.” The best performing advice I ever got.

MBTM: Your first instrument was the clarinet, but that changed in 1968, didn’t it?

PS: Oh yeah. Turns out, you were cool in the 1940s and early 50s if you played clarinet, but in 1968, second part of my freshman year at Syracuse, I realized that the only chance I had of being musically and personally cool—read, have a girlfriend--was the guitar. So to my parents’ chagrin, I sold my last clarinet to buy my first guitar. Never regretted it!

MBTM: When did you start writing songs?

PS: Pretty soon after first learning to play. I learned enough of the songs that were hot at the time to be able to play halfway ok versions of them for fraternity parties and just hanging out. But then, I had always written poetry, and I started trying to put some of that to music. That really didn’t work, so I realized if I wanted to write I had to write about what was happening to me, what I was feeling, and tell a story about that. But it took a couple of years of writing stuff that was no good before I started getting the hang of the construction of a song.

 

MBTM: Your new album, Blue Without You, is very much a folk record, but it also draws from many different genres. Do you have a personal favourite track on the album, and why?

PS: I have been into a lot of different styles of music from the time I was a little kid. And I just kept on exposing my self to old jazz and blues guitar like Lightnin’ Hopkins, Robert Johnson, and the Rev. Gary Davis, as well as country and folk tunes, even as I was buying the pop hits of the day for my own collection. My first jazz record was Dave Brubeck’s Time Out, and I used to practice singing along with Paul Desmond’s sax piece on a beautiful track called "Softly William, Softly". It taught me more about vocal control and breathing than any other song, trying to turn my voice into a sax! 

All 12 songs are there for a reason, so they’re all my favorites in a way. The title cut I think is just a really nice folk-country-pop ballad that has commercial appeal, whereas "Mary Lou" you’ve got to get up and dance to. "Melissa" and "Arouse Me" have some of the nicest jazz licks. "For Awhile and She Can Do Me" I like for the guitar work that I very much wanted to sound like Joni Mitchell, and Leo Kottke, respectively, and because I workshopped them for years in Larchmont, NY playing in her house just with my long-lost friend, Amy Howard, who could have been a star on her own but didn’t want it. Huge musical influence on me. "For Awhile" is not the most commercial song—it’s too long. But it’s my little symphony. There are movements to it, intentionally. It’s really intricate on the inside but I tried to make it sound simple on the outside. Worked on that one for 20 years to get it right.

MBTM: How did the album come together?

PS: In 2025, I retired after 50+ years as a research psychologist, at age 75, and I realized I probably had one more chance to go over my catalog and see if there was anything worth putting out. I stopped playing years ago, so I wasn’t going to record again. So I just started listening to the hundreds of songs I wrote over the years and going yes/no/maybe. And when it was over and I had the 12, I realized it was a nice reflection of the different eras of my musical career, and that I was ok with these 12 standing for what I did and tried to do as a musician, in terms of craft and musicianship. I never wanted to be the artist, though I gigged years in the Syracuse-Ithaca, New York corridor. I just wanted to be someone who wrote a few good songs, and did the vocal and guitar work that other musicians would say was solid and worthy and sounds like it would be fun to play it. That’s it.

MBTM: Can you tell us more about the track “Melissa”? It’s one of my favourites on the album.

PS: Ha. Well that is an amalgam of several relationships I had, where we had background differences that she thought would make it impossible for us to click, and also that some men wanted to have girlfriends as almost a therapist. So I wrote, “It doesn’t matter if you’re poor or rich, I’ve had my troubles and I’ve had my sense of position, don’t need to lean on you. Just leave a little light on and I’ll be there." So it’s two independent people allowing that space while figuring out how to be together. And I knew it had to be a nice jazz groove.

MBTM: You’ve performed at the Grand Ole Opry. How did that opportunity come about?

PS: The Nashville Network at the time had a TV show called Be A Star, and you could just submit cassettes (yes!) to be invited to come to Nashville to audition for the show. I sent in one of my originals and I guess they thought it was good enough to have me come down. They did the auditions right out on the Opry stage, which can be a bit overwhelming if you think about all the great artists who have stood there and played. And now you’re standing there. I didn’t perform very well that day, the pressure got to me, and so I didn’t make the show. But what an experience. I learned a lot from it.

MBTM: Between 2002 and 2023, you worked as a solo contemporary Christian singer, performing at church services and funerals across the United States. What inspired that direction in your career? Did it feel like a change in direction to you?

PS: Not a change in direction. We were a church-going family when I was a kid so I always enjoyed singing the old hymns—Methodist, Presbyterian. Then in 2002, we joined a church that had a huge choir and we both signed up for it. But they stuck me as a tenor—which I am, basically---but which meant I had to read and sing bass clef. That was like singing in Latin to me. I was always a soprano in a tenor’s body—wanted to sing, heard, felt, the melody line. So I started doing the solos, and left the choir after 2 years. Solo was so fulfilling. It’s so powerful to realize you can make people cry with how you sing. I always managed to get into a little bubble up on stage, singing the church songs—nothing like my talent show in 1958! I was only semi-aware of me. I was pretty lost in giving the message of the song. I was good at it and people loved it. I only stopped because even though I could still sing, I had lost a little range and started being too self-aware on stage, instead of being totally lost in singing the message. So the last time I sang people are clapping as I leave the stage, and I know, totally, that this was the last time.

MBTM: You also built a career as a psychologist. Was that always part of the plan?

PS: Oh, there was never really a plan! I was going to be a counseling/clinical psychologist and had a graduate assistantship awarded to go to Miami of Ohio, but my girlfriend at the time had one more year at Syracuse, so I stayed and got offered an assistantship by one of my undergrad professors who had a big research program in sex education and family planning. I lost the girlfriend but gained a mentor who gave me my first research opportunities. I loved it and it took off from there.

MBTM: What was the most rewarding aspect of being a psychologist?

PS: I got to design surveys and write hundreds of articles and books on what adolescents need. The surveys have been used all over the world (my other identity, Dr. Peter C. Scales), by more than 6 million young people, and the results used by thousands of communities to improve conditions for young people to grow up. And I’ve had a chance to affect children and youth policy at the federal, state, and local school board levels in ways that research says creates a better environment for kids to develop in. Not many people can say they’re had that kind of impact, so that has been incredibly rewarding.

MBTM: What’s your philosophy on life?

PS: Oh, another book is coming! Find something you love to do, that makes time disappear you’re so engaged in it. Then figure out how to get paid to do that, so that it’s never really “work.”  I’m always “working,” meaning scraps of ideas come to me and I jot them down, and later on figure out if there’s any there and whether I can use them. But always creating. It’s fun. Know that your relationships are the most important asset you’ll ever have--spend the time to grow them and take care of them. Don’t let work take over those relationships. Get rid of negative people in your life, and stop chasing people who don’t want you, personally or professionally. Dance with the girl who wants to dance with you.

Listen to the album here: Blue Without You

Explore further:

Pete Scales website

Pete Scales Facebook

Pete Scales Spotify

Interview by staff at MBTM