The Leeds musician discusses grief, guitar, and the long road to his third album, out 12th June
Transmission 339: Interview with Micko & The Mellotronics
Featured image: © Peter Tainsh
Artist: Micko & The Mellotronics
Release Date: 2026-06-12
Genres: Art Rock, Indie Rock, Post-punk
Label: self-release
Description: Micko Westmoreland talks The Trinity, Alzheimer's, Leeds, and the collaborators who helped shape Micko & The Mellotronics' new album.
Micko Westmoreland is a Leeds-born musician and songwriter who has spent the better part of his life with his ear pressed — sometimes literally — against the instrument. Raised around his electrical engineer father’s oscilloscopes and volt meters, he came up on Black Sabbath and The Who, absorbing Tony Iommi’s sustain and Pete Townshend’s blunt force before finding his own way back to the guitar as a primary writing tool after years of electronic production. His songs are built around character and narrative, lyrics written first and music constructed around them — a method that can mean sitting on a chord sequence for a year or carrying a piece of music unused for fifteen.
Under the Micko & The Mellotronics name, he has developed a body of work that returns repeatedly to the weight of personal circumstance: caregiving, memory, guilt, the slow accumulation of things left unresolved. The Trinity, his third album, was executive produced by Chris Kimsey, whose studio history runs deep through the Rolling Stones catalogue, and developed alongside guitarist Paul Cuddeford of the Boomtown Rats and saxophonist Terry Edwards. String arrangements were contributed by Austrian composer Arnulf Lindner; the artwork is by Garry Barker, Westmoreland’s former drawing tutor. The Trinity is out 12th June.
“Growing up in Leeds and supporting my Mother through Alzheimer’s. Let’s just say that life pulled me into certain circumstance and I explored those thoughts/feelings in the characters and narratives on the album.”
What were you listening to in Leeds before you first considered making music?
I loved Black Sabbath and The Who from an early age, Pete Townsend and Tony Iommi were seminal influences. If I ever met them I’d probably speak in a higher pitch. I also spent an eternity with my ear placed on the soundbox of a guitar playing the bottom E string, listening to the note duration. Good training for mixing.
How did growing up around your father’s analog equipment shape your technical ear?
My Dad was an electrical engineer so all manner of analogue garb was around the house. Volt meters and oscilloscopes, they are home. That’s why I made electronic music for a long time. It put the ‘tronic’ in the Mellotronics.
“I had the music for that for about 15 years but never found the right place to use it.”
How has your relationship with the guitar changed since you moved away from electronic production?
I’m still a bedroom musician at heart but guitar became my primary writing instrument again over keyboards as the technology improved. A good chord lexicon is important for a writer in creating more options, so I work a lot on chord permutations. There’s a beauty to the guitar that the same named chord sounds different when played around the neck. I normally write lyrics first, that can be viewed as a limiting factor to build the music around the words. It’s subject to change though, that’s what’s exciting and creates an appetite for new work.
What is the core theme that connects the songs on The Trinity?
Growing up in Leeds and supporting my Mother through Alzheimer’s. Let’s just say that life pulled me into certain circumstance and I explored those thoughts/feelings in the characters and narratives on the album. I managed to translate it into something energetic rather than remorseful though. Musical themes developed with Paul Cuddeford (The Boomtown Rats). Such a fluid and talented musician. And of course Chris Kimsey (Rolling Stones) offered amazing advice and direction, he helped me tremendously as exec producer.
What drew you to the 1970s as a setting for the illicit affair in ‘Parked Car’?
My washing machine was bust!
“There are many pieces at play, some of them in your unconscious, it’s pretty abstract, you have to let them form a picture, piece by piece and trust that process.”
What was the most difficult song to finish for The Trinity?
The last song ‘Mystery of the night’, I had the words for a whole year, then a chord sequence came and it fell together quickly. I had to wait for it though. Paul and Terry Edwards (Sax) stepped in to provide the main texture of the track. There’s another song ‘When I’m dead’, I had the music for that for about 15 years but never found the right place to use it. My Austrian friend Arnulf Lindner did a stunning string arrangement for it. It’s peculiar, as there are many pieces at play, some of them in your unconscious, it’s pretty abstract, you have to let them form a picture, piece by piece and trust that process.
How do your literary interests influence the way you build a narrative within a song?
I read more fiction than ever, I find that helps write good words. But I also watch lots of movies, I’ve developed a knack for setting up the antenna and absorbing the influences and translating them into song. I do transcendental meditation and I find that aides the creative process. The ideas rise to the surface and gather around, you build as you go.
“I normally write lyrics first, that can be viewed as a limiting factor to build the music around the words. It’s subject to change though, that’s what’s exciting and creates an appetite for new work.”
Are there non-musical art forms, like painting or architecture, that inspired the “mood” of this record?
All the art work for ‘The Trinity’ is by my first drawing tutor Garry Barker. He did the Sooty (from the kids TV show) paintings when he was recovering from being run over. I saw something in them in relation to processes I’d been going through, the back cover shows Sooty being reborn in someway, there’s a deity invigorating his being. I found that very interesting, so there was a rebirth element taking place in bringing the record to life, or reviving something, however you choose to look at it.
How much of the current social climate in the UK filters into your songwriting?
We clearly live in exaggerated times, you can get angry and emote but you can argue there’s nothing new under the Sun. Just bigger, more dynamic versions of good and bad.
Are you currently working on new material?
Yes, I must get back to it after this sandwich! Thanking you Retrofurtist and the reader for taking an interest.
Photos courtesy of Micko & The Mellotronics
Matteo Damiani is an Italian photographer and author. Curator of the sites Retrofuturista.com; weirditaly.com; china-underground.com and others
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