If you don’t know Biker Mike your life isn’t complete. How many rock stars do you know who started playing professionally when they were 30? Biker Mike started at the ripe age of…(drum roll)…47.
Mike Turgeon was born in the music mecca of Hartford, Connecticut. Most of his family was of Canadian stock so his passion was hockey. Was he good? All he did was make the New England Junior Olympics.
Then life got busy like it does for most of us. But he never forgot that Elvis box set from when he was eight and his love (I mean obsessive, die-for-it love) for hard, driving Southern rock.
So, Biker Mike started not one but two bands. If you want to know the music he loved and plays, I asked him, “If you were putting together Woodstock 2025 and any band ever was available, who would be your ten headliners?”
His answers:
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Molly Hatchet
The Outlaws
Led Zeppelin
Jimi Hendrix
Elvis
Allman Brothers Band
Blackberry Smoke
Blackfoot
And for a bit of a curveball,
Creed
If you’ve been lucky enough to hear his band Screamin’ Eagle Band you’ve heard covers of these artists plus originals off their Asphalt Warriors album. Screamin’ Eagle Band fulfills Mike’s dream of having a guitar army wailing behind him to the best classic Southern rock while he belts it out like a young Danny Joe and Ronnie Van Zant combination. The band also includes Marcelo Nascimento and Glauco Alves on axes, Bob McCarthy on keys (whose band opened for The Doors), Beth Johnson on backing vocals, and Paul Alesi and Lou Silvestros holding down the rhythm section.
Mike named them Screamin’ Eagle Band in honor of our nation’s symbol, our military, and the best guitar player ever, Jimi Hendrix, who served as a paratrooper in the Screaming Eagles unit of the 101st Airborne in the US Army. The Screamin’ Eagle Band have three concerts coming up and they are worth traveling for:
April 20 from 12-4 at Orange County Choppers (OCC) Roadhouse in St. Pete/ Clearwater, Florida
May 10 from 7-10:30 at The Truck Bar in Berlin, Connecticut
June 8 from 3-7 at Captain Archie’s in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
But he also has a second band, Peacemakers. You might remember Molly Hatchet had a killer tune, Fall of the Peacemakers. Not surprising Mike would choose that name when the band’s sets lean heavily on the first two, classic, Molly Hatchet albums.
Peacemakers will be undertaking intense rehearsals starting in May to tour later this year along the East Coast. Forget about bounty hunters on the loose; it’ll be Biker Mike and his guitar army on the loose, boys (and girls). Come and party to one of the best bands still traveling down that lonesome road and flirtin’ with disaster and support one of the good guys. Mike was key in helping our RLC family by getting signatures from some major stars last year for our auction.
