As anyone who has seen the alt-rock band Technology vs. Horse can tell you, James Michael Farmer, the lead singer, makes a commanding impression in his singing and stage presence.  Possessed of an inherent charisma, he roars, prances, screams and delivers the musical goods along with his equally talented and innovative band mates, Matt Bitner, David Prater, Josh Hines and Rafe Heltsley.

Being a front-man and lead-singer for a band is a challenging and risky affair.  If you don’t sing well, the whole band suffers.  If you don’t know how to perform or engage an audience, the message of the band may be lost.  Fortunately, Mike Farmer can do both and TVH is widely regarded as a one of the area’s most creative new music offerings.  When they performed at Java City on September 8th, they captured and held the attention of around 150 students and faculty for over an hour.  Their music has the musical flavors of Captain Beef heart, Frank Zappa and other icons of the alternative 60’s sound mixed with a techno-punk/ hip-hop flavor.

Mike also has an alternate performance persona called the Kentucky Prophet, a tortured rap artist and street poet evangelist.  I had to sit down and talk with this unique, talented artist.

Mike, can you tell us a bit about your personal history?

I am thirty-two years old and have spent most of my life in Kentucky. I live in Fordsville, but attended and graduated from WKU in 2001. Once upon a time, I left Bowling Green and moved to Los Angeles. While I was there, I worked as a movie theater projectionist, starred on a Comedy Central game show called “Beat The Geeks”, worked as a roadie and assistant engineer and finally as a Subway sandwich artist before moving back to Kentucky two years later.

 How did you get started singing and performing with TVH? 

I was there when the group formed but they didn’t want me to be in the band, so they decided to form a side project with me on vocals. Keep in mind TVH hadn’t played a show yet and they already had a side project. I guess I wasn’t an official member of the group until our third show which was on Election Night 2004, but no one would know that except the four or five people who formed the band.

Who influenced you as a poet and musician?  Anybody local?

Local bands influenced me in that they were playing shows and doing what I wanted to do. In high school, my music theory teacher dubbed me a cassette of Government Cheese songs. My favorite song of theirs was “Fish Stick Day”, so they were a local influence although I didn’t realize they were from BG until I got here for college. I took a lot lyrically from Frank Zappa in terms of being able to write compelling songs with strange lyrics or subjects. Growing up, his songs “Willie The Pimp” and “Montana” changed what I thought was possible.

Mike, you have a commanding stage presence.  How did you develop this part of you?  Were you ever in the theater?

Thank you for that. I never did any sort of stage productions, except for singing “All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth” at the school Christmas pageant when I was nine. That was a disaster because the music teacher kept trying to direct me nearer the microphone with hand signals and threw me off. At the end of the pageant I grabbed the microphone and shouted “MERRY CHRISTMAS” into it almost like a death metal singer would. Imagine that. My only foray into musical theatre.

Growing up, I was influenced by singers from the ’70s. Like real front-men like Roger Daltrey and Steven Tyler. When you don’t have an instrument to play, you need to have some business to do on stage during the instrumental parts. Probably my biggest influences as front-men are Freddie Mercury and Johnny Rotten, as strange as that combination may sound.

What’s behind the “Kentucky Prophet?”

Kentucky Prophet actually precedes TVH by a year or so. That came about while I was in Los Angeles and met some producers who were trying to get their big break. They were actually neighbors of mine and I’d go over to their place, hang out, and pester them about letting me rap or sing on some of their tracks. They were the ones who called me “the Kentucky prophet”, and as I’ve heard, the best nicknames are the ones that are given to you. So it stuck.

Is there a concept behind Kentucky Prophet? I would say there are quite a few ideas behind it, but the central one is my version of “keeping it real”. Honesty, integrity, a celebration of ideas and the development of such. That might be the umbrella over all the different ideas in Kentucky Prophet, in the commercial artform that is hip-hop music.

What is your favorite sort of gig for yourself and for TVH?

Probably the one we enjoyed the most was in 2008 when we played Lebowski Fest in Louisville. We would appreciate playing for large or even medium crowds of music lovers who aren’t just out to get drunk and sex each other in the restrooms or on the Shuttle Bus for Drunks. Although those can be fun things to do sometimes.

You and TVH have a truly unique sound.  It is so refreshing to hear someone working outside the traditional rock genre.  How do you define your sound?

Again, I appreciate the compliment. Our guitarist Rafe once said that our band’s music is the kind he’d like to hear except no one plays it. I used to say that our band was “an unf**kable Roxy Music”, but a lot of people don’t know who Roxy Music is so that’s a lost reference.

We’ve been compared to Mr. Bungle quite a few times, but I’ve not listened to them a lot so I can’t say. I think the band’s musical style is just a mulligan stew of all the influences the five of us have poured into one band. Lately, we’ve written more dancey type of material but the lyrics are still sideways and we’ll throw in some other parts that throw the whole thing askew.

Whatever you think, we are not “eclectic” and if you try to say that we are, I’ll stick-fight you in an abandoned parking lot. “Eclectic” sounds like something you’d find with bongos and a pan flute, and we don’t have either of those instruments yet.

I am assuming you write your music? Where do you get the ideas and inspiration for your songs?

We’ve been known to throw in an occasional cover ranging anywhere from “Our God Is An Awesome God” to “Sex Dwarf”. Honestly, we have played “Our God” more times than any other song we’ve covered. Most songs we cover, we play once or twice and then bye-bye, but “Our God” just amuses us because I end up singing about God’s gambling on pro football while the band vamps.

As far as the writing process goes, most of the songs come up because somebody has a part and then they hammer it into a sort of shape and then I put words on it. Then the band arranges the song based on what I’ve written how many verses, choruses, etc.

With Kentucky Prophet, I write all the words and rely on producers to create beats for me because I lack the equipment or ability to make my own beats. I suppose I could make beats if I had the gear but they would probably not be as good as what I get from outside parties.

Bearula” was an awesome CD.  Are you and TVH planning for another anytime soon?

Yes, we are gathering material for the next TVH album. We haven’t started recording it yet but I know we have about ten songs, including one called “Literally Millions Of Songs” which has the best lyrics I have ever written on it. Plus when you buy it, you can say the CD has “Literally Millions Of Songs” on it even though it will have only ten or so. Working title for the next TVH album is “Potential Pleasure Device”.

Kentucky Prophet is trying to cobble together a new album’s worth of material and that is going slowly. I hope that these albums will be released before the end of the world in 2011 when Oprah goes off the air.

Where do you want go with your music and writing?

I intend to ride this thing out as long as I can and if there are any spoils for victory up ahead, I will gladly take them. It would make me incredibly happy to have a song placed on a TV show, film or commercial. I want to have my song playing in the final scene of an episode of “House” where they show a montage of the cast staring off pensively. I would like to play for larger crowds. I would like more recognition from my peers that I and my group are better than they are. I would like to buy a Gulfstream jet and pour molten gold down the throats of my enemies. I would offer to buy my mother a house but she has one already.”

About the author: Jack Montgomery is a librarian, author and associate professor at Western Kentucky University where he handles bookings for musical acts in University Libraries, Java City coffeehouse. Jack has also been a professional musician since 1969 and performs with a celtic quartet called Watersprite. Visit him at MySpace/shadowdancerjack or on Facebook.