New Zealander Michael McCleary, better known as Mikey McCleary has made a name for himself not only as a music composer of several Bollywood soundtracks, but is also famous for a a large number of advertisements for brands like Levi’s, Coca Cola, Vodafone, Garnier, Titan, Canon, Sony and lots more.

More than all this he is best rmembered for his reinventing background scores and songs of old Bollywood films under the stage name of The Bartender, most notably Khoya Khoya Chand and Hawa Hawai from ‘Shaitan’, O Lal Meri / Mast Kalandar from ‘David’ and others.

Mikey got his first break in the industry with a collaboration with Lucky Ali for all of Ali’s albums.

Going by the stage name of The Bartender, Mikey has three albums, ‘Classic Bollywood: Shaken not Stirred’ (2011), ‘B Seventy’ (2013) and ‘Classic Bollywood : With A Twist’ (2014). The first album re-invents Bollywood songs from the '50s and '60s in a jazzy seductive style and includes hit songs such as Khoya Khoya Chand and Tum Jo Mil Gaye Ho from the Coca-Cola advertisement directed by Dibakar Banerjee.

His album ‘B Seventy’ was in honour of the Big B – Amitabh Bachchan and was relesased on Bachchan’s 70th birthday. It features revamped versions of his most iconic hit film songs, combining reggae, cabaret and motown while staying true to the original soul of the songs.

The third album also recreates some of the evergreen classical bollyywood songs like Aaj Mausam Bada,Aawara Hun among others.

Born in Chennai, Mikey moved to London and then New Zealand. He studied Composition and Orchestration at the Wellington Conservatorium of Music and at Victoria University of Wellington. He then worked as a music producer in London studio finally moving over to India.

Mikey is all set to release his fourth album ‘TV Diners’ soon. We met him to know about what the album is and why he has made India his homebase.

How did you come up with the idea to extend your ad jingles into full length tracks?

When I saw a lot of people online liking the music from certain jingles and asking where they could get the full version from, I realised that a lot of people thought that the jingles were already existing songs made by a band or solo artist. I then thought it would be good to make them into full songs.

This concept has never been tried before, what response do you think would you get from this album?

Yes it's a completely new thing to do. These songs have all been popular as TV jingles and so most people will recognise the songs and yet because they have been extended into full songs there is also a lot of new music and lyrics. It has the advantage of being both fresh and also familiar. The important thing is the choice of songs. I have chosen only the best popular songs which don't sound like TV ads, they sound like real songs, so I'm confident that even people who haven't heard these songs earlier as jingles will enjoy the album.

When a song is recorded for a particular product, it becomes the company's property, how did you convince the company to use your jingle into full songs?

It's not as simple as this. When songs are recorded for brands a license for usage is agreed. It depends on that license but often the music is only for that brand to use for 1 year. In this case all the extended songs are new recordings and considered separate copyrights from the original 45s jingles.

How did the name 'TV Dinners' come about?

I wanted a name that connected with the fact that these songs were born as TV jingles. TV Dinners sprung into my mind and just stuck. Everyone can relate to sitting in front of the TV while eating a meal.

On the track 'Chase every dream' you have collaborated with Anushka Manchanda. Were you looking at doing a kind of duet when you recorded it to make it more appealing to the audience?

Anushka sang the original ad and she is one of my favourite singers. Anything Anushka is a part of naturally becomes more appealing because she ads her magnetic personality to it and her voice is beautiful 

How many tracks do you plan to release and do you plan on making each song into a music video.

There are 10 songs on the album and I have made 5 music videos 

Do you plan to release a physical copy of the album someday?

Yes there will be a CD released soon 

Besides this album, is there anyting else you are working on with Bollywood?

I have composed songs for 3 films for Bejoy Nambier which are all coming out in these next few months - Kuku Mathur ki jhand ho gayi, Fattack, and Pizza. I am finishing the music for 'Margarita with a straw' starring Kalki Koechlin and I have made a couple of songs for Rohan Sippy's 'Sonali Cable'. Last month I also just released a CD of new versions of vintage Bollywood songs called 'Classic Bollywood with a twist' under my AKA name of The Bartender.

You have been in India since sometime now, what makes you like the country so much?

I feel musically challenged in India. Everyday I'm working within completely different genres of music. I've made many great friends and I feel at home here. India is an addictive place. I will always feel connected to this country. 

Interviewed by Verus Ferreira