Mike McGrath

It is with great sadness this morning that I learned of the passing of Mike McGrath, founder of the Muff Wiggler modular synth community and a friend and former work colleague of mine. At this moment in time, I am not aware of the specific details of Mike’s passing, although I have my own thoughts on that, but I felt I had to say a few words and tell a lovely little tale of serendipity that Mike and I shared.

Mike was one of life’s good guys and I mean that most sincerely. I never once saw him angry, nor espouse hate or nastiness in any way. He was laid back, friendly, accommodating, considerate and loved to talk about the things he loved, which was mostly his family, synths, watches, space travel and skateboarding. But there came a moment in my life, into which Mike walked in, and changed things quite considerably for me.

In May of 2012, my then employer, a small software developer who primarily built software tools for the U.K. criminal justice sector, decided in their infinite wisdom to make me, and several of my colleagues, redundant. They had tried twice previously, and failed, but this time it was to stick. And so I found myself looking for work elsewhere. Anyone that is in the field of training knows that well paid, permanent roles are few and far between. My industry is mostly made up of contract trainers who jump from job to job, every six months or so, and it certainly isn’t the kind of thing I wanted to do, what with a family and commitments. So I started that long and painful process of CV writing, visiting recruitment consultants and generally whoring myself around the job market in the hope something would turn up. As it happened, a former colleague who worked in HR, had not long been at a company of whom he raved about. I jokingly said that should any trainer roles come up, he should call me. That was about a year before my redundancy, and I thought no more of it. Until one morning, my phone rang and it was this guy, asking if I was available for a trainer role that he was looking to fill. I immediately guessed that the jungle drums had started to beat and he’d gotten wind of my predicament, but it turned out that it really was a coincidence. He said that the incumbent had been offered a sideways move and that I would be a perfect fit for his vacancy. So he arranged an interview with the line manager, who would be flying in from Canada to conduct face-to-face interviews. That man was Mike McGrath.

Interview day came, and I arrived at the facility, to be greeted by Mike and we promptly went upstairs to an office where Mike made me a coffee and we started to chat. This wasn’t part of the interview, but just a general chat about stuff and nonsense. Mike asked me what I liked to do in my spare time and I mentioned that I was a blogger and had a passion for synths and electronic music making in general. At this point, Mike’s eyes widened and he became VERY interested. He asked me what my blog was called and I told him. His mouth dropped an he said, “NO WAY!!” and I was a bit taken aback. At this point, he introduced himself as Muff Wiggler and I instantly recognised who this guy was! Mike and I had been conversing for many years already in various synth communities, mostly KvR, and in a matter of seconds, the interview became a secondary matter and we talked for a good hour and a half about synthesizers, the people that used them and what we both loved, which was modular synths and Fairlight’s respectively.

We did actually have a proper work-related chat and it seemed like the job was a great fit for both myself and the organisation and I left that meeting virtually hired. Mike and I conversed for the next few weeks and by the end of July 2012, I was hired. The other great thing about this job is that it was very well paid. It was about 50% more than what I was on previously, and it enabled me to wipe out my debt within about 9 months! It also came with a car allowance, which meant that for the first time in many years, I was able to buy a decent, reasonably new car. And this was another area that mike had an influence in. Mike was a big VAG (VW/AUDI) fan and on his recommendation, I chose a lovely VW Passat Sport, which served me very well.

As a boss, Mike was great. Maybe TOO great. He let me be very autonomous and was very open to my ideas and suggestions. We had a plan to revitalise and relaunch the company’s eLearning capability and I spent a lot of time working on this, which fed into the platform my company still uses to this day. Mike was very laid back and the first six months were exciting and inspiring, as I found my feet. But in January of the following year, things started to go somewhat awry. I sat in on a call where we were introduced to a lady who was to sit in between Mike and the VP of our division, and this felt a bit odd, like Mike wasn’t being trusted with how he was doing things. I would later find out that there was much more to this, the details of which I will not go into here, but it was the beginning of the end for Mike in his role. During the months that followed, this new manager spent more and more time with me, as opposed to Mike, and it soon became clear that this was how things were going to be. In 2013, I was travelling all over the world for my job. Nigeria, Kenya, Dubai, Iceland, Romania, the U.S.A (3 times), South Africa, Germany, Sweden, Norway and Denmark, the latter of which being my location when I got a call from Mike telling me that he was no longer with the company. At that very moment, I was stuck in a packed departure gate in Copenhagen airport, in +30ºC heat, and I was shocked, but not surprised, at this development. We exchanged some kind words and vowed to keep in touch. When I landed in the U.K., our new manager called me to confirm the news. It really was the end of an era and I was very sad as I had not only lost a boss, but a colleague with whom I had shared some very good times.

But happily, we stayed in touch and his subsequent ventures always kept me amused and interested as he sought to finally pursue his dream of making a living from his passion for synthesis. He got gigs at NAMM, demonstrating gear for various manufacturers, kept the Muff Wiggler community going and even opened the Muff Wiggler store in Portland, OR. to much fanfare. I introduced him to my other great synthy friend, Marc Doty, aka Automatic Gainsay, and the pair hit it off right away! I remember getting separate calls from both guys, thanking me for introducing them to each other, and getting that warm, fuzzy feeling you get when you help forge new friendships.

Sadly, it seemed that none of Mike’s subsequent ventures were destined to stick, and Mike’s presence in my life became more erratic and peppered with long silences. We would always reconnect, chat about the past, present and future and always said au revoir, and never goodbye. We last spoke a few weeks ago. Not a huge amount was said, and Mike sent me some interesting pictures of various projects he seemed to be working on, all related to modular synthesis. I had begun hearing of various health and well-being issues a year or two ago, some of which Mike confirmed, others that I would hear of from other close friends, but at the heart of it all was a man desperate to conquer his demons.

And so I find myself here, now contemplating the fact that that battle was lost somehow. And I am sad. Many, many people will remember Mike for everything he did within the synth community. I will remember him more for the opportunity he gave me in my career, the impact that had on me and my family’s well being, and the friendship that continued long after.

I remember when I first saw the video to Jon Hopkins track, “Open Eye Signal” and I instantly thought of Mike. He loved skateboarding, and this video, set to Hopkins’ pulsating, electronic track seemed to fit Mike’s personality and passions so well.

Farewell, Mike. I will truly miss you x