Friends Of Merlin

Mystical Vocals

Maz

Maz trained at the Hammond and Arts Educational ballet and stage schools before having a career as a dancer in ballet, contemporary and avant-garde dance companies.

She then gained a degree in philosophy through courses at North London University and the Open University specializing in the philosophies of Science, Politics, Religion, Ethics, Mind and Aesthetics, and in ‘Sociology – Law & Order’

The course at North London University was one of the last in the country to teach the vital rigours of the British Analytical philosophy of Bertrand Russell, which specialized in attuning Classical Logic to mathematics.

The North London BA course was specifically constructed and overseen from Cambridge by the logician A. J. Ayer, who had been a key code-breaker at Bletchley Park during WW2.

Maz also attained a Teaching Certificate in Yoga to train up new yoga teachers and to teach yoga philosophy and it was through yoga seminars that she met Mike.

Since knowing Mike Maz has gone back to performance work as a singer and began writing her own songs in recent years as well as co-writing with Mike and forming ‘Friends of Merlin’ with him and Mel.

Maz also spent time working in Turkey where she married a Turkish American attached to NATO and it was her sojourn in Turkey which sparked her interest in Sufi mysticism.

Maz writes books and librettos for pantomimes and musicals as well as writing songs for FoM. One of these songs – ‘Gentle Rain’ – is on FoM’s up and coming album and is being released as a single, but it is also a song from a show Maz has written based on the book ‘The Great Gatsby’; which she is hoping could be produced as a musical in the near future.

Maz is also aiming to have a play produced at some point about the secret life of Lord Byron, using his own poems as the script for his life story.

Mystical Guitar and Sitar

Mike

Never too old… to be Young.

Ten years ago, I was asked if I could help with guitar for a charity event

At the age of sixty I did not realize it would be the start of an amazing journey into the world of musical creativity that would change my perspective in so many ways almost like I had discovered a new dimension.

When I was in my late teens and early twenties, I played semi-professional around the working men’s clubs hard work but enjoyable. Along came marriage and children and all equipment sold off.

So returning to performing was after a very long gap, playing with other musicians weekly for a year or so soon made me try some of my old poems to music and meeting musicians that had written some very good material themselves it did not take long before three of us sat in a café and made the decision to only work on original material.

We played our first gig after a handful of rehearsals and we were pleasantly surprised at the reaction of the audience we had found we had touched people in a very positive way our music was a bit different, so we called it Mystical Rock.

We now have over two hundred of our own songs between the three of us and hundreds of performances in the last five years.

Mystical Drums

Mel

I have been drumming since I was.....2000, not to let on my age! In 2015 I stumbled upon an advert in a local music shop advertising for a ‘mature drummer’.

At this point I had almost put it past me to pick up drumsticks again, but after a chat on the phone with Mike I became a longstanding member of Friends of Merlin or as I like to say ‘Merlins Old Farts’.
 

Even though I'm known for playing the drums for the band, I also play the hand drums, bongos, djembe digeridoo and percussive instruments when required. I

I’ve have been known to give drumming lessons in the past with some success, but my passion is song writing. I have wrote 43 to date and being in the band has allowed some of these to come to fruition.

Before mystical rock I would write mainly rhythm and blues, being heavily inspired by British Merseybeat, early 60’s, The Beatles and of course The Stones.

This being said I am a great believer in only playing original music and staying away from covers.
 

When I am not rehearsing or travelling the country with the band, I am a skilled woodturner with a blacksmith qualification, which I put to use by making my Grandson's toys.  I am also an avid reader of Terry Pratchett and historical fiction.

Mystical Bass Guitar

Keith

Keith started playing guitar as a teenager, learning from a book and friends. He began songwriting as soon as he could string a couple of chords together and performed his original songs at 6th form college and youth club social functions.

He switched to bass as a student to help out a friend and has been a low-end groove-meister ever since, although music took a back seat for a few decades while he pursued his career and raised a family.

While working in Colorado, USA he had a series of extraordinary experiences around the turn of the Millennium, which opened his mind and heart to the realisation that there is much more to the world than meets the eye.

This near quarter-century journey of discovery and self-discovery led to intensive study of all things metaphysical, including Native American wisdom, Druidry, energy healing and the Ageless Wisdom teachings.

Being someone who “needs to know” rather than “wants to believe” he has sought out many teachers and extensively experimented with and tested the laws of the Universe.

His lived experiences with healing arts, personal development, therapies, self-empowerment and esoteric philosophies have influenced his songwriting ever since.

Being semi-retired and an empty-nester, Keith revived his passion for musical performance in 2014 with stints in a blues band, pop/punk group, classic rock covers band and an acoustic trio before finding his musical and spiritual home with Friends of Merlin in 2022.