(SHR4C007R~002), 25102463, Electronic Press Kit

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Mike Heaviside 25102463

Mike Heaviside – Singer/Songwriter/Guitarist

Mike Heaviside is a singer/songwriter, originally from the North East of England, but currently based in Leeds. He is one of two frontmen and primary songwriter in the band Hilden Park, an upcoming indie/alternative rock band in Leeds. He is also the guitarist for the band Maisie Jean & The Noise Machines featuring an indie translation of electronic pop songs. Alongside these projects, he writes music for himself, more focused on acoustic arrangements. Mike has achieved Grade 5 in vocals – though his actual abilities far exceed that – and is a completely self taught guitarist capable of playing complex chord shapes and with a particular love for finger style acoustic, he also has some experience in studio tech, and can navigate his way around a recording space and assist in setting up for sessions.

Mike playing one of his original tracks – ‘The Fall’ at Oporto, Leeds.

Hilden Park debut at Royal Park Cellars, Leeds.

Mike has been the primary songwriter for Hilden Park for over 2 years, perfecting the blend between his inspirations in his writing. Hilden Park made their official full band debut in Leeds on the 27th of March 2026 to the biggest audience of the night. While the band have no officially released tracks Mike and bandmate Ryan have worked to record and produce demos for the band’s Soundcloud.

Mike’s lyrics in the band seamlessly flow between phases of typical ‘human’ experiences, to an almost existential level of self reflection. The lyrics of tracks like ‘Remains’ and ‘The Sky, My Mind, The Same’ address the relationships between different people, and how one’s own pride can blind you to the harm you deal to others. Contrastingly, tracks like ‘Evermore’ strive to personify abstract concepts like eternity, using deep and complex verse to verse relationships to demonstrate this.

Not long before their debut, Mike organised a live studio recording of two of Hilden Parks songs, ‘Remains’ & ‘Reverie’, which can be found across the band’s social media accounts and website:

Maisie Jean & The Noise Machines at Abbeydale Live, Sarah Nulty Foundation Stage, Sheffield

Mike has been the guitarist for Maisie Jean & The Noise Machines for around seven months, playing notable venues across Leeds and Sheffield such as The Lending Room, Royal Park Cellars, Abbeydale Live and The Washington.

The band also recently played an acoustic set to support Reverend & The Makers at their pop up shop gig in Meadowhall to celebrate the launch of their new album.

While Maisie Jean has only released her solo work, the band plan to record several EPs in the near future to go alongside her solo tracks.

Despite this, Mike has featured as a session guitarist on some of Maisie Jean’s solo tracks, such as ‘Nocturnia’, ‘Hurt Bad’ & ‘Cowboy’.

Hilden Park promotional shoot – Leeds.

In the future, Mike wishes to bring Hilden Park to a notable level of recognition in the Leeds music scene through a combination of regular performance and releasing music. He hopes to get featured on BBC Introducing within the first year of Hilden Park’s official lifespan.

He also wants to continue performing with Maisie Jean & The Noise Machines, who are chasing a deal with AWOL Records to increase the band’s popularity.

Mike aspires to write and release solo acoustic music alongside these projects, with his solo debut being an acoustic EP.

Contact Mike Heaviside, available for session guitar, songwriting & more:

SUPPORTING COMMENTARY

My Electronic Press Kit is fit for an audience of both people looking for session work and people scouting new and upcoming musicians for radio. The EPK has several high-quality images of myself during performance and organised photoshoots to show my level of professionalism as a musician, which would appeal to both of my intended audiences. The Musician’s Union suggest ‘High quality recordings and a couple fantastic photos’ (Musician’s Union, 2024) to help an EPK stand out from the rest, and so I also made sure to include the videos of my band’s high-quality live studio recordings, as well as links to the band’s SoundCloud, which features demo tracks of our original music. The EPK also mentions aspirations for the projects I am currently involved in, such as record deals and radio plays, which clearly displays to the relevant audience that I am actively working towards these things. Water Bear suggests an EPK features ‘social media links, website links’ (Water Bear, 2025) and so I decided to add the most active social media accounts of both of my current projects, as well as the website for my own band which I created myself. This also shows my understanding of the importance of branding consistency as a musician, as the Hilden Park website and social media accounts all have similar images and the same colour scheme throughout. 

When I began creating my EPK, there were some things I was unsure on, so I researched into what makes a suitable EPK and the benefits of creating one. I found an article on Pirate.com which explained the benefits of having an EPK as a musician. ‘Having a well-designed EPK can help you get booked for festival gigs and could also help you unlock music publishing and record deals’ (Bradbury, W. 2023). This article gave me insight into how effective an EPK can be for both upcoming and already well-established musicians, by bringing in opportunities and notable people within the industry. I also realised how important it was to ensure I got the EPK right, as a poor quality one would easily turn away my audience. ‘To set yourself apart and make an impression on booking agents, talent buyers and festival organisers, having a well-crafted EPK is essential’ (The Flute View, 2023). After my research into the importance of an EPK and the methods that go into creating an effective one – I made several drafts with different formats and wording before picking the one I believed to be the strongest. I consulted my peer, Adam Wassall from the popular music course during a group session and he agreed with my choice, believing it was ‘The strongest of all the options’ (Wassall, A. 2025).

However, I was torn on some decisions I had made in the first draft of my EPK. Originally, I had provided a multitude ways for an audience to contact me as I believed this would mean anyone wishing to get in contact could do it in whatever way was most convenient for them. However, in a group session it was pointed out by experienced musician Maisie Brook from the popular music course, that it would be more effective if I streamlined my communication system so that I would be less likely to miss any messages. I agreed with this because I also thought it would seem more professional from an outside perspective, so I added links to my personal Instagram account and my personal email address in order to keep communication organised and straight-forward. I also initially had the first featured image as one of me playing in my band Hilden Park, as I thought it’s more professional quality would look better to an audience, but producer and bandmate Ryan Smith provided the constructive criticism that the first image should be a clear picture of me performing on my own, as the EPK was about myself as a musician and not any one of my projects in particular. I agreed with this and replaced the photo with one of me performing an original track acoustically without a backing band. Overall, these elements of feedback helped my EPK come across more professional and better fit its purpose. The group sessions allowed me to improve the quality of my EPK in ways I would not have considered if I had not received constructive feedback from my peers.

When researching into how to structure my EPK, I came across Bandzoogle’s catalogue of EPK templates and inspected them to find any common themes amongst each one. It was most common for them to begin with the artist bio and some standard promotional images, so I thought it necessary to begin with that same format. The templates also either had the contact information in the middle, or at the end of the EPK, and I opted to utilise the contact links at the end, as I believe this to be a more professional format. 

There are several elements I would like to add going forward that I currently don’t have the capabilities for. Firstly, as recommended by Storydoc, would be embedded Spotify playlists for the main two projects I am involved in – ‘If I were a booking agent, I’d want to book you right away’. (Storydoc, 2025) – This would give the audience an easily accessible way to decide if the style of my music and my capabilities as a musician would be a strong fit for their projects, while also allowing scouters for radio to conclude if my tracks are strong enough in quality of both production and songwriting to be featured on their station. Secondly, I would like to add an ‘upcoming dates’ feature for both of my main projects, so it is clear to those who may want to book me for session work when I am available. This would also provide strong insight into my popularity as a musician, as more dates would imply I am successful and valued by the people I work with. When addressing this idea with producer and bandmate Ben Pownall, he agreed with it, stating ‘Less availability would give me the impression you’re much more sought after’ (Pownall, B. 2025). This second opinion from my peer made it clear to me the feature would greatly improve my EPK, and so it is something I would look into adding in the future. Furthermore, this idea would also help in promoting my gigs, as anyone considering hiring me as a session musician or looking to get my tracks on the radio may feel as though they need to watch me perform in person to truly gauge my ability. 

I would also like to include a larger section on my individual achievements as an artist and testimonials/reviews in the future, as this would show the audience of my EPK the merit of my projects and my strength as a musician, but I currently have none that I would consider putting on my EPK. Another element of my EPK that I would like to improve on in the future is the featuring of my solo work. I currently have no solo tracks recorded but believe this would give my audience an insight into how I write music when there are no other musicians around me offering their influence. This would show how my strength as a writer and performer do not rely on the musicians around me, and how I am capable of creating interesting and compelling music by myself. Finally, I would like to have included some high-quality videos of actual live performance, on stage in front of an audience. Not only would this show my skill as a musician from a raw, unedited standpoint, but it would also show the popularity of my main projects, as an audience would be audible/in view during the videos. However, I currently have none that I believe are high enough quality to truly show off my skills on stage. 

Overall, I am pleased with my EPK. I believe it is fit for the intended audience of anyone looking for session work from a songwriter or guitarist, and anyone who may be scouting out artists to feature on radio. While there are several aspects I would like to improve on in the future, I believe the EPK is a strong indicator towards my skills and abilities as a musician. Consulting others in a group setting allowed me to gain valuable external opinions and make improvements based on what potential employers might look for as reasons to work with me. These external opinions also reinforced aspects of my EPK that I already believed were strong and played a considerable role in the overall final product.

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