On how he got into music as a child:

Mick: “The first thing that sort of affected me, I guess, was my parents had a collection of Les Paul albums. It was this crazy sort of sound from outer space, is what it sounded like in a way, with all the echo and the reverb. That was really the first thing I can remember that mystified me about not just the guitar, but the use of effects and the kind of stuff that he pioneered. That was really, I’d say, the first curiosity into music.”

On his other musical influences:

Mick: “Obviously, THE BEATLES. Earlier on, as [with] most of my contemporaries I guess, it was Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, names from way back when. But it was a mixture of blues and R&B earlier on is what attracted me. I felt drawn towards that. I liked the expression in the blues, and I liked those three chords, basically.”

On learning to play guitar:

Mick: “I was self-taught. I never got on very well with lessons. [Laughs] It was too much like school. I kind of tried it, and after a couple of sessions, I found I was learning al the things by heart anyway, by ear. I figured, ‘Well, let’s try it this way.'”

On the group’s recent performances with former FOREIGNER vocalist Lou Gramm:

Mick: “It was really a trip through the past, but at the same time, it was great. I don’t know how to describe it except that I had a lot of fun; the guys had a lot of fun; [and] we said, ‘Let’s try and do this again.’ So it’s opened the door to perhaps slightly more frequent appearances by everybody.”

On the upcoming musical “Jukebox Hero”, which has been described as a “coming-of-age saga written to the music of FOREIGNER“:

Mick: “Initially, it came about through my management keeping their eyes peeled for an opportunity to perhaps delve into the idea of doing a musical. I guess at least five or six years, I’d been thinking about it. I figured, ‘Well, a lot of people seem to be enthusiastically involved with this,’ and it sort of took on a life of its own. It was a wonderful script by an old friend of mine, Ian La Frenais, who’s quite a renowned British comedy writer, also film script writer too. With he and his partner Dick Clement, we set to work with it, just hashing out the basic skeleton of an idea and working on it from there, and now to the point where in a few months’ time, they’ll be premiering it if all goes well.”

“Jukebox Hero” is set to premiere in Calgary, Alberta, Canada on August 10.

FOREIGNER will join forces with WHITESNAKE and JASON BONHAM’S LED ZEPPELIN EVENING for a 30-date summer tour that kicks off in Bangor, Maine on June 15.

On April 27, the group will release their first-ever orchestral live album, “Foreigner With The 21st Century Symphony & Chorus”, via earMUSIC. The band will support the album’s release this spring with ten live orchestral performances — eight in America and two in Switzerland.