Mad Mike
Adam Rayner met Mad Mike in Las Vegas with Pioneer at the SEMA show. Never before will you have seen the fat bloke quite so star-struck!
TV reception at my address is a fine mess. We are ‘on a mountain’ as far as the TV transmitters are concerned. Crystal Palace is where we tune to for terrestrial TV, clean over the crest of the hill of Stanmore Common. We can see the big stick at Hemel Hempstead in the very near distance but it has a loading device upon it to make the output toroidal (doughnut-shaped) over the countryside rather than spherical so as to spread it out further for the same energy. It means we get crap TV courtesy of the digibox and card night-time download onto our hard drive. However, one of the sheer joys is when we get Pimp My Ride 
recorded on the system on auto. I get both the USA and the UK one. I love Pinky and Jamie Shaw’s hair is so sexy but for me, Xzibit and the boys at West Coast Customs and then Galpin Auto Services or GAS in the US version were always original and best. Awesome because they always had the man called Mad Mike on their case. On the electronics front, there was nothing he wouldn’t take on.
I had been flown to Las Vegas by the lovely people at Pioneer for the SEMA show. Starting as we got on the limobusses (real ones with stretch sofas, ice buckets – fully loaded – and two dance poles. Quite unlike the Japanese idea of a limobus.) we were spoilt quite stinky rotten. Issued with SEMA/AAPEX passes we all headed off into the show.
Nervously clutching a rather more sophisticated camera than I was used to and only having had some practise on the cats, I found my way to the mobile electronics area to start work. I stepped through the doors and there was this small gaggle of promo lasses right there. Now I can’t resist asking for a photograph, so I asked them if I might, then where they came from and it transpired they were Mitek girls. That means MTX, Streetwires and so forth – brought into the UK by BBG by the way – and that they were on their way back to their stand. They trooped off and I followed, quite happy now and couldn’t help just looking at their scantily clad behinds, all of which bore the legend ‘Mad Mike’ one word across each Gluteus Maximus.
Mike is sponsored by Mitek, among other companies and was right there on the stand so I took rampant advantage of the situation to ask him for some snaps and of course, an interview. I was not quite as bad as that security lass at Heathrow who, when confronted with Take That at their fast track security channel started shrieking and gyrating wildly enough to really embarrass the lads but I was damn far from cool. Star Struck of Bushey now brings you the stupid questions that were all I could think of asking him
Q: First off, I have to ask, what is your real name?
A: Mike Barton.
Q: Who first called you ‘Mad’ and why?
A: That was my Mom because I read mad magazine all the time as a kid!
Q: How did you get into twelve volt stuff?
A: I was about four years old, my dad built electric clocks with me. We did car stuff from when I was thirteen, fourteen. Installing amps, eight tracks and so on. We had very prehistoric amps back then from companies like Sanyo, Majestic and Sparkomatic.
Q: We know you best from the TV show. Which was your favourite Pimp My Ride install and why?
A: There were seventy-two of them but probably the Biodiesel one. (Editor’s note: Seen last night for the first time – it has Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in it and Mike does most of the show!) It had a Duramax diesel engine and was a total restoration of the car. We had to add computers to control the engine, including control for the Allison transmission. It was a tough job to do, including upgrading the charging system and also adding a good stereo.
Q: What about your best install ever and whose was it?
A: Probably the computer for Shaquille O’Neal in his Hummer. It was one of the very first in-car PCs, so I was one of the first people to do this. I am proud of having accomplished it.
Q: Tell me about Pimp My Ride. How come MTV changed from West Coast Customs to GAS?
A: West Coast Customs kind of grew out of it. Their primary business is celebrities’ cars and the Pimp My Ride Work was getting in the way of their celebrity customers.
Q: Cheeky question now. Which bits of the show are real, unscripted parts as the kids mostly all use the same lines, don’t they?
A: The knock on the door when they find out it’s them and the reveal of the pimped ride are exactly as they happen. None of that is ever scripted.
Q: You were the only person apart from Xzibit to stay on the show. How was that?
A: Well, I’m stubborn and I just love working on cars. It’s what I do, it’s who I am. There’s nothing I love more. In fact I was the first and the last person on screen and the only one who was in every episode. Even X got tired of it – Camillionaire was a presenter too. (Editor’s note: Nope, this Brit didn’t know who he was, either!)
Q: What did you think of the UK production?
A: I met Tim Westwood and we got on well. You know, he is the real thing. There are a whole bunch of fakers out there but he should really have been allowed to be himself. The dude needs to stay Tim Westwood, he needs to stay himself.
Q: What other TV have you done?
A: A LOT! Did the Dr. Phil show recently, the Tonight show with Jay Leno, Jimmy Kimmel chat show, did the Miller Lite Summer Jeep build on TV and a whole lot of commercials, which pay really well! Target City and Best Buy, those kind of things, I can’t remember them all now&$$..
Q: Tell me about your association with MTX.
A: MTX are one of my main sponsors. I helped design the Jackhammer, attending a lot of shows and doing a lot of testing of amps, wiring kits and getting involved with R&D work with them. My other sponsors are KBH satellite antennas, Autopage Alarms, Streetglow lighting, XM satellite radio and Jensen/Audiovox.
Q: What happened to your face on that show when you seemed to have been beaten up part way through filming?
A: I was wearing my house shoes too!(Translation = slippers in American) It wasn’t anything, I was just unwell. My whole face swelled up because of an in growing hair.
Q: What does the future hold for Mad Mike?
A: Well, I got a lot on the table. A lot, lot lot! I’m looking for stuff abroad now, especially Japan. Nothing my lawyers will let me talk about yet, though.
So there you have it. Words of wisdom from the Man Himself. We all need our heroes and this bloke is forever one of mine. Not
just a creative genius craftsman but an artist in mobile equipment and one hell of a broadcaster to boot. Who amongst the truly passionate, if they are really being honest with themselves wouldn’t admit to wanting to be him?
Just as an afterthought, Mike did tell me that there was as yet no Jackhammer installation in the UK. I did talk to one or two dealers on the Pioneer trip who had wealthy nutter customers about to go for it (I love those guys) but no concrete orders as yet. I can say categorically that if you do want to go get your own Jackhammer install done, do call BBG head office on 01923 205600 and they’ll let you know where their nearest extremely crazed outlet capable of doing this is to be found. And I want to do a feature on your car. Fame comes with the first one bought!
Talk Audio would like to thank Pioneer for taking them to SEMA, Mad Mike for the interview and of course Mike’s road manager Adolph Kruger for all their help.