Mike Burns (songwriter)

Mike Burns is an American video director, music executive, and entrepreneur, who currently resides in Los Angeles, California, United States. He is best known for his dance music project, "Interstate".^[1] His contributions to the 2004 release Creamfields,^[2] by Paul Oakenfold, earned him a Grammy^[3] nomination as a contributing producer and songwriter. He has worked exclusively with Lionsgate Entertainment as a contracted EPK producer and a music supervisor since 2010. He was recently the director of a production for a festival and new media company that specializes in a yoga lifestyle called Wanderlust, and now runs his own production agency "Burnsi Creative", working with brands like Adidas, Ford Motors, and Tropicana.

Early years

Burns began making electronic music at the University of Florida, where he minored in electro-acoustic music under the direction of James P Sain.^[4] After graduating from college with a BA in history, he began to submit music to contacts in Los Angeles. After placing one of his early tracks into the Gus Van Sant film Speedway Junky,^[5] he made the decision to move to Los Angeles and pursue music. Upon his arrival, he set up a recording studio on Melrose Avenue and began to write and produce music mainly centering on the EDM genre. His work quickly gained the attention of top DJs like Paul Oakenfold, Tiesto, Armin van Buuren, and Markus Schulz, who ultimately signed him to Armada Records, an EDM label owned by Armin van Buuren. Burns produced songs for releases on albums and compilations by van Buuren, Oakenfold, and Schulz. He was also commissioned for remixes on singles by Alanis Morissette, Gus Gus, and Nikka Costa. He produced an album known as Femmes Fatales, "the 12 leading ladies of Electronica", which contained songs by artists such as Jess, Collette, Mea, and his sister Andrea Burns, which was released by Universal Records. His music has also been featured on several commercials and web videos for brands like SCION, Revlon, and Dell.

Film and television

Burns began to write for film and television shows such as ESPN's first reality show Beg, Borrow and Deal",^[6] where he wrote the theme song and scores for 2 seasons. He went on to write the theme song for ESPN's Jim Rome is Burning, which ran for 8 years. He has been a Music Supervisor for a slate of 20 films with Grindstone/Lionsgate films, which include, Setup, Freelancers, Fire with Fire, The Frozen Ground, and Empire State, The Prince, "Vice", and "Bus 657".

References