Mickey McMahan met Rusty Braziel playing in the popular Tulsa cover band, Paradise, in the mid-1970s. Mickey was a founding member of The Benders, one of the first power pop/punk bands to come out of Tulsa in 1978. Relocating to Los Angeles in 1979, The Benders opened for iconic bands ranging from The Police, Badfinger, & The Plimsouls, to fellow ex-Tulsans Phil Seymour & 20/20. Mickey was a founding member of Dirty Dogs, one of Hollywood's most popular & top drawings bands from '87-'90. They shared stages with groups such as Little Caesar, Junkyard, Kyuss, The Buck Pets, & Jetboy. In addition to playing in bands with future Guns 'N Roses members Duff McKagen & Gilby Clarke, Mickey has jammed, opened for, or shared stages with a diverse array of artists such as Leslie West, Kim Fowley, Traci Guns, C.C. DeVille, Johnny Hickman, Jonah Koslen, Harry Dean Stanton, The Dictators, Huey Lewis, Kings of the Sun , Mike Bruce, Gerry Groom & Electric Angels.
Mickey wrote the theme song for Metal Head, a heavy metal video fanzine, wrote the theme song & appeared in B-horror movie Death By Dialog, wrote incidental music for an Alex Winter MTV show, & wrote incidental music for Wayne's World II.
With screenwriter Ginny Cerella, Mickey was co-composer & lyricist for the musical SWAMP FEVER, produced by Wings Theater Company, NYC, 2000, & a finalist at The Festival of Contemporary Theatre, Ft. Collins, CO, finalist at Moondance International Film Festival in Boulder, CO.
He also was co-lyricist & composer with Ms. Cerrella on the musical LAVEAU, produced in 2005 at The Reader's Theatre Series of New Plays at the 25th National Black Theatre Festival, Winston-Salem NC. Winner of 2004 African American Playwriting Competition, University of Louisville, KY, finalist for the Jane Chambers Playwriting Award, Dayton, OH, semi finalist for The Playwright's Center 2001 Playlabs Competition, Minneapolis, MN, semi finalist at Crystal Music Award in Los Angeles, CA, honorable mention in Writer's Digest writing competition.
