Busking in glory: Mike ‘Down Dalston Lane’ Gregovich. Photograph: Russell Parton
Amid the trolleys, noise and bustle at the back of Kingsland Shopping Centre, a busker plays a soulful rendition of Marvin Gaye’s ‘Mercy, Mercy Me’.
It’s a scene seemingly incongruous, but for Mike Gregovich, better known as Mike Down Dalston Lane, it’s just another day at work.
Gregovich, 53, has been occupying the same spot, on the ramp that descends to the carpark, for the past 10 years.
Once a highly-regarded sound engineer and producer, working with the likes of Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, he was left without money or a roof over his head after a “terrible breakup” with his last band.
Now though things are looking up for Mike Down Dalston Lane, following the release of his new five-track EP, Soul Of A Man.
“This is the first time where I’m singing my own songs so the whole thing’s a bit strange and surreal, but I’m chuffed to bits to get it out,” says Gregovich.
Gregovich has recently moved into a flat, but for the previous 15 years was living in hostels.
It was in the basement studio of St Mungo’s on Mare Street that he recorded Soul Of A Man, with the hostel providing studio time free of charge.
Charity Juhaim, named after a five-year-old boy who died of cancer two years ago, gave £500 to pay for copies of the EP to be pressed.
“He was a big fan of mine,” explains Gregovich. “His dad has been the postman here for 10 years and gave me the 500 quid, partly because of the memory of his little boy – because his little boy loved me – and partly to support me.
“Without his 500 quid this would’ve been done with a felt pen and a photocopier.”
During the 10 years he’s been busking at Kingsland Shopping Centre, Gregovich has been mugged and attacked.
In 2012, the shopping centre management tried to make him move on.
Over 200 members of the public responded by petitioning the shopping centre to allow him to stay.
“I behave out here,” he says. “I remember all the kids’ names and I help grannies with their trolleys.
“It’s the first time I’ve been part of the community, and I like it – it’s nice that people know me and when I walk through the estates they say ‘there’s the music man’”.
One song, ‘Only Heaven Knows’, is about the murder of Jamie Simpson, the Matalan manager who was stabbed in 2008 for refusing to hand over a day’s takings to robbers. “I knew the guy and was here the night it happened,” he says.
The cover of Soul Of A Man is a photograph of East London taken from Cape House hostel on Dalston Lane.
“Some people have said that there should be a picture of me on the front,” he muses. “I didn’t want that though becuause I see it as a collective.
“Everyone down Dalston Lane as far as I’m concerned is in the band.”
