Mountain Castle is the Japanese translation of Mikio and Edwing’s last name, Sankey. “San” can be translated as mountain and “key” (“ki”) can be translated as castle.
The current 2022 lineup (and moving forward) for Mountain Castle Band is Mikio Sankey on lead and rhythm guitars, Chris Wonzer on lead and backup vocals, Gretje Angell on lead and backup vocals, Peter Assing on Tenor and Soprano Saxophones, plus EWI & flute, Paul ILL on Fender fretless and standard electric bass, plus occasional upright acoustic bass, Mike Albert on lead guitar and Ronnie Ciago on drums and percussion. We will use occasional guest artist such as Winston Raval (from the Philippines) on keyboards and Guido Consoli (Argentina) on keyboards. All the songs recorded by Mountain Castle (lyrics and music) are composed by Mikio Sankey. Since we are not concerned with playing music for a specific group of people, or having to confine our songs to a specific genre, our music has a very broad base ranging from rock to rhythm n’ blues, country, folk and jazz.
The 1st CD from the Mountain Castle Band is entitled Into the Mountain and features Ynez Anthony on lead vocals. This CD was released in 2018.
The 2nd CD is from the Mountain Castle Band is entitled Sankey Brothers with Jah Sha on lead vocals. This CD was released in 2019.
The 3rd CD from the Mountain Castle Band is entitled Sankey Brothers 3. This CD is different from the others because we have various artists handling the lead vocals. Featured lead vocalists are Ted Souder, Chris Wonzer and Jah Sha. The revised version of this CD was released in 2020
The 4th CD from the Mountain Castle Band is Spirit of the Mind featuring Chris Wonzer and Gretje Angell on lead vocals, and was released in 2020. The lead soloists are Mikio Sankey on lead guitar, Edwing Sankey on lead guitar, Peter Assing on tenor saxophone and Mike Albert on lead guitar. We also used guest keyboards Winston Raval and Guido Consoli and percussionist Hector Quintanilla Galvan.
Mountain Castle Band also released 3 short EP’s in 2020 called Vintage American Music, Tick Tock Man and Tip the Scale.
Our 5th CD titled Pillow In the Sky was released in 2021. From this CD moving forward, all the lead vocals are handled by Chris Wonzer and Gretje Angell, Mikio on guitar, Peter Assing on tenor saxophone, Paul ILL on bass and Ronnie Ciago on drums and percussion’
Our 6th CD called Fate of Fortune was released in 2021 with the same lineup of musicians.
Our 7th CD is called Day Dreams, Night Dreams and was released in 2021.
Our 8th full length CD is Called Lady With the Sunshine Smile was was released in 2022.
Please subscribe to our YouTube channel (Mikio Mountain Castle) and leave comments on Tip the Scale, Sunny Street, Those Silky Nights & Stranger on the Run. (Look for the videos of those songs.) Do you think we can “Tip the Scale” this time around?
Mountain Castle Band has recorded over 50 originals songs, which can all be heard on our You Tube channel. Mountain Castle Band music can be heard on Spotify, Iheart Radio, Goggle Radio, Amazon Music, Deezer, You Tube Music, Apple Music and others.