Mike Perjanik originated from Dargaville, before moving to Auckland, where he became a member of the Embers in 1963. When the Embers disbanded at the end of 1963, Mike grabbed some of the remaining members of the group and in 1964 formed the Mike Perjanik Band, who became the mainstay session band on the Auckland recording scene for the next few years.
In 1977 Mike, now as the Mike Perjanik Orchestra, did the theme to a new Australian television series, the "Restless Years", and this was released on a single with Renee Geyer singing the vocal version on the A-side. In 1982 another single had Peter Chambers singing "Norman Loves Rose" and Mike doing the instrumental version on the flip side.