MxPx

0:00Bio on the new record says it's a new beginning a fresh start for you guys. Yeah, why why do you say that? Why do you feel that way? I'll say you know because for one We're now on a different record. You know, that's the easiest parallel for that, but I Guess after being in a band for you know however long we've been make almost 13 years if you don't reinvent yourself in some way Or draw strength from somewhere other than sort of the same resources you've used over the years. I Think things definitely become stale. So I think we kind of tapped into I don't know like new areas in our lives new areas and Just trying to understand the world around us to make this record happen

0:47Do you mean that more in terms of lyrics or the sound of the music lyrics everything? I mean physically I Guess musically I just I just wanted everything to be faster and harder, you know when you're in you're making a record and It's like some big budget record. You can be in there for two months just sitting there gone Alright, I guess we're done. Let's go home after four hours working or whatever But like this record is made 21 days recorded 21 days straight No days off and and I true feel like it Really like comes out on the recording because there's there's an urgency to it cool. So musically it It's intent in a way that I don't think you know a lot of our other records are yeah

1:34What was it? Well, how come you guys switched over to side one? How come no more major label? Well, we've been on on an M records for about seven years put up three records and each record to us was sort of a disappointment as far as like promotion and And And how they you know worked it We felt like you know there each record can be disappointed in different ways, but for us it was just a struggle because every time we put out a record with them the Staff, you know the record label staff would change. We have a new a in our person It wouldn't really like it was just like all right do your thing that they weren't really into it No, we just kind of you know what we might as well quit if we can't get out this label. This is just a disaster

2:23and And so we asked you know to be let go because the option was up and they thought about it and they said okay you go so So then we thought you know So here we are no label. What do we do you know what do you what would the average version do? um Obviously we wanted to assign to a new label, but We didn't really want to sign to a major label because we felt like that we'd be going right back to where we came from So the option to do that Really wasn't even an option for us We knew we wanted to go with smaller label something where we could be somebody more special I guess You know and

3:08Sidewind dummy made sense because we're friends with them. I mean we're front a lot of the indie labels fat record It's a concrete record and so on but um we've worked a lot with With Joe one of the owners to sidewalk It is kind of really liked his work work ethic and how into music he was so Just made sense and I really feel like we made the right decision They're helping you out there promoting you a little better. Oh man that we've gotten more promotion for this right then We have for like all of our last three records That's awesome and it's not just about the money, you know because I mean obviously major labels have a lot of money they just don't necessarily know where to spend it and There's something about like really caring about what you do that makes it that much

3:56more believable and And it gets the rate of stations involved they get you know Line and Wherever you end up promoting it? It really shows through if you believe what you're doing and you're not just some guy that's paid to like sell some stuff Yeah, do you ever think of starting up your own label? Yeah, actually We have a side band we've had a side band since 1997 called Arthur We just haven't really done much with it. We put out one EP. Yeah, and that was released on our own label called Rock City But I mean it was never it's always been sort of an imprint You know it was never like we had it was never like we actually had like an office with a working staff It was just something to do and I also put out a record called to that Eugene a band called to that Eugene

4:46Produced it and put that out, but they pretty much They pretty much took off right when the record came out So we didn't really end up promoting it too much. You see yourself producing one day Yeah, actually, I mean I've produced a lot just not for a lot of big records I've done I've done a lot of little indie albums and a lot of demos that kind of thing so I've definitely done a bit of producing and I guess naturally just as a song better and as somebody that is an engineer, you know I wouldn't consider myself an engineer engineer, but like I know Out recording yeah, I just heard a board and stuff. I can walk into most studios and record somebody, you know, I understand

5:33How how music is? achieved onto compact disc cool, but uh, but yeah, I mean I think that's a natural progression You know someday I definitely want to do a lot more of that, but um now You know doing my own thing and and recording our own music. Oh, yeah for sure You got a great new album out and to in the work tour this summer. What's that like every year you guys are on it pretty much excited to go You know We started out doing it in 1997 we a part of it towards the end and and after that we just You know, it was about every other year. We did it in 98 2000 and then in between all that we did a lot of overseas like Europe and Australia

6:20You guys well, I don't know it's just it's just sorry. Are you well received over there? Yeah, I mean Australia stuff has been really great Europe spent sort of a struggle now and then because we don't go as Austin And we haven't actually had much of our hours released over there hard to get that stuff, but um overall And we just did a tour Over the last year and it was great. It was really great. So we're going back after what tour. Oh cool And just a random one basically is it better to record in the summer of the winter? Well, I think it's better to record That's a good question, you know, we've done both but it kind of depends on where you are When you're in the during the summertime, obviously, it's like the best time to tour

7:07So if you're recording all summer long you're kind of missing out on some of that Also, you don't want to work as much during the summertime if you're recording because you want to be outside It's good acting. So I'd say wintertime is great because you can just get hold up in this like little studio and And make music you know, I think that's one of the main things about You know, I Seattle came out with so many so many of these like grunge bands and bands that were kind of dark sounding and There were so many of them because it was like it rains all the time here and all you want to do is sit in your room and play music so That I started out just sitting in your room playing music all time. That's kind of how I would call it music

7:56It was trying to make noise on my little guitar. You started playing guitar Well, no, I actually started playing bass, but I pretty much did both at the same time like I always always the bass player and But I very shortly like within six months and really trying to learn how to play guitar like chords and stuff Because I was right on and because of that I figured you know what I've learned how to play guitar too So pretty much when I play alone in my room I play guitar and when I play on stage I play bass nice When you're writing so you're writing on the bass or the guitar more do you think I write pretty much on the guitar? Okay, yeah, when I write songs on the bass they're actually really weird like

8:42We have a song called Dean's Diosco off slowly going away to Buffalo And it's an instrumental song and it's just like kind of out there I was reading the bio you compared your album to American idiot not much in comparison But just like trying to get it out there and a different change of things for punk music kind of their best record You know, you know really long time. Mm-hmm And I think it's green is better than a garden over a long time like maybe since they're duking and for us since maybe life in general I don't know Obviously they're a much bigger bigger band, you know, they're cute, but only recently. Yeah, well, no not at all Not at all that means duking was huge. Oh, that's true Years old the time, but it was still my favorite. Yeah, they go

9:31Well, I guess I guess the main thing I guess the comparison would be the fact that we're both we've both been around a long time And we're both putting out a record that it's sort of a cornerstone in our careers Cool. I obviously ours is a look not not as much tested because it just came out and it's probably gonna get much promotion and much less radio, but on a smaller scale. Yes, it's a parallel Okay, I like it. I think it's a great album Mark help us help write wrecking hotel rooms helps sing some background vocals on it, too Just you hook up with him through warp tour just, you know being bands for a while Yeah, we you know, we'd known blink for a long time back when they were playing small theater shows down in Southern California

10:21We've always been you know peers and fans of each other's bands and friends We have to go hang out But you know before we rolled up we did any of that for the shows and that kind of thing, you know So it was just good to kind of reconnect with him and Hang out and write a song together cool. Yeah, you know anything about the future of blank another on hiatus right now They're on hiatus. I think they're gonna do other things and I'm sure at some point VH1 will bring them back together He's gonna be the big thing right now You guys have any free show rituals rituals that you do like before every show

14:30Definitely Besides draining all the blood out of a chicken and drinking it Mostly just kind of relaxing Focusing on music playing you know, we have acoustic guitars backstage usually we just play songs together We're all big Tom Petty fans So we'll just like play everything we know by Tom Petty or whoever Trying to like play covers and stuff just having a good time and getting loosened up. It's cool. What about your rider? What's an unusual thing on the rider? Unusual thing we got kicks on a rider cinnamon Obviously red bull is a huge thing on the rider. Yeah Anything we usually we try to have like one paperback book and maybe a DVD

15:20So we watch movies on the bus. Yeah, cool Because you get bored with you don't want to like have to bring a ton of your own movies Yeah, so I collect them along the way So you just ask for a random one or do you ask for like certain ones? We act we ask for like Well depending on the day like we have like a Monday Monday Wednesday is one rider Tuesday Thursday is another rider You know and so on and so on, you know the weekend is a different rider that kind of thing so Depending on the rider we get certain things food wise but also for the movie we get like Monday we get an action new really and on Tuesday We get a drama new release on this day. We get comedy Not new release, you know whatever So it's it changes so we can get different things here and there. That's cool

16:11I like that and at the end of the tour we split up all the movies everybody's sort of like I want that one I don't want that Just a three of you are like with your whole crew and everything. Um it depends I mean usually just a three of us plus will give out movies that we don't want Nice to you like our guitar tech 7 Edgerton was fresh my bass tech nary guitar tech He was really into watching red dragon. He would watch it like constantly. It was always on And so at the end of the tour we gave that damn How do you feel about the downloading music? Do you think it's helped you or harmed you more? Well, I think you know in a lot of ways it definitely harms because obviously there are indeed people that will buy the record

16:57Even even though they're fans of the band It's funny to see like it's come up with a burn CD and go hey sign this and you're like Well, you know we have a good time with it But at the same time, you know the internet and in downloading songs streaming songs is a great tool to promote your album It's just I think it widens the gap between huge selling acts and Fans that aren't telling is good at the use too so hopefully But I mean we've had a lot of A lot of trouble in the past with records kind of getting sold on eBay the pre-releases and all that But this record we kind of did it differently We we finished it put it out right away and got I had to get the buzz going as soon as possible

17:47But there wasn't really like a huge lag time between when the music was available and when We actually released it on the house. So when did you finish recording it? probably Mid-May it was done. Oh, there's a quick mid-to-late May so it was like a month and a two month at the most which is which is like the very very least Anybody ever try to put out a record Did it seem more rushed that way like could that be done for everyone because that's a way better it was very rushed and We were everybody from the record label to us were just scrambling to interviews doing You know getting the artwork done like it was really really stressful, but at the same I'm like That's how I like to work. I don't like to just like do a little bit here and there and kind of like I'll finish that tomorrow

18:35I like to really get things done and you know everything from music to artwork to Promoting the record, you know, there's so many things to be fun You know in a band especially when you're on a smaller label like this you but you do a lot more of the work Absolutely. Yeah, it's been crazy the amount of you know But it's been great because like I feel good about being able to call the president of the label or the co-president And talk to him about whatever I couldn't do that on a major label, you know some some best can but a band of my stature You know they would never have to the phone. Yeah Yeah We do this thing on the show ever we call five questions just five quick questions one more answers favorite song to cover

19:20Favorite song to cover. We have a new one. It's surrender by cheap trick. We just started doing it. We've done like twice live That's cool. We going over pretty good. We're doing it the summer on the work tour Hopefully, yeah, we have time. We'll do it. Yeah, let under McCartney That is a really good question. I guess I'll have to go with McCartney cool You know I'm kind of a pop guy Sorry, you're gonna go see him on his tour this year. I would love to I'm probably gonna be on tour myself I always miss all the great shows Tom Petty's come like so many good good bands, but no well here on the road Yeah, alcohol or marijuana alcohol Tried both, but I don't know like marijuana. He kind of gets low and my music is a little bit faster

20:08Song you've written the you're most proud of Question too Let's say something something up the new record definitely I would I would say I'm gonna go with a song called I'm just gonna make it easy the darkest places cool first on the record. I couldn't think of anything better That's very good one word MXPS back Good thanks so much Mike really appreciate it. All right you up. It's nice talking to you man