MxPx

posted by Heart Throb Media Admin Thursday, 16 July 2009 15:09

Read an interview with MxPx!

It's MxPx. That's all that needs to be said. With a self-released EP and full-length Christmas album new in their pockets, they're still managing to stay busy. Even busy enough to head to Japan for a new tour. In this interview, Mike Herrara chats with Heart Throb Media about the details for the All Stars Tour, getting pumped for holidays and show etiquette.

Conducted by: Julia Conny

First of all, tell me how are you doing today?

Mike: Well, I just got done a session in the studio, so now we can move on to the next thing. There's always five things happening, but obviously the most important is this MxPx release right now. That was a crazy experience.

Can you expand on that?

Well, we decided to self-release on our own on our label, Rock City. Rock City has been around for awhile, but we've never done a release with MxPx. It's always been our side projects or other bands. Obviously the landscape of the music business has changed quite a bit. There are a lot of mountains that have sprouted up since we last ventured into that area of business. So now we have to find digital distribution, the physical manufacturing and all that. It's not just, hey let's make a CD and you send it off to the distribution company. It's kind of crazy now, but it makes a lot sense. It all comes together; there's just so much that you don't even think about.

What was the biggest motivation for you guys to self-release this EP?

Mike: The timing was good. Our contract [with Tooth & Nail] was pretty much done. You go through months and months and months of trying to renegotiate with anybody, really. Which is fine, but we wanted to try it out. A lot of bands are doing self-releases. For an EP, we may not tour for two years like we just did with Secret Weapon. We didn't think we would do that for an EP so let's just get it out there for the fans and see what they think.

Do you think this an avenue you'll explore more in the future?

Mike: Well, definitely, because it just so happens that we are releasing a Christmas album that is a full-length album on December 1^st. And there is a special edition coming out a week later. And that's also self-released. It'll be available everywhere digitally as well. That's a full album. It's 14 songs for the digital version, and the special edition is 16 songs.

I've always wondered this about bands that record Christmas albums – do you get pumped for the holidays when you record or do you end up overwhelmed so that by the end, you say 'Screw Christmas?'

Mike: Yeah, we get pumped. It just became a tradition to do these Christmas songs for our fan club. I think '97 was the first year. We've done a few compilations over the years and people have been asking for this record. We get pumped on it. We like putting all the past MxPx Christmas songs together and getting into the holiday spirit. This was that on speed.

Let's talk about this All Stars Tour. It sounds very awesome, except that I'm surprised that you decided to do it just in Japan. What's the reason it's not here in the States or anywhere else?

Mike: Well, a lot of people have been asking us, 'Do a States tour!' It comes down to we wanted to try it out first and we had this tour booked. Tom and Yuri both couldn't make it in December and rather than cancel, we said, what if we just have some friends come out a play with us. Chris Wilson on drums has played with us before when Yuri had a kid. Chris Wilson has done quite a bit on drumming for us. And then with Kris [Roe], we didn't necessarily want to get a random person because that would be weird. But because you're actually seeing people you know, it's almost like seeing a new act, although it's going to be MxPx songs for the most part. I'm stoked on that. I think it's going to be a really fun and new experience for people.

They don't have to call it MxPx. They can call it whatever they want. We're gonna do some Ataris songs and we'll see how it goes over there. And if goes well, then I'm not gonna say we'll never do it again.

How do your Japanese fans react? I'm always curious to know how it's different from American shows. I've heard it's crazy.

Mike: Yeah, they're definitely very fanatical. They'll wait outside your hotel for hours and hours and hours. It's just crazy. Waiting outside for autographs and pictures after the show. It's similar to what to what you find with really big acts in the U.S. But they're a little bit more cranked up.

Do you ever wish you could see that same kind of intensity Stateside?

Mike: Yeah [laughs]. They are super polite. They'll even be very quiet in between songs; they clap and quiet down. And you're talking to a huge crowd of 5,000 people and it'll get real quiet. It's so weird! They wait for you. They wait to be told what to do. It's pretty cool. Even the crowds at festivals – you basically play to a baseball stadium full of people. Obviously not everybody knows who we are, but we're getting a lot of people just checking us out. They go crazy. It's absolutely insane.

As for here, I think it's just the generation that's changing. There's been a lot of different waves of showgoers. We've had fans that would wait outside for a very long time, and that's crazy. And a lot of our fans are older now. They are our age. They're working their jobs and have families. Those kind of fans don't necessarily stand outside and wait. They say, 'Hey, we want to buy you a drink!' [laughs]. Also, I think parents these days are a lot more strict. Neurotic about how kids are spending their time. You turn on the news and five new kids have been kidnapped. I wouldn't want a bunch of kids hanging around on the streets around some of these things.

But it's also interesting because when I was growing up, and I'm sure when you were to, music and show were that positive place where you could escape that bad influence. And now, it's almost the exact opposite.

Mike: There's little bits and pieces. Some scenes are probably still positive. You hear about the negative stuff more. Something bad happens at a show – there's a fight, someone gets punched or pushed over, whatever it is – people get up on AbsolutePunk and talk about it because it's an extension of “If It Bleeds, It Leads” media coverage. I think our shows are positive.

I was just about to say that I think you guys maintain that positivity that I really enjoy.

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