MXPX

It’s the first day of the Lagwagon tour for you guys. So I can’t really ask you how the tours going; so what was going on before you joined this tour?

On tour (Laughs) We were, gosh, what have we done this summer? Well we did some kind of fly out dates this summer. I mean we have been touring all year. Just this summer we just kind of took it easyish. We did a few shows with Rancid, which were amazing. Then we went to Europe and played a few festivals over their. Belgium, Holland, Germany, we played in Tel Aviv and we did the Reeding and Leeds festivals in the UK. We played in Mexico City two days ago and Sioux Falls last night.

So you guys have put on a couple frequent flyer miles then?

I don’t want to see an airplane for quite some time.

How did the tour co-headlining with Lagwagon come about?

Ummm. Basically we just really wanted to do a tour with a band that’s like minded and in the same kind of punk rock scene. We put our feelers out there and their were a few bands that we were talking to and well really Lagwagon was on the top of the list and they were down to do it and so it just kind of worked out.

So the newest album is back on Tooth and Nail again. So after starting on Tooth and Nail going to a major label, then Sideonedummy and now back again on Tooth and Nail – why did you guys decide to go back?

You know. It’s all just about timing and what’s best for the band at the time. We did a one record deal with Sideonedummy and a B sides thing. We were really free of any obligations with them. With Tooth and Nail we did a re-release of a old B-sides compilation way back about ten years ago called “Let it Happen”. We worked with Tooth and Nail on that and put out some new songs on it and we got back into a working relationship with them again. We mended some fences and at the time they offered us a deal we couldn’t refuse. Thus back on Tooth and Nail.

So after you guys went through this whole rollercoaster. What is the biggest thing you learnt from dealing with all these labels?

Well …. Ya. I think the biggest thing we learned about dealing with labels and stuff is just different. I think you really need to take the bull by the horns. A label isn’t going to do everything for you. No matter if its major, small indie, large indie, and partly major owned indie. They’re gonna do what they do and at the end of the day you’re responsible for what goes on. You need to be involved with your career as well. Basically don’t hand it off to them and think “hey it’s in their hands”.

How do label expectations affect your recording and the writing process?

I think in the beginning it was a very free feeling when we were on Tooth and Nail in the early days. Basically, when we had enough songs to do a record we did a record. They were really not all that concerned about the material. When we got on a major label that’s when the sort of “editing” came in from the label side of it. “Yeaaaaa – that’s great but why don’t we try this or why don’t you try writing a few more songs.” So it was a little different and more frustrating. At the same time I think it pushed us, we never had the crazy crazy ….Well I guess we kinda did actually on one of our records. The president of the label like had one song he was just obsessed with and just edited it to death and changed it up completely and thought it was this perfect pop gem and they didn’t put that version on the record actually…… Whoops (Laughs) It cant help but influence the writing a little bit. Some bitterness comes into play. Writing songs are just really capturing life experiences ya know. It’s gonna come out in the material and it has, it definitely has.

So with all this touring, have you had a chance to work on any new stuff and can we expect a new MXPX album anytime soon?

Once we are done with this tour is when we are going to start doing that and working on new material. Right when we get done this tour we are going to finish up a covers record we started about a year ago, but that’s just kind of a fun thing. Then after that we will start writing and recording a new album so probably Januaryish we will start recording. So next year.

Any hints as to the covers we can expect to hear?

I can tell the theme. I know it sounds like a very overdone theme but it’s songs that we kind of love from the 80’s. Its not necessarily chart topers from the 80’s; well some of them are but not all of them. Should be fun.

When MXPX finally winds down and you can kick back and relax and do what you want. What do you see yourself doing or what do you HOPE to be doing?

I think there is part of me that would like to do something completely different just because as amazing as playing in a band is and getting to play music for a living, no matter what you do there is always a part of you that wants to try something new and different. Literally we have been doing this since we were 14 years old. It’s been an obsession and a major commitment and has taken up every aspect of our life so I don’t know. I love design and stuff like that. So I really don’t know what I would do. I’ll figure it out (laughs)

The first song I remember hearing from you guys was on Punk Uprisings Vol 1 Punk Rawk Show. Would you consider that song kind of your turning point when you started to get a little more attention?

I think the album “Life in General” was. I think Punk Rawk Show and been a slow burn so to speak. It was never a hit or anything like that. It just kinda became well known. We play it last at every show. It’s just kind of our theme I guess. Everyone just loves that song even before we get out on stage people are yelling for it or just singing it. I would say the turning point would have to have been with “Chick Magnet.” That’s when the crowds were getting bigger or more people were getting into us. That was really the song I think when things were doubling.

How can you explain why and how you guys have been around so long?

I dunno. I think …. I dunno ….. I just don’t know. It seems like we are just committed to what we do. I think it’s like we are all sort of heading in the same direction. When we met we really wanted to make this work. From the first day there was never any other thought. It was never just some fun thing we wanted to do in high school it was “this is what we want to do”. We worked hard to do it. I think just a similar sort of direction and commitment. Were friends but we are older so we don’t hang out every day so when were home we have our own families and lives. On tour we have to hang out and we do get along and have fun together. So friendship and commitment and drive I guess.

The other 2 guys have side projects that they have worked on or are working on. Is there anything that you are doing or anything that you just do for fun?

I dabbled a little bit in writing my own stuff and recording it a little bit. But I think it was more of an exercise more than anything I really wanted to do to the world. It’s more about me expressing myself and getting it out so to speak. MXPX has always just been enough for me as far as musical business. I don’t necessarily need another band that I have to be committed to. I’ve dabbled with things here and there with friends we had Arthur and that was a side project we did for awhile. Tom has a side project and I played drums but not necessarily in the band. I have another friend I play with from time to time and have recorded some stuff with him. It’s always just kind of a one off kind of thing.

On the first couple records there were a few songs with some God references in them. You guys had kind of got branded as a “Christian Band” was this a label you embraced or is something you tried to distance yourself from?

I met Mike and Andy, the first guitar player, at a church. We were young kids, kind of all gunhoe about Jesus and when we started the band we never really thought we were going to be part of the Christian music scene. We were totally oblivious to it. All we knew was our little scene in town and we played music with other bands and it was never like hey that’s the Christian band. So when we signed to Tooth and Nail that whole kind of world opened up to us. Cuz they’re kind of a “Christian Label” so to speak. It just seemed like a label to us. Then we realized that there was like this whole underground music scene and a pretty big scene too. We realized we didn’t really want to be a part of it. We love playing to the kids but the whole promoter and that whole world and the weird expectations that are put on you. We were just like we don’t want anything to do with this. So after a few years we realized we just felt like we were a band

(at this point the interview is interrupted by the one and only Joey Cape to thank Yuri and MXPX for doing the tour with them….. )

So after a few years of playing that scene we decided to move out of it and we made friends with some other bands. Started touring with Face to Face and Blink 182, we toured with them a bit in the beginning. We started getting our feet in that world and thought “hey this is where we belong”. We had all this fall out from the Christian side since we didn’t want to play just those types of shows necessarily and we also left Tooth and Nail. Not at all because of that, just because of business reasons. There were people that thought “oh no you’re not Christians any more” and we just thought” hey if you don’t get it that’s ok”. Thankfully it worked out we were able to replant our selves in the “regular” music scene. There is always going to be that stigma about us as a Christian band, but I mean I think a lot of people have been around long enough to get it. We’ve never been one of those bands preaching the gospel from the stage. No disrespect to people that do we just always knew that’s not what we wanted to do.

Do you think MXPX, as a band, and you guys as individuals have reached your potential or do you have something left to prove?

I don’t know. I tend to feel like maybe its some weird thing but I’ve always just felt like the thing that’s cool about music is that it’s a never ending learning process. With every record we do its learning. The things that we have learned from the past and the things we are striving to learn is kind of what the new record is all about. In sense I don’t feel that we have reached our full potential. It’s kind of weird because we have been around so long we have kind of gotten in a groove definitely. We do our thing but every time we get in the studio we really make it a high priority to push ourselves. Maybe it won’t be the biggest success but as far as just purely musicianship and quality, I don’t think we have reached our full potential.

Any last comments or anything?

Thanks to all the people who have made this incredibly, surprisingly long and successful career possible. Really that’s why – because people still care about us and still want to come see us. So a big thank you to those people. We will be around, thanks!