MxPx: Rock’n’Roll, Then and Now

By Karmun Ng  •  in Interview
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For this new album, you’ve been quoted referring to yourself as “the captain going down with the ship”. Is the ship in reference to the band, or maybe Rock City Records?
It could be taken a lot of ways you know, it’s up to you. It’s been nearly 20 years. I never like to say that we’re gonna break up, I mean, at some point we will, right? Like I don’t know how many more times are we gonna play together, or tour together as MxPx. Each tour that we do could be our last. I’d love to come back to Malaysia multiple times, we’ll see if that happens. I’m doing solo stuff as well, so if people like what I do, then I’m always willing to do an MxPx song if that’s what they want. But I’m realistic with everything. Anything can happen.

But with a reference like “a sinking ship” it kinda hints at struggles? Are there some internal problems with the band?
Life is always changing, it’s always moving, and that’s the beauty about music and playing live. You’re always gonna get a different say on the song than the year before. With this new album, we’re doing old songs, we’re re-interpreting some in cool ways, in more modern ways. I always want to enjoy what I do. That’s the most important thing. So sometimes it is a sinking ship, but it’s a fun sinking ship.

The band was known as a Christian punk band in the past, which used to be what the media focused on. Did you find that your choice of faith was receiving more attention than your actual music? Does that still happen now?
Well, yea! Especially since they’re really not part of my daily life at all. Does that make sense? You know, when I was a kid, growing up writing these songs, it was more of a part of my life. But as you grow up, you kinda change as a person. So for me, I don’t think about that a lot of the time, but people still ask me about it. It is kinda annoying.

Straight Edge is a lot like Christianity, but in punk rock. Were you guys ever influenced by the school of Minor Threat?
Yea, of course, yea. I was listening to like Black Flag, Minor Threat, No Sex, Ivy, The Clash, The Ramones, you know the list goes on. The Descendents, Henry Rollins, Circle Jerks. Black Flag and the Descendents were two of my favourites.

Who’s the “chick magnet” in your song of the same name?
It was really kinda like just a joke song, it wasn’t really about anybody in particular. Maybe it’s about Yuri though [laughs].

If you had to choose between playing hardcore punk and being loved by a few close fans, or pop punk and being idolized by tweens, which way would you go?
[laughs] Well I think I already got the other one, so… Umm, I guess uh… I guess I’m gonna have to go with the fans.

What do you think of Justin Bieber? Would you ever collaborate with him?
I don’t really enjoy his music. I do enjoy a lot of different styles of music. I like Snoop Dogg, Dre, Eminem, you know, I like Jay-Z. I even like indie rock, even pop styles. I would definitely collaborate with him because that would just be cool, to say that you’ve collaborated with this crazy celebrity guy. But I don’t really like his music. I’ll have to work on that.

For Christians, you guys defy a lot of the typical stereotypes set by followers of mainstream religions. Who do you consider over-the-limit in today’s music scene?
I don’t really think anybody is, because I don’t really believe that swearwords should be swearwords, I don’t think bad language should be taboo or anything. I don’t think that one person should really dictate what is morally good or bad. My main thing with moral is that as long as you’re not hurting other people, then it should be ok. So for me, nobody really crosses the line except for like, murderers and something like that… people who are dumbasses and who ruin it for everybody else.  There are a lot of different levels of harm. For me, I don’t think racism is right, in that sense it goes to harming other people, you know? It affects other people.

Last one, how hard are you gonna rock it at Rockaway?
I’m gonna rock so hard that I’m gonna be sore the next day. It’s gonna be a workout.

Thank you so much for speaking to us!
You’re welcome. Take care.

Mike will be collaborating with Kris Roe from the Ataris and Chris Wilson from The Summer Obsession, to storm Malaysia this 20 October as the MxPx All Stars for the much awaited for Rockaway Festival 2012. Get your tickets now at any Rock Corner or Victoria Music Centre outlets. Online tickets may be purchased at www.airasiaredtix.com. For more band news, check out their official website at www.mxpx.com.