My Mom Interviews MxPx
by Dave Sharp on Mar 30th, 2011
This is the band my mom interviewed.
A special contribution from Deborah Sharp
I have been an MxPx fan since my son, Dave, introduced them to me back in 2000. The Ever Passing Moment had just been released and we rocked to the music all summer while driving from basketball to swimming. From then on, I was a big fan. In case you are not yet acquainted with MxPx, they are a three-member band that began as teens in 1992. The band members are Mike Herrera, who is the lead singer and bass player, Tom Wisniewski, who plays lead guitar and sings back-up and Yuri Ruley, their drummer and back-up singer.
Since I was a mom of a teenager, I wanted to know more about the music that was influencing my kids. I listened to the albums that Dave had acquired, Teenage Politics, At the Show, Pokinatcha, and my other favorite, Slowly Going the Way of the Buffalo. I read the lyrics and was very impressed that, 1) these guys were writing, performing and selling albums while still in high school, and 2) the lyrics of the songs, written by Mike Herrera, were fun, insightful, positive and a reflection of what I envisioned my kids and their friends were experiencing as teens and young adults.
I joined the MxPx fan club and discovered that there were other older fans like me. We took a family photo in our MxPx t-shirts, hoodies and backpack and entered a Fan of the Month contest. I know, I know, I got a little crazy… I took Dave and his friend, Bryan, to an all day outdoor concert just to see them for a 30 minute show (Mike had blond hair then). The second time I saw them I had to be pulled out of the vacuum of fans that packed the front of the stage just because I wanted to be up close. It was crazy, fun, and to be honest, just a little scary! But, the music was great… “Punk Rock Show,” “Chick Magnet,” “Lock and Key,” “Move to Bremerton,” “Responsibility,” on and on!
A couple years later, Dave started Sinizine.net and I put in my request that if he ever had the chance to interview MxPx, I wanted to come along. Well, on a hot Arizona day in July of 2006, I was not only allowed to trail along, I was given the opportunity to interview Tom. I had dreamed of this moment. (Literally, I dreamed that Tom, Mike and Yuri came to my house for dinner and I was able to ask them all the things I had wondered about them!)
The interview took place a few hours before the show at The Marquee Theatre in Tempe, near Arizona State University. I was escorted by Dave, my sound man and my son, Matt, who was there for moral support. It was a family affair. We were escorted into a small room next to the stage by their road manager. Tom joined us and we sat down on a shabby little black couch. I was nervous, of course. Even though I had read that the guys in the band were down to earth, I was glad to see that Tom was just a normal guy, covered in tattoos, who just happened to have played in a successful punk band since the age of 16.
It was a really great experience and Tom’s a really nice guy. After the interview, we went out on the stage and were introduced to Mike (who couldn’t talk because he had to save his voice for the concert.) We then went into the audience area to watch the sound check. Tom made sure that they played my favorite song, “Rock and Roll Girl.” Wow! A personal performance of my favorite song; it made my day!
Unfortunately, things like Dave getting his college degree got in the way of getting this interview from our tape recorder to the web pages of Sinizine.net. Since 2006, a lot of things have been happening with MxPx, too. Not only have they released five more albums, including On the Cover II (which you will see in the interview was my suggestion…); Yuri retired from touring in 2010 and Chris Wilson (The Summer Obsession) has replaced him for the live dates. Mike has been working with his band, Tumbledown, and has a second album in the works; and, according to Wikipedia, Tom now has a full time job, apart from MxPx, as a submarine mechanic for the U.S. Navy. Who would have guessed?
Please accept our apologies for the delay, but we hope you enjoy our conversation with MxPx’s Tom Wisniewski.
The Interview
SZ: You were making records before you were out of high school. What motivated the guys in the band at such a young age?
TW: You’re a kid in high school…You want to play in a band? Yeah, of course! So you start a band with your friends. Then someone comes along wants to make a record and you are like “Sweet! I’ll make a record.”
SZ: How did you meet the people that wanted to make records?
TW: Just playing shows, meeting people, friends of friends.
SZ: How about family? What did they think of about you jumping into this whole area?
TW: They thought it was cool. I had been in bands for years and my parents were cool with it. Then, one day my dad loaned me some money to buy a guitar amp. The day I got home from our first tour, I paid him back. (I said,) Here, that’s the last of it.” My Dad was like, “Oh, pretty cool, you are making money at this! Then we started getting played on the radio, TV and our shows started getting better and they were like “Wow, this is the real thing! What do you know?”
SZ: Another thing that struck me is the songs that Mike writes. I thought they were very profound for a kid that age. What kind of guy thinks along those lines at 15, 17, 18 years old? That was always interesting to me.
TW: I don’t know, he’s a normal dude. Nothing too out of the ordinary, just likes to write songs…
SZ: He’s not a philosopher or anything? (Laughing)
TW: No, nothing like that…He’s not Socrates or anything!
SZ: You said your families were supportive. I noticed that Mike’s mom has been a manager for the band. Is she still involved?
TW: Yes, she is like our business manager. She takes care of paying all the bills and stuff like that and making sure we get paid.
SZ: I’ve seen some of her photo credits. Does she still travel with you?
TW: Yes, she takes photos when she is at the shows. She likes to do that.
Secret Weapon
SZ: I really like your new album (Secret Weapon, released in 2007). I read in several interviews that you said that that there was a new maturity in the album and I thought it reflected that. It reminded me of the Ever Passing Moment in a lot of ways.
TW: That’s good! I loved that record.
SZ: Do you hope to address more worldly subjects in your songs as you get older (now that you are approaching 30!)?
TW: Yeah, it definitely has always been kind of a thing and maybe it is a little more, not so much just songs about girls but songs about actual things that matter a little more.
“We like to play rock songs”
SZ: Through the years, you have been described as a Christian punk band. Your music isn’t really isn’t what I would call Christian music even though it hints at your beliefs. Do you hope to maybe expand on that musically in the future or is it a personal thing?
TW: As far as that, we plan to remain who we are. We have never been a ministry kind of band, like “This band is to bring people to the Lord”. This band is because we like to play rock songs, really fast and loud and jump around on stage. That’s the deal with that… When you write songs and you are honest then things in your life come out. ie: If you are a Christian or a vegetarian, you know, you just really hate one particular thing in your songs, it’s going to come out.
SZ: One of the things I noticed when I was initially screening the music is that there is no sex, no violence, no swearing. Does that go along with your own personal philosophy of life?
TW: Yeah, we are not big fighters or anything like that.
SZ: Do you feel a responsibility to protect and guide your young punk rockers or do you think about that kind of thing?
TW: No, not really. I know we are kind of like some people’s first punk band but I don’t look at it like “we will give you an easy way in,” nothing like that.
SZ: What about your older fans? For instance, I noticed on your website that there was a lady who was a teacher that regularly comments on your site. She is very fond of you guys and I’m thinking “Good, I’m not the only older mxpx fan!” Will you ever gear anything to your older audience? Maybe, like you did on “On the Cover”?
TW: No, we kind of do what we do. People like it or they don’t. We don’t really gear anything towards anyone in particular. It’s more just this is what we like and this is what we want to do…Oh, you like it too? That’s great!
SZ: We really enjoyed “On the Cover.”
TW: Thanks!
Career Plan B
SZ: Do you have any career interests outside the music business?
TW: It’s kind of one of those things, this is what I know…I know the music business. I could probably do ok with a couple things, but, I always wonder what will happen when the band is over? Will I stay in the music business and do a music type thing or will I like be completely out of it and people will find out one day and say, “Oh, you were in a band?”
SZ: Maybe you will be like the Rolling Stones, touring at 63!
TW: Oh, I hope not.
SZ: What areas of the music business are you interested in? How about your own label?
TW: I don’t want to be a label.
SZ: You know the pros and cons…
TW: Yeah, I do. Obviously, you have one record that becomes a huge hit, you have cash. You got a lot of work too though… You have to find bands and deliver for them always, you can’t say “Yeah, it didn’t work out, sorry.”… “Why not?”
SZ: I can see where it would be complicated. How about school? Are you interested in going back to college?
TW: Not me, I don’t think any of us are. What’s the point? Unless I decided I wanted a career that required that go to school to learn how to do that career. No going to just to go. That’s what you do when you get out of high school and you don’t know what to do with your life.
SZ: You like cooking…How about a celebrity restaurant?
TW: Wow, I’m not much of a celebrity so it would just be a restaurant! Restaurants fail a lot. I would need to have some sort of investor to make the place awesome.
SZ: I once read a quote from Paul Simon where he said that he thought his early music was “childish.” Do you ever feel that way when you perform songs that you wrote when you were kids?
TW: Yeah, maybe a little, but not too much. Wow, I can’t believe he thinks that all his songs are childish!
SZ: I agree.
TW: That’s just him being over it, I think. Not too much. Sometimes we will play an old song and I think “Why did we do it like this?” It’s kind of weird.
SZ: Kind of re-work it?
TW: We definitely re-word stuff now. We will decide that we don’t like the way that song was, but a lot of people like it; so we will play it our new way and that will be our compromise.
Tom, the singer
SZ: Maybe this is a naive question, but I have always wondered about this… All of you have nice voices; how come Mike is always the lead singer?
TW: Cuz he is the singer…!
SZ: Can’t it change?
TW: How come I play guitar? How come Yuri plays drums?
SZ: I don’t know. You can do more…
TW: I sing backups a lot, more than I used to for sure. It’s just one of those things.
SZ: No desire to step up front.
TW: Nah, I don’t want to be the lead singer.
SZ: Have you or Yuri ever written songs for the band?
TW: Parts. Obviously, when Mike comes in with a song we totally work on it; different parts of songs… He writes the bass of it and we will all get in. Usually me and Mike write the riffs, different guitar over dub kind of things.
Relationships, the road and “When I have kids”
SZ: This is a little bit more on the personal side. I remember that all three of you got married the same year, which was kind of funny!
TW: Yeah, we all bought houses at the same time, too…graduated on the same day.
SZ: You are in sync!
You hear a lot about the difficulties of maintaining a relationship living the “rock and roll” life. Can you offer any advice? What have you found that works for you to maintain your home life?
TW: You just have to want to, because it’s hard. It will be like “Why haven’t you called me yet?” “I woke up and started doing stuff, I’m sorry. I meant to call you!” “I’m glad you finally called me.” You have got to want to make it work. The second you don’t want to make it work, it’s going to fall apart really quick.
SZ: Do your wives still tour with you?
TW: Yes, on occasion. Mike’s wife is out here right now.
SZ: Does it get old for them?
TW: Yeah, my wife doesn’t like it. She says she hates being on the road with me.
SZ: You are probably absorbed in what you’re doing…
TW: I’m busy, and she doesn’t like being out here. She’s like “I would rather be at home, chilling and watching a movie with you.”
SZ: Any kids yet?
TW: No, just pets, cats and dogs.
SZ: If and when you have kids, would you be supportive of them following in the same career path?
TW: Oh, totally! One day, when I have kids, if they want to start a band, I will be like, “Alright, here’s my guitar… Please, don’t break it, this one means a lot!” Actually, there are guitars that I wouldn’t let my kids use. I’d buy them junkers first. They can bang them up.
SZ: What favorite songs do the audiences usually like you to play?
TW: It’s always “Chick Magnet,” “Punk Rock Show,” stuff like that. We take requests during the show now because we got to the point that we have so many records and so many songs; let’s just ask them what they want to hear.
Reflecting on the catalog
SZ: What’s your favorite to perform?
TW: I like playing “My Life Story.” I like playing that one a lot because there a lot of big guitar hold outs and I can run around and pump my fist in the air and stuff.
SZ: My favorite is “Rock and Roll Girl.”
TW: Really. Wow! Maybe if you are here at sound check we will try to play it…
SZ: That’s not a big one, huh?
TW: No we haven’t played that one in years.
SZ: I love that song!
TW: It’s in “C”, I know that… I think I got it.
SZ: I really liked Slowly Going the Way of the Buffalo.
TW: We play a bunch of stuff off that.
SZ: The last show I saw, you played almost all songs from that album, which was great. What’s the best selling album?
TW: Actually, it’s Let it Happen. It’s like 32 songs and it came out right at the right time and it was only $10!
SZ: Is there an album you would like to do over?
TW: No, they are each like a snapshot of that time for the band.
SZ: Well, thank you for letting me interview you.
TW: Cool. Easy.
SZ: It was nice to meet you and remember “Rock and Roll Girl”!
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