Drummer Yuri Ruley (left), singer/bassist Mike Herrera, and guitarist Tom Wisniewski celebrate their time with Tooth & Nail through a re-release of the 1998 album Let It Happen.

Punk rock band MxPx has been together for over a decade—and has been around the block when it comes to record labels. Frontman/bassist Mike Herrera, guitarist Tom Wisniewski and drummer Yuri Ruley kicked off their career as MxPx back in 1994 on Tooth & Nail with the debut Pokinatcha. After a few full-length and EP releases, MxPx left T&N and signed with mainstream label A&M, releasing four albums over a half dozen years. But the band never gained much momentum through A&M, and chose to go independent in 2005 with Panic, and more recently a collection of "B sides" called Let's Rock (released October 24) with Side One Dummy Records. Now MxPx returns from whence it came—Tooth & Nail—to re-release its 1998 compilation, Let It Happen (Deluxe Edition), with three new songs. Whether the band will continue with T&N is unknown at this time, but the band seems to be keeping all options open. We talked to Herrera about the band's journey there and back again.

How did the idea of re-releasing Let It Happen with Tooth & Nail come about?

Mike Herrera: Tooth & Nail came to us with the idea to re-release Let It Happen with some new songs. In [2002], we did 10 Years and Running with them—not a greatest hits record, but more like favorite songs up to that point.

This "coming back to Tooth & Nail" actually makes a great deal of sense for us now, and not just because we're putting out a record with new songs. This time Let It Happen is more of a reintroduction to Tooth & Nail's audience. We have a fan base, and Tooth & Nail has a fan base. Both have definitely grown apart over the years, and now different people listen to Tooth & Nail than when we first worked with them. So the label wanted to reintroduce us to their fans and our fans to Tooth & Nail. This seemed the best way to do that.

What are the new songs on the re-release?

Herrera: They're three new and different songs covering what we are doing right now. They're each an example of an MxPx-style song. "Role Remodeling" is more the new rock of MxPx, "Prozac" is the light matter with light lyrics that's fun for kids, and "Your Turn" is very basic MxPx, the starter model of the band.

Why the return to Tooth & Nail at this time?

Herrera: Why now? It just happened. I think many things happen for a reason. We have a different management team and different crew around us. It's a fresh start for us and the label. Brandon [T&N chief Brandon Ebel] is still at the label, but there is new staff there since we were around. We just want to start over with Tooth & Nail.

Start over? Why? What happened?

Herrera: Just because we left Tooth & Nail doesn't mean that we [the band members] were the ones that left. It wasn't us as a band. I guess we didn't burn the bridge totally. I don't want this to be about the past but the future. Tooth & Nail as a company has been great, and it's the best it's ever been right now. So we're pretty stoked to be working them. [Editor's note: We asked Tooth & Nail execs to clarify the circumstances regarding the band's departure from the label, but T&N declined to comment.]

Is this a return to the Christian music industry?

Herrera: The technical, business reason that people are seeing us more [in the Christian market] is that in the past the people working on our booking [didn't book us in the Christian market]. Now that we're back to doing things on our own, we can accept everything that's offered: "Sure, we'll do that show. We'll do that interview." It's strange that it happened almost simultaneously with working with Tooth & Nail. They are two separate things. There hasn't been a big change in format or in our theme or policy.

We've played Cornerstone Festival over the years. We've decided, as a band, to do more shows and appearances in the Christian scene. Working with Tooth & Nail again and re-releasing Let It Happen has just magnified it more. It's like a red flag for a "return," which works well [for exposure], though it's not totally real.

The bottom line is that we didn't want to leave the Christian scene per se, but we did have the chance to play the Warped Tour and other tours with other [mainstream] punk bands. Now we're adding more Christian shows to that, too.

Beyond the re-release, what's the relationship with Tooth & Nail look like?

Herrera: That's a good question. We're undecided at the moment. We'll see what happens. We are working on new album material, doing demos and getting songs together. Really the future is open to us. It's a weird position to be in; it's not often that we're at crossroads. It's exciting and stressful. We're definitely considering working with Tooth & Nail but I can't fully comment on that. [Editor's note: We asked T&N execs if they could comment on this or clarify the situation, but they declined.]

As far as the future goes, we're still an active band. We'll be doing this for a while. We'll still put out records, even if only 10,000 people buy it. It's not really for album sales; it's about the fan base and putting out good records.

What's your take on the Christian rock scene now versus the mid-'90s?

Herrera: The Christian scene has always been interesting to us. We grew up listening to punk rock, but there wasn't really any kind of Christian scene there. We didn't know [such a thing existed]. At our start we were just a part of the scene on Tooth & Nail. Yes, we were Christians and still are, but we didn't get any sort of rulebook on Christian music.

[From the beginning] we were honest with [industry] people. We were not used to the idea of always preaching from stage and writing songs that say stuff about "glorifying God and Jesus." People didn't accept us because we were honest [about being ourselves].

We've always just gone about playing music with a positive spin without preaching from the stage. There were plenty of other Christian bands that were not honest [by choosing to play by the rulebooks], because they were told that people wouldn't like them otherwise, and that they'd be banned from stores.

It's strange when you're a kid in a band and people have opinions about you and you don't even know them. Someone will always either hate you or love you. The people that loved us agreed with what we were doing. I mean, I was a teenage punk rock skate kid, dealing with religion, God and the world, and how I related with family and authority, and a small bit of politics and current affairs—that's what I wrote about.

And now?

Herrera: It's a completely different story. I've always thought, "I'm not a pastor and I can't preach, but I can be real with people and talk to them as a Christian." That's where we've always been. Tooth & Nail was [in the same boat]. Now a lot of bands have taken what we've done and run with it.

It's become accepted to be a Christian in a band and not necessarily be tagged as a "Christian band." The Christian scene has changed to accept that. That's how it should have always been. I think it's great to have worship bands out there. But the Christian community should let [new bands] know that they don't have to grab the "uniform" when they join the team. We need diversity, and when you join the church, we can't all be preachers.

Did that perspective on the music scene lead to what some might call "spiritually ambiguous" songwriting?

Herrera: I write what I write. Every song is about something. Sometimes I write about a certain situation or topic, and I just use the words that come to mind. I don't think I'm necessarily in control of that. As soon as I think I'm in control, [the emotion, feeling behind the song] becomes boring for me and for others.

I'm not into using formulas and over-thinking ideas. I've done that in the past and I didn't like how it came out. I'd throw it out and start over. I go with what comes to me. If people want to fault me for that or call me ambiguous, I'm just trying to be a writer of songs you can sing to and find interesting. That's the goal.

Are you still writing with the same message or that end purpose?

Herrera: Not much change on the whole. We as [individuals] have changed after 10 years. Hopefully I'm a better person. A lot of songs on the first record would not even be written today. The songs about being [ticked] off at someone who tried to impose their opinions, I would write it in a much different way. I still use emotion and angst to get the message across in music, use conflict in life to communicate that to others. You realize that you're not the only ones going through your type of situations.

Beyond shows, how much to you plan to get re-connected with the Christian industry?

Herrera: There are some radio songs on the album. "Role Remodeling" is the first single off Let It Happen. Tooth & Nail seems pretty stoked about it, and so am I. [Editor's note: "Role Remodeling" was getting some play on Christian rock stations when this story posted.]

Has MxPx done well at radio in the past?

Herrera: I have no idea. A lot of the smaller stations have played our music over the years. Friends and fans at stations throw stuff on the air.

How long will MxPx be around? Do you guys consider career changes?

Herrera: I think [we'll] know when [it's time to quit]. We'll see the signs. There are times now when I feel like it's time to do something else. Of course, when you think things are winding down, some good things happen—you get good response from a record, tours happen, so you keep on. Playing live is where it's at, anyway. You're connected to the audience sooner and quicker; there's an immediate response.

But even then you're still sort of looking at the future and working at arrangements. I've been producing albums for other bands. I love to write songs and record them, and I've thought about songwriting for other artists.

I'm getting on in years. I'm going to be 30. All I've done in my 20s is play in a rock band and I'm pretty happy with what has been, obviously. But we're already the old guys, known as veterans. We've been doing this 10 years, and we've gotten good at playing shows. We're not scared of the future, whether it brings a break-up or we keep going.

For more about MxPx, visit our site's artist page for the band. Visit Christianbook.com to listen to song clips and buy their music.

© Jackie A. Chapman, subject to licensing agreement with Christianity Today International. All rights reserved. Click for reprint information.

Click here for more interviews.

Click here to view our music review archives.

Visit the artist pages for related interviews and reviews.

				Try an Issue of Today's Christian Woman Free! Name Street Address City/State/Zip E-mail Address No credit card required. Please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery. Offer valid in U.S. only. Click here for International orders. If you decide you want to keep Today's Christian Woman coming, honor your invoice for just $17.95 and receive five more issues, a full year in all. If not, simply write "cancel" across the invoice and return it. The trial issue is yours to keep, regardless. Give Today's Christian Woman as a gift Buy 1 gift subscription, get 1 FREE!

FREE Newsletter Sign up now for the Christian Music Today weekly newsletter:    RSS Feed   RSS Help