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If you've been around a while then neither Suicidal Tendencies nor their singer Mike Muir need an introduction. If, however, you're yet to join the Suicidal Army, then being at Amplifier Bar on Friday, March 2, or Claremont Showground's Sound Wave festival on Saturday, March 3, will be an introduction you'll never forget... one way or the other.
In the ideological sense, punk rock has always stood for independent thought. This is why, albeit linked by generic title, the historically-significant punk bands all looked and sounded worlds apart. The Ramones didn't look or sound a thing like the Sex Pistols, the Descendents didn't look or sound anything like Dead Kennedys, and so on - to such a point that most of these bands resented being slapped with the categorization. Their independence was their point of pride . not their allegiance to a club.
Suicidal Tendencies are one such band. So unique are they that the term 'punk rock' holds next to no use in helping describe how the band sounds and looks, yet -� from an ideological point of view - they are everything punk was hoped to stand for.
Of course, these bands are the exception to a rule that is sadly governed by uniforms, formulas, and clich�s... but their existence alone proves that there are no rules that can't be broken, and there are no limits to the human imagination.
Still cyco after all these years - to borrow his own phrasing - singer Mike Muir erupts like a volcano when asked a quest ion. His mouth can barely keep up with the ideas forming in his mind at the speed of light. He doesn't tailor his answers, nor sugar-coat them... he just lets them fly. Honest and articulate, though built and dressed like a San Quentin lifer, Muir defies every stereotype in the book. He is as much an intellectual as he is a bodybuilder... as much a rebel as he is a devoted son...
And he's a helluva lot of fun.

BY MIKE WAFER
Hey Mike, this is Mike Muir here, how are ya?
I'm really good, mate [startled pause] this is a bit weird, I was expecting to be hearing the telephone company patching through the call, and here you are!
(Laughs) No no, I don't play that. I call direct. I know how to use a telephone. If I couldn't then I'd be in some trouble (laughs)
(Laughs) So where abouts are you at the moment?
I'm in America, in the studio. We're working on a few things at the moment... Suicidal, Infectious Grooves, Cyco Miko...
Given the legacy of the band, and how much fun it would be, I imagine Suicidals would be a very difficult thing to take time away from.
Well, alot of the past l wouldn't classify as fun', and it all goes on definitions, but if what you classify as 'fun' is standing up to people for what you believe in and never backing down. sn yeah, it was fun, but we had a lot of battles it believe we should have had. Some people ; like to have conflict. If they didn't nave
with your ears, whereas for us it's been that music is something you hear with your ears and it goes to your heart and makes you a stronger person... it makes you want to go out there and attempt some things that maybe you would have been too afraid to attempt otherwise. A lot of people also use music as an excuse not to live life, where we try to use music as a way to motivate people to live life and be proud of who they are.
So we want to tie those two things together: the music and how it affects your life, but remembering that there are a lot more important things out there. As you get older you realize that it doesn't ma tier that your favorite band~ - '^ere'sasongyoudon'tlike . be "ne ;eai *o-*td.
Definitely... and what you were saying about music permeating your soul can be seen evidently in how fanatical people are about Suicidals-for or against. I remember when the first record came out - I got the tape through friends ! used to skate with - and then reading about the band in magazines like Thrasher, there was all this talk about how controversial the band was and how crazy things were for you guys. It was weird for us here, because we were so far removed that we were like 'it's a great fuckin' record, what's the problem? and didn't see why things were so crazy. What was that like to be in the middle of?
It's funny, because a lot of people talk about how tough they have things and I kind of chuckle. I've had people approach me about doing a movie about it, but if ft was in a movie most people wouldn't believe it, because it's such a different timeframe and a different area.
I joke about it, but when I play a show and go into the bathroom there's all these guys putting on makeup. That's the same as when we started up, and even though the hair isn't as long, this is just glam. When your pants are tighter than your girlfriend's. . it'sg\sm (laughs). To me it just shows a lack of substance in the music, and a lot of people are talking about how stuff in the old days could never happen again because everyone's got cameras and camera phones. In the old days people didn't have that.
then there's something missing inside you.
That's a very valid point, and as this next generation of kids gets switched on to Suicidals through things like Myspace, do you see a reaching point where you can hit a level of understanding, and the kids get on to your wavelength?
We laugh about it now, but when" we first came out there were a tot of c didn't consider what we were doing t~ Cyndi Lauper, Duran Duran, Boy George... they were all out at that time, and the quote/unquote punk bands were selling five to 10,0g�j which says something
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huge? (laughs}. When we started out, before the first record, a friend came over to my house. Now, I have to say, back then friends were a different thing. Friends weren't a shoulder to cry on, they would slap your face when you weren't doing the right thing . 'hey duds, what the fuck are you doing? You're screwing up', not 'yeah the woi/il is so>iamG,~i'm so sorry fb' everyone else is so mean toyoif. S: : came over to my house aficne said 'whsiyOu re doing isn 't music people #on 'i like it. Listen to the radio, you can do that.. give it a shot. I was like V don't care if people like it. That's no! the shot I want, that's shooting myself in the foot'. I used to listen to what was on the radio and that's why we were doing what we were doing. I didn't like the stuff on the radio, so why would I want to be a part of it?
So, in that sense, I don't care if kids like us. But I'm really glad we're on the [Soundwave] festival, because we haven't been there in years / haven't put out a record in seven years, and a lot of people aren't going to know who we are. That's great, 'cause these kids are going to see all these dudes in bandanas and flipped hats and go 'who the fuck are these guys!?'
You know how you discovered us through a record you got from your friend? Well I'm excited because these kids are going to discover us from trie stage when it's like 'blamf (laughs). I can see kids all like 'those dudes, they
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