SUICIDAL TENDENCIES Frontman: 'We Don't Want To Do Anything Unless We Actually Want To Do It'

Liz Ramanand of Loudwire recently conducted an interview with vocalist Mike Muir of the long-running Venice Beach, California thrash/punk band SUICIDAL TENDENCIES. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Loudwire: Tell me a little about why you decided to create Suicidal Records.

Muir: Originally, when we first started, there was nothing else, no other way to do it, and as we started touring more, we just didn't have the time to do it. Now, obviously with the way record labels are, there's really no other reason to do it than to do it yourself. I have enough fights with myself, I don't need to have fights with other people. Sometimes I have a hard time understanding myself, let alone trying to explain myself to other people also. So it's much better, much easier. You should put it out yourself; there's no other reason not to.

Loudwire: Are SUICIDAL TENDENCIES or INFECTIOUS GROOVES working on any new material?

Muir: SUICIDAL TENDENCIES, we basically got three records done. It's just putting them together in a time frame and then the touring. INFECTIOUS is right behind, but you can't be in two places at once, you know?! We don't want to do anything unless we actually want to do it, and I know for a lot of people, they haven't been doing it for as long as we have. They kind of just want to go on the road because they don't like their life, they don't like their family, and I'm the opposite. So when [my kids are] older, I don't want them to say, "Dad, why are you running around the world for and you weren't there for me?" I want there to be a situation where they know if I'm not there, there's a good reason for it. We know when to say "no" and we do things for the right reason. Everything we do, it's something we want to do, it's something cool, not just because someone called up and we're like, "Well, we got nothing better to do." It's just that certain standard and I think that's why we're able to be here almost thirty years later where if we just did things that other people thought were good opportunities or smart, I wouldn't be here now.

Loudwire: You've inspired so many bands over the years. Are there any new and current bands that inspire you?

Muir: You know what?! It's one of those ones where you say something and it sounds bad, but people say to me, "When are you going to quit?" and I go, "When I hear a band that I don't know what the hell is going on but it's actually brilliant then that's when I definitely will stop." I would love for that to happen, but there's nothing new that really gotten there, it's just kind of regurgitation. People are just doing the same things over and over. I like it when people do things where I have to sit there and go, "Whoa, is this intentional?" [Laughs] "Did they just fuck up and realize that it's brilliant or they just don't know what they're doing?" Everybody always says everything's been done but that's what people said a long time ago, too, and that's part of the problem. I would prefer people sit there and try to do something like, "What could we do that's actually different, that's actually better that hasn't been done?" rather than "How do we sound like this band without being too much of a rip-off?" and hoping to get all of their audience.

Read the entire interview from Loudwire.