SUICIDAL TENDENCIES' MIKE MUIR Embraces Digital Music Services: 'I Think It's Great'

In a new interview with Sonoridades, vocalist Mike Muir of U.S. thrash/hardcore punk legends SUICIDAL TENDENCIES was asked for his opinion on streaming music services as well as the resurgence of vinyl. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, for me, I go all the way back when I first bought records. I'd go to a record store, and we didn't have much money — we were poor — so you'd go to a record store and sometimes you'd be there for an hour, just picking up album covers and just looking at 'em. And I can still remember going to record stores and looking at the album covers and going, like, 'Okay, this is, like,' — I can't remember — 'three bucks' or whatever. It's, like, 'Okay, I can get this one.' And I'd go into the import section and just looking at 'em and holding 'em and playing 'em. And usually, when I'd first do it, I'd make a cassette so I wouldn't scratch it. But it was the artwork that really, you felt like there was a connection. And I think for me, when the CD came, I go, 'I miss that artwork.' And I think that what happened, oversimplified, is you get a CD and it's instantly — you could copy it. It's not worth anything. But those old albums, you could still sell them. So, I think that's part of the reason why the vinyl has come back. And I think that the artwork connects you more and gives an opportunity for, if you're a little more expressive on the visual side, that's good.

"As far as the digital, it's a Catch 22 because — I always use the analogy, like, 20 years or 30 years ago, if someone would say, 'You can listen to any song you want for the next 24 hours,' people would listen 24 hours straight to music," he explained. "But now you can listen to anything you want all the time. You don't listen to music as much. So, it's weird because all the music that I got into, and it's just my age, but somebody came over and they said, 'Dude, you have to listen to this.' And they brought over a cassette or something and they played something. Now there's thousands of people just flooding you, 'Check out this song. Check out this song.' It's, like, I really can't spend my life checking out every song that there is. So, I think it's great. I think that the people can be able to listen, especially places that are further away in the world that that maybe governments or whatever would prefer they didn't listen to music, they get the VPN, they can listen to hear things and be exposed to things. I think that's great. And for someone that does wanna discover things, it's great to be able to have as much options as possible. So, it is the way the world is, and we'll see where it is in another 10 years, but I think that there's a lot more people, obviously, that are able to hear SUICIDAL or any band because of that than they would be able to. So, I think it's important."

Last weekend, SUICIDAL TENDENCIES released a new single, "Nós Somos Família", a reworked version of their late 1990s song "We Are Family". The Portuguese-language rendition of the track brings together Brazilian artists Badauí (CPM22),B Negão (PLANET HEMP),João Gordo (RATOS DE PORÃO),Rodrigo Lima (DEAD FISH),Supla, Fernanda Lira (CRYPTA, ex-NERVOSA),Marcão Britto and Thiago Castanho (Charlie Brown Jr),in addition to world skateboarding champions Sandro Dias and Pedro Barros.

"Nós Somos Família" is the first SUICIDAL TENDENCIES studio recording to feature new drummer Jay Weinberg, a former member of SLIPKNOT who joined the Mike Muir-fronted outfit earlier this year. The song was recorded at Estúdio Central (formerly RedBull Station) in São Paulo, Brazil, and was executive produced by SUICIDAL TENDENCIES' longtime collaborator Alex Palaia. British producer Paul Northfield and Brazilian sound engineer Rico Manzano also participated in the project.

SUICIDAL TENDENCIES' latest album, "Still Cyco Punk After All These Years", was released in 2018 via Suicidal Records. A reworking of Muir's 1996 solo outing "Lost My Brain! (Once Again)", "Still Cyco Punk" featured founding SLAYER drummer Dave Lombardo.

Last year, SUICIDAL TENDENCIES celebrated the 40th anniversary of their debut album on a number of shows in the fall, including in New York City; Silver Spring, Maryland; Worcester, Massachusetts; and Berkeley, California. SUICIDAL TENDENCIES also celebrated the 40th anniversary of the LP on a tour of Australia.

The 2024 lineup of SUICIDAL TENDENCIES includes founding member Muir alongside guitarists Ben Weinman (THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN) and Dean Pleasants, bassist Tye Trujillo (son of Robert Trujillo),as well as the band's latest addition, drummer Jay Weinberg.