SUICIDAL TENDENCIES' MIKE MUIR Weighs In On Use Of A.I. In Music: 'I Think Sometimes The Journey Is More Important Than The End Result'

In a new interview with El Cuartel Del Metal, vocalist Mike Muir of U.S. thrash/hardcore punk legends SUICIDAL TENDENCIES weighed in on a debate about people using an A.I. (artificial intelligence) music generator as a tool to create melodies, harmonies and rhymes based on artificial intelligence (A.I.) algorithms and machine learning (M.L.) models. Mike said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "My problem, I guess, on a humanistic level is I think when it comes down to choices, if you put someone in a room and you give 'em a choice of, 'Hey, you are gonna have to run over this, climb over this, go three miles over here and turn around, swim through the crocodiles, and then come back and you could have this, or you can push this button right here, and you could have three of 'em,' people are gonna push that button to get three of 'em.

"I think sometimes the journey is more important than the end result, and I think people are losing the journey," Muir continued. "And in that journey, you find out whether things are actually worth it. And then you have to adapt and you test yourself and it creates creativity and things like that. When you give up all power and creativity, I think that that would eliminate a lot of the greatest things that humans have done. And then you just become idol worshippers. Not to sound all theatrical, but that scares me more than anything, because I think there's nothing greater than when people are at their best, and whether they overcome whatever obstacles they have, this and that, I think that's amazing. And I think it carries over into other things. So that's my concern. And then, of course, people can get into the philosophical or the technology taking over, but we've had that debate for a long time too. So I just hope that people don't lose themselves before they find themselves."

After the interviewer noted that SUICIDAL TENDENCIES have always expanded their sound over the years and didn't simply rehash what was previously done, Muir concurred. "Yeah. I think for us, we've always kind of taken the approach, like, doing records are like chapters in a book, and you don't just rewrite the same chapter," he said. "And there's certain bands that are very successful, but every record, it's, like, you couldn't tell if it was 10 years, 20 years, you know who that is. That's cool. But for us, I think we want everything to be different. We're not doing it for people to like it. It's, like, if you are a cook and you just want people to like things, you add more sugar. But we're not the sugar band. We like spices, we like some heat, we like some challenges, and sometimes that's not gonna be what people like."

Mike continued: "Over the years I've had so many people saying that, 'Wow, I apologize. When that record came out, I thought it sucked. And 10 years later, someone was playing it. So I was, like, 'Whoa, what's that?' And I listened to it. And it's, like, I absolutely love it.' Or they say, 'Hey, I knew this song. And it was, like, 'Ah, it's all right.' And then something happened and the lyrics just sat out, and it was, like, they go, 'It's a completely different song.' And it's where people are at in life too. You break an arm, you can't give somebody penicillin. Penicillin saves a lot of lives, but it's not gonna fix a broken arm, it's not gonna get rid of cancer. it's not gonna take away people's mental difficulties and stuff. So I think there's no one-size-fits-all, treat-everybody-the-same kind of a thing."

Last April, SUICIDAL TENDENCIES released a new single called "Adrenaline Addict". SUICIDAL TENDENCIES' first new song in seven years featured Muir alongside longtime guitarist Dean Pleasants, THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN guitarist Ben Weinman, bassist Tye Trujillo (son of METALLICA's Robert Trujillo) and former SLIPKNOT drummer Jay Weinberg. The track also included guest vocals from singer Nisha Star.

Under the CYCO MIKO moniker, Muir has released three albums so far, 1995's "Lost My Brain! (Once Again)", 2011's "The Mad Mad Muir Musical Tour (Part One)" and 1999's "Schizophrenic Born Again Problem Child", which was a split record that also included tracks from SUICIDAL TENDENCIES, NO MERCY and INFECTIOUS GROOVES.

SUICIDAL TENDENCIES supported METALLICA on the 2025 North American leg of the latter band's "M72" world tour.

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.

In 2023, 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.