Interview: Suicidal Tendencies frontman Mike Muir on never fitting in, the Misfits reunion, and recruiting Dave Lombardo

Coming out of the violent gang-ridden streets of California’s Venice Beach in the 80’s, Suicidal Tendencies was one of the first bands to truly meld their metal, punk (and eventually funk) influences, brining their crossover thrash sound to mainstream audiences around the world. With their instantly recognizable vato look (shorts with high socks, low bandanas), huge following in the skater community, and zero-fucks attitude, the band has continued to thrive over the decades, regardless of the countless trends the punk and metal worlds have weathered over the years.

With a new record due in September, and with a ridiculous touring lineup that includes former Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo and Dillinger Escape Plan guitarist Ben Weinman, it’s clear Suicidal is showing no signs of slowing down anytime soon.

We caught up with band founder and vocalist Mike Muir to discuss how the band has remained relevant for so long, why they’ve never fit in, and how asking Lombardo to join the band make Muir feel like a 14-year-old-again.

Suicidal Tendencies play ’77 Montreal on Friday, July 27th alongside Rise Against, AFI, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, The Rezillos, Sick of it All, L7, and many more. Admission is free for children under 10. For tickets and the complete lineup visit the festival’s official site.

On never fitting in:

Punk Rock Bowling is this big festival out here, it was the 20th anniversary, and it’s like 15 or 20,000 people. When they announced Suicidal was going to play — we’d never got an invitation before — there was a lot of people that weren’t happy, you know. Just like the good old days. “Argh, Suicidal’s not punk rock.” They said our first record sucked and all that. People are always people. So you just laugh. Suicidal, we stick out compared to other people. I don’t think there’s any band that could out-punk Suicidal to be honest. I think a lot of the punk bands are just punks [laughs]. It’s a whole different place we’re coming from and a whole different method. 

Their punk & metal crossover sound, and how the band has remained relevant for so long:

“So you’re Italian, so you can only like Italian food?” Punk and metal to me are very similar. There’s probably only 5% of the music I liked, most of it I didn’t like. But what I liked, I liked. A lot of the qualities I took, it wasn’t necessarily music, it was the way people went about things, and not having rules. That really appealed to me, not being told what to do, doing your own thing. And then when we started off, everybody was trying to tell us, “You can’t dress that way, you can’t look that way, you can’t play that way.” I’m like, “Wow, the fucking punk rock police, this is amazing!”

We’ve found it funny because when we do a lot of the festivals, you’ll see the younger people are way more open-minded. That’s part of the reason we’ve been able to be around so long is, we’ve done some things with other punk rock bands and their audiences are really, really, old. They’ve lost out, because it’s just the same kind of people going. So many of the people that were into Suicidal, their parents didn’t let ’em go, they had to sneak out or they couldn’t go. And so they want to bring their kids, you know? And with all the skaters and all the extreme sports athletes that are into Suicidal, we’ve always been able to be around a lot of different audiences and have a really good spectrum of people, which I enjoy.

Memories of playing Montreal, including an early Vans Warped Tour where they brought out Ice-T and a very-young Eminem:

We always have problems getting into Canada [laughs]. On that one I actually had pneumonia and I didn’t know it, and then ended up in Detroit, in quarantine, because they didn’t know what was wrong with me, they thought I had tuberculosis, and when I got the negatives on that they were even more worried. We had traveled around so much that they were testing me for everything. Yeah, you don’t want to be in quarantine in Detroit Mercy Hospital, I’ll tell you that.

That show, we were at [the border] for six hours, and it didn’t look like we were going to be able to get to the show. So at the show you’re talking about, we literally pulled up and went straight on the stage. I think times have kind of changed, I think people have better concerns about what real problems are in the world rather than a band.

Playing the huge (and pricey) Misfits reunion show in New Jersey in May:

They never played any big shows back in the day, and I’m sure that a lot of people, same thing [like with Suicidal], never really gave them a lot of respect when they were doing it. It had to be an amazing feeling of victory to be able to do something like that where you’re from. I’m happy for them, and Dave Lombardo is obviously playing drums for us and he’s been doing the Misfits shows for them, so I was happy for him. It was interesting because the tickets were pretty expensive, and a lot of people made a thing of it, but it sold out in five minutes. And the thing that I appreciated, compared to maybe some other reunion kind of shows that I’ve seen, is that people went there to have a good time, and they had a good time. They were happy to be there, and there was no pretentiousness, like “I’m more punk than you.” We had a great time, had a lot of fun playing, got a great reaction. But I think it’s always good to be somewhere where people are glad to be there.

What ex-Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo brings to the band:

It’s absolutely amazing. It’s funny, because years ago people were saying, “You’ve always got these young guys playing.” Brooks Wackerman was 14 when he started playing with Infectious [Grooves], and he got into Suicidal and now he’s in Avenged Sevenfold. Robert from Metallica, all these different people. Josh Freeze, who before Brooks was 17 when he started playing with us, and he’s gone on to play on literally everybody’s record. We had done a tour in the early 90’s with Slayer in Europe, a tour called Clash of the Titans, and I would just watch Dave play every night, going, “Wow, this dude is insane.” You kind of think there’s no way someone can keep playing that way and that long, but when we had the situation with our drummer, friends were like, “Dude, call Dave.” And I’m like, “Oh yeah, call Dave, that’s like calling a supermodel up and asking for a date.” We were friends, but just friends enough where I was like, “Dude, I don’t want to make him feel awkward.”

It was like I was 14 again, going, “Uh, hey Debbie, you want to go to the movies?” One of those ones, pacing around and nervous. I’d seen Slayer before they had a record out and he’d seen Suicidal before we had a record out. The thing about Dave is, a lot of people, when they’re doing something so long, they get their cheat sheet, they figure out an easier way of doing things. He takes every show as being very important, the same way we do. We don’t want to be a nostalgia act, like an “oh yeah, back in the day…” kind of thing. People know him mostly from Slayer and a certain style, but he’s actually an amazing, versatile drummer, we’ll play all kinds of different things at practice and he’s got amazing rhythm. And he always says, “I’m Cuban man, of course I’ve got rhythm!” He really adds a tremendous amount to the band, and it’s a great experience to be able to get on-stage with him and just hear the drums just roaring. It’s amazing.

Suicidal Tendencies play ’77 Montreal on Friday, July 27th alongside Rise Against, AFI, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, The Rezillos, Sick of it All, L7, and many more. Admission is free for children under 10. For tickets and the complete lineup visit the festival’s official site.