Cyco Miko

This interview was a product of a record from the band Cyco Miko featuring Mike Muir of Suicidal Tendencies and Steve Jones from the Sex Pistols and some other people.   

SLUG: So, what do you think of your new record?

Mike: I love it.

SLUG: How did you feel about using Steve Jones for the record and everything?

Mike: Well, obviously it was a big thrill, a big honor. It was great.

SLUG: Is this a band that you think is going to continue or is it a one shot deal?

Mike: No, I don’t think… after we recorded the record and before we put it out there was one of those times I said, hey, I want to go out there, I want to play, and I want to keep going. And at the same time, I go back to the old philosophy and you do wonder. So as long as you feel excited about it. So with that said, for me to say, hey, it goes back to the first interview when people said what are you going to be doing in ten years? I said, I don’t know if I’ll be doing this for ten years, but if I am then I know I’ll be proud of everything I’ve done and that’s just the approach I take.

SLUG: Now do you feel you couldn’t have done the record as Infectious Grooves, since you’re going to be playing Cyco Miko to be, pretty much the band Infectious Grooves as well. Could you not have recorded it with those guys?

Mike: Fortunately the guys in Infectious can play it. But musically what Infectious is and what we’re trying to do now, is actually for the first time, we have a chance to establish Infectious Grooves as a real band where before everybody just sees it as a side project. Because Suicidal took up so much of our time, we weren’t able to do the things that you’d want to be able to do. If it was the only band we could have… for us, establishing Infectious as a band is a priority and musically Infectious is written by the whole band and it’s a lot different. Whereas this, I wrote all the songs. It is an Infectious group record; it’s not a record that Infectious should have made; it’s not a record Suicidal should have made; it’s like a Cyco Miko record.

SLUG: If you continue on with this, are you going to use the same people for recording?

Mike: You know, that’s something I’ll probably deal with two or three years from now. Cause right now we’ve done about 50 shows because the record came out in Europe first and we’re going to do the tour in the States and go through September and that’s when the second record comes out and then we’ll just go out as Infectious. So before we do the next record it will be quite a ways away.

SLUG: So you’re not going to tour, go out play a Cyco Miko, go backstage, change the clothes and do an Infectious set.

Mike: No, that’s what we do. We’re touring together.

SLUG: So do you do like one lump combined set or?

Mike: We separate it.

SLUG: What do you think about people saying, the only reason that your ability to make this record comes from your Suicidal fame rather than the fact that you’ve worked on this material? Or do you think that is one of those perks you get from being a recording musician and having your name known?

Mike: Well, no one’s really said so. I’m not really concerned. I mean Suicidal, when we started off, we had a bad reputation, is that because of my police record or what? I mean you could go into something stupid. Bottom line is this is the way I look at it and this is the way it is. Someone’s going to listen to the record, if they like it they like it, if they don’t they don’t. No one’s going to say hey, I know this guy and he’s a real nice guy and even though I listened to the record and I hate it I’m going to buy it. This isn’t the kind of record that appeals to everybody, and that’s the way I think music should be. I think most people make music when they think there is a specific audience and they want everyone to buy it and sell as many as they can. I’m not here to come off as being a politician. I ain’t kissing no babies, I ain’t shaking no hands. But if you talk shit I’ll kick your fucking ass. And that’s where I come from and people aren’t going to like that and that is fine with me. Because the people that like it, love it, and the people that don’t, they don’t. They got a problem, come to me. People don’t do that. Why? Because they know better. But it’s all philosophy and stuff. In the bible it says, hey, if someone hits you to turn the cheek and I believe in the bible but I think some things are left out. And one is if someone tries to hit me in the cheek I’m going to hit the motherfucker so hard that when he finally wakes up in the hospital he’s going to think twice about taking that offer. So I’m not here to make any friends and I think that’s what the most people are here to do. I’m here to get the respect that I deserve and if people don’t like it fuck ‘em. Hope that answers that question.

SLUG: Okay, I have a quote from the biography that I wanted to ask you about. You’re talking about Cyco Miko and it says you feel as committed to that as you do about Suicidal. Are you using Suicidal as a comparison since it’s a death band or is it that you don’t quite feel in the same vein about Infectious Grooves?

Mike: No, basically what it is with Suicidal, I’ve said many times, before we did our first record one of my best friends came over and he was like why are you making this record? You don’t think people are going to like it do you? If you’re making music you guys are real good, you could make a record that you could get on the radio and maybe you guys could make some money and stuff. I said that’s not what we were doing. We’re doing music that we like and if other people don’t like it that’s their problem and as long as we’re willing to put the effort in and it’s what we want to do that’s all that should matter. That’s our definition of the stuff and that’s related to that. I’m not here to sit here and see how many records I can sell, obviously. And I may not be the smartest person but I’m pretty smart and smart enough to know that if someone said, hey, you got to sell two million records, this is not the fucking record I would have made. There is a whole different motivation and a whole different background where we’re coming from. To me, I have a different definition of what a hit record is. When people say a hit record is only records you sell. To me a hit record is when it hits you upside the fucking head. And that’s what to me a hit record is. So I’m coming from a different field, a different playground.

SLUG: I was just wondering if you noticed that lot of the… going back to Infectious… have you guys met lots of college sorts of bands recently that seem kind of a fur groove, metal mirage that you guys kind of brought into the light?

Mike: Well, I have it once again…. I have a completely different definition of what punk is and what most people call punk. Probably because I came from a whole different place and so in the same sense and the funk thing, I have a completely different definition and I think with the… especially with the next Infectious record where it is more into what our definition of punk is to me what other people call funk is not funk and I think it’s probably because they never heard any funk when they were younger and they don’t know what it is. So it’s that basic kind of stuff that is all different. It’s like when people say Green Day punk, I think it sucks. So whether it’s punk or not it doesn’t matter to me. It sucks so I grew up with punk rock so you know my definition [of] what it is. I think that’s the same thing. People can call it what they want but I don’t like some of the stuff, I don’t like the other stuff and I know the reason why. Based on the music that I initially considered what was funk and most people never even heard those bands.

SLUG: Your only other choice was to take on more of a humorous side of something that makes people laugh but maybe at the same time makes people think. I mean is that intentional… is that humor intentional or is that just kind of the side of you that makes fun of things.

Mike: Well, I think sometimes it’s a way to get the point across. I think there’s humor in all of it. I think sometimes that the truth sometimes is funny because it’s so flaky and it’s actually sad. The funniness is actually sad, it makes you laugh. But it’s just like so blatant and then that’s life and then sometimes you just have to make an example. You make the cartoon aspect out of himself. I think it’s kind of a way of maybe just to get another point across.

SLUG: So, alright, let’s do the wrap up. What do you think this band is going to hold for you as a future? Is it going to be a band that you’re going to pursue with all your effort or is it going to be a band you’re going to take your time on to get it right and just do it by your standards? Or both?

Mike: Oh, basically for me to sum it up real simple, for me what I call what I’m doing is very selfish, it’s something I enjoy, it’s something I like a lot, and it’s something that I basically wanted to make a record that if I wasn’t a part of it and I was somewhere and someone played it I’d say, “Who the fuck is that?” and I’d want to go see them live and I think that’s what music should be. But basically it’s just my definition of what I think is exciting music and that’s not for everybody. But in the same sense I know where I started and with Suicidal we didn’t do our second record till four years after the first one. And I [am] surprised we tried to do it that way. I think the best marketing plan anyone can have is they talk on labels and they try this and this and how to mass market things and how to confuse the public to make them think what they’re selling is hip and that they have to have it. It worked for the pet rock but I mean I’m not really concerned with that with Cyco Miko. I’m more concerned with people that like it, they like it so much that they’re playing it so loud people are going to hear it whether they want to or not. That’s the way it worked with Suicidal. I think the best marketing plan you can have is someone that hears your record and they love it so much that they’re going to play it and I think that’s what music should be. And that’s what I’m doing, [it’s taking] a little more time but that’s the way it is and that’s just what I want to do.

SLUG: Alright, man, thanks for your time. I’ll try to give you a good write up.

I just want to make it clear that I didn’t think I could ask Mike Muir enough questions to make such a long interview. What do you ask somebody you really know from other projects that doesn’t appear in their bio? Not too fuckin’ much. This is my first interview for SLUG so bear with me. The interview was conducted in the morning at SLUG World Headquarters, I was hungover and pretending to be into every word he said and I don’t think he liked me. Come on, Mikey, you gotta like me… please?

—Hack Writer

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