Mike Herrera of MxPx (Encore Episode 158)

MxPx

As some of you may know, I started AbsolutePunk.net over 15 years ago as an MxPx and Blink-182 fan-page. Those were the first two bands I truly loved. They shaped my entire music taste and starting that website changed my life. I wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for those bands and those albums. Listening to “Doing Time” as a teenager gave me hope. Discovering pop-punk music and the community around it made me feel like I belonged to something special. Small, right outside of the mainstream, but undeniably special. The music was unlike anything I was listening to at the time and hit me right when I needed it most.

Last week MxPx released their new, self-titled, album. It’s their first album since 2012. Today, I’m excited to debut a new episode of Encore featuring lead singer Mike Herrera. This episode is a joint episode with Mike’s podcast, “The Mike Herrera Podcast,” which I also recommend subscribing to and checking out. In this episode we go deep on the new album. We talk about the recording process, the inspiration behind the songs, and then I walk through each song with Mike and get his thoughts on different aspects. I share some thoughts too, but mostly I was trying to get at what made this album feel so fresh, and yet so wholly MxPx, here in 2018.

We also recorded the FaceTime conversation we had doing this podcast and the video is available on the MxPx YouTube channel. I look ridiculous and my cat walks into the office to have lunch a few minutes in, but we thought being able to see each other and read and react to facial expressions would bring a fun vibe to this episode. I think it worked. This is one of my favorite episodes of the podcast I’ve ever done.

Show notes are below, the band’s new album is available on all streaming platforms, and physical copies are available at MxPx.com right now.

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MxPx Launch Kickstarter for New Album

MxPx

MxPx have launched a Kickstarter to help record their new album:

With this money, the bulk of it is going to be spent on prep and marketing. We intend to self release this record all around the world, not just North America, and to do that, we’re gonna need to advertise. We also have costs of hiring an engineer to record and mix our record, as well as the costs in fulfilling the perks in this here campaign.

This is the first time the band is working in the same place on an album since the Panic sessions. I’ve heard very good things about the batch of songs they’re working on.

Mike Herrera on Latest Episode of “Fixer Upper”

Mike Herrera

Mike Herrera of MxPx and his family are on the latest episode of HGTV’s “Fixer Upper.”

Musician Mike Herrera and his wife, Holli, are moving from Washington state to Waco so they can be closer to Holli’s family. They need a house with plenty of space for their two children and a large music studio for Mike. Chip and Jo find the perfect fixer upper, but when Chip comes across some serious structural problems, they realize they might not be able to finish in time for the family’s big move.