Monday, May 23, 2011

Bleach @ Rocketown (Concert Review)

If there's ever an unsettling reminder of how quickly time passes, it’s when one of your favorite bands has been away long enough to actually “reunite.” Bleach first hit the scene in the mid-90’s and they were one of the Christian alternative bands that was good enough to have made it in the mainstream market had they gone that route. They were a huge part of my high school years and I’ve seen them quite a few times in concert. Their (not exactly) final show in August of 2004 with The Lonely Hearts, Seven Day Jesus, The O.C. Supertones and Relient K was absolutely one of the best shows I’ve ever been to. So when there started being a buzz last year that Bleach was getting back together, I was understandably stoked. A few festivals shows last summer and news of recording sessions fed my anticipation even more. When their recent “mini-tour” was announced with a Nashville show, there was no doubt I was going to be there to welcome the boys back. Since they’re currently writing and recording new songs, I wasn’t really worried about this just being a nostalgic show with them half-heartedly running through some old tunes. Thankfully, I was right as they turned in the type of cranked up, high-energy, memorable show I’ve come to love and expect from them.

Opening up with a killer one-two punch of “December” and “Baseline,” Bleach quickly crushed any questions of whether they could still deliver their amped up, melodic brand of alterna-punk with the same heart and gusto. The chorus of “December,” “Hey, hey, it was so great to see you, the winter months had taken their toll,” felt quite appropriate for their return after so much time away. After a couple more upbeat songs, they transitioned nicely with one of my favorites, “Sun Stands Still.” While I tried not to go into the show with any expectations for my favorites, I was sincerely thrilled when they launched into this one. The crowd had already been singing along with every word, but they erupted on “Sun Stands Still.” After such a connecting moment, they played a new song for us called “Daughters and Sons.” It was a cool, mellow acoustic song and they invited Josiah Holland (The Honeymoon Thrillers, The Lonely Hearts, Holland) to play accordion on it. They continued throughout the night with their unique mix of worshipful and relational songs and each one was met with an enthusiastic response from the fully engaged crowd. During songs like “Knocked Out” and “Sufficient,” it was as if Bleach had turned Rocketown into an all-out church service. Before their last song, they joked about already playing every song they had rehearsed, making sure we knew why there would be no encore. They closed the show with a huge sing-a-long version of “Get Up” and the crowd’s appreciative response was thunderous. Throughout the show, their on-stage banter was sprinkled with jokes about getting old, having a daycare on the side of the stage and shaking the rust off; but their passion and energy seemed explosive and limitless. With more recording sessions for the new album scheduled and hopes of another tour following its release, it’s super nice to have the guys (including original-drummer-now-guitarist Matt Gingerich) back making great music. Especially since they’ve shown they’ve definitely still got the Bleach goods!

**Set List**

“December”

“Baseline”

“Found You Out”

“Clear The Air”

“Sun Stands Still”

“Daughters and Sons” (new song)

“Good”

“Astronomy”

“Knocked Out”

“Weak At The Knees”

“Write It Down”

“Sufficient”

“Good As Gold”

“Get Up”

You can find out more about what Bleach is up to at www.bleachisalive.com

Here's a great video of "December" from the show courtesy of Matt Giesler:

Bleach - December - Live from Matt Giesler on Vimeo.

Saturday, May 21, 2011

"Bring It On" Video - The Gaslight Anthem

I know MTV stopped being MTV sometime in the late 90’s, but I still really love watching a well-done music video. The Gaslight Anthem has put out some great ones in their relatively short career and their new video for “Bring It On” is equally as awesome. Released on last year’s incredible American Slang album, “Bring It On” tells the story of a guy facing the troubles of a girl with a wandering heart and the new video captures the storyline well. I love the visuals and the usage of the panoramic still frames to accentuate those points where things could go in different directions depending on the reaction of the individuals. It’s subtle, but beautifully poignant. The band shots are awesome as well and that drop dead gorgeous guitar Brian Fallon is playing is my favorite combination for a Telecaster! Always keeping things close knit, the main character in the video is played by their good friend Dave Hause from The Loved Ones and “the other guy” is played by Gaslight drummer Benny Horowitz’ brother. Killer song, great video, win-win!


Monday, May 16, 2011

Interview with Mike Herrera

I like to refer to Mike Herrera as the "James Brown of Punk Rock" because he is hands down the hardest working man in the music business. Between his duties as frontman for Tumbledown, MxPx and Arthur, running Monkey Trench Studios and helping out with Legionnaire Clothing, the man never stops! Thankfully I was able to catch him long enough to interview him before he lit up Nashville's Exit/In on the last stop of his recent solo acoustic tour. Mike provided not only an incredible night of music, but an awesome interview as well. It's always nice to find the great musicians who just happen to be great people too! Mike was super nice, gave some great answers and laughed alot. I hope you guys enjoy the interview as much as I did. Here you go!


Tonight’s the last show on your long-awaited and much appreciated East Coast solo tour in support of your new Live From The Basement album. What sparked you to record these stripped down versions of your songs and then take them out on the road?

Mike: Well it actually was sparked because of the tour. We booked this tour, me and Louis from Gasoline Heart, and… I’ve done a couple solo tours, but not in the U.S. yet, and each time I’m selling MxPx albums, I’m selling Tumbledown albums. A lot of Tumbledown stuff because people don’t have it as much. But nothing I’m doing sounds exactly like those records because I’m not with a full band. So I decided to go down in my basement and record a bunch of songs real quick, as fast as possible. I did 2 sessions, a couple in an hour and a couple more the next day. Then I did the artwork and sent it in and literally it came out the day this tour started.

Perfect! Sounds like you’re cutting out every middleman there is. So, this being the last night of the tour, do you have any surprises in store for us?

Mike: Yeah, absolutely! Every show I’ve done has been different from the one before but this one’s gonna be way different because I’m actually having a couple guys back me up on a bunch of songs. We’re gonna do some covers songs. It’s gonna be different than Tumbledown too because, it’ll be a different style of playing. It’ll be more like “Tennessee Three” type stuff.

Ah, Johnny Cash! Man, you’re in the right place for it! What was the song selection process like for Live From The Basement and were there any songs that you tried, or that have been requested at these shows, that just didn’t quite work out in this solo format?

Mike: (laughs) Oh yeah, oh yeah! For instance, “Drowning”…I had never done that acoustically by myself and I put that on the record because I was just searching for some songs that would work. I figured that one out and I was like “Oh, I’ll do that one.” I relearned the lyrics and all that. As far as stuff that doesn’t work out, there’s so many songs that MxPx has that don’t work acoustically. But people constantly are asking for “G.S.F.” or “Do Your Feet Hurt” and I don’t know…they just don’t sound that great. I mean, I still do them a lot of the time. But there’s definitely certain songs that sound really good acoustic and there’s other ones that are just…ugh.

So no one’s gone too far out and requested “Fist vs. Tact” or anything like that?

Mike: Well, they’ve asked for that and they’ve asked for “Teenage Politics.” For me, it’s like, it just doesn’t sound that great because it’s so choppy. It doesn’t even sound that great as a full band, I don’t think personally. That’s just my opinion though.

What’s been your experience on this run of East Coast shows and has it at least been better than your recent Mexico tour?

Mike: (laughs) Oh yeah, much better than the Mexico tour! Man, it’s been really cool to get back to the East Coast. Up to New York, Philadelphia, everywhere on down south through Florida. The Carolinas have been great. We’ve been just having a ball. Not only have the shows been fun, but we’re getting to see a lot of people. I’ve read a few things online about people talking about the shows and they’ve just been having a great time. I don’t think there’s a lot of shows that do what I do. I mean, there might be and I just haven’t seen them. I just really get into the songs in a way different way than people are used to because they’re acoustic. But I also just have fun and the audience can hear their favorite song. As long as I know it! Most of the stuff they ask for I usually know so it works out pretty good for the most part.

Have the crowds seemed to be split towards a certain band of yours or are they just Mike Herrera fans?

Mike: Of course most people definitely know MxPx more and know more MxPx songs. But there’s been plenty of people that have been requesting Tumbledown stuff. So it’s been really cool.

Apart from being able to choose the restaurants and radio stations, what are some of the big differences of touring as a solo act as opposed to touring with a full band?

Mike: (Laughs) When things go wrong it’s definitely your fault! There’s no one else to blame. You gotta be a little more responsible. Man, it’s fun though and it’s less stressful for me honestly. Just showing up with my guitar and plug in and play. It’s so liberating not having gear to tie you down. In that same way, on the other side, that makes playing in a band that much more fun too. So I gotta do both. If I only did one thing, I think I’d go crazy.

Are the times between the shows different? Like, being just the two of you in the car, do you get to listen to your own driving music?

Mike: Yeah, we listen to a lot of sports. I listen to a lot of news stuff. We listen to our own headphones a lot of the time. Eventhough we like a lot of the same music. Louis loves Howard Stern, so….

He’s indoctrinating you?

Mike: (laughs) Yeah, he’s indoctrinating me.

Based on your activity level on Twitter and Facebook, the “Robbed In Mexico” fundraising and the recording sessions you’ve done on Stickam, you seem to fully embrace the ability to connect with your audience over the internet. How important are those types of tools for an independent artist and do they have any drawbacks?

Mike: Well, first with the drawbacks. (laughs) The drawbacks are your job is never done. You’re never not working. You’re always working. That drives me crazy sometimes. I mean, I don’t mind working but sometimes you just want to hang out and not think about it. But as soon as you upload a video, you’ve got to do another video. As soon as you send a tweet, you’ve got to think about, “what do I need to promote now?” So it’s a lot of self-promotion. But on the flip side of that, it’s a really easy way to stay in contact with your fans and with your friends too. Let people know about the show. Not everybody is constantly checking twitter all the time. So if you send a couple tweets, there might be a few people that get annoyed, but some people miss the first time. Same with Facebook and all that. It’s huge, it’s important. For an indie artist it’s very important because I’m my own manager. So I don’t have a management team. I mean, I have people that help me do stuff. I guess that would be part of the management team. But as far as making decisions, figuring out what I’m doing next. It’s all basically whatever I want to do.

Between all of your bands, you’ve been a pretty prolific songwriter. When you sit down to write, do you specifically have one of your bands in mind or do you decide after the songs have been written?

Mike: Yes and no. I don’t always specifically think about what band I’m writing for at first. But I know right when I start writing it, what it’s going to be for. So it’s never, “ah, I should change this and make it a Tumbledown song, or vice versa, MxPx.” It’s pretty apparent and the songs are a lot different. Eventhough some of the roots to the songs are similar. Say like, “Secret Weapon.” You get down to the brass tacks of it and it could’ve been a Tumbledown song. On the flipside of that, there’s a lot of flipsides I guess, “Late Again” by MxPx really should’ve been a Tumbledown song. But it was before I had Tumbledown. So we kinda just made the guitars distorted and actually the guitar player for Tumbledown plays the solo on it. So that sounds even more like a Tumbledown song. Besides those bits, a lot of the songs are different. Lyrical content is usually fairly different. Tumbledown is... I wouldn’t say it’s more light-hearted, we definitely have a lot of party songs and fun songs. But so does MxPx. So in that way it’s similar. But I think we’re serious about different stuff. MxPx is much more broad as far as…it’s for an audience that could be very young or even old, depending on your musical taste of course. With Tumbledown, there are some songs you could be young and be in to, but usually it’s for a “21 and up” type crowd. (laughs) In musical tastes too. Usually when punkers get a little older, they still love punk rock but they kinda get into the more folky, acoustic, singer-songwriter type stuff.

When you’ve been doing these songs in a solo acoustic format, have you seen some of the differences between the bands or is there a common thread?

Mike: I think there’s a common thread. I mean, not all of the MxPx stuff translates. Most of the Tumbledown stuff does since I play acoustic on it. But there are even some Tumbledown songs that I wouldn’t really want to play by myself without the band. It definitely is a little easier with Tumbledown to do acoustic though.

In your songwriting, I can hear some of your influences pretty strongly, like Mike Ness, Elvis Costello, Willie Nelson, Tom Petty, etc. but is there any artist or band that inspires you that we would be surprised to hear you mention? Your secret musical shame?

Mike: (laughs) Um…nothing that’s too crazy. Huey Lewis maybe. He had a big influence on my singing way back in the day and I still love him today. If you get past the sound of the recordings, which I still love, I think they’re great, the songs are really good and really have a lot of groove to them. So, Huey Lewis and The News of course is a big influence. I’m trying to think of weird ones. Jackson Browne, I’m a big fan of Jackson Browne. Everything else is fairly normal. I listen to The Eagles. A lot of punkers hate The Eagles but I like them. I mean, I don’t listen to them a lot. But there’s definitely those songs by The Eagles that I love. “Take It To The Limit,” that kind of stuff. Willie Nelson is a huge influence. Obviously Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, George Jones.


(At this point in the interview, I pointed out to Mike that MxPx's name was written right below Willie Nelson's name on Exit/In’s backstage graffiti wall of artists and he seemed pretty surprised and excited. Here's the picture he took of it.)



Over the years, you’ve worked with some great producers like Jerry Finn, Stephen Eggerton and one of my personal musical heroes, Aaron Sprinkle. Did your experiences with them led you to want to get into producing and opening up Monkey Trench Studios or was it just a natural direction for you?

Mike: Yeah, definitely. When I was working with Jerry Finn I really started paying attention to what he was doing. All the miking, what he was doing on the console. He had of course mixed Dookie which was huge. He was a good idea guy and he was very into engineering. He loved sounds. Mixing is what he loved to do. With our band there wasn’t a whole lot to do, producing wise. It was like, “Okay, let’s make this sound good. Maybe don’t do that four times, do it two times.” You know, that kind of thing. So I started paying attention. Then we worked with Dave Jerden and that was the first time I started paying attention to Pro Tools. I hadn’t used Pro Tools before. Actually that was the first time we ever worked with Pro Tools, Before Everything and After. I don’t know, that was 2003, I think, was the first time we used Pro Tools. Everything before that was all analog 2 inch (tape). We have actually used 2 inch since then. It was like “Oh cool, this is what everybody’s been talking about.” At that point in time I was already learning how to record, like engineer. But I did it from an analog place. Eventhough I was in the digital realm as far as ADATs and 4 tracks. Well, I guess 4 tracks are technically analog but there’s not a whole lot to do there. The experiences I had with all those guys really made a huge difference. We actually brought up Gavin MacKillop. He produced the “Friends” song, the theme song. He did a lot of stuff. He came up and worked in our studio and that was amazing for me. That was cool. He made everything sound amazing. It was like “okay, this can be done on the crappy gear that we have.”

Is there any producer out there that you’d really love to work with?

Mike: There probably is, although I can’t think of… (laughs) I’d love to work with Mutt Lange obviously. John McBride, here in Nashville at Blackbird. I mean, I don’t even know if he does producing anymore but I know he’s a big sound guy.

As a record collector, I really appreciate that the vast majority of MxPx and Tumbledown releases are available on vinyl and that they usually have some awesome color options. Is that a personal decision for you? Do you collect vinyl yourself?

Mike: I am a huge vinyl collector, yes. I love to have my stuff on…To me, I could care less about cds. I mean, I enjoy cds as well. But vinyl is to me, the holy grail. Like, it’s real if it’s on vinyl.

Before we close up, I’ve got a couple quick “lightning round” questions that you shouldn’t have to think too terribly much about. You have a weekend off, unlimited funds and a chauffer; where do you go, what do you do and what do you eat?

Mike: Wow! (laughs) Does it have to be in the states or anywhere in the world? That is a huge question. I’d probably change my answer like 10 times. Geez, that’s blowing my mind. I guess I’d want to go to Athens. I haven’t been to Athens yet. So that might be cool. Athens, Greece…and I would eat everything, I don’t know…(laughs)

What was the first song you learned how to play?

Mike: First song was “Smoke On The Water.”

This one might stump you like the first one. If you could assemble your dream supergroup, who would play what and what song would you like to hear them cover?

Mike: Wow! (laughs) There’s a lot of options there. Tom Petty. Might as well throw in Paul McCartney since it’s a super group. He’d be on bass, Tom Petty on rhythm. Umm…(laughs) this is ridiculous! Let me just tell you my favorite bands. (laughs) That’s a good question but it’s so hard because you don’t want to screw it up. There’s so many good people and could they be alive or dead too. Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash pops up. I’ve seen Willie Nelson but I never saw Johnny Cash play live. As far as newer bands…well, Smoking Popes are one of my favorite bands. Obviously Black Flag, eventhough they’re not new. Actually that doesn’t count as new, you’re right…and Smoking Popes aren’t even new are they? (laughs) I do like The Decemberists. They’re fairly new and I really enjoy them. Their songs are really good. Old 97’s, great band. Superdrag, huge fan of Superdrag.

What’s been one of the most rewarding moments of your career?

Mike: There’s been a few but I would say… just playing alongside bands that should be way above you, but you’re sort of peers with them. That’s been the best part. Just getting to hang with other bands that you respect. We got to open for Joe Strummer. (laughs) We got to open for The Sex Pistols but we didn’t get to meet them.

On the flipside, when was the last time you had to say, “Well, that didn’t work out like I thought it would”

Mike: Plenty of times on this tour! (laughs) Sometimes for the better though.

Finally, the inevitable interview closer, what’s next for Mike Herrera?

Mike: New MxPx record in the works. Already started recording it. When I get home I’m gonna finish or at least continue working on it. I’m excited for that. After MxPx, we’ll probably start working on Tumbledown. Which I haven’t written hardly anything for because I’ve just been touring and writing for MxPx. It’ll all happen though!

Huge thanks to Mike for taking the time to talk! Don't forget, Mike's newest album, Live From The Basement, can be ordered from the Tumbledown merch site HERE or from the MxPx merch site HERE.

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Thad Cockrell - "Rosalyn" (Video from SerialBox Presents)

I’m a sucker for any new musical endeavors that are done in a really cool way, so the guys over at SerialBox Presents have hooked me already. Here’s how they describe what they do:

“The project aims to create "music videos" that occupy a unique space. They are multi-cam, multi-track, live, one-take performance videos. Shot entirely with 5Dmk2s with audio tracked into ProTools, there are no overdubs, no cut-ins, and no pick-ups. What you see and hear is one time through the song, in its entirety. We capture a single performance and preserve that moment time.”

By offering this one-of-a-kind, singular performance, artists can filter their songs in new and different ways and give their fans a unique experience from their albums and live shows. Recently they did a session with Thad Cockrell, one of my absolute favorite singer/songwriters, and the results are outstanding. Beautiful songs, extraordinary arrangements and gorgeously shot video all combine to create something really fascinating and really special. Accompanied by two musicians who he’d only met hours before, Thad wove his otherworldy voice through remarkable versions of “Pride (Won’t Get Us Where We’re Going),” “Rosalyn,” “Beauty Has A Name” and “The Master’s Calling.” The digital files can be purchased for $3, which is a steal for such a stunning piece of music. On their website, there’s also a video for “Rosalyn” and a great interview with Thad as well. My favorite exchange from the interview is when Thad was asked “what is it about your favorite music, your favorite songs, that you connect with so deeply? Why is your favorite music your favorite music?” He responded with “Why is my favorite music my favorite music? Well, if you were to ask the writers of those songs if they wrote them, I think they'd say no. You can always tell. Even in pop songs. There are some killer pop songs out there that I'll hear and think, you didn't write that. Nobody is that clever, no way it just came to them. Sure, they might take credit for it and then try the rest of their lives to be that clever again. But they get pissed off and bitter because they tried and nobody likes it because it isn't that pure thing from outside themselves. My favorite music has that thread...that sense that they didn't write it."

SerialBox Presents: Thad Cockrell can be purchased and immediately downloaded HERE.

SerialBox Presents: THAD COCKRELL from The Serial Box on Vimeo.

Thursday, May 12, 2011

Jakob Dylan - "I Shot The Sheriff"

All this week Jimmy Fallon has been celebrating the music of Bob Marley and the selections have been down right amazing. First off, let’s be honest. The vast majority of Bob Marley covers usually land somewhere between plastic imitations and bad karaoke. There was only one Bob Marley and every single one of his songs are eternally and uniquely his. So when an artist wants to pay tribute and carry on his legacy, it's easy to slip and come across like a stereotypical caricature. For it to be successful, they have to do his song in their way. A great example of this is Jakob Dylan’s cover of “I Shot The Sheriff” from last night’s show. Armed with his faithful white Tele and backed by The Roots, Jakob channeled the groove of the original and delivered the vocals in his unassuming rasp and wail. Granted, I’m a huge Jakob Dylan fan and really dig everything he’s put his stamp on. But even if you don’t like his music, you can’t deny the beauty of this cover. It was sincere to the original while still maintaining a fresh take on it. As always, hats off to The Roots as well for providing such an incredible foundation for the song to build on. I haven’t seen Questlove and the boys even come close to tripping up on a song, so they are always amazing to hear.

Sunday, May 8, 2011

The Civil Wars - "Poison and Wine"

A quick perusal of my posts will show that it's no secret how much I love The Civil Wars. Their devastating vocals, lush harmonies, arresting melodies, sparse instrumentation and the unquantifiable weight of their combined forces create such a moving musical experience for me. "Posion and Wine" was the first song of theirs that started getting some major attention and last Friday they performed it for their second trip to The Tonight Show. I could attempt to describe it with a bunch of pretty words and metaphors...or I could just let you enjoy the unfolding musical magic for yourself. (NBC only has the full episode, so just fast forward to the last section.)

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Mike Herrera @ Exit/In (Concert Review)

As you get older, there are bands that you grow into and there are bands that you grow out of. But if you're lucky, there are those special ones that actually grow with you. For me, Mike Herrera is one of those musical heroes that has consistently put out incredible music that I've been able to connect with for years and years. From my first spin of MxPx's Pokinatcha in 1994 straight through to Mike's most recent release, Live From The Basement, I've found his authentic songwriting and passionate performances to be engaging, thought-provoking and just plain fun to listen to. So when I heard that Mike's solo tour was going to be stopping in Nashville, there was no question that I was going to be there with bells on! (Whatever that phrase actually means.) Not only was I in for an incredible night of music and memories, I actually got to interview Mike before the show as well (which I'll post in the next few days). The premise of the tour and Live From The Basement is Mike taking his catalog of MxPx and Tumbledown songs and refiltering through just an acoustic guitar. This format really allows the emotion and beauty in Mike's songwriting to shine through and creates some nice moments in the sparse spaces. If there were any questions as to whether or not these songs would still be powerful and moving without the MxPx punch or the Tumbledown twang, Mike laid them all to rest with each and every song he played.

Mike first hit the stage during Gasoline Heart's set and played bass for their last song. Seeing that familiar stance and energy, it seemed like the same Mike I had seen in concert many times before. But when he started his portion of the show, it was clear that we were in for a night of something special, something new he hadn't done before this tour. After a quick false start to gently chide someone on the front row for being on their phone, Mike opened with a killer version of "Drowning" from MxPx's Secret Weapon album. "Drowning" is one of the reimagined songs from Live From The Basement that we got to hear live, along with "Never Better Than Now," "Arrested In El Paso Blues," and "Doing Time." He also threw in "The Final Slowdance" as a nice bonus in his opening batch of songs before opening up the floor to requests. He mentioned that "it's always the weird ones" that get requested and he was right! He sifted through the hilarious barrage of chaotic yelling and ended up doing a handful of MxPx songs in a way we'd never heard before. It seemed he was happy to oblige some of them ("Invitation To Understanding" and "Let It Happen") and some we really had to coax out of him ("Move To Bremerton" and "G.S.F."). As proof of Mike's ability to write great songs that fit any genre, each one sounded really amazing done acoustically. Sadly my request for "Bad Hair Day" was swiftly denied with a smiling "I am NOT playing Bad Hair Day... not even if the president or the Pope requested it." We shall see about that Mr. Herrera... one day! After taking requests, Mike brought out Ethan Luck (Relient K) and Geoff Firebaugh (Hillbilly Casino) to join him on guitar and bass for an incredible closing set of originals and covers. Channelling Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Two, they blazed through a few Tumbledown and MxPx songs and sprinkled in covers by The Ramones, The Beatles and Rancid. It was so cool to hear Mike's songs in this unique way and it created a really special moment for all of us lucky enough to experience it with him. As a fitting closer, they boom-chicka-boomed through "Punk Rawk Show" to an appreciative crowd that sang along at the top of their lungs. In fact, the crowd participation aspect of the evening was one of the coolest elements of the whole night. Every song Mike launched into was met with enthusiastic cheers and word-for-word sing-a-longs. It was absolutely a communal experience and it was easy to feel the specialness of the evening. Mike described the sound of the show as "how punk rock sounds in it's 30's" and he nailed it perfectly. With new MxPx recording sessions having already started and the seeds of new Tumbledown songs being worked on, it's clear that Mike is never content with standing still or looking back for very long. It was awesome to catch him in such a rare moment of retrospection and this one's going to stay with me for a long time.

If you want to catch a glimpse of his stripped down, solo acoustic goodness, you can order his new Live From The Basement album from the Tumbledown merch site HERE or from the MxPx merch site HERE.

Mike's Set List:
- "Drowning"

- "The Final Slowdance"

- "Never Better Than Now"

- "Arrested In El Paso Blues"

- "Doing Time"

**Requests**

- "Invitation To Understanding"

- "Today Is In My Way"

- "Move To Bremerton"

- "G.S.F."

- "Let It Happen"

- "Tomorrow Is Another Day"

- "Party, My House, Be There"

**Ethan and Geoff**

- "Empty Bottle"

- "Ballad of a Factory Man"

- "Late Again"

- "The KKK Took My Baby Away" (Ramones cover)

- "The KKK Took My Baby Away" (mini reggae version)

- "I've Just Seen A Face" (Beatles cover)

- "Rock and Roll Girl"

- "Secret Weapon"

- "Olympia, WA" (Rancid cover)

- "Punk Rawk Show"

Here's a video of Mike closing the show with "Punk Rawk Show" (the video is a little small but the audio is great):

(photos and video courtesy of Amanda Hodge)

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