Funny story : 1995 , I met Tommy at my Aunt Mary Lou’s house ( His Aunt as well ) and she was bleaching his hair , wearing a Green Day Kerplunk long sleeve . He told me he was a Drummer in a band called Evolution Of Man but was going to be playing guitar for Magnafield Plaid . A few months later he came back to Northeast Ohio when “ Teenage Politics “ came out , and they played a church . A few a years later they’re playing the Warped Tour and huge Festivals and turned into an amazing career with Mike and Yuri . Tommy’s Mother and Father were two of the nicest people I ever met and got to see visit here over the years . So stoked they’re still together and playing music 🤙🏻
Mike sporting the LA Guns shirt during "Andrea".... this is freaking awesome. They sounded so much better back then. New stuff is good too, but the magic is back here. I got to see them 3 times in the early '99-2000
I know right! As an old-school mxpx fan, I've noticed the same thing. I really don't like how he is now. Like the way he wasn't interviews back in the day made him seem way more relatable and now he just always sounds like an advertisement for his band. Frankly, the songs that they wrote back in the day were way better than the ones that they do now. I mean the first four albums are extremely memorable and fan favorites. There's still excellent musicians, but their songs now we're just forgettable and kind of blend in with everything else. I think it really has to do with the fact that Mike is no longer a Christian. There was almost a Fascination about this contrasts between playing Amazing punk rock and having a Christian Faith. Well without that, there just another run-of-the-mill pop punk band. Again doesn't mean that they're bad, but there's no longer anything that makes them stand out in particular other than their history at this point
@@Antnj81 I was just making a comment on his confidence, wouldn't agree with anything else you've said here. I'd say there was too many run of the mill 'christian' punk bands haha! And that's the way it goes by definition; they pioneered a new movement and sound - you can't do that again but you can keep going. If they changed what they did and reinvented a new sound folks like you would likely complain about that too. So I'm glad they keep going, even if others would rather them stop.
Selfishly I’m glad they never “blew up” so we can still see them at small venues for best experience also bands get huge and the following albums are usually terrible trying to live up to expectations doing too much they’ve always stayed a great 3 chord guitar bass & drums solid unit.
I had this documentary when it first came out and I loved it! Something I'm noticing though is that there is such a big divide between Mike today versus Christian Mike from when this video was released. Old school mic in interviews seems so much more humble and down-to-earth, plus there was sort of a mystique about him that made him really interesting... this definitely carried over into his songwriting. In my opinion that was the best era of mxpx. Presents a non-Christian Mike is a little too adjusted and almost too confident , in a commercial sort of way, to the point that where it just takes him out of that uniquely alluring position that he was in, to a point of mediocrity. Okay mxpx used to be different and had a thing about them that made them different, now they just sound more like every other band they've toured with with nothing really special about them anymore
