KEY POINTS:
When you're renowned for playing fast songs and you start doing slower ones because your front man gets addicted to Elvis Costello, you're bound to lose some fans.
That's what happened to American pop punk band MxPx four or five years ago.
While drummer Yuri Ruley - who
it has to be said is a top bloke and friendly - concedes they partially lost their way, he's not apologising for their change in direction.
"We strayed from the fast stuff but it wasn't on purpose. It's just naturally the way things went. Around that time our singer Mike [Herrera, bass player and founder] was really getting into Elvis Costello and that may have changed the direction a bit. But I think it was more us just trying different things.
"Then, I suppose, a couple of years ago we realised our fans were not digging it, wishing we were more like we used to be. They wanted to have fun at the shows. They wanted the fast stuff," he laughs.
So, MxPx fans rejoice, not only will you be able to see them live on March 6 at the St James in Auckland (or March 5 at Founders Theatre in Hamilton), but the band's next album is mostly a fast and furious one.
They started recording it three weeks ago and Ruley, who's on the phone from his home in Bremerton, Washington state, has finished his drum parts and left Herrera and guitarist Tom Wisniewski to it.
"It's going to be pretty fun to hear because the last time I heard it it was just drums," he says. "Generally, when I've done my drums I hang around for a few days but then it gets kinda boring so I just head home."
While Herrera lives and breathes the band, Ruley says he just does what he's told and "I'm pretty good at it".
Not much has changed then since the band formed in 1992 when Herrera and Ruley were in their mid teens. Even back then the frontman was always the motivated one.
"When I met Mike in '92 he had 50 songs," he laughs. "I mean, we didn't even have a band name and he had 50 songs. And it's still the same because he's constantly writing. Writing songs is his night job because he goes to work and plays shows and then he has to go to his other job and write songs," he chuckles again.
When they first started, the grunge scene had made harder music more acceptable in the mainstream and then the first wave of punk bands, like Green Day, started making an impact.
"We listened to the Descendents and bands who were on the Epitaph label and maybe half a dozen kids at our high school knew who these bands were. Two years later everyone knew who they were. So I think we started at a good time."
Unlike Green Day and the Offspring however, MxPx never crossed over to the mainstream but it's not something that worries Ruley and his band mates.
"We didn't start doing this to be a popular band so everything that's happened is just great. We had some moderate success throughout the late 90s, and we still like doing it. We're never going to have millions of fans and there's a lot of bands like us who do pretty well but we're not expecting to have a number one single."
MxPx
What: Californian pop punk veterans
Where & when: March 5, Founders Theatre, Hamilton; March 6, St James, Auckland.
Key albums: Pokinatcha (1994); Life In General (1996); Panic (2005)
