Suicidal Tendencies ready to rock Albuquerque
The punk-rock music genre has always been hard to describe – from the style to the outburst of lyrics to the bands that play it. Those who are drawn to punk can tell you why they love it, though, and like so many of us who have our own taste for the genre, the reasons are pretty much the same.
It was a part of growing up, it molded or disrupted attitude, it was pure euphoria when you wanted to shut the world out or let the world in on your own world. It simply described you when you couldn’t describe yourself.
One punk rock band that shaped so many lovers of this genre — and beyond — is Suicidal Tendencies, an American crossover thrash punk band formed in 1980 in Venice, Calif., by vocalist Mike Muir, also known as “Cyco Miko.” The band’s current lineup includes Muir, guitarist Dean Pleasants, bassist Ra Diaz and drummer Dave Lombardo.
The band’s on tour promoting their most recent album Still Cyco Punk After All These Years, and the “Still Cyco Punk” World Wide Tour 2018-2019 is set to make a stop in Albuquerque Sept. 19 at the Sunshine Theater. The Gallup Sun got the chance to speak with Pleasants and learn about the happenings of the band.
Sun: Without further ado, just have to say, it’s an honor and privilege to be speaking with you and it’s all good brother. Wow, since 1980, the band has been jamming that long, that’s crazy.
Pleasants: Yeah, the band has been around for a bit, I’ve been in it since 1996 and the guys are still jumping around and thrashing about on stage [laughs].
Sun: You guys just recently put out two new albums, Get Your Fight On! and Still Cyco Punk After All These Years, but before we get to that, let’s talk about your tour the “Still Cyco Punk” World Wide Tour 2018-2019.
Pleasants: We’ll be kicking it off in Phoenix and looking forward to that. We’ll be playing some new songs of the new Still Cyco punk record and mixing it into our set, you know. We play a lot from different records from the first record to now, definitely looking forward to doing this man, very cool.
Sun: With a band like yours, tell me what’s keeping it strong and lasting this long, especially for a thrash punk band in this day and age?
Pleasants: You know, I think it’s because we’re still like what I consider the truly blue-collar, hardcore underground band; even though we have a big name, we still approach it like that. We work hard at what we do, we put a lot of time and effort into being who we are, playing live is our thing. That’s our bread and butter, and I think people love seeing us live — if you haven’t seen Suicidal and you come see a show and whoa. We have this energy.
We love giving the energy to the crowd and them giving it back to us. They can go to a show and forget about the chaos for a couple hours and have a great time you know. But we definitely love it.
Sun: Now, with so many people labeling your music, how would you describe it? Because it goes from one genre to a different element down to the other end of the spectrum.
Pleasants: You know, I think we’re just a very hard rocking thrash and punk band. Everybody in the band, from Dave, Rob, Mike and myself, can play and do all types of music.
When you embrace and love music, you’re always trying to grow, and I never feel like I’m ever gonna be the best that I can be on the guitar.
To describe our music, I just think that we really, you know, love doing this type of music like hard-core thrash, it’s a mixture of things, it’s hard to put just one particular label on it. I always say, when people ask me what kind of music I play, I always say we play loud music — it’s punk rock, you know. It’s got everything in it, you’re gonna dance at one point in it in the slam pit, we’re playing subliminal, the tempos change, it’s like a fusion.
Sun: Wow, that’s a great description, it’s almost like what people think about heavy metal and the negative vibe you get from those who truly don’t know it’s much more than that.
Pleasants: Yeah, yeah. They think it’s just someone banging on a guitar until they come see it, and then they say, “Oh, wow, OK. The guy playing it has technique, style and works hard at it to develop all these different styles.”
Sun: In regard to the last question, is punk rock still alive because you guys do what you love or is there another reason why?
Pleasants: Yeah, I still think punk rock is alive because we’ve had bands that come up to us like Limp Biscuit, Ice-T, and say that we were a big influence to them and why they started their own bands. So I believe it’s still alive from those who bought their first Suicide album and then followed other bands like The Dead Kennedys, Black Flag, Circle Jerks. There are so many bands out there that at some point have been influenced by punk rock and fused it into their music.
Sun: Man, I could talk to you forever [laughing], but I know you got a busy schedule, so thank you very much, Dean, and all the best on your new album and the tour.
Catch Suicidal Tendencies at the Sunshine Theater Sept. 19.
Visit: www.suicidaltendencies.com
By Dee Velasco
For the Sun
