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Who is the most influential person in your life? For most people, the answer is one of their parents. For some people, it's a mentor who spent countless hours pouring into them and teaching them how to be the person that they are today. Maybe it's a friend. Everybody has somebody who's impacted their life in a significant way. It's inevitable given that we are by nature relational beings. So who influences the influencers? Who mentored the people who are now mentoring the next generation? John is back this week with Mike Herrera, the lead vocalist and bass guitarist of MxPx, the frontman of Tumbledown, the bassist of Goldfinger, an old school skater, and podcaster in his own right. This week, they dive into Mike's story and reminisce about skating at different skate parks, writing songs and making music, who Mike credits with mentoring him throughout the years, and how his own parents' influence helped steer him down the path of musicianship as a career.
Check out Mike's podcast:
https://mxpx.com/pages/the-mike-herrera-podcast
Purchase the You Can Mentor book:
You Can Mentor: How to Impact Your Community, Fulfill the Great Commission, and Break Generational Curses
youcanmentor.com
Check out Mike's podcast:
https://mxpx.com/pages/the-mike-herrera-podcast
Purchase the You Can Mentor book:
You Can Mentor: How to Impact Your Community, Fulfill the Great Commission, and Break Generational Curses
youcanmentor.com
Creators and Guests
What is You Can Mentor: A Christian Youth Mentoring Podcast?
You Can Mentor is a network that equips and encourages mentors and mentoring leaders through resources and relationships to love God, love others, and make disciples in their own community. We want to see Christian mentors thrive.
We want to hear from you! Send any mentoring questions to hello@youcanmentor.com, and we'll answer them on our podcast. We want to help you become the best possible mentor you can be. Also, if you are a mentoring organization, church, or non-profit, connect with us to join our mentoring network or to be spotlighted on our show.
Please find out more at www.youcanmentor.com or find us on social media. You will find more resources on our website to help equip and encourage mentors. We have downloadable resources, cohort opportunities, and an opportunity to build relationships with other Christian mentoring leaders.
You can mentor is a podcast about the power of building relationships with kids from hard places in the name of Jesus. Every episode will help you overcome common mentoring obstacles and give you the confidence you need to invest in the lives of others. You can mentor.
Speaker 2:Hey, mentors. Just a reminder about the You Can Mentor book. It's titled You Can Mentor, How to Impact Your Community, Fulfill the Great Commission, and Break Generational Curses. The whole point of this book is to equip and encourage mentors with new tools and ideas on how to make the most of their mentor mentee relationship. If you're a mentor, hey, go pick it up.
Speaker 2:And if you're a mentoring organization, pick some up for all of your mentors. If you would like to order mass copies, like more than 20, send an email to me, zach@youcanmentor.com, and we will get you guys a special price. But go and pick up that book. It's good. You can mentor.
Speaker 3:Hello, You Can Mentor listener. This is John, and I'm so excited about this episode of Unsung Heroes because I get the chance to sit down with Mike Herrera. Mike is the lead singer and bass player of the band MXPX. He is also the bass player for Goldfinger. He is also the host of his own successful podcast named after himself that you should absolutely check out.
Speaker 3:So the cool thing about
Speaker 4:this particular episode with our unsung
Speaker 3:hero series is that we get the chance to sit down with someone of influence, someone who gets listened to, someone who leads others, and we get the chance to really just kind of ask them, who is it in your life that mentored you? Who invested in you? Who is someone we've never heard about? And honestly, we probably never would hear about except for the fact that they made an incredible impression on your life and then give that person the chance to share just as Mike is going to share here in a few moments. And so we do this you guys for you to understand that, yes, we all love our rock stars and we all love our successful leaders.
Speaker 3:We all love our athletes and our artists, but so often it is the work of those who invest in these people that make it possible for them to go on and do great things. And so, mentors, you are doing the work that does not often get recognized because, you know what, it's farming. It's day to day. It's hour to hour, and there may not be a lot of fanfare. But you are doing a great work and you are as you invest in others, you are giving them a chance to understand just how valuable they are and that they can have the encouragement and the courage to go on and do great things.
Speaker 3:And so without further ado, let's jump into our conversation with Mike. Okay, Mike. You you used to skate.
Speaker 4:Oh, yeah. I used to skate all the time. Tell me,
Speaker 3:I always love everybody's, like, how you started, why you started. Like, what was it, man? Sometimes it's a video. Sometimes it's just, you know, your buddy across street. Like, what was it for you and when?
Speaker 2:That's a
Speaker 4:yeah. And it was well, skateboarding was kind of popular, I guess. It was, like, the eighties. So maybe yeah. It was the late eighties for
Speaker 3:me. Okay.
Speaker 4:And I just always wanted a skateboard just from seeing people with skateboards. I don't remember, like, it's all blurry, like, exactly when I started, but I got a sidewalk surfer, like a plastic surfboard shaped skateboard with, like, the old wheels. What do they call it? What what are these?
Speaker 3:Yeah, man. Like like polyurethane? I mean, like Urethane.
Speaker 4:Yeah. Polyurethane. That's exactly what I was going for.
Speaker 3:For sure.
Speaker 4:So it was just like this little tiny tail Mhmm. But I just cruise around on that thing, tick tick tick, back and forth in the basement of my uncle's, you know, my uncle's house on vacation. You know, I I took that skateboard everywhere.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 4:And so I really knew how to ride it before I ever got a real skateboard. Okay. Okay. So after that, I was like, okay. I'm ready for a skateboard.
Speaker 4:And I'm just like, mom, mom, can I get a skateboard? And ended up getting a Nash skateboard from, like, where? Kmart?
Speaker 3:Yeah, man. For sure. Those things. And
Speaker 4:that thing was pretty janky, but I rode it for, you know, a couple months.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 4:And and then a friend of mine sold me his Rob Roskop. Alright. And it was a used skateboard, but it was, like, the best thing I'd ever ridden.
Speaker 3:You know? It was,
Speaker 4:like, so nice. And and from there, it was just I was a skater. You know, I listened to suicidal tendencies. You know, I wanted to listen to, like, what are what's skating music? And I didn't know what punk rock was.
Speaker 4:I didn't I didn't have any interest in becoming a musician at that point. I was still a little kid.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 4:I went to this local skate, like, demo Okay. And contest. And I had been skating a little while, so I thought I was, like, okay. I'm gonna enter. I entered the contest and quickly realized I was not ready.
Speaker 4:Oh, yeah. I just panicked. And what I did was I just skated around as fast as I could and tried to ollie off ramps and kept bail you know, kept falling off the skateboard.
Speaker 3:This was a parking lot?
Speaker 4:Yeah. It was on set. A flat a flat skate. Yeah. Who there was a a freestyle skater, one of the big Rodney Mullins
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 4:Was there. He was the pro that came, you know, because usually skate a skate demo or a skate contest, they'll try to get one pro or a couple pros.
Speaker 3:Get the people out. Was this Bremerton?
Speaker 4:This is Silverdale, which is next to Bremerton. It's, like, connected to Bremerton. Okay. It's like a suburb, and And that's where I went to high school. So right down in the same the very same parking lot that I did the skate contest in.
Speaker 4:Later years later, MXPX was headlining shows at this, like, community center Mhmm. And got you know, made it quite a big mark on the the local scene skateboarding really
Speaker 3:is probably a big
Speaker 4:reason why I got into punk rock, harder music Right. Being more independent. You know, it's funny. This I just got reminded of a story. My love of skateboarding really, really solidified in I wanna say it was 5th grade.
Speaker 4:I had a girlfriend, a new girlfriend, and and she was probably, like, my second girlfriend ever. So her name was Brandy, and she called me up one day and said, hey, my parents are out of town. And she lived, like, 4 miles from my house. I'm like, alright. I'll be there.
Speaker 4:And I skateboarded on rural, like, no sidewalk roads, you know, for 4 miles. By the time I got there, my legs were not like, just numb just the vibration just wore it out.
Speaker 3:But fueled by the love for Brandy.
Speaker 4:Yeah. Yeah. So, like, I was like, I love skateboarding. It can get me it can take me places.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Yeah. For sure. Yeah. Which, man, that's interesting.
Speaker 3:You know, like, it certainly is one of the things that might get you started. Like, it's always friends, you know, or maybe this is the culture that you that you identify with, you know, that rebellious spirit, though, when you when you stop skating. You know, usually when I'll ask a guy, like, okay. So what made you stop skating? And it's like, girls, driving and, you know, like a job.
Speaker 3:Right? Because you're right, man. Before you can drive, dude, that board, like, is how you're getting where you're gonna go. And yet, you know, once you get the wheels, man, forget it. Skating a lot of times.
Speaker 3:Even because I remember, man, days spent like skating to the spot was just as fun as when you got there to skate. Right? Because, you know, you might take 3 hours to get to a spot and then 3 hours back. But then when you drive the spot, it just it's a different it's a different thing altogether.
Speaker 4:It is a different thing. Yeah. Well, you know, back when I started, there wasn't a ton of skate ramps everywhere. Yeah. There was a a few I remember seeing a skate ramp, and it was somebody's private skate ramp, but it was out where you could see if you were on the freeway in this section, you could see the skate ramp, and every time I would just stare at it and just be like, oh, it's so cool.
Speaker 4:Yeah. Backyard ramp. Somebody's backyard. Never saw anybody skating it ever. Okay.
Speaker 4:And and so my thought is always like, man, if I had that, I'd be out there every day, which everybody thinks that. Right? You realize, nah, maybe not.
Speaker 3:Dude, right now, as a 48 year old skateboarder, like, I have a ramp, you know, 10 feet away from us right now. Yeah. And, dude, it's not getting ridden as much as it should, man. So, yeah, that's totally it. But I I remember too, man, growing up, like, you always knew the kids who had ramps because they could rip on their ramp.
Speaker 3:You know? Like, they skated their ramp just flawlessly. So it's always funny. It's like to go to a contest and be like, yeah. That that kid's got a ramp in his backyard for sure.
Speaker 3:Oh, dude. That's so funny. So growing up in Bremerton, is it right to say Yeah. Bremerton, where you're from? So, dude, you were, like, just a few hours away from Burnside skatepark.
Speaker 3:Did you ever go to Burnside?
Speaker 4:I did. I did. Went to Burnside, was ill prepared Yes. Because it is, one, intimidating. And there's it's the classic you show up.
Speaker 4:We're like these little kids from out of town and, like, all the locals are there just ripping the place apart. And watching that is inspires it's inspiring, but it's also just so devastating to your your ego and your Yeah. You're like, okay. I'm gonna leave
Speaker 3:for sure. Was the was the vibe cool, or or was there some attitude of, like was it were were there people there making it known that, like, hey, we know you're not local. Was there a local scene?
Speaker 4:I I mean, I didn't really even try to I mean, we'd skated a little bit, but I didn't try to, like, interact with anybody or talk to anybody. We didn't stay there, like, all day, just, like, a couple hours. And I'm sure that we thought that that was the case, that was gonna be the case, but nobody actually said anything to us.
Speaker 3:That's that's cool. Yeah. So no one threw a board at you or anything?
Speaker 4:No. No. No.
Speaker 3:Because, dude, I've I've straight up been at Venice, like, at the skate park there. They have a really good you know, at this day and age, they have a really nice, like, public park. And, dude, those locals, there are some that are so serious, man. They will straight up, like, throw their board down the bowl as you're riding just to let it be known that they're not as excited
Speaker 4:Right. For you
Speaker 3:to be there as you are. So I skated Burnside one time because, man, here I am like a Texas skater, you know, growing up and seeing this place that was a gorilla built. Right? A DIY park. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Meaning that locals just kinda started pouring concrete. And I'm with you, man. That that park is gnarly. Like, it's it's got a cool scene, but also just like when I wrote it, which which is over 20 years ago now, it was just some sketchy part parts. You know what I mean?
Speaker 3:Like, in some spots that are just like, man, this is not the smoothest concrete I've ever ridden. And I happened to go, like and I had pneumonia at the time, and so I did not have a lot of energy, but it really didn't matter because it was Burnside. And it was just, like, bucket list place to skate. You know? So I skated it not great, but it was still it was still Burnside.
Speaker 3:And I just love that. You feel that energy, man. Even when I was there with just a few other people skating, you know, it's just like, man, this place is really special. It's really cool.
Speaker 4:Yeah. I tried to up my game after that. Like like, we have a Silverdale skate park that that was built probably probably towards the end of when I was, you know, kind of tapering off my skateboarding, but still I skated it plenty. It was there was a bowl, there was a spine, and and some, like, sort of, like, half square a square bowl kind of thing. And I learned I, like, taught myself to do spine transfers
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 4:On that. And I'm not talking, like, it wasn't, like, a full 12 feet. It was, like, maybe a a 3 or 4 foot
Speaker 3:spine. A mini.
Speaker 4:And that was taxing. You know, like, just I remember going, okay. This is what pros do. They do this over and over until they feel comfortable, and they can land the trick. And I just I just remember going, there's no way I'm ever gonna be be a, you know, a pro.
Speaker 4:Because, you know, when you start anything, you start playing baseball when you're a kid, you start playing, you know, you start skateboarding. You think, okay. I'm on my way. Yeah. Gonna be a pro.
Speaker 4:Yeah. Skates basketball, same thing. I thought I was gonna be a pro basketball player someday, but didn't work out.
Speaker 3:It's not too late, dude.
Speaker 4:I know. It's still working. Yeah.
Speaker 3:We're we're gonna find a senior league here in Waco before you go. Alright, dude. So switching gears a little bit.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:You're a middle child. I am. Yeah? Yeah. And you've got okay.
Speaker 3:So you've got 2 siblings?
Speaker 4:Yeah. Two sisters. Older and
Speaker 3:younger, obviously. So That's interesting. It's the same setup that I've got with my kids. Alright? Daughter first, son daughter.
Speaker 3:And I always really like that component of, like, you know, my son being raised by my daughter and, like, that just kind of that overall atmosphere to our home. You know? How was that how did that kinda, like, shape your childhood? Like, having an older sister, you know, no brothers, so it wasn't like a super testosterone family. Right?
Speaker 3:So how was it being kind of the middle kid and and having sisters?
Speaker 4:You know, I think the main thing that I really learned from from all that is being able to work by myself, being able to work alone, being comfortable being alone, which is funny because my wife says, oh, you you don't like to be alone. I'm like, what? I do kinda like to be alone.
Speaker 3:So your sisters left you alone?
Speaker 4:Yeah. Yeah. You know, a lot. Like, I I had my bedroom was at first, when we were young young, my older sister and I shared a room. But when we moved out of that place into the place where my parents still are now, I had my own room that was on the other side of the house from everybody.
Speaker 4:I had, one of those big giant jumbo Nerf basketball hoops on my door. I would just like my my room was my sanctuary. And and I looking back on on my career in music and in touring, and I can kinda see how I've made everywhere I go, kinda like my room back back at home, like, my my little sanctuary. So whether it's my studio, you know, in my adult life, having a studio where I can go and just be alone and work, or being out on tour, being in a bus, you have your bunk, and that's like your little apartment. It's like your dwelling, your hole, your honey hole, whatever it is.
Speaker 4:And and it's a play place that you can just go and be alone and decompress. And I I see that with my son too. Mhmm. When he was younger, he's 5 now, but when he was younger, he would go, like, I need a break, and he would go into his crib and just hang out in his crib by himself for, like, an hour. And then he'd be ready to come out and play again.
Speaker 4:I'm, like, that's I wonder if that's, like, exactly what I did when I was a kid. But I really feel like being the middle child helped me just figure out what I wanted to do on my own.
Speaker 3:Cool. Yeah. Nice, man. A lot of times too, like, with us, my wife's the same way. Like, we're the middle kids, so we're kinda like the you kinda watch your older sibling, like, make all the mistakes, you know, and you kinda fly under the radar.
Speaker 3:You're just like, hey, man. I just wanna be like the peacemaker and make sure everything everybody's cool. I wanna be cool with everybody. Everybody's cool with me. Alright, man.
Speaker 3:So this is interesting. It was cool to know that, like, you started skating before music kinda got your heart. But when did you really kinda get it start getting infected with music? I mean, was it these skate bands that you were listening to? Was this where you kinda got the power of it and of connecting with it and then that then kind of made you want to learn how it's made and create it yourself?
Speaker 3:Or how did that come about?
Speaker 4:I think music came about from not even from skateboarding because I got I was into skateboarding elementary school through junior high, but then in junior high, you know, I was I had some new friends, some friends that listened to, like, more pop style music. And so I got out of the social sorry. Not social distortion. Although they were a band that I was kind of aware of, I went and saw them. I didn't see them play.
Speaker 4:I went into a a a skate demo in Seattle where a bunch of pros were at. Rob Roskop was there again. Mhmm. Steve Cavallaro was there. Watched them skate.
Speaker 4:Didn't even know who social distortion was. Okay.
Speaker 3:I was
Speaker 4:a little kid. It was they were going on too late. They were going on last. Okay. And so, like, I had to go home.
Speaker 4:Yeah. I had, like, a chaperone. Like, a friend of my sister's brought me to the thing. So anyway, like, I didn't really know I didn't know what punk rock was. Like I said, like, I listened to social suicidal tendencies Yeah.
Speaker 4:And a few other thrash type bands only literally because I thought that that's what skateboarders listen to.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 4:And so into junior high, still skateboarding a little bit, but got into, you know, sports, got into social things, and got into, like,
Speaker 3:rap and hip hop and pop. And So kind of put us, like, at at our at our place in history right then. That that's junior high. Yeah. Top forties.
Speaker 3:Like, is this gonna be, like or is it is it, like, NWA at the time, or is it
Speaker 4:A little bit. Yeah. NWA definitely, listed some songs that have some less than stellar messages. But I'm trying to think of what's that joy and pain? Joy and pain, like sunshine and rain.
Speaker 4:I remember going to a party Yeah. Like, a a kid party. It was a good junior party, and they were playing this song. I was like, I know this song. But I but that's all, like that era of of life was all due to my best friend.
Speaker 4:My best friend, Michelo, at the time, was very much just, like, knew nothing about skateboarding or punk rock Yeah. Was into dancing. And so, like, I would go to his house, and he would try to teach me dances and stuff.
Speaker 3:Woah. Like, wait. Is this break dancing?
Speaker 4:No. No. Like, just R and B dancing. Like, you would go to a dance and dance on the dance floor.
Speaker 3:At the club. Okay. So,
Speaker 4:like, you know, whatever.
Speaker 3:So are I mean, is it like Belbiv DeVoe that's going on?
Speaker 4:Absolutely. Okay. Belbiv yeah. Yeah. Belbiv DeVoe.
Speaker 4:What's that song they had? Poison? Poison. That was, like, those jams. That was my jam.
Speaker 4:That that's exactly what I'm talking about. And and then a little bit, like, maybe a year later, and this is probably, like, right in the middle of junior high, 7th, 8th grade. 9th grade, I discovered punk rock
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 4:Again, like, for real. And got I think I was skateboarding the whole time just like, you know, like kids do or whatever. But but now I got back into punk rock, into skateboarding because of friends. Okay. You know, my friend, Don Kaye, brought Social Distortion.
Speaker 4:I'm like, oh, yeah. This band that it all kinda, like, connected. Yeah. He was into the Ramones. He was into Metallica.
Speaker 4:So it wasn't just punk rock. It was punk and metal and
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 4:You know, Guns and Roses, that kind of stuff. So back into the bands and guitar music. So that was 9th grade. That's when I went full on skater kid, started growing out my hair. I wrestled, you know, we can talk about mentors.
Speaker 4:1 of my mentors was was my dad. He got me into wrestling early as a kid, and I started wrestling through through elementary school. Got really good at it.
Speaker 3:Were there school programs or were there, like, after school, like, little league kind of for wrestling?
Speaker 4:Little league was not school. It was it was just, like, pee wee's for baseball. Okay. It's not part of school. So he was an assistant coach because, you know, he he was gonna be an assistant coach because I was gonna be in it.
Speaker 4:So he did it while I was a wrestler.
Speaker 3:For wrestling. For wrestling. Got you.
Speaker 4:And so I was doing wrestling through junior high as well. Okay. And so 9th grade, wrestling, it's like my sort of last year in junior high. I was doing really well as a wrestler. Okay.
Speaker 4:And at the same time, getting into punk rock, getting into being in bands. And in a lot of ways, you know, that that that year, 9th grade really changed my whole life trajectory. That was
Speaker 3:kind of a hinge year for me.
Speaker 4:That was a hinge. Yeah. Because I could have just kinda gone gone on and did my little dances on the dance floor and and did whatever whatever I was gonna do
Speaker 3:with life.
Speaker 4:But 9th grade, like, it made me I I basically quit wrestling after that. Like, it was, like, going into 10th grade, which is high school, all the coaches want it. They were, like, looking at the the few people that were, like, good wrestlers. Yeah. And I was one of them.
Speaker 4:And so they were, like, trying to recruit me, make sure that I was gonna be on the team, and I was, like, no. I don't think I'm gonna do any sports. Okay. And they're just, like, what? Why?
Speaker 4:You're you're, like, you're go almost going to state here and, like you know, so I was doing pretty well, but for me, once I got into music, that's all I cared about. Right? And I just music the whole way. And, of course, skateboarding was something that I did along with music. It wasn't anything I I did because I thought I was gonna be pro.
Speaker 4:And now to think of it, like, I don't know that I thought I was gonna be a pro rock star or anything, but like I said, like, most things in life when I first discover them, I thought to myself, oh, yeah. I'll be a pro basketball player. I'll be a pro baseball player. Whatever it is, I'll be a pro. I think that's just, like, the inclination all of us have.
Speaker 4:That's why we have dreams. That's why we have hopes. For sure. It keeps us motivated to move forward. Now if we all knew that the chances of getting into the NBA or getting into, you know, you know, getting your own pro deck.
Speaker 4:You know, it's it's not that high. Right? But it's also not that important to know those stats. Because the only thing it does is is quell your thirst, quell your fire you know, quenches your fire or whatever. And so I I honestly, I think the the crux to my success in life has been ignorance.
Speaker 4:Ignorance in not realizing how long of a shot it is to to be successful at music, to be success whatever it is I'm doing.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So, like, that paralysis by overanalysis kinda thing, I think is really true, isn't it? Because, honestly, when you think about anything that you go out to try to do, you're probably gonna stop yourself in your tracks, you know, whether it's the numbers or for whatever. But that's the beauty, I think, of being like a creative is that or, you know, an athlete or really whatever you're passionate about. It's that it's really not about all these external things, but instead, like, just the the connection that you have.
Speaker 3:Right? So so my Carrera picks up a guitar. Is that it? Did you pick up an acoustic?
Speaker 4:Well, it was an acoustic guitar. It was, it was my mom's. Growing up, my mom had this nylon string acoustic, which is like what you'd see flamenco players Yeah. Mariachi players use. So it wasn't a rock and roll acoustic, you know, it was very traditional, but it was always in the corner.
Speaker 4:And when I was when I could crawl, I'd crawl up to it and just just hit the strings and make noise. You know? And and in my mind growing up, I never thought, oh, someday I'll be able to play that. I always just thought, oh, that's that cool thing my mom has. And I never really saw her play it either.
Speaker 4:So maybe that's why I never thought I could play it. Right?
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 4:And so that going through my my head, and then my uncle played guitar a little bit, but I hardly ever saw him play. My uncle was I mean, we we'd go see them, like, once a year Okay. Or whatever.
Speaker 3:Is this the basement? Stay in there.
Speaker 4:In the basement. Yeah. Eastern Washington. So my uncle was a going over there was like going to the country because they lived in a log house. It had power and it had, like, you know, water and all that, but it was made out of logs.
Speaker 4:And it was out in the middle of nowhere. And, you know, it was like a 2 horse town. But so, like, going there, it was like, oh, well, we have we have telephones, and we have TV. Like, they didn't even have TV. Okay.
Speaker 4:Yeah. So anyway, it was like a a treat kind of in a weird way to go out there and, like, just live differently.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 4:But once I started picking up that traditional guitar at my mom's house, which was, I would say, 9th grade. I probably picked it up, tried to play a little bit, and the I was into the bass guitar. So we can just go into this because my my mom's another probably one of the biggest mentors, you know, that I've had. Mhmm. But once I got into music, I was a singer.
Speaker 4:I was always a singer. I thought I was. Right? You know, I was in choir. Yeah.
Speaker 4:Sing some solos here and there. But once I I got together with my buddy Don that showed me social distortion, the Ramones, we started trying to play together. And I was just like, I'll just sing. You know? So I was like singing and and realized I'm not gonna be able to, like, really control what's going on here if I don't know how to play.
Speaker 4:I quickly kinda realized that. And and so I started picking up that nylon guitar and messing with it. And my mom said, you know, when I was interested in in playing the bass guitar, she said, well, you know, Sting plays the bass and sings sing from the police. You know, and he does pretty good. Yeah.
Speaker 4:I guess so. You know? But, like, that really actually like, as silly as that sounds, it made a difference. And I was like, yeah. You're right.
Speaker 4:I'm gonna play bass, and I'm gonna sing. And what that did was it made it made it an easy path because back when you're a little kid, nobody even knows what a bass guitar is. Sure. They don't realize, oh, that's they know what drums are, and they know what a guitar is. Yeah.
Speaker 4:And oh, a bass guitar? Alright. Alright. So I I got I just stumbled into these things, you know, but my mom was really instrumental in letting me know that it's actually a good thing to do something that not everybody else is doing.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 4:And that's what she meant by saying, Sting that plays bass and sings. You know, he does pretty well, but most of the other people I knew play guitar. Like, everybody I knew that that that played an instrument play guitar. So that's why I thought I'm gonna play bass. Yeah.
Speaker 4:So I picked up that guitar. It's 6 strings, and I played it like a bass. I wanted to, like, play it like a bass. So that that really started me off, and she, you know, she really supported me in more ways than that. She said when I when I decided I wanna buy a bass, she said, okay.
Speaker 4:I'll I'll buy half. So if you save up some money Yeah. Find something you want, I'll take care of the rest. So I've mowed lawns for, you know, all summer or whatever it was, months months. Got, I don't know, a $100 and went to the pawn shop.
Speaker 4:Charleston Pawn. Still it still it still exists Yeah. In Bremerton. And it was a $175 Mhmm. Off the shelf.
Speaker 4:And that's my first base at PVT 40. Heavy, heavy. I still have it. It's a beautiful instrument. And, yeah, my mom, you know, she she helped me get it going.
Speaker 4:She found me this guy that, like, could, like, teach me how to change the strings on it. Mhmm.
Speaker 3:And I
Speaker 4:remember even just going to this guy's house, an older older dude, big guy, and he just had all these amps in his workshop. So, like, a workshop like this, but just wall to wall amps, like, hardly any walking room. And he would grab my he'd like, I would come in and to pick up the bass because he had it ready to go, and he'd, like, plug it in and be, like, alright. Let me test it out for you. I'll show you.
Speaker 4:You know, and he would just jam these licks and play the bass, and it sounded like the coolest thing I'd ever heard. You know? And I think those little moments really helped push me forward, and it and it made things I was just talking to Darren Doane. He's a a video maker, filmmaker, director, and he made 6 videos for us early in our career. And so we were just kinda reminiscing about that, and I was just like, one video he made was for a song called doing time.
Speaker 4:Mhmm. And it was just our practice space, mxpx practice space at my parents' house in Bremerton, Washington. They still right now, that place is now just our our offices or whatever. But at the time, it was a garage and everything or, you know, there was cardboard boxes and tools and, you know, things hanging everywhere. And our amps, our amps were lined up, and and as we got better equipment, it got bigger.
Speaker 4:And so we'd have smaller amps up on the workbench and big amps on just sitting on the floor. And looking at that video, it just like excuse me. It just takes me back to that day.
Speaker 3:Yeah. It takes
Speaker 4:me back to those memories, those times of developing who we were as a band, and and and the the sheer joy of looking around the room, the garage, and seeing just like an a little practice amp. Like, we have an amp. It's so cool. Like, the the the simple things. But but I think all those for me, you know, being around the instruments and the amps, that made a huge difference.
Speaker 3:Yeah. And I bet also to be able to know what the bass can do, like, by having someone who's skilled at playing it, you know, to be like, oh, okay. Man, I'm I'm I can see the capacity for this instrument. Right? Like, that's important too.
Speaker 3:It's kinda like again, back to skating. If you're around really good skaters, you're like, man, okay. Now your brain kind of we call this like a it's a bit of sports psychology. It's almost like if you see something that the that the human body can do, like, on a playing field, then your brain says, oh, okay. It's possible.
Speaker 3:But until somebody does it, you don't really know that it's possible. So in skating, it's the same way. Tricks will, you know, not be made for years years. And then once somebody makes that trick, this dude makes it, and then this person and then you know? Right?
Speaker 3:And so the same thing with music. Right? Like, if you're learning it and you're you're thinking, I don't really know what this instrument can do, but then you see somebody, you know, that's skilled. It has to be just so killer to be able to say, okay. Now, man, I can set my my aspirations really cool.
Speaker 3:So Yeah. It's so cool to hear about how your mom really did kinda implement some some really cool mentoring, like, into her parenting, you know, by by broadening your community and, like, by finding people who can help you kind of achieve more and more by getting you to that guy, you know. And it's funny, man. You described that room full of amps, and, like, I can smell that room. You know what I mean?
Speaker 3:Because I know what that what what all those amps smelled like, having, like, probably played in clubs and bars and stuff. Right? Like, when you go into a really cool music shop and that smell, that's so cool. So currently speaking, you're you're still touring with MXPX. Yep.
Speaker 3:You guys just had some dates recently. What's what's next for for MXPX?
Speaker 4:We are working on new music, working on a bunch of shows that'll be happening. Build rebuilding our team too, you know, over the last couple of years. You know, people come and go, stage people. Yeah. We need to add to it as well.
Speaker 4:Okay. So definitely you know, it's it's one of those things. It's just like, do we completely change everything, or do we just build on the things that are working and and augment that? And I think that's what we're gonna do going forward. We're gonna build on what's working.
Speaker 3:So did COVID give you that opportunity to kind of, like, hit the reset button and say, like, what what do you want to continue and and what's assumed and what's not? I mean, in some ways, I feel like everybody kinda got to got to do that. Right?
Speaker 4:Absolutely. Yeah. There's a lot of people. 1, some bands just aren't around anymore. Some bands broke up, and you could say, well, they broke up because of this.
Speaker 4:But but would they have broken up if the pandemic hadn't happened and, you know, lockdowns and everything? It's hard to say. You know, you just but there has been a lot of turnover and a lot of people that have decided, you know, I don't wanna be a tour manager anymore or a sound guy or or this or that or even a a bass player. Right? Right.
Speaker 4:Although I don't know why you'd quit playing bass. But yeah. That that that's something that we really try to take advantage of is, you know, they always hear about the government never never lets a a a good crisis or catastrophe go to waste. Right? Like, they always use that for something they can get power in.
Speaker 4:And I and I feel like in the same way, but in a positive way, MxPx, and a lot of people probably is outside us as well, use our time, our downtime to just build build what we couldn't do before. Because what I mean by that is we were on such a schedule, show, single, record an album, you know, do it again, make a video, podcast you know, of course. Sure. Podcasting. So, like, it's hard to, like, get out of that rut.
Speaker 4:Even if it's a good rut, it's just you just people are going, going, going. So this, like, forced everybody to stop, and that's obviously, there's a lot of bad that that went with that, but we're trying to take all the positive out of it, which is, alright. What can we make better now? You know? What what can we fix that was broken before that we knew was not gonna last?
Speaker 4:And a lot of the a lot of what I've honestly learned over the the last couple years is and I should've known this before, but nothing's gonna last. Nothing. Right? Like, it all goes away eventually. Even the the best things in life Right.
Speaker 4:Will change, will move, will hopefully get better. But, you know, that's just the reality. And so what I mean by that is, like, people that we thought we couldn't live without, you know, if this person quits or something happened to them, what are we gonna do? And I think it's important to ask yourself those questions about every single every single person that you you know. Yeah.
Speaker 4:Just in case. But that happened, you know, with more than one person in our our team, you know, that were working with us, and we've been okay. Yeah. You know? And I think it's just like, okay.
Speaker 4:You know, nothing nothing really is that big of a deal as long as you're being true to yourself and sticking to what you set out to do. And of of course, life is gonna make those make changes along the way, but mid course corrections are always important as well.
Speaker 3:For sure. Absolutely. Yeah. Are you still making music with Tumble Down?
Speaker 4:You know, Tumble Down was a band I did from 2,007 to 2,013. We're still technically together, but we're on hiatus. Okay. So eventually, yes. I would love to do more tumble down.
Speaker 4:And anytime I post any little thing about tumble down online, our few followers or or, you know, fans will be like, is there new stuff coming? Are you doing new stuff? Like, dang. I can't even enjoy, like, this. But eventually, yeah.
Speaker 4:I mean, I've I've written a few songs already Right. And they'll just stack up as I go. Like, it's funny because, like, I write for MxPX. I write for Tumble Down. I'll write for Goldfinger at times.
Speaker 4:Although Goldfinger, it's never a full song. It's always parts of songs. Okay. But and then solo songs. So, like, I'll just write and just enjoy writing, and then I'll I'll push it into a different you know?
Speaker 4:Okay. This almost everything is a by default, an MXP song at first. Because one one day, Tumble Down had our first record come out, and there's a song on it called I'm Still Here. And Tom, the guitar player of MXPX, Thomas Snezki, comes up. He's, like, man, I'm Still Here.
Speaker 4:That is such a good song. He's like, next time you have a good song of that, it better be MxPX.
Speaker 3:I think Colin did. I love it.
Speaker 4:Yeah. Yeah. He's like, just, like, don't put the best songs on it. You know, Tumble Down record. Come on.
Speaker 4:I'm like, okay. Okay. I get it. I get it. But so I always try to, like, okay.
Speaker 4:Can this be an MxPX song first? And if not, then I mean, he's he's right. More people are gonna hear an MXP song Yeah. By default. But but there are obviously styles and lyrics that are gonna suit themselves to different different bands.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And so solo stuff, is that gonna be, you know, again, man, just the one voice, the one guitar essentially, kind of the singer songwriter approach?
Speaker 4:Sometimes. I mean, I've already I mean, I've done a bunch of, like, acoustic versions of songs that I've written for mxvx and Tumble Down and and released those under my name. But I've never really released a full album of of solo songs. I've released a couple singles, and they're full band singles. So, yeah, I think it's gonna be every anything and everything for solo stuff and kind of the catchall.
Speaker 4:Like, if this song is too quirky or too emotion like, too weepy for mxpx or or something, you know, I'll just do it for myself. But yeah. I mean, every time I I think, okay, I'm gonna do a solo record, something happens and I get going with something with mxpx. So it's one of those things where I don't mind as long as whatever I'm doing is I'm happy doing. Yeah.
Speaker 4:Because years years ago, I I wanted to do a solo record and just never did. And I've always kind of been, like, should I should I have done, you know, something? I'm, like, yeah. But I'm doing MXPX. So I don't know.
Speaker 4:I've gone through different phases of trying to, like, separate myself from from, you know, MXPX solo, tumble down, and then sometimes it's all kinda mixed together. Mhmm. I think as culture changes, my my rules change on that. So I don't let people use MXPX when when I'm doing something, like, doing a like, if I'm doing a solo show, Mike Herrera, I don't let them say of MXPX.
Speaker 3:Gotcha.
Speaker 4:And the thought behind that is because, 1, MXPX is worth a lot more. And if you're not paying me for MXPX money, then don't use the name. Right. Right. But aside that, from from a psychological standpoint, you know, if you're seeing if you're always seeing Mike Herrera of MXPX, you're never having to do any work of you're never having to, like, really think about it.
Speaker 4:And and I want people to know my name outside of MXPX. Yeah. Like, just Mike Herrera. You should know that I'm a punk rock bass player that, you know, plays in MXPX and does a podcast and, you know, and has, you know, Emmet Goldfinger or whatever. You know, whatever it is, but it's just it's not just MXPX.
Speaker 4:So there's probably more reasons. But, I mean, those are the really the main 2. Psychologically, people will think, oh, MXPX is plain. Or or just the fact that when MXPX is really plain, they won't pay attention as much, you know, because they've seen that name a few times. Yeah.
Speaker 4:Psych psychologically, subconsciously. And so, yeah, I try to play that psychological game a little bit in that that I think it matters what people see and how they see things. And yeah.
Speaker 3:I think it's even more accurate, man, because here so here's from my vantage point. Sure. Here you are like a creative. You've been writing music for decades. Right?
Speaker 3:Mhmm. And you've been and that hasn't slowed down. And so what you've done over your career is you've you've found more outlets for your music to go into. So as you've aged and as you've matured and as you've grown and had more experience, right, like, how sad would it be, man, if you just kept, like, going, you know, to the same well all the time and then, like, the irrelevance of that, right, over time? Because you as you mentioned, like, culture and stuff as well.
Speaker 3:So now, man, you've kind of, like, amassed these opportunities for different outlets to kinda meet different needs as you, you know, are a songwriter and a performer. And so, like, as one who might wanna take part of that, it's even better, man. You're giving me, like, a fuller experience as opposed to always, you know, as a listener, oh, it's it's Mike of mxpx, you know, all the time. Like, no, man. There's you've created more nuance and you have, you know, depending on how you feel about how you're writing a song and where kind of it goes, and that that to me just seems more accurate.
Speaker 3:You know? So besides the psychology of that or the you know, that it's it's not really maybe something that you do as a ploy of, like, hey. Don't, you know, don't say of mxpx, but instead, it just kinda makes it make more sense to me.
Speaker 4:So I
Speaker 3:think that would that's pretty cool. Alright. So your time with Goldfinger, which by the way, man, we gotta mention, you know, Superman. Okay. So, like, my guess, do you do you think about the game?
Speaker 3:Because I can't, you know, I can't divorce that song from Tony Hawk.
Speaker 4:Right.
Speaker 3:Right? So do you think about the game when you play the song? No. I don't. Alright.
Speaker 4:That's alright, man. But, you know, it's funny. Like, I I did play the game. Like, I'm part of that era. I'm, like, that generation.
Speaker 4:So, like, I grew up playing Tony Hawk, pro skater, and loved it. Always wanted to be on the soundtrack. And so when they redid the soundtrack, we got on the soundtrack our new song, Let's Ride on XBX. And, of course, Gold Goldfinger's song is on there too. But I knew about gold I was a fan of Goldfinger when they released their first album, and they put out Here in Your Bedroom, and I loved it.
Speaker 4:I saw it on it I think I saw it on MTV. Probably my buddy, Don Case. He had cable. I didn't we I didn't grow up with cable. I grew up with, like, ABC, NBC, and CBS.
Speaker 4:And maybe Fox, which is now Fox, but it was, like and I guess it was Fox back then. Yeah. It was Yeah. Now and again. But, like, we had an antenna with rabbit ears and the whole deal.
Speaker 4:Like, my whole childhood, my whole even teenage years until until I was, like, an adult, then they finally got cable. I was, like, oh, doesn't matter to me anymore. But but I saw that video here in your bedroom, John Feldman, all those guys, Charlie looking so badass with his bald head. Yeah. The guitar player.
Speaker 4:And I was a fan. Like, I loved it. And so years later, you know, we'd run into him a few times. We played we opened for the Sex Pistols, and Goldfinger was on their tour supporting them. So we got to essentially open for the Sex Pistols and Goldfinger with MxPx, and I saw how wild those guys were.
Speaker 4:And they were they were older than us, you know Yeah. And still are. Yes. I'm saying that even though I'm in the band, but but but, you know, there there was there was some there was some definite, like, experiences positive experiences, I would say, with Goldfinger from from, you know, the first thing I saw on MTV to, like, meeting them. They were always cool to us.
Speaker 4:Seeing them in airports in Australia, things like that. And then randomly out of the blue, 2013, I think, John called me up and said, hey. Wanna go to Australia? I'm like, okay. I mean, around 2,000 well, basically, when Tumble Down was was active, that was when the music business was in the crapper.
Speaker 4:Right. It was very, very low. Royalties weren't worth much. Touring wasn't doing well. A lot of bands were breaking up because they couldn't afford to stay together.
Speaker 4:You know, it was just a weird incidentally, that was after, Napster came out, and nobody was buying albums anymore and all that. Right. And the record labels were very slow to modernize and adapt. So they pretty much got they got what is it? Interrupted or or whatever.
Speaker 4:Yeah. Disrupted. Disrupted. Yeah. Disrupted.
Speaker 4:And and so I wasn't as busy as I I might have been, and so that opened up the opportunity to say yes and go, yeah. I'll do a tour with Goldfinger and learned all the songs in a couple weeks and flew to flew I actually flew down to LA, had a practice with them, and then we flew to Australia. That was that that was my beginning of of, you know, starting to play for Goldfinger, and then I've been playing ever since. And we've we've gone all over the place. We've gone back to Australia.
Speaker 4:We've gone to Europe a couple times, UK, even Russia, all over the US. So, yeah, I mean, done quite a bit. I mean, all those places, MxPx has been as well.
Speaker 3:So it was cool. But So I'm curious about that experience, though, the contrast, right, between, man, MxPx I mean, that's you, dude. Like, you're responsible for so much. Mhmm. Does the experience, you know, even from the beginning or or or now with Goldfinger, is it is there kind of, like, a a benefit of just not having to be responsible for as much instead?
Speaker 3:You're just, like, showing up, you know, plugging in, man. Hey. I'm the bass player. I'm not having to worry about all the other factors that that come into play.
Speaker 4:It's huge. I mean, it's a huge difference. And as the years have gone on, I've actually kind of, like, found myself in a it's weird to say this, but almost like a mentor spot in the band. Whereas, I'm not the leader of the band, but but really, like, we get together, and I'm, like, kinda, like, maybe the voice of reason. Maybe mentor isn't the right thing.
Speaker 4:Yeah. Voice of reason. I've been there before. I've and Charlie has too. I mean, he's playing guitar, but, like, but, like, I guess because I'm doing the business part with MxPx all the time, and I do a podcast, and so it's like there's more going on than just me showing up as the bass player of Goldfinger.
Speaker 4:That kinda gives me, I don't know, a little bit of Perspective. Right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 4:That's what it is. But but it's been it's been interesting. It's been really fun to not have to make all those decisions. Not have to, like, alright. Why are you guys late again?
Speaker 4:Like, they're late. I'm still gonna be able to play my show and do you know, for sure.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So Yeah, man.
Speaker 4:In a in a lot of ways, it probably isn't a good thing, but it makes me go, well, do I need to be so on it with MXPX? Can I slack off a little bit and chill? And in some ways, yeah. I mean, like, in some ways, I know that my business partner, Tom Chichilla, doesn't want me to do too much. Sure.
Speaker 4:But at the same time, appreciates it when I help out and when I'm on it. You know? So it's like it's a it's a dichotomy for sure. And I mean, that's life. Sure.
Speaker 4:Thing things are things are good and bad, and we all we can't always see the the peripheral effects that that our decisions make.
Speaker 3:For sure. For sure. Alright. So equipment wise Mhmm. You've pretty much always been a music man guy?
Speaker 4:The, yeah. Ernie Ball Music Man, that was the base when I went to my first punk show. That was not local. It was in Seattle. It was all, and it was at the Okay Hotel, all the band.
Speaker 4:And I was such a huge fan, but those are in the days where you didn't know what anybody looked like. Mhmm. And so the opening band or the support band, my name, or Big Drill Car. Big Drill Car, my name, they both play. But one of those guys was playing a a music band, and I was like, that is so cool.
Speaker 4:And I thought it was all I thought it was the headlining band because literally my first Right. Show.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 4:And so I told myself, I'm gonna get one of those basses. And then they they got done, and then they all start setting up to play. I'm like, wait. That's not the thing. Alright.
Speaker 4:Well, I still like that bass. Yeah. And I ended up mowing bunch of lawns, put put that sucker on layaway at American Music in Tacoma, Washington, which is, like, 40 minutes from where I live. And finally got it. We were already playing shows.
Speaker 4:Like I said, I had that p v t forty. We're playing shows. I remember at the Silverdale Community Center, we had a headlining show. Place was packed, and that's the place where I went to the, skate comp and all that, like, in Silverdale. So here we are.
Speaker 4:I bring my new base that I finally got out of out of layaway, and I think that thing cost, I don't know, about a $1,000. Like, 9 900 to a $1,000, which was insane for for at the time.
Speaker 3:Yeah, man. That's a real rig. Right?
Speaker 4:Yeah. And I got the bass, and I tried to play I played it at the show. I I mean, I brought it. I played it. And it was so awkward because when you go from one bass to another when you're not really that good, you know, I I didn't it was like, oh, the strings were too low.
Speaker 4:The strings were, like, super low, the action. Okay. I didn't know what action was back then, but you can actually raise your strings off of the fret board a little bit, and it'll be more solid, less clacky.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 4:Less clacky sounding. And so there was just a lot of lot of learning curves that I had not known yet, but I I ended up putting I played with my fingers at the time. Now I play with a pick, but I ended up putting a, I made a little chunk of wood, like, I cut a chunk of wood, and then I drilled it into my my pick guard. Okay. And right above in the middle, above the strings, and so I could rest my thumb right on it.
Speaker 3:Did your 1st base have that?
Speaker 4:My 1st base had a pickup that was bigger. Like, the pickup was, like, so big, the casing of the pickup Okay. That I could just stick my thumb there.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 4:And at this point, I had already I was already taking lessons. I I took, like, 6 months of bass lessons, and that's what, you know, Tim Tim Birch, great guy.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 4:He taught me, you know, not just how to play, but, like, where to rest your thumb, or you could do it here or here. Or if you don't wanna rest your thumb, you don't have to. If it's, you know, things like that. Yeah. But I just remember bringing that Music Man to that first show, and it being so awkward.
Speaker 4:But I was so it's like wearing brand new shoes out of the store.
Speaker 3:I'm so proud of that.
Speaker 4:You know what I mean? Yeah. He's like, you're gonna get blisters because you're going you know,
Speaker 3:you know It doesn't matter.
Speaker 4:It doesn't matter. Yeah. So that was the vibe is is I was so excited, and I've never looked back. I've I've played actually, well, technically, I wasn't sponsored by Ernie Ball then. So I bought that bass.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 4:Used it. I ended up buying a a p Fender P Bass because Steve Krivak, our producer, who I would say was definitely a mentor musically, got me into some of my favorite artists still to date. Taught me a lot about how to play, how to attack the instrument, but he was like, you gotta get a Fender p bass. I mean, that is rock and roll. That's rock and roll.
Speaker 4:I'm like, oh, okay. So I got one, and he was right. It sounded amazing. I used it on a bunch of records. Yeah.
Speaker 4:But I took it to Europe in 1997 with Bad Religion and played it on the tour. And when I got back from that tour, I decided, I don't think this is right for me. Like, I like playing the p bass just in my room or just recording or whatever, but I don't I don't really like the feel of playing it live. It's got the balance of it is kinda strange. And from then, you know, from there, I just decided I'm I'm going back to my Ernie Ball.
Speaker 4:I'm gonna get another you know, I got another Ernie Ball base. And then from there, I think I don't know who did it. JJ? JJ is our was our one of our first roadies. But either JJ or maybe our manager at the time got us probably our manager.
Speaker 4:Got us hooked up with Ernie Ball.
Speaker 3:Gotcha.
Speaker 4:And and then from there on, I mean, we got free strings, free accessories, free everything, free basses, free guitars if we wanted, and then they started making us custom making me custom basses. Yeah. So at at one point, I was getting these, like, sparkly painted basses that no one else had. They didn't sell them in the stores. Everything was custom.
Speaker 4:Yeah. And and then I had him do the electronics custom, which from I did this because my buddy, Stefan, did this. Stefan Edgerton from the Descendants. He actually worked with worked for us as our stage guy and monitor guy for a couple tours. And I learned a lot from him too, you know, but he he was like, man, just having that plug straight into the pickup, no one can mess with your knobs.
Speaker 4:I'm like, that's what I've been missing because, like, I'd always I'd always, like, hit the volume knob somehow Yeah. And and it would change the tone. And so once I once Ernie Ball said, sure. We'll make your whatever you want. Just let us know.
Speaker 4:We'll make those and send them out. I had had them basically wire the pickup straight to the jack and bypass the volume, bypass the tone knobs. And that I actually made it passive as well because Ernie Ball Stingrays are active pickups. So there's a little 9 volt battery that goes in the back of the bass. My basses don't have a battery.
Speaker 4:They're just empty. Gotcha.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Yeah. I remember the first time I got some fender lace sensor pickups for my Mexican strap, man, and I was like, yeah. Same exact, like, the 9 volt. You know?
Speaker 3:Because I wanted to have Eric Hutton's black key. But that's for another conversation altogether.
Speaker 4:I gotta mention though real real quick. Now, years later in 2020, we finally released an actual Mike Herrera artist series. Signature? Signature. Stingray.
Speaker 4:Yeah. Is that right? It's a Stingray.
Speaker 3:Yeah. That's killer. It's
Speaker 4:the exact it's I sent my favorite Stingray back to them. Okay. And they met they weighed, measured, did the exact same you know, it's a maple neck. Yeah. Everything's exactly the same.
Speaker 4:So
Speaker 3:Right. And
Speaker 4:we know people can go buy it.
Speaker 3:We know we can see this base. Is it because it does it have the MXPX logo? Both of them?
Speaker 4:Yeah. The pickguard has an etched poking etch a punk head. Right.
Speaker 3:So it's
Speaker 4:not a sticker. It's actually etched into it. And then it's got the back bolt plate where it bolts the neck to the body is a custom plate that has my signature on it. Awesome. And then it has, like, the Ernie Ball's, you know Cool, man.
Speaker 4:And then and then I think on the on the back of the head sock, there's a little signature as well.
Speaker 3:Yeah. No. Wait. Did you bring one of those today? I didn't I didn't see you bringing that.
Speaker 4:I didn't have one with me. Oh, okay. Okay.
Speaker 3:Alright, dude. So, you know, the trinity of skating, like music and art, they're kind of like for me, I realized that like with Thrasher Magazine. I don't know if you if that was your if you would get Thrasher back in the day 2. Right? But it was like, man, skating.
Speaker 3:And they had such an emphasis on skate rock as well. And obviously, man, just because graphics skating is all about graphics in nature. And that still remains today, man. I love that about skaters. Like, we can go to the park now and, you know, dudes are probably listening to music in their in earbuds.
Speaker 3:And certainly, you know, they're gonna wanna talk about bands and and music. So you just mentioned him, the MXPX mascot for those who wouldn't know.
Speaker 4:Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Yeah. Tell me about, like, did you know that this was you know, was this was this a process? Did someone just kinda come up with it? But, I mean, that that has now been iconic with the band, and it makes so much sense because it relates so well to, like, a skate company where they would kinda have the same thing.
Speaker 3:But tell us about, like, when that originated, and did you know that, like, that would be the face of of that band?
Speaker 4:Yeah. You know, so it's it's funny because I think a lot of a lot of my decisions and things that I learned growing up, and still today, probably the same way, is I learn things, and I don't realize I learned them. You know? So, like Yeah. So I make the right decisions not super, super consciously, but I do make the right decisions because of probably my experiences in the past.
Speaker 4:And I think the PokeNatcha punk is one of those skateboarding. I was into that. I was I was I didn't have any tattoos yet, and we were working on PokeNatcha, our first album. And we wanted the artwork to be iconic. You know?
Speaker 4:And I knew that. I was like, it's our first album. It's called Pokin' At You.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 4:And and so Brandon Ebel from Tooth and Knell Records is like, okay. We found we got this artist. So he he did our he did the Tooth and Knell logo. He's really great. His name's John Nissen.
Speaker 4:He's in Portland, Oregon, and he skates Burnside every weekend. I'm gonna say that, but but he was part of that culture. You know, he's into that Yeah. Into music and skateboarding and all that. And so John starts, you know, working on an idea.
Speaker 4:We're, like, we want a punk guy. You know, I don't really know what else. Yeah. Say MxPx with a punk guy, and he drew a a guy that resembled to me, resembled the circle jerk skank. Okay.
Speaker 4:Skankpunk.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 4:And so he was, like, really skanky, and he had, like, boots on, and he looked
Speaker 3:pretty aggressive. Mean.
Speaker 4:He kinda looked mean. He was bald, and, you know, I was, like, you know, this just doesn't feel right. This doesn't feel like us. It doesn't feel like which is crazy for me to say that because there's so many times where I've been like, that's alright. K.
Speaker 4:Alright. Let's just take it. I don't wanna hassle with it. You know? Yeah.
Speaker 4:But, like, I just I just knew that this wasn't quite right, and I and I said, can you make it more cartoony, more more happy, more young? And the next sketch was the sketch of the pokin'achi pug the running punk, which is the guy I tattooed. I got him tattooed based off the sketch of the album cover, not the final artwork.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 4:And I was like, this is it, dude. This is it. Yes. This is the album. And Brandon was, like, yeah.
Speaker 4:We like it too, you know. And so I went down and got tattooed at 17.
Speaker 3:Wait. Was that your first? 17.
Speaker 4:It was my second tattoo, I think. But yeah. Yeah. It was luck, maybe. Yeah.
Speaker 4:But like I say, like, I didn't I don't remember consciously going, no. It'll it'll do better if it's it was just more of a personal,
Speaker 3:like, no.
Speaker 4:I wanted to be happier, you know. Yeah, man. But realizing that now, it's, like, no. It made it was so much better now than it was. And years years years later, I saw what I'm pretty sure was the very first sketch that was rejected get reused for a record label in Portland.
Speaker 4:Somebody that knows people that I kinda know from back in the day.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 4:Oh, yeah. I bet they just I mean, sure. Why not?
Speaker 3:Why not? It's been shelved since then.
Speaker 4:Yeah. Yeah. It's not really the same thing. It's a person. Oh, man.
Speaker 3:You know? But Dude, that's cool. Yeah. Well, again, man, like, good art is good art, and I love that it stays stays relevant and stays just cool looking, never dated. Alright, man.
Speaker 3:So so the heart of this conversation, we are who we spend time with. Right? And, like, what we expose ourselves to. People of influence are certainly influenced by other people of influence. However, we've also really been shaped and encouraged by people who invested in us on a deeper level.
Speaker 3:And, you know, you've talked about that already, right, with your mother and and your manager?
Speaker 4:Sure.
Speaker 3:Perhaps. These people who who really kind of invested in you, right, spend time with you on a deeper level. You know, I wanna hear, is there maybe anybody else that you might would just share their story? Because this conversation is with people like yourself of influence and artists, musicians, writers, skaters, and creatives who can show the importance of mentorship by by really, like, casting a spotlight on the behind the scenes people, people who have margin in their life to give to others. Right?
Speaker 3:Who've kinda practiced like the art of of holding the spotlight on other people, which is what I would kinda say what a mentor does. Right? It's somebody who who says through their time spent and just like words of affirmation and and investment over time. So is there anybody else who you feel like Mike is like kind of been an unsung hero in your life?
Speaker 4:Yeah. Yeah. There's a couple people. And there's no there's no, like, big events that I can think of, but it's, like, a lot of vignettes in my life. So, I mean, they may have been big for them, but, like, overall, it kinda like it just fits into the pieces that stack up to be my life, I guess.
Speaker 4:So like I was saying, my parents really got me going, but like you were saying, when my mom introduced me to people that could, like, introduce me to music or this or that, like, that that really never stopped happening. I I met this guy, Ben, who was in a local band and started going to his band practice and realizing, oh, you can just, like, start a band, you know? And that really that was huge huge in getting me to just try something. Right?
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 4:As far as people, let's see. Early early on, I played soccer. My coach, John Bode, he was a special one. He he took care of everybody. He mentored everybody.
Speaker 4:There was most of the kids were from poor, you know, poor families. There was even some immigrants and and that were on my team. And I just remember it being like a really, like, almost like, you know what? We're the outcasts. We're the underdogs.
Speaker 4:All the teams we played were always had really nice uniforms and this and that. And and so it was like I felt like I was in a movie. Maybe not at the time, but, like, looking back, it was like, no. We were kinda, like, in the bad news. I was
Speaker 3:like, there's there. Yeah. Yeah. And
Speaker 4:he always had the best speeches and, like, would, like, get us pumped up. So that was sort of, like, early early on in playing team sports and, you know, meeting some of my friends that I would go on to. Like, there's one guy I still know. I he's, like, my best friend, and we hang out all the time. And we met in soccer.
Speaker 4:So it's and he it's funny. You know? He we're nothing alike. He's Vietnamese. He came over as a as a refugee, and his family escaped the the I wanna say it was the very end of the war.
Speaker 4:It was early eighties when he came over. So well, so the war was definitely not going on. So I I don't know what it was. It was, the Korean war or something. But so it wasn't, like, during the Vietnam War.
Speaker 3:Definitely after World War
Speaker 4:2. Yeah. I think so. But it's just funny because, like, we have become friends again. I wasn't even actually, he wasn't on my list of mentors, but it's funny to think of, like, somebody that could be your best friend as a mentor.
Speaker 4:But I think it's somebody that for him, it was like I was inspired by what he did with his life. And he grew up super poor even in America, but now everything's fine. Everything's good, you know. So it's like, and he has the amount of energy, like, so much energy. I'm just like, oh my god.
Speaker 4:So that that all came from soccer. Like, we we grew up soccer, and I would say sports in general has been a good mentor for me. Back to wrestling, I learned how to train. I learned how to put my body and myself through mental and physical, you know, uncomfortable situations. Yeah.
Speaker 4:Losing weight, putting on the putting on the hoodie, getting on the the bike, and just, like, go on, go on, go on. I did that. That was, like, 9th grade, and and I I wouldn't wanna do that again, of course. But but but I think those things kinda prepared me for punk rock and prepared me for going out on the road and being cold, hot, sick, tired, whatever it is. Yeah.
Speaker 4:Discouraged. You just you never give up. You keep going, and you eventually always get to the city that you need to play a show
Speaker 3:in Yeah.
Speaker 4:Play a show. So sports early on. So that was Jon Bode was great. And then once I got into punk rock, you know, there was different people that that kinda helped us out along the way. This guy Corey Kirkham, he was a youth pastor.
Speaker 4:He really tried to, like, I don't know, just keep us talking. Keep talk you know, let's talk.
Speaker 3:Let's talk about life.
Speaker 4:As a band as, like because we all knew him. We all hung out. Yeah. He would keep us not keep us. He would he would ask us harder questions.
Speaker 4:Questions that, you know, you're not gonna get from a teacher necessarily because it's it's life questions. So somebody that maybe a counselor might ask or something, you know, but Just
Speaker 3:kinda challenge you to be thinking a little bit deeper about Yeah. Bigger things in life. Yeah.
Speaker 4:Yeah. So Corey Kirkham, he he was one. But that was, like, also, now that I really think about it, it was, like, a small sliver of life. You know, he was there for a time when we were we were really busy going out on tour, and then we'd come back and hang out with him or whatever. Yeah.
Speaker 4:Everything was such a whirlwind when we really started touring that it was hard to it's hard to, like, really sit back and think about things. You know? Sure. And so I think that was really good for us. And then, you know, fast forwarding, we met Tommy Rat, who became our tour manager slash sound guy for many years, ended up managing us for a while as well.
Speaker 4:And the reason I mentioned him, he was definitely a mentor because he would teach us new things constantly. And we had a he was older than us, but we had a really comfortable relationship. We could make fun of him. We could Yeah. You know, that kind of relationship.
Speaker 4:But he really taught us how to hustle. He taught us he taught us that, you know, one, don't worry about what other people are doing. Again, you need need need those reminders. So I'd probably forgotten that what my mom had taught me. Right?
Speaker 4:Yeah. And Tommy Ratt really you know, he had experience in the army, and so we'd be, like, hey. Teach us the dead man Carrie. So one day, we're, like, on the we had the bus. We had a day off.
Speaker 4:We went to a movie. See, on when you're on tour in America and you're a young punk band, you don't when you have a day off, what do you do? You let's go to the mall. Let's go to a movie. Let's go to an arcade or something.
Speaker 4:You know?
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 4:So we'd have the bus pull over in a in a restaurant parking lot. We go eat, and then we go to a movie. This is one of those days. We're just hanging out together in a parking lot, and there's, like, this, you know, just strip of grass. Tommy, teach us the dead man carry, which is, like, you know, the army guys pick somebody up and carry them in the battlefield.
Speaker 4:And so I just remember the one of the best times was just all of us trying to pick each other up. And we tried to pick up Tommy, which is he's a big guy. I mean, nobody could get it. Right. Yeah.
Speaker 4:Just like having I think because we started out so young, having some some of those, I guess, you could say father figures, but it's not like they treated us like, you know, we were kid they treated me we were kids, but Yeah. They didn't treat us like they were the dad. It was just it was because they were older and they knew so much more.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 4:So that that relationship with Tommy and another reason why I even bring him up is because I was just watching a video the other day. The mxphx YouTube, I somehow was, like, checking on something, and I got onto a a rabbit zone. What was this? I forgot this. And I clicked on the video, and it was us in Indonesia at the end of a tour, and Tommy Rat's there.
Speaker 4:And he's like, we're done with the tour, baby. And he's like, you know what? I'm gonna I'm gonna eat over here, and we're at a restaurant next to a pool, and nobody else was around. It was, like, kind of at night. And he's like he's, like, watch this.
Speaker 4:And he jumps in the pool, and he's, like, I'm gonna eat right here. And the the waitress comes up, and he's, like, hey. Do people eat here? Do people just eat like this? And she's, like, yeah.
Speaker 4:Like, she didn't really speak English
Speaker 3:too much.
Speaker 4:So just, like, that those kinds of those kinds of situations, like, I love that. Like, that's not me. You know? Like, I'm not that type of personality. Like, sure.
Speaker 4:I'll jump in the pool or whatever, but, like, I'm not the type of person that wants to make things wild for a server or, like Right. Go out of the norm and, like but maybe I should be. You know? Like, maybe there's nothing wrong with that. Right.
Speaker 4:And so, like, Tommy is the type of person that really shows me that we're all different and we're all beautiful.
Speaker 3:For sure. And and you're right, dude. I think you hit the nail on the head, dude. Just because mentors, it's not about, you know, yeah, this person spoken in my life for 8 years or something. You kinda get what you get, you know, in a certain season for however long from people, and and, man, that's how we're blessed and, like, that's how we're reminded.
Speaker 3:Hey. Life is short, and so, you know, maybe we do need to jump in the pool pool a little bit more often. Right? Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 3:And that's that's the work of the mentor right there, man. Just like people living their life out loud, and then it reminds us, dude, we can do that too. You know?
Speaker 4:That's why example is so important. Like, if you're if you're, like, whiny around your kids or
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 4:You don't have kids. Sorry. But whiner around people. You know? It's like it's so easy to be whiny because there's so many things to complain about.
Speaker 4:Right? Yeah. But but, like, that teaches your kids something
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 4:And not something good.
Speaker 3:For sure. So For sure.
Speaker 4:That's probably my biggest thing to try to be better at. You know? Just make sure I'm not complaining or doing anything like that
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 4:Period, but also in front of people.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Yeah. Well, Mike, you hit on some really good stuff, man. Thanks for sitting down today and talking about perspective and just kinda sharing from experience and all the years that you've been doing, what you've been doing. So thank you.
Speaker 3:Thank you for that. And we'd like to say thanks to those who invested in you, you know, who made it possible for you to make music for so long and and to be affecting so many as you have. So what a gift. Thanks for sitting down today.
Speaker 4:Thanks, John. Appreciate it. You're my next mentor.
Speaker 3:Right on.
Speaker 4:That that kind of personality where I mean, honestly, the older it doesn't matter how old I get. I still need somebody to bounce ideas off of, somebody to open me up to new things.
Speaker 3:Right on. Yeah. Well, again, that's so smart, and that's true. Like, we never stop learning. We don't because as soon as we think we have something mastered, we're gonna be the most annoying person in the room.
Speaker 3:Right? So, yes, I will be your mentor. You guys heard it here first. I I think I'm moving to Washington pretty soon And after I get that base and, actually, right now, me and Mike are gonna go skate that half pipe. Would you?
Speaker 3:How could you drop in on that forefoot right now? Oh, yeah. Let's just be honest. No problem. I I believe it.
Speaker 3:I believe it. I think I might struggle. I haven't skated in about a week and a half.
Speaker 4:Just gotta stretch out a little bit.
Speaker 3:Well, there you have it. That was an excellent conversation. I wanna thank Mike for being a part of this interview. And just to remind our listeners, hey. The work of the the mentor is not always easy.
Speaker 3:There are not often, if ever, instant results, but instead, we put in the time, we share out of our margin wisdom, and give of ourselves. We listen, we pray for, and we just really are pulling for our mentees. And so thank you for the work that you do, and thank you for how you serve in that way. We wanna remind you here that you can mentor.