Depuis le jour ou Make Or Break ont croisés les douanes depuis Orlando jusqu'a ici pour jouer un des shows les plus marquant de ma vie, jai su que le PMA existait bien encré dans le coeur de certains bons vivants et que ce n'était pas qu'un simple concept abstrait a quoi on s'accroche le temps de passer les mauvais jours. MikeC, ex chanteur de Make Or Break(rip), maintenant chanteur de Tigerstyle, un des meilleurs artistes du punk hardcore et plus que tout, père d'une fille qui aura bien le droit de se venter d'avoir le papa le plus cool de la floride, nous explique la vie exploitée a son maximum.
simon: hi
mikec: hey
mikec: :-)
simon: how are you?
mikec: great
mikec: its labor day
mikec: and Im working
mikec: haha
mikec: :-(
simon: ahhaha you never stop as usual
mikec: I know :/
simon: you have time?
mikec: for?
simon: talking
mikec: yea for a min
mikec: whats on your mind my friend
simon: well.. I've been running a blog for 2 months maybe and its serves two purposes.. act like a retard and have nothing to say but embarrassing things and.. interviews with interesting people...
simon: and since the readers are my friends.. my friend's friends and people I'd never expect... you are the kind of guy thats interesting
mikec: but Im not interesting at all
mikec: I just do outragous things and go on wild adventures
simon: yes.. you know we can talk about your bands.. you art..
simon: hhahaha
simon: and we can tak about those "wild aventures"
mikec: haha
mikec: ok
simon: but hteres a concept.. my concept is a conversation.. we just talk on the AIM and I copy paste the conversation
mikec: thats cool
simon: its no better in anyways but its diferent...
mikec: yea
mikec: i feel ya
simon: so.. you have time?
mikec: Im a lil distracted right now
mikec: honestoly
mikec: i feel as if
mikec: any response i goive will be half ass
mikec: I JUST woke up
mikec: and Im still exahausted
mikec: cause last night I went to sick of it sundays
mikec: which is a thing we have here
mikec: every sunday night
simon: I heard about it a bit.é. I tough it was a band..
mikec: were we only DJ punk and hardcore and Oi! jams
mikec: and a band plays the last sunday of every month called Virgins
mikec: but they cover
mikec: a whole set of a rad band
mikec: on those particular sundays
mikec: last night was ALL DESCENDENTS
mikec: and it was amazing
simon: fuckkk
mikec: 20+ songs
mikec: and TONS of stage dives and fun
mikec: everyone partying
mikec: drunks and SxE dudes
mikec: and girls
mikec: and guys
mikec: old and young all cuttin loose
mikec: I sand the first song for em
simon: we need to bring this concept to saguenay
mikec: called Im Not A Loser
simon: wich song
simon: cool
mikec: my fav descendents song
mikec: the best part is
mikec: anyone can sing
mikec: if u know the words theres 3 mics
mikec: and anyoen can be a hardcore singer
simon: like a hardcore karaoke
mikec: for the night
mikec: yep
mikec: it surely is
mikec: last month was Black Flag
mikec: before that was Op Ivy
mikec: and Minor Threat before that
mikec: then i came home
mikec: at 3 Am
simon: hahhaha
mikec: and made food and watched the Tom Green Show
mikec: til 6 am
mikec: and went to sleep
mikec: woke up at 10 am
simon: on what channel is the tom green show?
mikec: to my daughter putting on Rude Dog and teh Dweebs on VHS
mikec: and climbing on me
mikec: haha
mikec: I have every episode
mikec: on DVD
mikec: Im a HUUUGE fan
mikec: I hope that dosnt kill my credibility haha
simon: okkk.. I watched a couple of episod eon youtube..
simon: haha no for sure..
mikec: duded is completely fucked
simon: hahaha
mikec: so ask me some Q's dog
simon: I went to this is hardcore fest and we stayed 1 week in united states to visit ny and phily and everytime we could we would put comedy central on tv and watch it for hours.. we dont have that in canada.. at least in quebec..
simon: okkk...
simon: well I had the idea to interview you a couple of weeks before and I prepared for it but now I just forgot about everything so it wil go like this..
mikec: what a bummer comedy central is crucial
simon: since youre on of the greatest artist in punk hardcore right now.. I d like to talk a bit about that.. whats your main inspiration? is any artist past or present that inspires you? do you draw for a living?
mikec: Well first off thats very nice of you to say. My inspiration real is believe it or not, punk and hardcore. Theyve been a huge part of my life for what..15 years now?
mikec: I love being able to work with bands
mikec: that I love
mikec: and contributing my art to something thats given me so much
mikec: I put on some records
mikec: (actual records haha)
mikec: and just start designing for days, and yes I do it professionally for a living.
mikec: Best artists....
mikec: my all time favorite is Coop, but I think theres so many good ones its hard to think of certain ones right now, Mike Bukowski and Dave Quiggle are amazing
simon: nice
simon: Ill take a look at them
simon: but you really made your own style.. we can reconise a design made by you just with a quick sight
mikec: thank you I try
mikec: Ive been drawing since I was a baby
mikec: haha
simon: is your daughter drawing a bit too?
mikec: oh yea
simon: is she good?
mikec: her and I are together 24/7
mikec: all we do is hang out
mikec: and spend time
mikec: my house
mikec: has my office init
simon: you work at home.. thats best
mikec: where I have thousands of original drawngs
mikec: in files
mikec: and a work area
mikec: and she has a mini workarea
mikec: next to mine
mikec: haha
mikec: so shell say" daddy, I have to go to work right now"
mikec: take a piece of paper
mikec: and put it up
mikec: and start drawing
mikec: with me
simon: hhahahaha
simon: how old is shw now?
mikec: shell be 3 soon
mikec: oh yea working from home is the best!
mikec: we wake up and watch cartoons
mikec: thn we draw
simon: are you working for someone or you just take random requests for designs?
mikec: and cook food
mikec: and I take her to the Library and read with her
mikec: and we put on records
mikec: i do it all myself
mikec: I also have a number of pieces of art on clothes to
mikec: that I released with my partner
simon: can we see it somewhere?
mikec: so I guess that aspect is a little more structured as far as
mikec: I have an wonderful assistant Nish who helps with everything and we have a printshop were we hand print and create each shirt ourselves.
mikec: Yea its called Hotlife
mikec: the site is being redone right now so its up temporarily on a webstore only
mikec: but its great we've had an amazing amount of support from everyone, its become (at least around here) almost like a family
mikec: we do everything with our friends who do Heart Of Gold, they build recycled bikes
simon: theyre sick...
mikec: and I paint graf
mikec: its all been a blast and we hope to keep it going.
mikec: thanks alot
simon: yeah youre a grafiti artist too?!
mikec: Yea, I love to paint.
mikec: I did a studio here a little bit ago and the mural was MASSIVE
mikec: lots of fun
mikec: turned out really great
mikec: I def need to get pictures
mikec: maybe i should invest ina digital camera haha
simon: hahhaha
simon: I'd like to talk about tiger style
simon: you're back form tour isn it?
mikec: yes
mikec: Tigerstyle is so much fun.
mikec: My closest friends playing ultra raw oldschool hardcore punk.
mikec: which is EXACTLY what weve always wanted to do.
simon: how did you get involved with them
mikec: we just do it for fun and to thrash and people are into it so Im stoked, shit is getting crazy
simon: you seem to have changed you
simon: r lyric style too
mikec: well I sang for a band called Make or Break, and we had broken up recently and my friend Bubba who was in the band nervous breakdown from here had recently disbanded as well. So I new he liked all the same old shit I liked and i called him up and we decided tostart up a band to try and show the younger kids here that hardcore and about cuttin loose and getting wild NOT moshing hard or dressing fancy or any of that BS.
mikec: Well actually I dont think ive changed at all..
mikec: I feel like Im more able to just express myself in tigerstyle. I dont try to write clever lyrics
mikec: Its like
mikec: I know im not a poet
mikec: and Ive never wanted or tried to be.
mikec: I like it raw straight from my brain
mikec: whatevers on my mind no polishing or anything
simon: not very much but.. in mob that was some in your face talking leading to a positive message... ts lyrics seem to be more about the denonciation than the positive message
mikec: know what I mean homey?
simon: but I've only heard the myspaces songs..
mikec: thats really true
mikec: the thing is
mikec: I never wanna be in a band where im trying to write or forcing lyrics to be "POSITIVE" or to be "ANGRY"
mikec: because thats the kind of band imgoing for or people wanna hear
mikec: i just wanna express what Im going through
mikec: and what I think
mikec: When those songs were written it wasnt a great time in my life or for hardcore at least where Im from
mikec: I call people out in songs and try and prove a point
mikec: I sing about feeling different from others growing up, and getting screwed over, but dealing with it cause thats life sometimes
mikec: and I sing about working non stop which you or all people know I do haha
simon: about that..
simon: how do you manage to go on tour
mikec: its not easy for sure.
simon: you have your demanding job plus your 24/7 daddy duty..
mikec: I just work it out, Kaylah spends time with her mom and my family, she LOVES IT cause its like a vacation for her from the everyday just like tour is for me. I cant say its not hard as hell though leaving. But whats cool is that I talk to her everyday on video chat when Im on tour :-) and I keep her poste don everything and I buy something in every city i go to so when I return I have tons of fun stuff to show her. I never go out for more that 2.5 weeks at a time though because she neds me and shes my number one. As far as work... Ive got my assistant who handles Hotlife when Im gone, and I dont book art jobs while im out
simon: cause I think its the reason why mob broke up.. I read that somewhere.. theres was people that cannot tour anymore
simon: is it true?
mikec: yea
mikec: MoB would have had to tour for way longer than 2 weeks at a time
mikec: and most important thing in life is family
mikec: plain and simple
mikec: and a lil girl needs her peop
mikec: pop*
simon: the last tour with ts was an east coast tour?
mikec: yea
mikec: it was a blast
mikec: every city we got to hang out with friends
mikec: nothing but fun
simon: whats the craziest show you played..
mikec: in my life?
simon: both.. on the last tour and in your life
mikec: I cant even remember, so many great shows...
mikec: the last 2 Make or Break shows were awesome
mikec: in our home town..
simon: the 2nd last mob show... crazy
mikec: but our Canadian shows were amazing and the people really made it the best experience as a band
mikec: yea the second one was crazy
mikec: with Tigerstyle..
mikec: weve played house shows that were just off the wall insane
mikec: and suuuuch a blast!
mikec: 100 kids packed into a shack
mikec: haha
mikec: were playing Suicidal Tendencies
mikec: songs
mikec: and 4 Skins
mikec: and it was just rad
simon: wtfff
simon: which st song?
mikec: Institutionalized
simon: WTF
simon: hahhahaha
simon: sé mongol
mikec: and weve also played basement shows upnorth that were rad too
mikec: I dunno
mikec: too many great shows to pin point
simon: when make or break came here that was crazy... not a lot of people and not the most intense show but... nobody knew your songs or what you were about but we didn't care and everybody was having fun... I think we made you play every cover you could remember.. this kind of things dont happen often and its golden
simon: thank you for that..
simon: are you planing to go north near us in the futur?
mikec: I REALLY REALLY HOPE TO
mikec: we were planning on it actually last tour but we didnt all have the right ID's toget across
mikec: so we had to try a different route
mikec: :-(
mikec: but my friend I gotta run
simon: ok thank you
mikec: of course
simon: that was the best interview I made hahaha
mikec: haha
simon: have a nice day
mikec: you know Im always down to help
mikec: u too
-Cheesewizz
