MxPx 'Panic' album

“Something had to change,” says MxPx vocalist/bassist and chief songwriter Mike Herrera about where the band found itself after 13 years, three labels, six albums and a career retrospective DVD/CD. “We were either going to slowly die or do something extraordinary, dig deeper than we ever have before.”

The result is Panic, their first new studio album since 2003’s Before Everything and After and their initial all-new effort for SideOneDummy following last year’s B Movie/AC/EP DVD/CD collection.

Produced by legendary knob-twiddler Gavin MacKillop (Sugarcult, Goo Goo Dolls, P.I.L., Toad the Wet Sprocket) in the band’s own Bremerton, WA, home studio, Panic channels the band’s classic adolescent angst into a veritable “A-punk-alypse Now.” It’s a glimpse at a world nearing critical mass, but with a renewed energy and hope for not only the future of music, but for our generation.

The first single, “Heard That Sound,” is a tribute to the healing power of music, while “This Weekend” and “Kicking and Screaming” celebrate the sacred in the profane, as MxPx promise not to go quietly. That optimism tends to balance the fear and loathing expressed in such MxPx classics like “The Darkest Places,” “Waiting for the World to End,” “Young and Depressed” and “Cold Streets.”

“Our goal was to be aware of our surroundings, to break out of the bubble and check out what the rest of the world was up to,” says Herrera, who formed the band with drummer Yuri Ruley while still in high school. Guitarist Tom Wisniewski joined up just after the skate-punk’s debut, Pokinatcha, for Indy label Tooth & Nail back in 1995. “I tried to use my personal experiences and those around me, including politics and the media that I see every day.

With Panic, MxPx seized the opportunity to simultaneously sum up what they were all about and forge into the future with a second wind and a newfound maturity.

“We sat down and talked about where we were at and what we wanted to do,” says Herrera. “The consensus was we wanted this to be a new beginning, a fresh start.

“We’re not the same as we were 13 years ago. Once you find yourself in debt up to your eyeballs, you start to think of the world differently than when you were living in your parents’ basement. Kids grow up faster these days. I’m not going to pretend I haven’t changed.”

Herrera points to Panic tracks like “Late Again” and “Wrecking Hotel Rooms” as examples of taking his own personal experiences and putting them directly into the music. “I think, on a subconscious level, the fact that these songs were born out of struggle, out of something completely real, comes through.”

Harking back to their very first album, which was cut over fourteen days the summer before their last year in high school, MxPx recorded Panic in a mere 22 days. “This time, though, we were so much more prepared,” says Herrera. “And once we got in the studio, it was like a tidal wave. All of a sudden, it started flowing. We were just so focused on making this album.” “We couldn’t have made this album any other way”

Panic asks the important existential questions in songs like “The Story,” which takes us to the back of a doubtful mind. It pushes and pulls us to ask, “How will this life end?” but also supplies its own answers in the work itself.

“I didn’t want to sit around and wait for something to happen to us,” says Herrera, who credits the dislocation caused by a trip to visit relatives in Texas for the stark vision of “Waiting for the World to End.” “I wanted to do something about our situation as a band. The idea was to hit people with something they’ve never heard from us.”

“Heard That Sound” is a full-on MxPx punk-rock anthem reminiscent of “Tomorrow Is Another Day” “Well Adjusted” or “Quit Your Life,” a nod to the power of music, or whatever gives you the strength to carry on.

“The difference between complete insanity and getting through those dark times is hearing something, knowing you’re not alone, that there’s somebody there on the other side of the wall,” says Herrera. “But it’s also about walking down the street as a kid and hearing the sound of your favorite band from inside the club, something you can always look back on and draw strength from.”

“We’re more ready to take on the world than we’ve been in our whole career,” Mike boasts. “We can follow our own instincts now. All those years, it was like we were chasing a ghost. But back then, I didn’t have the knowledge or understanding to realize what was going on. And I didn’t have the strength to fight it. I was always second-guessing myself. Above all else, I’ve learned not to doubt myself. To figure out what I want before it’s too late. And once you do figure it out, you just have to go for it.”

With Panic, MxPx has gone for it big-time.

“We realized we needed to make a record that speaks to people”, Mike continues, “The message was really clear, we couldn’t phone it in we had show up, be our best and give it everything we can.”

The proof is in Panic.

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MxPx - Panic