MIA interview, Punk Rock Riot

The world had almost forgotten about a little-known 1980s punk band
from Orange County when a singer from Sri Lanka resurrected the name
of the band and took it as her own: M.I.A. That did not sit well with
original M.I.A. singer Mike Conley, who told the local weekly paper,
to some ridicule, that he wanted to protect the band's name. Conley
died in an accident in Chicago earlier this year. It is surprising,
then, to see Conley's M.I.A. performing live shows and writing new
songs. Who is this band and what are they trying to prove? I sat down
with M.I.A. guitarist Nick Adams to find out.

PRR: First, tell me a little about the band....

MIA: You mean a history or right now?

PRR: Both.

MIA: Ok, well the band started in Las Vegas in 1980. We played some
there, then moved to Orange County in '81. From then until 1985 we
recorded three albums, toured the country a couple of times, and
generally had a lot of fun playing music in the punk rock scene of
that time. The band split in 1985 and Mike reformed the band to record
one more album. Cut to now -- Mike died in February and we decided to
start playing again.

PRR: Why would you do that? Why after your singer died?

MIA: It was something that took us a little by surprise. Playing in
M.I.A. was about the furthest thing from my mind, honestly. But Mike
died and we decided to put together a benefit show for his family. We
got Todd Sampson, who was our singer back in the Vegas days and a very
good friend of Mike's, and we had Kevin Seconds and Jello Biafra do
some some songs. Social Distortion played, along with Cadillac Tramps,
Naked Soul and Jigsaw (two of Mike's other bands). It was a special
night.

PRR: Sounds like an amazing show....

MIA: It was. The other bands were great, and the audience there....it
was just a great night. It was magical. I can't imagine a better
tribute to Mike. I know he would appreciate it.

PRR: So how do you go from a benefit show to playing again on a regular
basis?

MIA: Well, Mike's death was such a tragedy. It impacted a lot of
people, he just had so many friends. Good friends. He was that kind of
guy. And it brought us all together. It also brought the band
together, not just for the benefit but in a personal way. We became
friends again. And we remembered what it was like to play music
together.

PRR: Yes, but without Mike? Wasn't he the driving force of the band?

MIA: Look, Mike's gone. There's not anything we can do about that. And
where I hadn't been all that close to Mike for quite some time, I now
find myself thinking about him every day. I miss him like I didn't
know I would, and I wish he were here to play music with. I think we
all feel like that. When we got together for rehearsals prior to the
benefit, there was some discussion about what Mike would want. Larry
(Pearson, drummer) told us that Mike had recently talked to him about
reforming the band and playing some shows. So we know it was on Mike's
mind to bring M.I.A. back together.

PRR: Still, there are some who would say you have no business doing
this without Mike.

MIA: I understand that feeling, believe me, and I've thought long and
hard about it. Here's how I feel about it: when I was in the band I
wrote or co-wrote at least 50% of the material, so it's not like I
don't have a stake in the music. At the same time, I know Mike was
interested in protecting the legacy of the band, and this is a really
good way to do it, to remind people about our band, our music and most
of all, Mike. I don't feel like I am taking anything away from Mike, I
feel like I am reminding people of him. That is his legacy, and our
legacy. We are promoting that legacy.

PRR: What is that legacy?

MIA: Hmmmm......well it is the music. But it is also a place in time.
We weren't the biggest band back then, or the most influential, but we
weren't inconsequential, either. We were there, we made positive
contributions and we did influence people, many people, on an
individual level. I know this because people tell me. I get emails
from people who listened to our music in the past, or even just
started listening to it recently. Music is like that, you never know
who it will touch and how.

PRR: How does writing new music fit in?

MIA: Well, we thought about it, and we didn't want to be like a cover
band, only playing old songs like some oldies group. I can tell you
with some confidence that Mike would not have been content to only do
old songs in a reformed M.I.A. He was always pushing for new material
in the band, and was reluctant to play many of the old ones. He would
probably cringe to know we were playing certain songs from the "Last
Rites" album, for instance.

PRR: So what will the new music be like? Are you going to release a CD?

MIA: Todd (Sampson, singer) brought a song to rehearsal one day, and I
knew right away it was an M.I.A. song. It's a song he wrote about his
brother that deals with the choices people make in life and how life
returns those choices to you. It's about karma. Now that we're
somewhat older, I think we have a different perspective on things, and
we want the new music to reflect those perspectives. What happened to
Mike is a big part of it too. It's a reminder of how fragile life is,
of how even the simplest choices we make can have unforeseen
consequences, of how we should live every day as if it is our last.

We don't have any plans to release a CD right now. We'll just see what
happens. Right now our only music in print is the "Lost Boys"
retrospective on Alternative Tentacles, so it would be nice to get
some more music out there, but the whole industry is changing, I don't
know if people even want CDs anymore.

PRR: Any plans to tour then?

MIA: Right now we're just taking it slow. We did the benefit show, we
played on a couple of Warped Tour dates, which was a blast. Now we're
trying to find where we fit into the current music scene. It's not
easy. We know we're not going to make any money -- hopefully we won't
lose money. We just want to play our music for anyone who will listen.
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M.I.A. can be found on the web at www.miaband.com or at
www.myspace.com/miapunks.