INFECTIOUS

Rip It Up, Issue 177, 1 April 1992, Page 12

INFECTIOUS

While waiting for Mike Muir to come to the phone in the studio where, after some major time with Infectious Grooves, he's working on a new Suicidal Tendencies album, the 'on hold' music was the Cars' 'Let The Good Times Roll'.

Definitely not a pleasant experience, but the sentiments were sort of fitting. After years of work with Suicidal Tendencies, Muir seems poised on the brink of great things. The Suicidals are sounding at their sharpest and his side project, a sort of LA alternative metal supergroup called Infectious Grooves, is doing real well. Featuring members of the Suicidals, Excel and Jane's Addiction, Infectious Grooves' blend of hard funk and harder rock is getting rave reviews and some serious attention. They were even asked to support Ozzy (the man lends his vocal styling to 'Therapy') and are headlining a show at the Universal Amphitheatre very soon. Not a bad effort for a . Venice Beach hoodlum, but how did it all happen? "When Robert joined the band

about two and a half years ago, he was talking to me on tour about the stuff he did before, and I was trying to get him to play me some of his stuff and he wouldn't, he was like 'You won't like it'. When I finally heard it, I really liked the bass stuff, but I thought the music wasn't happening, so we decided to write a bunch of songs that used that idea, that were centered around the bass rather than the guitars." That's an unusual approach for a 'rock' guy to take. 'Well, I think when you write around a guitar, there's only so much you can do and so many places you can take it, but with a bass you can fool around with it, it's got a different structure to the guitar and that's why it's such a challenge. We can treat it as a bass or as a guitar, you can take

it different ways. It can be a lot

simpler too, as long as it has that element of power in there that makes you want to tap your toes or shake your head around, you don't need insane riffs or whatever."

Infectious Grooves is pretty much a 'supergroup', yet you've kept it pretty low key. There was no big press like Wow, the guys from

Suicidals and Jane's Addiction are doing a project together.' "That's the way it was intended to be, we didn't want people to get a preconceived notion of what it was. We didn't want people to check it out because of who was in it, we

wanted people to hear it and like it, then find out who was involved. We didn't do any ads or promo stuff, it was just a case if you heard it and liked it, you'd buy it. We've always said the best marketing plan you can have is for people to hear and like a song, then go out and buy it and then play it to other people. The best test of music is not so much whether it sells when it comes out, but if after a few months it's selling and if in five years people are buying it, then that's because people like it. A lot of records sell a lot when they come out, but after a while people play it and wonder why they ever bought it."

The Plague That Makes Your Body Move has the same sort of positive vibe as Suicidal Tendencies, but it seems a lot more light-hearted, more a fun project. 'Well, there's a lot of different ways to say a lot of things, and with this it's a different way of saying something. To me, the bottom line is if you play something to someone and it pub a smile on their face and makes them say 'Yeah!', then that's cool.

"There's a lot of music I listened too when I was young and it made me go Wooooah' and I could never put a price on that. So when we play this to people and they smile and dig it and say This makes me feel great', then we know we've got it right." Funk metal seems like a really worn out proposition, but this album avoids sounding tired somehow, it doesn't really fit. "I think when people start bands, quite often before they've played a note they're saying 'I want to be this kind of band', and we're not about that. We just play what we want and don't worry about fitting into any style. So often music sounds generic because it's somebody's interpretation of what that sort of music is. We don't want to do that, the funk bass bit here then the speed metal bit here, it just dosen't work

and there's no need. I mean our

other guitar player has played on Jody Watley records and stuff, so he knows all sorts of music. We tried to

use the heavy thing, the bass grooves and the clean guitar at the same time which is what I think

saved us from that generic funk

thing. We had funky feels, but we had the power behind it and that's what counts."

What about touring? Both Suicidals and Infectious Grooves are live entities, so are we going to see either of them down here?

'Well, it's a situation where we're doing this new album then we're going to tour, but I don't think they released our last record there or in Australia...."

It was released here, I think it even made the chart, but it wasn't done in Australia.

"Okay, in New Zealand but not in Australia. That I don't really

understand because it makes it a lot more difficult to get over there, we'd have to go through Australia, but it probably wouldn't happen. It's . unfortunate because I'd like to go there but our Australian label seems to have some sort of problem with us."

Well, they don't seem to like you a

whole heap. "I don't like them either! It sucks because people have to pay extra and buy an import, and that bothers me, we have no control over that. These people are stupid, they probably won't put out this album either which is dumb as it fucks us over as well as people who are into the band. I think a lot of people would get something out of our music, but they'll never hear it. A lot of music I got into simply by hearing it, and now that avenue with us has been destroyed in Australia." It seems strange for an album as positive as Lights, Camera Revolution to have any hassle. 'Well, I can't make people understand things. A lot of people who make these desicions make

them out of ignorance, I know if I could sit in a room with them I can be a hell of a lot more rational than

they are. I'm sure in a debate mode I'd win. I think it reflects more on

them than our music, people have always been scared of what they don't understand. It's a reflection on their own insecurities. I've always

maintained that if Suicidal

Tendencies scares someone, then they needed to be scared."

So with all this Suicidals work and the Infectious Grooves stuff on top of it, how do you keep focused?

"Well, I have a commitment to Suicidals and I make sure I keep that. It's weird though, because we were never given much of a chance, we really had to work to get any where, like the Titans thing was our first real big gig. With Infectious though, we've alredy been in a film and got our screen actors guild cards, we were offered a Bud commercial, but we turned it down for a number of reasons, one of which being I don't drink, and we've had lots of offers for big tours which is the way it goes I suppose. After the Suicidals tour though, the other guys want some time off so well take Infectious on the road then and fill some of those commitments. We've got a good cross over system working now, so we'll keep it going!" I certainly wouldn't expect anything less from Mike Muir.

KIRK GEE