Hey guys! Lance Waste here. And this is my new column “Rebreaking Music” here on Breaking Music Magazine (dot) com! I want to thank Sarah and everyone at BMM for the oportunity!
If you want to know more about me you can check out my band at http://www.darlingwaste.com or my management and pr company at http://www.focotheory.com .
So now, on to the column, “Rebreaking Music”. Basically the idea is to turn you guys on to some artists or bands that have had success back in the day, but have fallen off the radar. And just because they aren’t in the limlight anymore , doesn’t mean they aren’t making the best music of their career. I often find that once the wave of fame has crested, artists are free to make their best music.
So without further adieu, here…we…go!
If you remember Mikey Herrera at all, it would probably be from his Christian pop punk band MXPX. MXPX got their start in ’92 as Magnified Plaid. I fist heard about them while listening to bands like NOFX, Rancid and the Decendents. My friend slipped me a tape called “On the Cover” that was mostly them doing bad ska and punk covers of 80s songs.
The band was signed to Tooth and Nail records, the seminal Christian Alternative label for years before jumping up to the majors by signing to A&M in ’97. The band released one popular album with the label before drastically changing their style to fit the major label (punk? what punk?). MXPX got dropped by A&M and landed on punk indie label Side One Dummy and then later back to Tooth and Nail. They’ve been on hiatis for a while now and have been out of the public eye since the early 2000’s.
Around 2007 Herrara started a side project called Tumbledown. The band is far from MXPX’s pop punk with a sound more reminisant of Hank Williams, Johnny Cash and Woody Guthry, who’s biography inspired the band’t name. While it’s not the most original or honest project out there, I was suprised on the quality.
Tumbledown is currently signed toAusti, Texas label End Sounds, who recently released their sophmore album “Empty Bottle”. Tumbledown often plays MXPX’s songs live in a country style at their live shows.