Mike Muir | |
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Background information | |
Birth name | Michael Allen Muir [1] [2] |
Also known as | "Cyco Miko" |
Born | Venice, Los Angeles, California, U.S. | March 14, 1963
Genres | |
Occupation(s) |
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Years active | 1978–present |
Member of |
Michael Allen Muir (born March 14, 1963) is an American singer who is the lead vocalist and the sole continuous member of Los Angeles-based bands Suicidal Tendencies, [3] Los Cycos, and Infectious Grooves. He has also released several solo albums under his nickname Cyco Miko. Muir's trademark is wearing bandanas, jerseys with the number 13, and hats with block-style letters that read "suicidal".
Born in Venice, Los Angeles, and raised in Santa Monica, Mike Muir is the younger brother of Jim Muir of the Dogtown skateboarding team. Jim exposed Mike to metal music as well as skateboarding. Muir attended Santa Monica College after being kicked out of school in the 10th grade. [4]
Muir has cited bands such as the Sex Pistols, the Ramones, Black Sabbath, UFO, AC/DC, Van Halen, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Led Zeppelin, and Kiss as his early musical influences, and has said that he was introduced to funk music by former bandmate Robert Trujillo. Muir incorporated funk influences into a few songs by Suicidal Tendencies and into his funk metal side project, Infectious Grooves.
Muir formed Suicidal Tendencies in 1980 [5] when he was 17 years old. It originally consisted of Muir on vocals, Mike Ball on guitar, Carlos "Egie" Egert on drums, and Mike Dunnigan on bass. There were several lineup changes before Muir hired Grant Estes, Louiche Mayorga and Amery Smith on guitar, bass and drums respectively. In 1983, they released their self-titled album, with success sparked by the anthem song "Institutionalized", which would become one of the first hardcore punk videos to receive substantial airplay on MTV. They have since played tours and festivals worldwide. When No Mercy guitarist Mike Clark was hired as the band's second guitarist in 1987, Suicidal Tendencies began making a change from punk to metal, thus creating what would become crossover thrash, and later began adding funk influences to their music. Robert Trujillo, who was the bassist for Suicidal Tendencies from 1989 to 1995, was responsible for turning Muir on to funk music, and the pair would eventually form Infectious Grooves to play more funk oriented music.
Cited as one of the most important crossover thrash groups,[ citation needed ] Suicidal Tendencies was active until 1995, but reunited a year later. Suicidal Tendencies has been touring or playing selected shows almost every year, and until the 2013 release of their ninth studio album 13 , they had not released an album containing new music in over a decade. Between the releases of Free Your Soul and Save My Mind and 13, however, the band had debuted new material on stage and through compilation releases on a regular basis.
Muir formed Los Cycos in 1984 [6] during Suicidal's first year of their four-year recording hiatus. Current guitarist Jon Nelson left the group and Suicidal Tendencies were banned from playing L.A. shows, largely due to an incident at Perkins Palace where their audience tore out the first 10 rows, making it impossible for promoters to obtain insurance if Suicidal was on the bill. [7] Muir started the label Suicidal Records with bassist Louiche Mayorga. Los Cycos originally consisted of Mike Muir (vocals), Bob Heathcote (bass), Anthony "Bob" Gallo (guitars) and Amery Smith (drums). After a few rehearsals, Amery Smith left the line up, along with bandmate Jon Nelson to start their own band (the Brood). Los Cycos eventually included: Grant Estes on lead guitar, Gallo went to (rhythm), and original choices Bob Heathcote and Amery Smith were replaced by Louiche Mayorga (bass) and No Mercy's Sal Troy (drums). Rehearsals continued in preparation for their debut recording for "Welcome to Venice" on Suicidal Records. [8] With the final line-up established and two songs "It's Not Easy" and "A Little Each Day", Los Cycos was born. [9] "Welcome to Venice" was the first record to be released on Suicidal Records, [10] and the album also included local Venice, Los Angeles bands Suicidal Tendencies, Beowülf, No Mercy, and Excel. Unfortunately the original masters were lost in a fire and no effort has been made to release the material digitally. [11] Mike Muir's vocals can be heard on the Suicidal Tendencies cut "Look Up...(The Boys are Back)" and the Los Cycos track "It's Not Easy". Grant Estes played all guitars on the recordings.[ citation needed ]
Muir has released solo albums under his nickname Cyco Miko and has sung for No Mercy, replacing original singer Kevin Guercio, who sang for the band on the Welcome to Venice compilation. Cyco Miko released three albums on the record label Suicidal Records. The album Schizophrenic Born Again Problem Child was released in 2001, following up 1996's Lost My Brain! (Once Again) . In October 2011 a third Cyco Miko album was released worldwide, featuring previously unreleased and newly written music from Cyco Miko, Suicidal Tendencies and Infectious Grooves. The album entitled "The Mad Mad Muir Musical Tour - Part 1" featured current Suicidal Tendencies band members as well as performances by Fletcher Dragge, Robert Trujillo, Brooks Wackerman, bassist Thundercat (Stephen Bruner) and saxophonist Kamasi Washington. No Mercy released only one album with Muir, Widespread Bloodshed/Love Runs Red on Suicidal Records.
In 1989, not long after Robert Trujillo joined Suicidal Tendencies, Muir and Trujillo formed Infectious Grooves, a funk metal band that often brought out a goofier type of humor: their albums contain comedy skits by a reptilian lover named Aladdin Sarsippius Sulemenagic Jackson III. To date, the Infectious Grooves have released four albums.
Muir executive produced Excel's 1987 debut album Split Image .
Muir provided vocals on the P.O.D. song "Kaliforn-Eye-A" from their 2008 album When Angels & Serpents Dance .
In May 2021, Muir along with Tim Armstrong (Rancid), Matt Freeman (Rancid), Fletcher Dragge (Pennywise), and Byron McMacken (Pennywise) formed a punk rock supergroup called The Crew. [12] The band's first single, "One Voice", was released on Epitaph Records. [12]
In 2003 Muir had his first of two back surgeries for a ruptured, herniated disc. The other, in 2005, caused him to cancel Brazilian festival dates and Suicidal shows. [13] [14] Muir is married and has three children. In early 2011 he returned to the United States after living in Queensland, Australia for a short period of time.
His house was made over into a "horror house" on the Discovery Channel show Monster House .
On March 7, 1996, Muir fought Simon Woodstock in a celebrity boxing match on the Action Sports channel. Muir lost to Woodstock. [15]
Muir was a longtime friend to Texan film actor Bill Paxton. The two worked with each other for the LA Times in the late 1970s before Muir formed Suicidal Tendencies and Paxton started his career in Hollywood. Following Paxton's death in 2017, Muir expressed in a tribute his condolences to the late actor on Suicidal Tendencies' Facebook page. [16] [17]
Muir is known for being outspoken on his views about the music industry and society. He has long been an opponent of the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC), and has reflected this in interviews and a few songs (namely "You Can't Bring Me Down" and "Lovely").
Muir was involved in a near-violent feud with Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine during the European Clash of the Titans tour, but the two have since reconciled and are apparently now on friendly terms. [18]
Muir has criticized the band (and his band Suicidal Tendencies' former Epic Records labelmate) Rage Against the Machine, who are well known for expressing anti-corporate, left-wing politics in their lyrics. The Infectious Grooves song "Do What I Tell Ya!", from their album Groove Family Cyco , mocks the band for this contradiction. [19] [20] Muir later stated that Rage Against the Machine's guitarist, Tom Morello, provoked the feud by attacking Suicidal Tendencies. [20]
Muir has stated he has never used drugs and doesn't drink alcohol. [21]
Suicidal Tendencies is an American crossover thrash band formed in 1980 in Venice, California, by vocalist Mike Muir. The band has undergone various lineup changes, with Muir as the only remaining original member. Their current lineup includes Muir, guitarists Dean Pleasants and Ben Weinman, bassist Tye Trujillo and drummer Jay Weinberg. Notable musicians who have contributed to the band's studio or live activities include guitarists Rocky George and Mike Clark, bassists Louiche Mayorga, Robert Trujillo, Ra Díaz, Josh Paul and Stephen "Thundercat" Bruner, and drummers Amery Smith, Jimmy DeGrasso, Brooks Wackerman, David Hidalgo Jr., Thomas Pridgen, Ron Bruner, Eric Moore, Dave Lombardo, Brandon Pertzborn, Greyson Nekrutman and session musician Josh Freese.
Infectious Grooves is an American funk metal supergroup led by vocalist Mike Muir and initially a side project from his group Suicidal Tendencies. The current lineup also includes guitarists Dean Pleasants and Dave Kushner, bassist Robert Trujillo, and drummer Jay Weinberg. To date, the project released four albums between 1991 and 2000.
Roberto Agustín Miguel Santiago Samuel Trujillo Veracruz is an American musician who has been the bassist for heavy metal band Metallica since 2003. He first rose to prominence as the bassist of crossover thrash band Suicidal Tendencies from 1989 to 1995, while also collaborating with Suicidal Tendencies frontman Mike Muir for funk metal supergroup Infectious Grooves. After leaving Suicidal Tendencies, he performed with Ozzy Osbourne, Jerry Cantrell, and heavy metal band Black Label Society. Trujillo joined Metallica in 2003 and is the band's longest-serving bassist. He was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Metallica in 2009.
Join the Army is the second studio album by American crossover thrash band Suicidal Tendencies. It was released in April 1987, and is one of the most well known albums for crossing over the genres of punk and thrash metal, known as crossover thrash, a genre that Suicidal Tendencies have been credited for creating. Join the Army is arguably one of Suicidal Tendencies' most popular efforts, although it only reached No. 100 on the Billboard 200 chart. This was their first album with guitarist Rocky George and drummer R.J. Herrera, and their last recording with bassist Louiche Mayorga. This is also the last album to feature the band playing hardcore punk before an extended period with a more thrash metal focus.
Suicidal Tendencies is the debut studio album by American hardcore punk band Suicidal Tendencies, released on July 5, 1983 through Frontier Records. Regarded as one of the best-selling and most successful punk rock albums, Suicidal Tendencies was well-received by fans and critics alike, and the airplay of its only single "Institutionalized" brought the band considerable popularity. The album was a major influence on the then-emerging genre of thrash metal and its subgenre crossover.
Groove Family Cyco / Snapped Lika Mutha is the third album by Infectious Grooves, a 1994 concept record about a family of crazy people. The "Violent & Funky" music video appeared in Beavis and Butt-head.
Mas Borracho is the fourth album by Infectious Grooves, released in 2000. The title, as written on the album, is "but drunk" in Spanish. However, it is most likely a misspell of "más borracho", meaning "more drunk" or "drunker".
Leonard F. George, best known by his stage name Rocky George, is an American guitarist who has been a member of several notable musical acts, including Suicidal Tendencies, where he was their lead guitarist from 1984 to their first breakup in 1995, and was the first African-American member of the band. After Suicidal Tendencies, George played with 40 Cycle Hum and Cro-Mags, and in 2003, he joined Fishbone. George was also a member of a local punk rock band called Pap Smear with Jeff Hanneman and Dave Lombardo. In 2019, George returned to the Cro-Mags lineup.
No Mercy is an American thrash metal band from Venice, California, the brainchild of guitarist Mike Clark who later played in Suicidal Tendencies.
Lost My Brain! is the first of two solo albums from Mike "Cyco Miko" Muir – lead singer of Suicidal Tendencies and Infectious Grooves. It was released in January 1996 on the Epic Records label. 2001 saw the release of a follow-up album, Schizophrenic Born Again Problem Child.
Beowülf is an American crossover thrash metal band formed in Venice Beach, California, in 1981 by Michael Alvarado, Dale Henderson, Mike Jensen and Paul Yamada. The group never gained a large mainstream success, but is considered one of the first bands that defined the "Venice Scene" in the 1980s, along with Suicidal Tendencies, Los Cycos, Neighborhood Watch, No Mercy, Excel and Uncle Slam, who all played a mix of skate punk, hardcore, heavy metal and thrash.
"Institutionalized" is the debut and only single released in 1983 from the eponymic debut album by American hardcore punk/crossover thrash band Suicidal Tendencies. It is one of the band's most popular songs and has remained a live staple since it was first played in 1982. The song was re-recorded for the band's 1993 album Still Cyco After All These Years; this version was nominated for the Grammy for Best Metal Performance in 1994, but lost to Ozzy Osbourne's live version of "I Don't Want to Change the World".
Year of the Cycos is a compilation album of bands featuring vocalist Mike Muir, released in 2008. It includes new and previously released songs by Suicidal Tendencies, Infectious Grooves, Cyco Miko and No Mercy.
Anthony Gallo is an American guitarist who started at age 16 in the early 1980s punk scene. Gallo later progressed into heavy metal and rock as well as T.V. and Film. With a career spanning over 30 years Gallo played and recorded with New Regime, Los Cycos, Nick Menza (Megadeth), Mike Muir, Suicidal Tendencies/Los Cycos, SIN 34, Jon Nelson, Louiche Mayorga, Louis "Loud Lou" Hinzo (Würm), D.H. Peligro, Tiny Bubz (T.S.O.L.), Phil Campbell (Motörhead), heavy metal act Cold Shot, guitarist Carlos Cavazo, James Bradley Jr., Scott Weiland, guitarist Christian Nesmith and Bullet Boys vocalist Marq Torien, and has appeared on Sons of Anarchy in Seasons 5 and 6 as a hang around, and Season 7, the final Ride episode 9, as an S.O.A. Indian Hills, Nevada, charter member.
New Regime is an American punk band from Los Angeles, California. Initially called "Sodomy Squad", the band was co-founded in 1979 by vocalist Todd Payden and bass player Michael Brevetz while they were students at North Hollywood's Walter Reed Jr. High School. Needing a drummer and guitarist, Brevetz and Payden recruited fellow students Marc Woodson and Anthony Gallo to complete the lineup. The group did one demo recording under the name Sodomy Squad but found it difficult to get shows under the name, opting for the less offensive but more political name "New Regime".
Los Cycos was an American crossover thrash band founded in 1984 in Venice, Los Angeles, California, by Suicidal Tendencies frontman Mike Muir. The only recording of the band appears on the rare 1985 release Welcome to Venice, the debut album and first release from Suicidal Records.
13 is the eleventh studio album by the American crossover thrash band Suicidal Tendencies. It was released on March 26, 2013. The album was recorded over a ten-year period at the band's studio "ST Studio", while additional recording took place at Interscope Studios, Stall #2 and Titan Studio.
Luicidal is a punk rock band from Venice, Los Angeles, California, formed in 2012. The band consists of Mando Ochoa (vocals), Mike Avilez (vocals), Louichi Mayorga (bass/guitar), R.J. Herrera (drums), Gene Duarte (guitar), and Doug Mug Swanson (bass).
Still Cyco Punk After All These Years is the thirteenth studio album by the American crossover thrash band Suicidal Tendencies, released on September 7, 2018. This features re-recorded songs of Cyco Miko's 1996 debut album, Lost My Brain! ; it is a near-complete re-recording, since the only tracks from the original album not included are its last two tracks "Cyco Miko Wants You" and "Ain't Mess'n Around", while "Sippin' from the Insanitea" was previously never released. The latter uses the same basic musical structure as "Cyco Miko Wants You", but with brand new lyrics and a different vocal melody.
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