‘We Are Family’: Suicidal Tendencies’ Mike Muir details single featuring Brazilians

Before the covid-19 pandemic, the lead singer of Suicidal Tendencies, Mike Muirspent months — spread across four trips — in Brazil. “I was able to see other parts of the country — more of São Paulo and Santos,” he said in an interview with Rolling Stone Brazil. “Usually when you go on tour, you go from city to city and you only see the roads and the airport.”

The desire to Muir returning after the pandemic ended up turning into a tour of Suicidal Tendenciesand the friendships strengthened during the period here resulted in a single.

“We Are Family” brings together national artists, such as Badauí(CPM22), B Black (Planet Hemp), Fat John, Rodrigo Lima (Dead Fish), Supla, Fernanda (Crypta), Marcão Britto It is Thiago Brown(Charlie Brown Jr)in addition to the world skateboarding champions Sandro Dias It is Pedro Barros.

“It’s funny because a lot of times people ask me, ‘Hey, can you do this? Can you do that?’ And I say I can’t. So I hate asking people for things. I know some people out there that I would definitely do something with, but I feel a little uncomfortable asking,” the singer confessed.

Muir He said he left “the dirty work” — of making the invitations for the collaboration — to a friend. “He asked, and everyone said yes, so I felt really good about it. It’s not an easy thing to do. It was actually quite touching to be able to make it happen.”

“We Are Family” is the first composition released by Suicidal Tendencies with the new drummer, Jay Weinberg. The song was recorded at Estúdio Central (formerly RedBull Station), in São Paulo, and was executive produced by Alex Palaiathe band’s partner in Brazil for over 10 years. The British producer Paul Northfield and the Brazilian sound engineer Rich Apple also participated in the project.

Muir revealed that the group was unable to record the track entirely in Brazil due to shows in the United States: “Jay and everyone recorded it, then we sent it to Alex [Palaia] —they kind of recorded some footage of the process, how they decided who would sing what. I let them work on it. They put their talents together and made it all work. All I had to do was listen.”

Each one was in their own country. They went to a studio in São Paulo, and I couldn’t go there because there was this big festival in Los Angeles, with 45,000 people. So I couldn’t travel to Brazil, like I wanted to. It would have been great. But they filmed it and sent me some stuff.

“The more people involved in something, the harder it is — getting everyone on the same page, that’s very tricky. But they did it and they did an incredible job,” he said. Mike.

The singer revealed that he and his family don’t understand Portuguese: “Most people here don’t speak Portuguese, so they’re like, ‘This is Spanish! What kind of language is this? I don’t know what they’re saying, but it’s really good.’”

Yesterday was Father’s Day, we were together, and I joked because they sent me the updated version of the song, and the kids started imitating me, doing the vocals in Portuguese — trying at least. It was a beautiful moment. As a father and someone in a band for so long, that’s great. Music is about that.

Check out the music video for “We Are Family” first hand:

Why “We Are Family”?

Mike Muir takes his father’s advice seriously and, therefore, cited several of them throughout the interview. “My father always said that languages ​​bring people together and separate people,” he recalled. The frontman of Suicidal argued that some friendships, especially those developed during adolescence, are products of causality:

As you get older, you realize that there are people you are friends with just because they lived in the same area, or because their parents know each other, or went to the same school, or because they speak the same language. There are other people you could be friends with for life, but you didn’t live in the same area. And then there are those people you meet and you know you don’t want to have anything to do with them.

“My dad always said to use music as a way to live a better life,” he continued. “A better life is when you’re surrounded by people you love and trust, people who make bad times a little better.”

The father of Muir He also argued that everyone has three families: “The first is the one you are born into: your mother, your father, your brothers and sisters. You can’t do anything about it, just make it work as best you can.”

“When you get older, when you’re a teenager, you start making friends, and you think they’re your family. Then you find out they’re not. They’re just geographically convenient, like I said. And then you get even older and you have the opportunity to make your own family,” he added.

‘We Are Family’ is like that, it’s the family made up of people you want to be around, for the right reasons. This is the perfect song to express what it’s like to be around Suicidal. It’s more than music. It’s not about listening to music and forgetting about your problems. It’s about listening to music, thinking about your problems and how you’re going to change them, make the situation better.