For Yuri Ruley, MxPx's solo punk concert at the Rialto tonight will be a welcome change from the band's current summer tour: a nationwide trek with the popular ska ensemble Reel Big Fish.
"Ska kids tend to like ska and not much else," said the drummer in a phone interview last week. "I didn't realize that would be the case. We toured with a lot of ska bands in the '90s and it wasn't like that. We've gone to the message boards on Reel Big Fish's Web site, and some of the comments were downright mean, like 'Effin MxPx. They suck!' At one concert we were asking for requests and people started chanting 'Reel Big Fish! Reel Big Fish!' and we still had 15 minutes left in our set."
Ruley expects a more comfortable environment when they swing through Tucson between Fish shows. He noted the Washington-based trio has always been well received in the Old Pueblo, and fans were especially supportive when the band came through last October with "Panic," its first indie album in more than seven years.
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Jumping from powerhouse A&M/Interscope Records to the smaller Side One Dummy label was a big step down for the trio but a necessary one, Ruley said.
"We were getting pretty tired of the label," he said. "We were on A&M for seven years, and every time we put out a record it was a totally brand new staff. It was great at the beginning and then it got a little bit worse and then it got really bad. It was like a trap. We just wanted to get out of there."
MxPx split off from A&M in 2004 and soon found themselves searching for a new home. A&M had been its first major, and the band was seriously considering vying for another big name.
That is until they talked to longtime MxPx associate, musician and Side One co-owner Joe Sib.
"Joe came to us and said, 'Before you talk to anyone else talk to me,' " Ruley said. "We went to him and he sat us down and told us that it was time for something new, a restart sort of thing. He had a lot of great ideas of where the record could take us and what it meant for our future.
"We were happy to make the change. We weren't worried about it. People at Side One were totally enthusiastic about the band. You can't pay someone to be excited. They were stoked, and that made us stoked."
The band was sold on the spot and shortly thereafter released the retrospective "B-Movie" CD/DVD followed by "Panic."
Diehard MxPx fans who thought the band's sound had been lost in recent years amid added bells and whistles and general overproduction probably appreciated the group's stripped-down sound for the 14-track release.
"We had been putting in things like Wurlitzers and slide guitar that we would never bring on stage into previous albums," Ruley said. "And we had negative repercussions from that. We came to the conclusion that people like the live shows. So we thought, let's make a record that sounds like you're at a live show, raw and in your face.
"The ones that didn't like the last record are super happy about 'Panic,' " Ruley said. "The one thing I really like about the record is how diverse it is. Every song comes from a different place, a different influence that we have. It is kind of a fun listen for me."
Quick Take
MxPx in concert
When: 6:30 tonight
Where: Rialto Theatre
Tickets: $6, 740-1000
Et cetera: If you can't make it to tonight's concert, you might be able to catch the pop punk trio hanging out at Rockin' Pizza, 4558 E. Broadway, before and after the show. The band's tour manager Tommy Rat, owns the restaurant, and MxPx always makes sure to stop through when they are in town. Drummer Yuri Ruley recommends the cheese slices. "It is some of the best I've had in my life," he says.
