As long as bands are still out there slaving away in the garage and putting out their own records and just pushing the envelope for how songs should be written or how they should be played, punk will never die.
Milo AukermanI still think punk's around. It's been pushed into the mainstream and it gets harder to draw that line between what's pop and what's punk.
Milo AukermanPart of 'Beyond The Music' is also the notion that no matter what came of us, or the band, the most important thing for us ended up being the friendships.
Milo AukermanWe like to be punks. We like to still be kind of edgy and if being edgy means you might teeter on that line of being inappropriate, I'm still willing to teeter on that line, even at my age. But some of them go over that line and you've gotta draw that line somewhere.
Milo AukermanI think my science career had an arc to it that peaked in, let's say 2003/2004. I was in hog heaven, working in a corporation, getting paid pretty good money and doing really exciting research. And we had just done the Cool To Be You record, and I said well, we'll put this record out, but I can't tour it because I just want to do science. That's my gig, my future.
Milo AukermanI don't want to live your dream. That's your dream. Go ahead and do it. But it's not mine.
Milo AukermanThe two things that matter are the desire, and being healthy enough to do it. Everything else to me is a non-issue.
Milo AukermanOnce it stops being fun, we won't be able to do it anymore. People are going to know that we're not having fun, and we're going to know that we're not having fun. So at that point, it just ends.
Milo AukermanI've never written a song about DNA or anything that I work on. But I just think that DIY aspect, and the creativity and the belonging and acceptance is what drew me in.
Milo AukermanI would point to a song like 'I'm Not A Loser', which I tried to evolve as best I could over the years. But finally after years of trying to evolve it into something a little more, up to date I guess, we just don't play it anymore.
Milo AukermanPunk's really cool because it's very inclusive of all types, which I like. And I would submit that even though people talk about punk as being thuggish, I think it can be more creative than other types of music.
Milo AukermanI want to be stereotyped. I want to be classified. I want to be a clone. I want to be masochistic. I want to be sadistic. I want a Suburban Home. I don't want no hipppie pad; I want a house just like Mom and Dad.
Milo AukermanOne thing that really attracted me to punk was the DIY aspect. And the fact that, since I was a nerd, I was like 'you mean nerds can belong to this little society? So all of these things went into my attraction to it.
Milo AukermanBecause we take these huge long breaks, and then I just kind go, "Okay, fine, this is the way that I've chosen to live my life, and if the band now fades into obscurity, so be it, that's my decision." But then we come back and it's still as big as ever, or bigger. It's always been a surprise to me, that it worked out that way.
Milo AukermanI tend to be the one that breaks the mold most often, and thus, I tend to be the one with a lot of outtakes, songs that don't make the record.
Milo AukermanThere's something wrong with the system when you've got someone who can provide so much to a company and can be enthusiastic, but isn't management material or whatever. So a lot of that just gets defined as the person who speaks with the loudest voice and gets up there with the most arrogance and overly confident, chest-beating approach. Those are the ones that are going to get the golden ring.
Milo Aukerman