Mike Park profiled in San Jose Metro

Posted by rich on Friday, June 17, 2011 at 1:45 PM (EDT)

To coincide with the 15th Anniversary of Asian Man Records the San Jose Metro is running a profile piece on label founder Mike Park. The piece is penned by Mike's longtime friend, and Gnarboots drummer, Aaron Carnes and focuses on both the public and private persona of Park, including input from members of Alkaline Trio, MU330, Classics of Love, Shinobu and others. You can read the piece in it's entirety, and learn about the man Jesse Michaels calls, "the most ridiculous person I ever met," here.

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Asian Man Records (41 comments)

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Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not respon sible for them in any way. Seriously.

scorpiondeathlock (June 17, 2011)

i liked him in Rush Hour 2, but not Rush Hour 1...

zatransis (June 17, 2011)

And in related news, AMR15 has been insanely awesome.

niveK82 (June 17, 2011)

thats an understatement.

lostcausegiveup (June 17, 2011)

that was an awesome piece. There's times when i really wish i was closer geographically to that kind of scene. the guy sound insane.

loki13 (June 17, 2011)

He sounds like a lovable kook!

Mystereohasmono (June 17, 2011)

This could have gone terribly wrong.

notfeelingcreative (June 17, 2011)

Is it bad that that was our first thought?

loki13 (June 17, 2011)

Wasn't even thinking that...you racist!

Half_Idiot (June 17, 2011)

When reached for a comment, Ben Weasel gestured crudely to his crotch before punching the reporter in the kidney.

sketchyjoe (June 17, 2011)

The recording of the altercation was released and was hailed as a 'return to form' by many.

johnsmith (June 17, 2011)

Sounds like a fun label to be a part of. Anyone who smears ketchup on their stomach is ok in my book!

colin (June 17, 2011)

the alk3 show last night was so fucking great. best if they could have just taken out those two new songs (mercy me and this addiction, and one other i didn't recognize) and put in even more from MICF, then holy shit.

but really i'm not complaining. just, wow.

Hubitcherkokov (June 17, 2011)

What was their set list like? DID THEY PLAY "She Took Him To The Lake"?!

colin (June 17, 2011)

no... from what i can remember, by album:

- goodbye forever
- bleeder
- my friend peter
- snake oil tanker
- cooking wine
- 97
- cringe
- san francisco
- trouble breathing
- maybe i'll catch fire
- radio
- armageddon
- crawl
- mercy me
- this addiction

another new song... maybe a couple old ones i missed.

Haanz (June 18, 2011)

It makes me sad not to see any Good Mourning in there.

Badastrojon (June 18, 2011)

You're dumb

Badastrojon (June 18, 2011)

Also Emma and you've got so far to go

bastard_squad (June 17, 2011)

Mike is a great guy. First time I met him was after a Skankin Pickle show. He had a row of what looked like demo tapes. After talking for a while, he handed me two of them. One was a demo from a new band called Less than Jake with songs that wound up on Pezcore, the other was a rough version of the Misfits of Ska comp. What a stand-up guy. I can't believe that was 17 years ago.

Half_Idiot (June 17, 2011)

If you still have that Less Than Jake demo you could probably sell that and make the nice start of a college fund.

bastard_squad (June 17, 2011)

I've still got it. It's in a big box of tapes in the basement living with his friends The Exploding White Mice and Warzone.

People want tapes? Really?

Skibz777 (June 17, 2011)

Less Than Jake demo, Schmess Schman Schmake schmemo. Now, if you had a copy of MU330's "Salamander Stew" cassette, I'd have to knock on every door in Tustin until I tracked you down.

Although, out of curiosity, would you happen to know which demo/which songs that tape is/has?

bastard_squad (June 17, 2011)

I'd have to go dig it up and play it. There's no writing just a clear tape with that black paper in between the plastic. I know the Laverne and Shirley cover closes it out though.

Mystereohasmono (June 17, 2011)

Warzone?! HA!

bastard_squad (June 17, 2011)

Yeah, you remember when to hear bands you had to buy shit? I used to get tons of stuff off the used tape wall. Sometimes it was awesome, sometimes it wasn't.

Half_Idiot (June 17, 2011)

I had a Skarhead CD at one point because of this principle. I bought it for $5 and got $3 back when I sold it back to the store a week later. It was embarrassing for me.

bastard_squad (June 17, 2011)

Sorry Bill, that sucks. Over the years I had a lot of embarrassing purchases. I usually just gave shit away though.

Half_Idiot (June 17, 2011)

It's part of the process. I can't think of any more that are nearly as bad as the Skarhead album but I know there have been a bunch over the years.

Half_Idiot (June 17, 2011)

Oh yeah, big time. I mean The Repos demo just sold for $60 and they're, in their own words, a "cult band." A Less Than Jake demo would easily go into the hundreds if you got it to the right people.

http://www.popsike.com/THE-REPOS-demo-cassette-ORIGINAL-super -rare-SICKKKKK/250788626904.html

Half_Idiot (June 17, 2011)

"Certified Cult Band" I meant to say.

bastard_squad (June 17, 2011)

I'm on my way to being a hundredaire Bill! I'll be rich, rich like Astronauts.

Skibz777 (June 17, 2011)

Awesome article. Strangely, I never would have guessed Mike for a wild-and-crazy type of guy. This only makes me sadder I'm missing out on AMF15 (though I am driving up to Santa Cruz tomorrow for the last Slow Gherkin show).

And, as I must always mention, Skankin' Pickle's PunkNews profile still has a picture of the Voodoo Glow Skulls. Just sayin'.

bastard_squad (June 17, 2011)

It's funny to think of VGS as the Mr Hyde to Mike's Dr Jekyll.

sketchyjoe (June 17, 2011)

Does that make Matty Luv Utterson?

bastard_squad (June 17, 2011)

Only when your on Epitaph time.

bastard_squad (June 17, 2011)

You're.

Epitaph money too.

rebeccaa (June 17, 2011)

that was a fun read

szechwan_platypus (June 17, 2011)

Once I drove to a solo show of his with a nearly empty tank and only a few dollars in my pocket for gas to get home; I ended up buying a cd and barely coasting into my driveway on fumes. The best part is that he let me pay for part of the cd with Cheez-Its because I didn't have enough money. More people should be like Mike Park.

punkcdsampler (June 17, 2011)

I really liked this article! Ever since the Sean Bonnette and Jeff Rosenstock band-on-band interview, I've always known that Mike Park is a little insane. Also, half of his emails are one word. But really, best fucking dude and best fucking label.

sketchyjoe (June 17, 2011)

I've never been too into any of his bands but I still love the dude.

regreteverything (June 18, 2011)

Of all the label/band/scene people I've ever met Mike will always be the best. My friends and I went to the first Plea For Peace tour in Anaheim and he let us buy Chinkees/BLB merch with the trunk full of canned goods we had (in all fairness they were collecting canned goods anyway for Food Not Bombs, but still...) A stand up guy.

tv_party (June 18, 2011)

san jose represent!