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Home  Archive music profiles Mike Park Makes A Plea
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Mike Park Makes A Plea |
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Written by Sean Moeller
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Friday, 16 December 2005 |
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“There are people in other countries who literally would give their
left arm to be able to vote. We have that right and we take it for
granted,” Park said from his office.
Seems like a pretty good time for another Plea for Peace, doesn’t it?
Coming off a month of April that was the deadliest 30 days since the
war in Iraq began last spring, and with the greater part of the country
resolved to get all the White House locks changed right before throwing
George Dubya’s clothes, bed slippers, pooches, and beer helmets out
onto the front lawn behind the wraught-iron fence along Pennsylvania
Avenue, there’s a greater urgency for the fighting to end with each
passing day and each lost life.
Mike Park, founder of Asian
Man Records, the Monte Sereno, California, independent record label
that spawned the careers of the Alkaline Trio, Lawrence Arms, and St.
Louis ska wizards MU330, among others, said that this tour of his
design—now in its third year, after a year off in 2003—has taken on
more importance as a circumstance of it being an election year. At each
of the 40 shows, a table will be set up to register new voters,
bringing some inexperience to the polling booths that nearly half of
all eligible voters didn’t see during the last election.
“There are people in other countries who literally would give their
left arm to be able to vote. We have that right and we take it for
granted,” Park said from his office. “I remember the first time I
voted. Everyone was telling me, ‘Now you’re going to get jury duty.’ It
was nice to wear the “I voted’ sticker, to put it on my shirt.
“I was always Green Party, but now I’m a Democrat. I’m still, today,
always trying to learn more. I used to be friends with a lot of
anarchists.”
The tour, featuring Cursive, Denali, and Park
doing a solo set every night, will maintain an unbiased political bent
and is facilitated by the Plea for Peace Foundation, a nonprofit
organization that also picks up the tab for benefit CDs that complement
the tour. Each year, the tour yields hundreds of thousands of dollars
to the cause.
“I didn’t do one last year because I helped with
the Take Action tour [co-organized by Sub City/Hopeless Records]. It
was something that didn’t feel right to me. I felt like I wasn’t doing
anything. I felt like I should be at home, helping at the homeless
shelter or something,” he said. “I wanted to run a tour where the
musicians played the martyr role, taking a pay cut. For myself, that’s
how I envision it. I’ve never taken a penny for any of these tours.”
Park can’t say enough good things about Saddle Creekers Cursive, the
fuzz wavers from Omaha. They committed to the tour early (six months
ago, in November) and they’re an example of a band doing the dates for
the right reason. They’re also taking a 25-percent slice in their
nightly take from the sum they’d normally pull.
“It always
seemed like more headaches [getting bands to sign on’ than it was
worth. It makes you want to give up on music—at least the business part
of it,” Park said. When Cursive agreed to do the tour, “it was a lot
easier because a lot of bands would love to have the opportunity to
play with Cursive.”
If there’s anyone who’s more authorized to
be a spokesman for the power of one, let that person come forth and
challenge the 34-year-old Park to a best-of-three arm wrestle. He’s got
the forearms, the quick-wrist pivoting, and the resume to retain his
belt in the face of every attempted admonishment. The Plea for Peace
venture alone gives him a leg up, but you’d have to factor in the
dedication he gives to the 50 bands on his label, with only the help of
two employees: his mother and busy office girl Miya. They all still
work out of his parents’ garage, which has been the first home to all
of the 500,000 Asian Man records that have been sold in the label’s
eight years of existence. Oh, and he was a member of two of the most
influential ska bands of all-time (Skankin’ Pickle and The Bruce Lee
Band) before setting out as a solo artist with this year’s comforting
For the Love of Music.
“ I do feel like the kids that get it
really respect what we do. It’s neat to get that kind of recognition,”
Park said. “We’re not on the cover of Rolling Stone saying what we’re
about. It’s mostly been word-of-mouth. And I think that’s the best way
to do it; it’s great. I can’t imagine being promoted through extreme
measures of media.
“There have been times [with the label]
when it’s been tough. I just have good communication. I let the bands
know what my limitations are. I’m not in this for notoriety or
capitalist gain. We’re an outlet to put out your record. I’m really
happy with the way things are and how they’re going to continue to go.
What else can you ask for? It’s looking for more and wanting more when
you run into trouble. If someone were to throw a million dollars down
my throat and say, ‘We want you to sign a solo contract with RCA’ or
whatever the big label is, I’m sure I’d listen, but that hasn’t
happened yet.”
He’s been known to be pretty friendly with St.
Louis acts (the MU and Dan Potthast). Just a fluke, says the man. “It’s
nothing different than with other bands I’ve signed. I became friends
of the band. I’ve gone to their weddings. I’ve been to that airport
many times, but it’s just coincidental. They could have been from
Minneapolis.”
Park concedes that an effort to retain peace may
be futile, but not trying to speed the process would only make him part
of the problem. “We prey on violence. When we see a fight, crowds
always gather,” he explained. “We have such issues with anger. There
are no smiles in the neighborhoods. It’s all about holding your turf.
It’s not cool to be cool. You’ve got to be tough.”
Park
related an altercation he and his Skankin’ Pickle bandmates witnessed
years ago outside a venue in Ames, Iowa, where he saw destructive human
nature at its worst.
“We were loading out of a club and we saw
10 individuals jump two other people. It was right out of Cops,” Park
said. “It just happened right in front of our van. We were scared. You
can see how people get that anger to kill.”
I think we can all agree a plea for peace would be breath well spent.
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