Maris The Great: (to Justin) You are a tall mortal. I wouldn’t have expected someone in a pop punk band to be so tall and so…strapping. You look like you have thrusting power for things like…superior butt sex. You and I….you can negotiate a deal with me and we can make an arrangement. There are ways of doing things in the music business…and you should probably do them. You are the lead singer of Bury Mia?

Justin: Yes, I am.

You have very kissable lips. Do you want to kiss me?

Justin: No.

Very well….let’s see who else we have here (goes over to Marcus, who stands up and towers at 6′ 7″). Whoa! What is this land of the giants pop punk? (laughs). You are Marcus, the drummer. I normally go for drummers, but you’re too tall. I would have to climb up to kiss you.

Marcus: That’s unfortunate.

(Goes over to Devon). You are Devon….bass player (Devon stands up and is the same height). Well, look at that!

Devon: I’m not as tall as these two.

It looks like you’re just the right size…and you look like a punk rock cuddly kitty.

Justin: It’s like you’re Goldilocks and you found baby bear’s porridge

(Much laughter)

I know you are normally blonde, but you are now a brunette. Which are you naturally?

Devon: A brunette.

Are you a brunette….elsewhere?

Devon: Yes I am.

And is there an elsewhere to look at, or are you one of these heterosexual mortals that like to shave everything?!

Devon: (laughs) I don’t know…it’s a mystery.

(Starts seductively petting Devon) And will I be able to solve this mystery…before the end of today?

Devon: I don’t know. You’ll have to find out

Very well, let’s start the interview! The most generic question…how did it all begin.

Devon: Justin and I were in a prior band together, called Rating The Hate. That band didn’t work out so we started Bury Mia.

What kind of music was that Rating The Hate?

Devon: It was rock.

What made you morph it into…what mortals classify, but is not necessarily…punk rock?

Justin: I think it turned out the whole time, Devon and I were more on the punk side and we got excited by the idea of doing something in that spectrum.

Did it come from the bands you grew up with?

Devon: Yeah, with him listening to Taking Back Sunday and me liking Senses Fail and Alkaline Trio – definitely. We kind of drew roots from there. Obviously, there’s Blink-182 in our music.

Keeping a band together is difficult. What has enabled you to stay together?

Devon: I think the drive that we have to get to where we want to go. I mean, we’re always hungry for more.

Justin: And breakfast burritos

Devon: Yeah, all the band decisions happen over breakfast burritos.

I know you went through a number of lineup changes prior to this one. How did your jolly green giant drummer join?

Justin: He popped up on our craigslist add

Marcus, were you on craigslist for other activities?

(laughter)

Marcus: Sadly No.

Are you a heterosexual?

Marcus: Today (laughter)

Is there a permanent vagina in your life?

Marcus: Not recently. I mean…it’s complicated, but, not at the moment.

So, there you are on craigslist, pretending you’re not looking for vagina. But if you were looking, what kind of vagina would you be looking for?

Marcus: She has to have a good sense of humor and she has to be kind.

And what physical attributes do you like?

Marcus: I run a lot, so I’m drawn to that physicality

And do you ever use your immense height as a selling tool to meet female mortals?

Marcus: I let that mystery be uncovered as we go

OK, so how did you cruising craigslist, lead to you joining the band?

Marcus: Well, I had taken a break from playing drums for many years and came back to wanting to play seriously. There was only one kind of music I wanted to play and that was punk…

Why?

Marcus: Just…the energy. I feel the best when I play that and didn’t have any interest in pursuing anything other than what makes me feel really good playing an instrument

I like that!

Marcus: Thank you. Yeah, so I looked for bands looking for drummers and these guys popped up. I came and auditioned and it seemed like a good fit.

Justin: We have this one song with a very specific drum beat. It’s called “Clock Slays Time.” He was able to nail it on the audition, so…

Is the plan to keep it straight pop punk, or is there a desire for other kinds of music to emerge?

Devon: I mean, there’s always room for whatever we’re listening to at the time. Some of the parts we’re recording right now for the new album….there will be rap kind of parts in some of the songs, there’s more screaming, there’s different aspects from like, Emo, Pop Punk, Hardcore – those breakdowns. It just depends on what we feel and what we’re listening to at the time.

Closed for Business has an EDM remix. Where did that come from?

Justin: I had a buddy that I went to elementary school with. The artist’s name is TXSuperproducer. He hadn’t done mixes of other people’s songs…in a remix sort of way. And he was kind of branching out. He hadn’t done Pop Punk yet. I said, “If I throw this at you, do you want to give it a try?” He just killed it.

There are a lot of purists in Punk Rock. What kind of criticisms do you get from that community?

Devon: Yeah, we’ve played with a lot of Hardcore bands along our way through the different lineups and man, they all are supportive as hell. None of them are like, “fuck you, pop punk” All of them have been really supportive and when they come back through, they’re like, “Hey, you want to play a show with us?” I don’t think we’ve ever encountered anyone that has that stigma of like, “Oh, you’re Pop Punk, so you’re not true Punk.”

Marcus: I think what comes through is the authenticity, so within Punk there is a core of authenticity that resonates with all bands. It doesn’t matter if it sounds like something else. If a band recognizes that a band is being authentic, then they connect to it and we all support each other.

There seems to be a lot of pressure within the Punk community to take a political stance. Where does that put Bury Mia?

Justin: I think everyone recognizes that the world has some very large negatives and we’re happy to comment on those.

Such as what?

Justin: Black Lives Matter, LGBTQ rights..

You forgot “Z” The gay undead would appreciate it if you acknowledged us!

Justin: I mean, I don’t think we’re ever going to be a band that makes active political commentary, but we do have something to say.

What is the big dream?

Devon: The big dream is to keep going at the rate we’re going. I mean, at least for me, I want to see this as a career path, so I can get out of my day to day and just focus on music.

Marcus: Broadening our audience. Getting our music into as many ear-holes as possible. Waking up each morning and feeling connected to what I’m doing. I feel most connected when I’m playing with these guys. And to be able to do that more and more would be phenomenal.

Justin: For me it’s just about getting the word out, letting people hear it. The goal has always been to get as many people to hear the lyrics and hear the songs as possible. Until they tell us to stop, we’re going to keep going.