Q & A w/ Mi Ami

​

Telling someone what San Francisco three-piece Mi Ami sounds like will more often than not include descriptors like "intense," "jammy," and "next-level." Classifying the band's sound into a simple category is no quick and easy task, and was made even more difficult with the release of Mi Ami's sophomore album, Steal Your Face. This new record expanded further on the loose structures of the outfit's debut, Watersports, while simultaneously tightening things up into six bursts of fiery guitar work, blistery drumming, and inhuman caterwauls born in the most live, reactionary setting.

Before Mi Ami takes the stage at its release party for Steal Your Face Thursday, April 29 at Amnesia, we had a brief exchange with singer Daniel Martin-McCormick. He gave us the run down on how exactly Mi Ami records its music, what his favorite song from Steal Your Face is, and what it's like to come from one of D.C's most beloved punk bands.

Quickly describe Mi Ami in a short phrase for someone completely unfamiliar with your music.

Ebullient blown out spaced out not rock.

Steal Your Face seems like a far more intense and immediately visceral album. Was that a sound that you naturally came to or was it something planned beforehand?

It wasn't explicitly planned per se, but we had been touring a bunch in the months before we wrote the bulk of the record and playing live tends to push the songs into more aggressive territory. I think we had tightened up a lot and were more focused on impact than before, or something like that.

Mi Ami has an interesting way of recording its music. It sounds far more improvisational than most bands these days. Can you explain a bit about your process?

Well, it's not exactly improvisational, but the songs are designed to breathe, so we have to play live together. A lot of bands like to use the studio to really polish their music, but for us the live dynamic is a key component. It's not some nice idea or whatever, it's a practical reality. So we have to play together so that we can cue off each other and feel our way through the songs. The parts are all written, but there is a freedom to take a little more or less time on each one, to play a little louder or softer, and to generally create something unique each time.

I'm sure you get this often, but I was a huge fan of Black Eyes when you were together. What are some of the perks and some of the downfalls of coming from such a loved and influential band?

The biggest perk is that people were impacted by something I was involved in. That's definitely an amazing and humbling experience, because it wasn't anything that we planned. The only downfall I'd say is people always comparing Mi Ami to Black Eyes, but that's not even that big a deal.

What are some local SF/Bay Area bands you guys are getting into lately?

Psychic Reality, Inca Ore, Jealousy, Culture Kids, and Ecoli. Mostly weird solo projects and fucked up punk bands. The rawk 'n' roll thing happening here is not really my thing.

Mi Ami has quite the list of tour dates ahead of it. What are some you're most looking forward to?

All of them.

This is sort of a rough question, but what cut from Steal Your Face are you guys most proud of/happy with?

Well, I definitely like them all. I mean, there are only six tracks, so no real filler. I'm happy with "Latin Lover" as a single of sorts. I think it's important to give people an "in" to your music, a single or a key or whatever that contextualizes all the other, weirder songs. Right now, maybe my favorite, though, is the closer "Slow." We closed with that every night on tour recently, and it proved to be a shuffling jam.

What would you say separates the music and themes of Watersports from this new album?

The music is definitely tighter and more compact. There are maybe less ideas, but the ideas that are on there are more fully developed. I feel like we were less influenced by our record collections and more influenced by each other. The themes are more personal, I suppose. Generally, the songs are about loss, either of one's feeling of safety and belonging to our society, or loss of intimacy in our personal lives.

What do you guys do outside of Mi Ami? Any other projects, hobbies, dreams, or aspirations?

We all do a lot. Each of us makes music separate from the group. Jacob bikes a ton. I write for Dusted. We hang out, DJ, and walk around a lot.