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BIO

M.I.A. was formed in Las Vegas, Nevada in 1980 from the remains of other earlier bands. In early 1981 M.I.A. relocated to Orange County, California, and began playing parties and shows, including at the infamous Cuckoo’s Nest. Wanting to get played on Rodney Bingenheimer’s radio show on KROQ, they decided to make a demo and recorded nine songs at a local studio. The demo was instantly recognized as quintessential California Hardcore Punk — the first song, “Tell Me Why,” found it’s way onto the great American Youth Report compilation (Bomp, 1982) featuring seminal bands like Bad Religion, Adolescents, T.S.O.L., Minutemen, Red Kross and more. The song “New Left” was picked up by Alternative Tentacles for their Not So Quiet on the Western Front compilation (1982). The rest of the demo was released as a split LP called Last Rites for Genocide and M.I.A. on Smoke 7 Records (1982).

After a New Year’s Eve show in 1983 with the Dead Kennedys, singer Jello Biafra offered to release M.I.A.’s next record Murder in a Foreign Place (1984) on his label Alternative Tentacles, with sales reaching into the tens of thousands. It is considered a hardcore classic. The band toured extensively including two jaunts across the US and Canada in 1984 and 1985 . Their third record Notes From the Underground (1985), produced by the legendary Thom Wilson, was released on National Trust and showed a darker post-punk influence. M.I.A.’s final album After the Fact (1987) was released on Flipside Records, with another full US tour following. The band broke up shortly after, with members splintering into other bands. Each M.I.A. album represented a musical shift in style, from early hardcore to more complex song structure and musical style. After the Fact is often noted as a seminal precursor to pop punk styles that broke the punk genre into the mainstream in the 1990s.

Following the tragic death of singer and founder Mike Conley in 2008, the band reunited for a benefit show for Mike’s family with Jello Biafra and Kevin Seconds taking over vocal duties. Other show highlights included select dates on the Vans Warped Tour, the Alternative Tentacles 30th Anniversary bash, and Punk Rock Bowling in 2016 and 2021. The band completed a ten show tour of Europe in October 2024 to rave reviews. M.I.A. performs a selection of songs from each of their albums as a trio of all-original members — instead of trying to replace Mike and his unique voice and stage presence, guitarist Nick Adams took over vocal duties, along with bassist Paul Schwartz and drummer Larz Pearson, keeping the lineup original and in-house. The band has worked with Modern City Records, Darla, and Alternative Tentacles to reissue special editions of all of their recordings, bringing all of their music back into print and into record stores. Plans are being made for more classic releases and possibly new recordings.

NICK ADAMS — Guitar & Vocals

PAUL SCHWARTZ — Bass & Vocals

LARZ PEARSON — Drums

MIKE CONLEY — RIP