Miijas

Miijas is an El Paso punk band or as they call their genre, "surf pizza punx". The band is made up of Albert (bass), Mike (drums), Jerry (guitarist and vocalist). These boys are not only categorized by their fast paced music, but also their silliness. Their facebook description includes: "pizza, skateboarding, video games, and chat-roulette". A lot of people might recognize them because of their merchandise including their stickers that could be found in different bars throughout the city. The silly merchandise that I am referring to is their latest, which includes two stoned E.T's smoking blunts with MIIJAS spelled out in a smoke-cloud form. That drawing was actually made by Skip who is featured under the Dreamville tab.

I recently caught up with the guys to eat pizza and talk about their music and the band. Miijas has been a band since 2012-2103. Long story short, the band started nine days before a Dubois 7-inch release party. Mike was asked to open the show with his previous band, Bat Caves. However, Bat Caves had a gig the night before the Dubois one and Mike asked the band member of Dubois, Lalo, if he could start a new band in order to play at their 7-inch release show. Lalo said "yes" so Mike called a few friends of his and they also said "yes" to starting a band and this is how Miijas started. Within those nine days they wrote four songs total and also had a cover. They were first called Miidas, but two shows after becoming a band they changed to Miijas due to confusion on how to pronounce the band name. 

After asking about Miijas' evolution as a band, Jerry said that Miijas now compared to Miijas then is that it is like a family now. Jerry has known Mike since 2008 and he went to high school with Albert, so the bond has only become stronger. Not only did the relationship of the band evolve, but their music did too. Their music, as the band mentioned, got "juicier". Miijas got "progressively faster" and "dirtier". Jerry mentioned that there used to be a fourth member, Omar, but Miijas sound wasn't exactly like it is today until some time after Omar left due to differences in tastes/goals music-wise.

The guys have had a lot of unforgettable moments together throughout the years including some funny stories from when they have gone on mini-tours. Their love of music and what they do really shows. They have fun doing what they do and they want people to have fun with them as well. The word Miijas is not because they are preaching some message or because it is related to the Mexican-American culture. They believe that anyone can listen to their music and lyrics and relate. 

Miijas will release an album with all their new material by the end of the year. They mentioned that they have been holding it back, but they are finally ready to release it all and share it with the public. They are ready to take a "whirl". They are also excited by the growing El Paso music scene as well.  "It's time everyone sees El Paso has talent."

A big thank you to Miijas and go follow them on Instagram: miijas_sux