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intro KEVIN BARRIOSinterview by KEVIN BARRIOS and KEVIN COMARDAphotos courtesy of KEVIN BARRIOS and MIKE LEVINI’m always sort ofbumping bottomand bouncing backI credit Chris George (of the Living Room Studio) as the sperm that lead to the birth of my relationshipwith Mike Levin. In the summer of ’95, Chris had just returned from stumbling upon Shyster at theTampa leg of the inaugural Van’s Warped Tour. He told me they were going to be in town to open forFace to Face and Guttermouth at the Rendon Inn in a couple of days and insisted I see them. ChrisGeorge’s words weigh heavy with me, because not only does he have impeccable taste, he could alsobuild you a new heart out of an old toilet paper roll if you needed one. It would totally work andwould probably have some killer racing stripes painted on it. So I looked past my disdain for all thingsGuttermouth and went to see what Shyster was all about. I’d seen some incredible acts at the RendonInn—Jawbreaker, the Descendents, All, Smoking Popes—but this energetic burst of guitars, high speed,crazy technical drumming and raspy, intelligent vocals were certainly not outclassed. Their debut LP,Say Uncle lived inside my CD player. Songs like “Hum,” “Ride,” “Gutwrench,” “Follow” and“Homecoming” were staples on my mixtapes.Months later, Deborah Toscano of Devil Dolls productions put on a Shyster show at Monaco Bob’s—where they headlined after talking their way into an opening slot on the Ten Foot Pole gig happening atthe Faubourg Center earlier that night. Despite playing to a huge crowd hours before, they still broughtincredible energy and enthusiasm to tens of people. I felt like I was Tony Wilson seeing the Sex Pistolsfor the first time, like I had stumbled upon the next big thing in its infancy. Since most of the punk rockcommunity was on Frenchmen watching Epitaph’s flavor of the month, I took the opportunity to talkMike Levin (guitar/vocals) into letting me book their next NOLA show.We did a few shows together and they crashed at the original Living Room Studio (when it was still aliving room), but they soon lost members and had to regroup, a theme that has since re-occurred in Mike’slife as a songwriter. Despite releasing February, a follow up to Say Uncle on Man’s Ruin, Shystersoon fizzled into obscurity.In the early 2000s, Mike had put together a primitive version of The New Lows (featuring a fewShyster replacement players) for a short tour, which included a stop at the Dixie Taverne. Much likeShyster before it, this formation also faded away and Mike moved to New York to get his mastersdegree. He became an English teacher, but never stopped writing and trying to find some way to keep aband together, a real struggle in New York. In 2008, en route to and from his step-brother’s weddingin Indonesia, he visited me in Singapore. I introduced him to nasi padang (a coconut milk, spicy chiliand curry-infused cuisine from Indonesia). We ate our way across the island and biked across a smallfishing village off the coast. He left me with demos of his new songs, which blew me away. WhenMike returned to New York, he went into the studio to record with Wes Snowden (Shyster’s originalbass player) and Russell Simins, a hired gun of a drummer who is best known for his work in the JonSpencer Blues Explosion. I was working for the Singapore branch of Bunch Design and Branding at thetime, which lead to me designing the packaging for this record, Atlantic/Pacific.The stress of trying to keep a band together and a long-distance relationship led to Levin moving backto Orlando. After some initial band member juggling and the violent death of another, he was ableto construct a four-piece that was made up of friends and even Snowden, who had also returned toOrlando. Last year, he brought Snowden, Bobby Pino (guitar/keys/percussion) and Greg Lightfoot(drums) to the Living Room Studio to record some of his best work yet, I Couldn’t Sleep. The albumembraces his punk roots while exploring several other avenues, like mixing one part dance to one part stiffdrink (to chase the depression away). I Couldn’t Sleep is gaining more attention and momentum thanany of Levin’s previous efforts, which I would credit to the songwriting—had that not always been there.Instead I’ll credit Craig Mazer who, like me, grew tired of watching this songwriter go unappreciatedand does what he can to change that. Craig has taken on the role of manager and has directed all of theNew Lows social media since the days of Myspace. He was also instrumental in nudging Bryon fromKiss of Death Records to release I Couldn’t Sleep as a 12” in time for their summer tour, whichculminates in New Orleans this month. Fellow AG contributor Kevin Comarda and I had a phone chatwith Mike about how he writes, how he wishes he could write, his rotating door of bandmates and whatit’s like being a Socialist novelty and a real life version of Dewey Finn.Kevin Barrios: Shyster was oneof my favorite punk bands of the‘90s. You guys played the first everWarped Tour [1995] and touredwith huge draws like Face to Faceand Guttermouth. I was alwaysperplexed as to why Shyster neverwent on to greater commercialsuccess in that Fat Wreck Chordsand Epitaph era of dominance.What do you think happened?Mike Levin: That’s a good question. It17