Ruley believes that MxPx are a live band and the true MxPx experience rests in seeing them play live. After being a band for ten years, the culmination of the live show, the fans reaction and the overwhelming amount of songs MxPx have created, Ruley thinks that the band has hit a milestone. That's one of the reasons the band did Ten Years and Running. When sitting down to write a new album, Ruley explains that the band tries to expand on what they've done in the past. They try new things and challenge themselves to be better. He says MxPx have some songs that aren't about Christianity, but they are about experiencing life as Christians.

Popular Underground Magazine: Are you still the only member of the band not to have any tattoos?
Yuri: Yes.

PUM: Why?
Yuri: I guess I'm always a little hesitant to have something on my body forever. I got real close one time, but I didn't.

PUM: What were some of your early musical influences?
Yuri: The Descendants. That was the first band that I heard, that just really blew me away. Being a drummer, [the] drumming, I was like, "This is incredible, it doesn't seem humanly possible to drum that fast." And still to this day that has been an inspiration for me. In playing live and making a record [I take that] energy and it's an inspiration for me. Bands like U2, I've taken inspiration from because it's just such an experience for me to listen to a band like that.

PUM: What are some of the bands you are listening to right now?
Yuri: An artist names Rufus Wainwright. I heard of him about a year ago on television and I bought his record and he's been - awe man, I just can't get enough of him - it's really kind of different music, kind of poppy, sort of crooner vocally. He's really totally different, he's not something you can really rock out to.

PUM: What do you want people to take away from your live show or hearing an MxPx album for the first time?
Yuri: One thing a lot of fans have told us over the years is that the records, the lyrics have really helped them out with personal things. People have said, "Without you guys, I wouldn't have gotten through high school." That's one thing that I really am thankful that we can give to other people - so they don't feel like they are alone - that we can relate and that they can relate to us.

PUM: You've obviously progressed a lot over the past 12 years. How has the response been to Before Everything and After? What have people come up to you and said, in comparison with previous albums?
Yuri: One thing I haven't heard is someone say, "It's good, but I like your old stuff better." People love the record, they just think it's great. And that's a good feeling for me and for us as a band because we put a lot of time into making this record. We felt that it was our best work. So it's awesome when you put it out and your fans go, "It is your best work."

PUM: You guys kind of have two facets of fans, you have a fan base from the past that are like the Christians and they perceived you as that and then you have the more secular fan base. How do you deal with the Christians maybe condemning you for becoming more secular and the secular people condemning you for being too Christian?
Yuri: From the Christian audience perspective, I see it as more of a misunderstanding . I think a lot of those fans sort of assume because we were on Tooth and Nail Records, who at the time was distributing through Christian bookstores and we were being booked into some churches around the country. I think they were thinking we were going to be one thing and we weren't that. Even back then there were kids that would come to the churches that don't go to church; the secular audience. So we had a secular audience from the beginning. I think it's unfortunate that a lot of those people felt that way, but we tried our hardest to explain to them that it's never what we were about, we were always just a rock band and we've taken the same stance even to this day. It's really cooled off a lot over the years. Initially it was a [problem].

PUM: How would you say your spirituality or your Christianity has changed since the beginning to now.
Yuri: As time goes on and the more I experience life, the less I feel I actually know. It's such a huge world and you see so many facets of it. I still feel like my faith is strong, there's just so many questions.

PUM: A couple years ago, I saw you on Warped Tour and you were doing the huge autograph session and you had hundreds of people swarming you. How do you deal with that? Is it overwhelming?
Yuri: I try not to think about it too much. I want to give my time to the people who make it possible for me to continue to do what I love to do. I don't think of it as, "Oh, these people love me so much," whether that's true or not, I try not to think about it. That way I can keep a level head and be a regular guy.

PUM: How do you deal with people who say your a sell out for doing a Pepsi commercial?
Yuri: You it's funny. We haven't gotten much of that. I was expecting a lot more. A lot of fans were like, "That's awesome, great, we want to see more of you out there." They know we haven't sold out. It's obvious we haven't. We made a decision to that because we felt it made sense to us. This is our life. Obviously we think about the fans when we put out records and make decisions on certain things that we're do. We took that opportunity because we thought it would be an interesting thing to do. If people knew how much we got paid for it, they'd go, "Oh okay."

PUM: You guys are sort of staples to Cornerstone Festival and you've been on Warped Tour. How are those two festivals different and how are they different?
Yuri: The thing about Cornerstone for me is - we've been playing it longer - the people that are there are different. [Cornerstone] seems to be more nostalgic, whereas Warped Tour seems very present. Cornerstone to me, I look back and I have a lot of memories of meeting friends. I played the Cornerstone Festival three weeks after I graduated high school. I met people out there that I still know today.

PUM: What are some of your favorite things to see from the stage while you guys are performing?
Yuri: I just like to see people having a good time. Especially at these shows because there's a lot of people at these shows who know who we are, but have never seen us play. So I like to see people who have never seen us play like thoroughly excited and like, "Oh my gosh, look what I stumbled upon." That been happening on this tour. A lot of people are like, "I've heard of you, never heard you, now I love you and I bought all your records.

PUM: Other than the debate over Christianity, what are some of the biggest misconceptions that people have about MxPx?
Yuri: Maybe there's a misconception that we're like "rockstars." You hear rumors about us, it's like, "Okaaay." We're just regular guys.

PUM: What sort of things do you do when your not on tour?
Yuri: I like to take little trips. Just take little road trips and weekends. I guess I like traveling so much that touring doesn't really satisfy that. Let's go someplace and see something. Touring is more like... You don't really see much. I love it, but it's not a road trip. All of us would say, "After we're out touring, we want to go tour the country." And honestly, just hanging out with my friends. Being home and keeping a regular schedule.

PUM: What are some of the most important things that you have learned over the past 12 years of touring and being a band?
Yuri: The first couple of years of touring was pretty intense. We'd get in fights and stuff. I think we sort of learned to read body language and read between the lines.

PUM: Where are some of your favorite places to eat at while you're on tour?
Yuri: Rockin' Pizza in Tucson, Arizona. There's certain town that have like a thing. New York is pizza, Chicago is pizza. There's usually little things here and there, like a couple cities around the country where we go, "We gotta go there!"

PUM: If someone came up to you and gave you 50 bucks, what would you do with it? And you can't give it back.
Yuri: I guess it would slowly be spent on Starbucks and fast food.

By Adam K. Zakroczymski III - Senior Editor / Founder