It’s a story as old as time itself: guys in punk rock bands are also into skateboarding and skateboard video games.  But there’s not a whole lot that’s cliché about the guys in the punk-pop band MxPx: guitarist Tom Wisniewski, bassist Mike Herrera, and drummer Yuri Ruley. While they all like punk rock, skateboarding, and skateboard video games, they don’t like them in equal amounts, or in the order that you’d expect. One of them, shockingly, has never owned a skateboard, while another, just as shockingly, has never owned a video game system. Thankfully, the guys do have some things in common: punk rock chops, skateboarding battle scars, and a love of the Tony Hawk Pro Skater games.

Which came first for you guys, video games or skateboarding?

Mike: Skateboarding. I started in the fifth game. Most families has Nintendos by then, but we didn’t.

Tom: We did. I got a Nintendo the first year they came out, and I got hooked. But I only barely skated when I was a kid. I did for a while, but then my friend took back his board.

Yuri: And I didn’t really play video games as a kid. My friends had Atari or something, but I never had one because my parents weren’t down with it.

Did you ever play the first skateboard video game, 720°?

Yuri: I think so.

Mike: I did. I loved it.

Tom: I played TNC Surf & Skate more

How realistic do you think these games are? Do you think someone could play Tony Hawk and then ride the half pipe?

Mike: Oh no, not at all (laughs). It definitely makes you feel like you’re a better skater than you could ever be in real life.

Tom: You’d go to the hospital for sure. If you tried to do some of the stuff in that game for real, you’d die.

Yuri: Yeah, reality would kick in real quick.

Mike: But that’s kind of the point of video games, you can do thing you can’t really do, like kill people (laughs).

Have you ever tried to do a trick in real life that you’d done in a game?

Mike: Kind of. Lately when I’ve been skating I’ve been trying to learn one new move a day, or I try to perfect ones I do know.

Yuri: I haven’t. But then I rarely skate anymore ’cause I don’t want to hurt myself.

Mike: Yeah, understanding something and actually doing it is completely different.