(Mural by Miami singer Ivy Jeanne in 949 Market Squat, 2001; photo by Miami guitarist Erick Lyle)

Miami - "The City That Never Sleeps" [buy the reissue of the crucial split with Shotwell!]

I've tried and tried to write about Miami, the band not the city, from California not Florida, a band that was hugely important to me at a weird time of excessive feelings and long Greyhound bus rides, but instead I just end up playing this new reissue of The City That Never Sleeps over and over again with a stupid smile on my face.

Here are the approaches I tried:
1) A nostalgic scene of first hearing the record as my pen-pal Cindy drove me to the white sands of Pensacola Beach.
2) Realization that I am old: Can you believe they're re-issuing this record? I remember when it first came out!
3) History lesson: Miami played generator shows on Mission Street in post-tech bubble San Francisco. Its members were (and still are; RIP Matty Luv) squatters, artists, zinesters, anti-gentrification activists involved in creating temporary autonomous zones and free spaces in a hostile, rapidly-changing city.
4) Feels: Listen to that howl. Has there ever been a sound that so perfectly captures the feeling of being young, alive, and flat broke in a soul-crushing city that you love and hate? (Well has there?) AwooooOOooooOOoo

These songs are fire. The City That Never Sleeps captures a tuneful, soulful, raggedy, powerful sound. Miami drew from X and The Minutemen and made something imperishably their own. This record was a beacon in the early 2000s, a bat-signal that said STAY PUNK and DON'T BE AFRAID OF CHANGE. Still good lessons today.