Mika Miko consists of five young ladies who create energetic, intensely catchy two-minute sing-a-long mini riots. With a handful of releases, and an impressive self-booked and self-promoted touring history, Mika Miko could easily be dubbed the modern day knights of the roundtable.

Leaving their magical land of Los Angeles, they travel the world creating buzz and stories of legend in every town they visit. And, even after releasing with cult label Kill Rock Stars, and having just completed a European tour with No Age, Mika Miko show no signs of slowing down. They recently embarked on a US tour, after releasing their latest, the 666 EP, with mega-cool label Post Present Medium (PPM!). It took us weeks to finally catch up with one of the five: we quick-fired some questions to a very busy, deservedly tired Michelle Suarez.

How was your tour of Europe? How do your shows there differ from the US?
Our tour of Europe went fairly well considering our booking agent was a flaky, irresponsible person. Four shows were cancelled and that was a bummer, but we spent the time in Prague. Our shows in France were amazing and in Lyon we got to play on a boat, which would probably never happen in the US. In the UK, all our shows were beyond amazing. In the UK and Europe, the promoters take care of you and make sure you're fed and have a place to stay. When you tour the US, you feel like you're totally on your own most of the time.

You tour a lot. Is this something you wish to carry on doing for the next few years?
We tour because it's fun. We like to travel, meet awesome people and play shows.

Is it hard touring with five of you crammed in a minivan, covering costs and distributing money five ways?
Yeah, it is pretty hard touring with five people in one minivan. We're always crammed wherever we go, whether it's the house we're staying at after the show or in the backseat with the drum equipment. As for money, I think we're cool with whatever we can get. We all understand that we are a team, we are 1/5th; we are 20%.

How did joining up with the label Kill Rock Stars come about? Did the fact they had released bands like Bikini Kill and Huggy Bear win you over?
I think it's cool that they have worked with bands that we respect and like, but, basically, we were in Olympia to play Ladyfest and they took us out to lunch. That's about it.

Do you think there will ever come a time when major labels will sign more female driven bands on more than their looks?
I think major labels will sign anyone if they think they can make lots of money.

Was it intentional to have an all-girl lineup or was it less of a conscious decision?
Totally not intentional… we used to hang out at Jennifer's house and she had guitars and amps and stuff, so we would just play music for fun. Jerik - our old drummer - happened to hop on the drums, and it all came together. After he left the band I knew that Kate could play drums, so I asked her. She was our friend so it seemed like a cool match. So far so good.

Who makes you infamous hairdryer and telephone style microphones?
Jennifer makes them.

We’ve seen a lot of people wearing your merch around, who’s the kid on the t-shirts?
The kid on the t-shirt is my nephew, Jeremy. He is 13 and has Tourette's. He is constantly yelling insane shit at everyone. He really likes his voice. He has also demanded a percentage of the shirts we sold with his face, no joke.

~Kevin Soar

See It:
Mika Miko are currently on tour in the US until August 31st. For tour dates and more, check out the band's myspace.