popwreckoning

Here is the exciting conclusion to my interview with Andrew McMahon, singer/keyboardist of Jack’s Mannequin, previously of Something Corporate. from when he stopped through the KC area as part of the July 2 Warped Tour show. In this part we discuss touring and if his future includes Something Corporate.

If you missed the first part (Read here: Pt. 1), we chatted about his new album with Jack’s Mannequin, The Glass Passenger.

Bethany, PopWreckoning: How is the Warped experience different than other tours?
Andrew McMahon, Jack’s Mannequin: Oh God, it’s just…it couldn’t be more different than anything. It is like this moving festival that takes on this circus sort of thing where people are just…it’s very loose and nomadic and communal.
And the people! You are always saying hi to this person or that person and you’re out there with the fans and people really are integrated into the experience. They’re backstage. They’re loose with security, which is OK, for me. I don’t mind. You end up meeting a lot of people. You can’t go out and meet 10,000 people a day as much as you’d like to, but at Warped the kids make their way back and you can have real conversations with people regularly throughout the day about music and about what people are listening to.
It’s a much more integrated, connected, community kind of experience.
PW: What’s the most extreme, favorite memory of any tour, any show?
AM: Any tour, any show? You’re talking about the last 10 years?
PW: Warped or not. The show you’ll never forget.
AM: You know, I have a couple of these stories that I tell, that I try to tell at different times. You have those moments all the time, that’s why we do it. Because those moments are regular in a lot of ways.
I think that probably my most overwhelming moment that I had on the stage, I had after I had been cognizant. There’s like a year after you’ve been on stage when you were just totally new and you’re just like, “WHOOOOA!,” freaking out.
Eventually, it just settles down and you learn how to be a performer and you learn how to pull it around on your bad nights, you know what I mean? So in that period of time when I was with Something Corporate, we did a show at the Astoria in London and it was such a big deal because we were an American band. We never had hits — to this day I’ve never had a hit — but we made connections. And that was a really cool thing because it was a sold out show, 2,500 people, sold out in like a day, and it’s in London.
So we’re from California and we’re in London; people are losing their mind. We go out and we open, I think with “Konstantine.” I think it was a slow song. I just remember sitting there and having one of those out of body experiences where it was just like, almost like the movie where the fucking crane of the cameras is circling the stage. You’re just out of body.
I’m sitting there at the piano, I’m totally numb, watching this crowd, this huge 2,500 people, and I’m like 19 or 20 years old, playing. We’re opening with this most soulful, quiet moment that you wouldn’t want to open a set with because people like to freak out, but it’s like pin drop. But that was just from sitting in my chair. It wasn’t like anything amazing happened other than just feeling good, you know?
PW: That’s a cool story. Now, Warped is all about discovering new artists. Have you made any new discoveries being on Warped?
AM: You know, I mean to be honest, I got here yesterday. So, it’s been this period of acclamation and whatever. I did get to see my first Paramore set, a band that I’m about to go on tour with right after this. We all leave this and jump on tour together, so I got to see her, see Hayley and the band play for the first time and I was really fucking psyched.
It’s funny. I have the kind of fans who will be questioning if anything is too commercial, but I intentionally make commercial music. I like commercial. I make pop music. I’m into it. I grew up on the radio, even though I haven’t had anything there. I remember when I first heard one of those songs. I really dug it, but I have the fans who would be like, “The MTV thing and blah blah blah,” and I’m like, “Oh. P.S. I would like to be on MTV.” Her band is really good and it was cool to see that today. I’m psyched to go out on tour with them now. I saw them really kick out a sweet show.
PW: Well that’s awesome. [looks to Josh] Do you have any questions, Josh?
AM: Oh, I’m Andrew by the way (like he needs an introduction)
PopWreckoning, Josh: I’m Josh. I’m the editor. Is Something Corporate is completely done?
AM:I wouldn’t say completely, no. The thing about Something Corporate is, well, it’s hard to explain how each one of us has our own lives and the people in our lives. That is me and Something Corporate. We have our own lives and how we interact.
They’re really dear friends of mine. We see each other all the time and talk all the time. There’s definitely always discussions of when are we going to put something together. And when I say put something together, I don’t envision for me personally, that we’re going to come back and make a new full length record. At least not any time soon. And go on a world tour and be out for a year working on a Something Corporate record.
That’s like the dudes and friends I grew up with in high school and we had this amazing experience and this huge connectivity on stage and it was undeniable. It was really special, something I’ve never experienced on stage. But we were also all 16, 17 years old and as you grow up, you get older and you start liking different things and you start going different directions. It just made sense for me and everybody’s got their own things that they’re doing.
It’s like we’ll do something because love each other, we respect our fan base and we know that we have the ability to really make cool stuff together. There’s all these songs that never really got to see the light of the day that I would love to do a huge package of. And music, there’s a whole different world of music now.
Commerce and music are two totally different things. It’s not like you make a CD and it sells. So, I kind of believe in this idea of making other things that sell. Like if we collected all these amazing b-sides that we’ve done that nobody’s heard or stuff that’s been kind of scattered. “Konstantine” was never on a fucking record. It was never on a record. That song has its own area code and it has never been on a record. So to find a home for this and something that really shows people what the experience of being in Something Corporate was really like–there’s pictures of us being babies on stage, high school, it was really a cool thing. I want to do something to celebrate that and throw some new tracks on there and these handfuls of demos and songs that we had never put out that I’d love to finish that are really cool songs.
I think the biggest problem with Something Corporate was that there were so many people around with so many opinions outside of the band that some of our coolest shit that was really groovy would have to be put on the back burner because we’d been pigeonholed into this Drive-Thru punk rock thing. But I mean I loved everybody there and I loved everything about that. I wouldn’t trade that experience. Sometimes in our own head, I think that we didn’t let our selves be as free, we didn’t let ourselves put out these songs that maybe were a little more challenging and not just straight up the main vein, but were really cool adult communications that got lost along the way.
PW: You have your own label now, don’t you?
AM: Yeah, I do.
PW: Would you put that out through the label?
AM: Yeah, that would be possible, but truthfully we’re under contract with Universal and whatever version Universal decides to be. I mean, we got signed through Drive-Thru through MCA. MCA became Geffen. It’s my understanding that Geffen is now Interscope. So, there’s people in that system that I’m really close with that care a lot about our music that I think when it’s time, they’ll probably be the ones to put out the release.
PW (Josh): That’s the only other question I had.
AM: Well, that’s the most honest I’ve been about it since. So, you have your own little goldmine for you.
PW: Thank you so much.
AM: Yeah it was a pleasure. Great to meet you guys.
PW (Josh): Nice meeting you. I’ve seen you like three or four times and never gotten to meet you.
AM: Yeah, it’s nice to meet people.
PW: I actually got a chance to meet you one other time before, but you were in a sour mood.
PW (Josh): Don’t tell this story. (I have to tell this story, it is a good story.)
AM: No way, what? What happened?
PW: I don’t know if you remember the Lincoln, Neb., show where there was a decibel rule? You couldn’t go over a certain volume.
AM: How could I forget? Did you meet me before or after the show?
PW: It was right after the sound check.
AM: Oh, so you met me at the worst moment.
PW: You were actually really cool about it. Yeah, everybody was just sitting and we were like, “Oh my gosh, he’s not going to want to come over here and talk to us.”
AM: Yeah, with that, it was just about not giving a show. I mean when we do it, it’s for you guys.
PW: I thought it was amazing that you were like, “Fuck it, we’re going to pay the fine.”
AM: Well, you have a business choice. You either cop to the man and give less of a performance or you say, “Fuck the money tonight, let’s put on a show.” You know? It was cool and it was a good lesson to them because they didn’t tell us about that sound thing. You have 2,000 people ready to see a concert and they literally couldn’t. I mean our guitar amp was breaking the decibel. The guitar amp! Without even being in the speakers of the house. It was like, “Whoa.”
PW: I just thought what you did there was amazing.
AM: Yeah, well I’m glad you got to see me in a better mood. I appreciate it. Thanks for doing the interview.
PW: Yes, thank you.
AM: Take care of yourself. Have a good one.
PW: You, too.

Jack’s Mannequin: website | myspace
Something Corporate: website | myspace

Photo Credit: Joshua Neal

Here is the exciting conclusion to my interview with Andrew McMahon, singer/keyboardist of Jack’s Mannequin, previously of Something Corporate. from when he stopped through the KC area as part of the July 2 Warped Tour show. In this part we discuss touring and if his future includes Something Corporate.

If you missed the first part (Read here: Pt. 1), we chatted about his new album with Jack’s Mannequin, The Glass Passenger.

Bethany, PopWreckoning: How is the Warped experience different than other tours?
Andrew McMahon, Jack’s Mannequin: Oh God, it’s just…it couldn’t be more different than anything. It is like this moving festival that takes on this circus sort of thing where people are just…it’s very loose and nomadic and communal.
And the people! You are always saying hi to this person or that person and you’re out there with the fans and people really are integrated into the experience. They’re backstage. They’re loose with security, which is OK, for me. I don’t mind. You end up meeting a lot of people. You can’t go out and meet 10,000 people a day as much as you’d like to, but at Warped the kids make their way back and you can have real conversations with people regularly throughout the day about music and about what people are listening to.
It’s a much more integrated, connected, community kind of experience.
PW: What’s the most extreme, favorite memory of any tour, any show?
AM: Any tour, any show? You’re talking about the last 10 years?
PW: Warped or not. The show you’ll never forget.
AM: You know, I have a couple of these stories that I tell, that I try to tell at different times. You have those moments all the time, that’s why we do it. Because those moments are regular in a lot of ways.
I think that probably my most overwhelming moment that I had on the stage, I had after I had been cognizant. There’s like a year after you’ve been on stage when you were just totally new and you’re just like, “WHOOOOA!,” freaking out.
Eventually, it just settles down and you learn how to be a performer and you learn how to pull it around on your bad nights, you know what I mean? So in that period of time when I was with Something Corporate, we did a show at the Astoria in London and it was such a big deal because we were an American band. We never had hits — to this day I’ve never had a hit — but we made connections. And that was a really cool thing because it was a sold out show, 2,500 people, sold out in like a day, and it’s in London.
So we’re from California and we’re in London; people are losing their mind. We go out and we open, I think with “Konstantine.” I think it was a slow song. I just remember sitting there and having one of those out of body experiences where it was just like, almost like the movie where the fucking crane of the cameras is circling the stage. You’re just out of body.
I’m sitting there at the piano, I’m totally numb, watching this crowd, this huge 2,500 people, and I’m like 19 or 20 years old, playing. We’re opening with this most soulful, quiet moment that you wouldn’t want to open a set with because people like to freak out, but it’s like pin drop. But that was just from sitting in my chair. It wasn’t like anything amazing happened other than just feeling good, you know?
PW: That’s a cool story. Now, Warped is all about discovering new artists. Have you made any new discoveries being on Warped?
AM: You know, I mean to be honest, I got here yesterday. So, it’s been this period of acclamation and whatever. I did get to see my first Paramore set, a band that I’m about to go on tour with right after this. We all leave this and jump on tour together, so I got to see her, see Hayley and the band play for the first time and I was really fucking psyched.
It’s funny. I have the kind of fans who will be questioning if anything is too commercial, but I intentionally make commercial music. I like commercial. I make pop music. I’m into it. I grew up on the radio, even though I haven’t had anything there. I remember when I first heard one of those songs. I really dug it, but I have the fans who would be like, “The MTV thing and blah blah blah,” and I’m like, “Oh. P.S. I would like to be on MTV.” Her band is really good and it was cool to see that today. I’m psyched to go out on tour with them now. I saw them really kick out a sweet show.
PW: Well that’s awesome. [looks to Josh] Do you have any questions, Josh?
AM: Oh, I’m Andrew by the way (like he needs an introduction)
PopWreckoning, Josh: I’m Josh. I’m the editor. Is Something Corporate is completely done?
AM:I wouldn’t say completely, no. The thing about Something Corporate is, well, it’s hard to explain how each one of us has our own lives and the people in our lives. That is me and Something Corporate. We have our own lives and how we interact.
They’re really dear friends of mine. We see each other all the time and talk all the time. There’s definitely always discussions of when are we going to put something together. And when I say put something together, I don’t envision for me personally, that we’re going to come back and make a new full length record. At least not any time soon. And go on a world tour and be out for a year working on a Something Corporate record.
That’s like the dudes and friends I grew up with in high school and we had this amazing experience and this huge connectivity on stage and it was undeniable. It was really special, something I’ve never experienced on stage. But we were also all 16, 17 years old and as you grow up, you get older and you start liking different things and you start going different directions. It just made sense for me and everybody’s got their own things that they’re doing.
It’s like we’ll do something because love each other, we respect our fan base and we know that we have the ability to really make cool stuff together. There’s all these songs that never really got to see the light of the day that I would love to do a huge package of. And music, there’s a whole different world of music now.
Commerce and music are two totally different things. It’s not like you make a CD and it sells. So, I kind of believe in this idea of making other things that sell. Like if we collected all these amazing b-sides that we’ve done that nobody’s heard or stuff that’s been kind of scattered. “Konstantine” was never on a fucking record. It was never on a record. That song has its own area code and it has never been on a record. So to find a home for this and something that really shows people what the experience of being in Something Corporate was really like–there’s pictures of us being babies on stage, high school, it was really a cool thing. I want to do something to celebrate that and throw some new tracks on there and these handfuls of demos and songs that we had never put out that I’d love to finish that are really cool songs.
I think the biggest problem with Something Corporate was that there were so many people around with so many opinions outside of the band that some of our coolest shit that was really groovy would have to be put on the back burner because we’d been pigeonholed into this Drive-Thru punk rock thing. But I mean I loved everybody there and I loved everything about that. I wouldn’t trade that experience. Sometimes in our own head, I think that we didn’t let our selves be as free, we didn’t let ourselves put out these songs that maybe were a little more challenging and not just straight up the main vein, but were really cool adult communications that got lost along the way.
PW: You have your own label now, don’t you?
AM: Yeah, I do.
PW: Would you put that out through the label?
AM: Yeah, that would be possible, but truthfully we’re under contract with Universal and whatever version Universal decides to be. I mean, we got signed through Drive-Thru through MCA. MCA became Geffen. It’s my understanding that Geffen is now Interscope. So, there’s people in that system that I’m really close with that care a lot about our music that I think when it’s time, they’ll probably be the ones to put out the release.
PW (Josh): That’s the only other question I had.
AM: Well, that’s the most honest I’ve been about it since. So, you have your own little goldmine for you.
PW: Thank you so much.
AM: Yeah it was a pleasure. Great to meet you guys.
PW (Josh): Nice meeting you. I’ve seen you like three or four times and never gotten to meet you.
AM: Yeah, it’s nice to meet people.
PW: I actually got a chance to meet you one other time before, but you were in a sour mood.
PW (Josh): Don’t tell this story. (I have to tell this story, it is a good story.)
AM: No way, what? What happened?
PW: I don’t know if you remember the Lincoln, Neb., show where there was a decibel rule? You couldn’t go over a certain volume.
AM: How could I forget? Did you meet me before or after the show?
PW: It was right after the sound check.
AM: Oh, so you met me at the worst moment.
PW: You were actually really cool about it. Yeah, everybody was just sitting and we were like, “Oh my gosh, he’s not going to want to come over here and talk to us.”
AM: Yeah, with that, it was just about not giving a show. I mean when we do it, it’s for you guys.
PW: I thought it was amazing that you were like, “Fuck it, we’re going to pay the fine.”
AM: Well, you have a business choice. You either cop to the man and give less of a performance or you say, “Fuck the money tonight, let’s put on a show.” You know? It was cool and it was a good lesson to them because they didn’t tell us about that sound thing. You have 2,000 people ready to see a concert and they literally couldn’t. I mean our guitar amp was breaking the decibel. The guitar amp! Without even being in the speakers of the house. It was like, “Whoa.”
PW: I just thought what you did there was amazing.
AM: Yeah, well I’m glad you got to see me in a better mood. I appreciate it. Thanks for doing the interview.
PW: Yes, thank you.
AM: Take care of yourself. Have a good one.
PW: You, too.

Jack’s Mannequin: website | myspace
Something Corporate: website | myspace

Photo Credit: Joshua Neal

Surely you didn’t think we were done posting Warped Tour interviews after just two? Below is another one that Bethany did, this time with singer Travis Clark of indie power pop group We The Kings:

Bethany, Popwreckoning: Hi, my name is Bethany, I’m with PopWreckoning.
Travis Clark, We The Kings:Travis. Very nice to meet you. Wait, PopRockoning?
PW: No, Pop-Wreck-oning.
TC: Oh, I was thinking like Pop. Pop Rocks. Popwreckoning.
PW: Yep, Popwreckoning.com. It’s a webzine. Sorry, I’m not as well-prepped for this as usual, this was kind of a last minute set up.
(It seriously was, I’m going into this interview completely cold-no research, no pre-written questions, nada. The people that were supposed to interview him didn’t show, so the coordinator asked if I could to an interview.)
TC: That’s fine.
PW: You guys were offered on iTunes as one of the free downloads and that kind of got you some attention on “Check Yes Juliet.” How did that affect you?
TC: Yeah, it was really weird because we had the CD and the kids who wanted had already gone out and got it. Then we had the single of the week and all of a sudden, the sales from the CD and especially that song were going up. But it wasn’t really sales on that song, but it looked like it we were doing really good, but then people kept getting it after it was taken off and it was a huge success. It was a song that we wanted to do a video for. It wasn’t like an amazing decision, but that we were fortunate enough to get that slot.
PW: And that’s your current single now. What were some of the inspirations for the songs on the album?
TC: Definitely our friends and family, the city that we grew up in. It is kind of like a love record, but it’s like uplifting and kind of puts a smile on your face.
PW: I know you guys are from Florida, but what city?
TC: We’re from Bradenton, Florida like right on the beach on the west coast, just south of Tampa. When we were writing, like obviously there’s so much stuff, so much depressing stuff going on like on the news, that we just wanted to write on the opposite spectrum and write a real fun and happy record. So when you look at it is just like our friends and family and that relationship and stuff like that.
PW: How has S-Curve…you are signed to S-Curve, right? How has S-Curve been?
TC: It’s awesome. We had offers from a couple different record labels and they were the ones who seemed like they cared about us and who we were as people, not just as a band. The other labels were extremely nice, but I kind of got the vibe that possibly we’d be just another CD on the shelf rather than a full focus. I don’t know, it’s been a really good decision. We’d never take it back, you know, being eight months into it.
PW: This was your first debut, your first full-length album. Have you started working on the second album?
TC: Yeah, we have. I have like 16 to 17 songs. No, I love writing. So like immediately when we were out of the studio for the first record, I started writing, you know, it’s something that you don’t want to stop. You always have more stuff, more stuff, more stuff, and you’re just like, “Ah someday I’ll use it.”
I kept writing and now I have 16. I think one of the best parts about being in the music industry is that kids are developing ADD quicker, so they get sick of records very quick. It gives us the opportunity to put out another record, more songs and CDs. I think that some time next year, we’ll actually start recording it and maybe put it out the year after. I don’t know.
PW: How do you guys plan to avoid the dreaded sophomore slump?
TC: I don’t know. We’re going to keep doing the same thing. I mean with the songs that we’re playing now, a lot of people ask if we get sick of them. I don’t know, it’s just like a more entertaining thing, like we play a show and the kids hear the songs and it’s about entertaining them. It will be entertaining to play a show and throw some new stuff in: feel out each song and do each set differently. I would say we’re not dreading the sophomore slump. We’re just going to keep writing and doing things for the right reason. If it is a sophomore slump than it is, but I don’t think that it will be.
PW: A lot of bands also try to change their style a little bit for the next album are you going to stick with what’s working?
TC: The stuff that we have, a lot of people say you mature and stuff, and I don’t think that is the right answer. To be honest, we’re just friends playing in a band. None of us are really that good at our instruments so maybe we’ll make it a little more musical, if that makes sense. But I think we’re going to do a pretty big CD as far as like song-wise. Instead of the typical 10 songs, do like 15 or something crazy. I don’t know. I’d love to have like a weird song on the record.
PW: Weird?
TC: Weird like you know you’re writing and this doesn’t fit at all, but it’s awesome. That type deal. I guess people can look forward to that.
PW: Ok. How has Warped differed from other tours that you’ve done and in a good or a bad way?
TC: I think it’s differed amazingly. As a singer, you don’t know what time you play every day, so you have to be vocally ready every hour. From 9 a.m. when you wake up to whenever. You could go on in like an hour. It’s nice. And then also, there are so many of our friends’ bands and bands that we’ve looked up to and we’ve been inspired by that we get to meet.
Like when sitting in the catering line or going on stage next, it is really like a big band reunion. I like it better than most tours because there’s more, there’s never really a dull moment: BBQ every night and tons of kids that you could sit at your merch table the whole time and never have a dull moment without kids being there.
It’s just awesome.
PW: What are some of the bands that you’ve met or would recommend?
TC: We started playing soccer with some of the guys from Story of the Year, which is exciting because we’ve looked up to them and their stage presence. They’re just a stunning band. Our friends in The Academy Is, Gym Class Heroes and Cobra Starship, they’re on the tour and other bands like that.
I know Tom DeLonge is here, I know it’s not Blink, but Angels and Airwaves. But when we were all growing up, we were huge Blink 182 fans, so it is kind of weird seeing him around and being on the same tour as every one. I know we’re not on the same level as band, but it is kind of cool to put yourself in the same category. And then Paramore, we’ve had a ton of fun with them and they’re really cool.
PW: Awesome. Last question: what’s playing on your iPod right now?
TC: Tha Carter III. Lil Wayne. He just put out a CD and it sold over a million copies in a week, which is pretty amazing. But it is awesome. It’s like really good. That, Young Love, is another one. He’s like an indie artist, he’s like a spawn off the band the Recover. Other than that it’s just a lot of my demos. They make it on the iPod.
PW: Cool. Well, thank-you very much. It was nice meeting you.
TC: Thank-you very much.

We The Kings: myspace

Congratulations to Karin Aaberg, winner of the Paramore Prize Pack!

She correctly answered “What nickname did John Mayer (a fan of Paramore) recently bestow upon Paramore front woman Hayley Williams?”

Answer: The Great Orange Hope.

Karin’s Prize Pack includes:
01. a copy of Paramore’s latest album Riot
02. a Paramore button
03. (2) Unilever products (Dove shampoo & body wash)

Paramore: website | myspace | soundcheck

Since we’re huge fans of giving stuff away — and we know you’re big fans of winning things — we’ve got a Paramore prize pack to give away in conjunction with their Soundcheck feature sponsored by Unilever!

The Paramore Prize Pack includes:
01. a copy of Paramore’s latest album Riot
02. a Paramore button
03. (2) Unilever products (Axe body spray & body wash for dudes or Dove shampoo & body wash for the ladies

To win, email the answer to this question to Jessica:

What nickname did John Mayer (a fan of Paramore) recently bestow upon Paramore front woman Hayley Williams?

This contest is now over.

(hint: you can find the answer on Soundcheck! We’d never ask you to read Mayer’s blog. Or listen to his music. Especially the latter.

Paramore: website | myspace | soundcheck

Soundcheck is an original musical endeavor sponsored by the folks at Unilever, best known for lots of those shower products that get you so fresh so clean. Soundcheck brings you live footage with great musicians such as the current featured band Paramore. Check it out here.

The Tennessee based band features lead vocalist and keyboardist Hayley Williams, lead guitarist Josh Farro, bassist Jeremy Davis and drummer Zac Farro. You can check out live performances and an interview with this Fueled By Ramen wonderband. There is also info about the show featured, the band, a song by song review of the performance and photos from the show.

Paramore: website | myspace | souncheck
Soundcheck: website