Rolling Stone Interview May 3rd, 2008

By Rolling Stone
Source

Best part of playing a parking lot:
Andrew McMahon: It's beautiful [laughs]. If it's filled with 40,000 people, then it's beautiful.

Best set seen so far:
Say Anything. I've been a fan of Max's for a really long time and it was cool to see them play last night. When Max was in high school I was recording Leaving Through the Window [with first band Something Corporate] and I got a copy of his demos and flipped over them so he came and hung out with us in the studio a few times. I've always kept tabs on him since, and he played his first couple of shows opening for SoCo back when we were all kids. I think he's one of the better young songwriters out today.

Bamboozle vs. Warped Tour:
It's sort of the same thing, isn't it? I bet some kid is going to slap me in the face for saying that, but I find the same sense of camaraderie with the other bands and the festival environment ... and, let's be honest, it's the same bands, but I like both events.

What's it like being a veteran out here?
Something Corporate was always the odd man out on the Warped Tour, but we did well. But it was always like, what are we doing? In a strange way, the scene got shaped by bands like ours who started favoring the the pop side and not the punk side. I think you see a shift, not to give myself credit, but bands started moving collectively in that direction. So now it's a little more similar to what I've historically done. But yeah to be the older dude at the gig is a funny thing for me when I've always classically been the youngest guy at the gig: I was doing this when I was 16. I'm really pleased with the way things have been developing. I think gradually a scene that has maybe been discounted as sophomoric or young is slowly evolving into more credible rock & roll, which I think is a big step.