EastScene Interview - July 20th, 2008

By Brennan Schnell
Source

Brennan Schnell: I’ll admit, I’m a little nervous.

Andrew McMahon: No, don’t be nervous.

BS: No man, it’s so hard because like, my whole life, like, I’ve looked up to you so much and anytime that I or anyone I know go through hard times we just compare it to your situation and everything that you’ve been through, everything that you’ve accomplished and it’s just like, wow.

AM: It’s all relative though, it’s all relative. I mean, even now, I still have the same day to day stuff. It’s like, wait a minute. You’ve got to be honking your horn. We all ain’t perfect, I promise you.

BS: I know, but…

AM: I appreciate that, thanks.

BS: So how’s the tour going? Actually, how did it go: today’s the last day.

AM: It was awesome! It’s a lot of work. Anybody that tells you that the Vans Warped Tour isn’t hard is lying. Thing is, you’re running around a lot, it’s hot all day long, like, as a singer, it’s stuff you’re not usually accustomed to. But that’s it, it’s been great. We’ve seen so many friends out here; we get on this tour with a lot of bands that we respect, that we get to hang out with every night.

BS: Anyone in particular?

AM: Anberlin guys, The Academy Is… guys are some of out best friends in the world. We’ve been hanging out since they’ve come out on the road with us. There are tons of bands that we’ve been hanging with; it’s like a constant rotating party.

BS: Now I’ve got a question for you. The last time I’ve seen you play was in Montreal with The Red West a couple years ago?

AM: Oh shit.

BS: That was the last time you were here.

AM: Whistling Long time ago.

BS: Why did it take so long? You guys went through Toronto; I know it’s a little harder; you gotta come out of the way.

AM: Truthfully, any answers that were like, you know, we would have come up. But things not shaking out the way they were supposed to shake out on the last record to be able to properly tour. Trust me, we were only able to tour around the record, then get back in and make a new record it. It was just; we never built it in. And way back, when you saw us with The Red West playing it was in front of a couple, three hundred people, at that even. So I think, truthfully, you looked at us the way we treat a lot of Jack’s Mannequin and the artists really didn’t do well. So we’re going to do Paramore. Starting the next month, we’ll be out with Paramore at the Metropolis, we’re going to play second, and then hopefully we’ll come back and headline.

BS: In August?

AM: Yeah.

BS: So on to the new record…I’ve seen the albums song list and everything for the new record. There’s some videos on Youtube, and clips of people recording stuff. It sounds pretty good from what I make of it, but…

AM: Yeah, I know, it’s Youtube. You can’t judge pretty much off of. First of all, the performance of the band is the first time performing them on stage, of course. They’re not like the best performances, I’m sure. And on top of that, it’s like you’re listening to the reverb.

BS: And in the back there’s someone yelling.

AM: Yeah, so it is what it is. I mean, I appreciate the fact that people care enough to actually populate that material. But yeah, I’m excited. I think it’s a great record. I think it’s an adventure, if nothing else. We definitely pulled a lot of different types of sounds and it’s, you know, a wide variety of styles and rhythms and approach from the first record.

BS: So the main difference between the first album and this album would be?

AM: Well, The first album, Everything In Transit, was really intentionally like a type, pop-punk record. I mean, that’s where we were going. Keep it fun. It was kind of a shitty year when I was recording. I was trying to see the bright side. Listening to The Beach Boys and I wanted to be this thing…you know, this record, to be devoid of that element. It was like, lets explore some other vehicles for songs, you know what I mean? There are more slow songs on this record that our record before. We definitely take our time on this record and it’s longer by 20 minutes. It’s almost 60 minutes long, you know, so. It’s intended to be like, that record you hear and you pick out your favorite 6 songs, for like 2 months, and then slowly but surely, the other ones start creeping up and maybe, by the end of the year, the second half of the record that’s what gets, know what I mean? I feel like it’s that kind of a record.

BS: So were there a lot of tracks maybe that didn’t make the cut?

AM: Yeah, but I’m going to put them all out. There’s like, 14 tracks on the record, and we’ll find various different vehicles to get the various b-sides out. There’s like 6 or 7 b-sides as well.

BS: Any vinyls or anything coming out?

AM: Probably. We’re doing a double vinyl that will be released that you’ll be able to order online. That’ll come out in a couple of weeks, I think. Uh, we’re doing digital directly of the Jack’s Mannequin website. You can download that and a get a copy of a big liner booklet with heavy cards and liner notes. We’re doing tons of stuff like that. And we’re going to put out a 7”, which is a song experiment I did with Doris Day, which is 2 songs with the same hook but two totally different songs. So there’s a lot of shit we’re doing like that.

BS: As a band, or as an individual musician, name influences that you have.

AM: For me, like, Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers were huge for me on this record. The Beatles. I mean like, current stuff, Tegan & Sara, their last record, The Pawn, I was really into. Even things like old REM, U2. I’m sorta like listening to classic rock.

BS: What would be on your ipod/mp3 player right now?

AM: I just got that new Steel Train record, I’ve been rocking out. Teagan&Sara are pretty good. We’re about to go on tour with Paramore so I’ve been checking them out. But then you’ll find some old Bob Marley and Jimmy Eat World.

BS: From everything that you’ve been through in the past 5 years, what’s the one thing you’ve taken from that as a learning experience?

AM: If I’ve learned anything over the past 5 years, it’s that you do not know where you’re going to be tomorrow. You have to make decisions based on that; it’s almost pointless. So, you know, whether I learned, I think I’m pretty aware, pretty conscious of that point to live in the moment. It’s a hard lesson, but it’s like, I’m trying to learn to quiet my mind down, know what I mean?

BS: That’s true!

AM: You just start overanalysing things; sometimes you just don’t let things be.

BS: On that note: downtime! When you have 5 minutes…if you even have 5 minutes, what do you like to do?

AM: Be at the water, any water. I like to be anywhere near the water, you know, it’s just where I find peace, next to the ocean.

BS: long time ago, a while back, I’d seen a video of you when you were young, long hair, rocking out on a piano. Ever since then, did you know that this was what you wanted to do, where you wanted to go?

AM: Yeah man, I’ve known since I was nine. It’s the only thing I tried to do, really, since I was not even 10 years old, when I played my first song at the piano. And that was it, done. I had figured it out. I wasn’t doing anything else. Not to say that it hasn’t been hard, honestly, but I think I’ve always known.

BS: Was there anybody, family or friends, who might have, when you were young that put a piano in front of you and went ‘here, learn’?

AM: My parents had a piano in the house. There was a point where they tried to get us to take piano lessons but it didn’t really take, you know. And then my uncle, my mom’s brother, passed away, and it was a weird. Just a couple of weeks after that happened, I learned the chords to a Jerry Lee Lewis song that my dad taught me how to play. I sat down at the piano and started playing it and that’s how it began. I started writing my first song. But my parents were always really supportive. I said I wanted to do demos, and I was 11 years old, and they would pay to let me record a demo, pay for the studio. But, you know, like, I think they knew what it meant. I don’t know, some parents are like, that’s not the way. But I think they just knew how inspired I was, how happy I was doing it that they just always were there.

BS: Well you didn’t need those lessons, that’s for sure!

AM: Oh, I definitely went on to take lessons, for sure. I actually asked them for lessons; my parents said they’d pay for lessons for 3 years. I learned classical, they hired people that did blues, jazz and things like that over the years. They’ve been huge champions of mine, my folks.

BS: That’s all I’ve got for you.

AM: Thanks, I appreciate it Brennan.

BS: Thanks man.