This interview with Andrew McMahon is from May 20, 2005. Andrew has recently been diagnosed with acute lymphatic leukemia. I would just like to thank everyone who has been supporting Andrew during this difficult time, and I hope you enjoy our chat.

Laura: You collaborated with producer Jim Wirt for Jacks Mannequin’s debut CD, “Everything in Transit”. Were you hesitant to work with Wirt due to the fact that he had worked on past Something Corporate albums? Did you fear the results of your solo effort would be strikingly similar to Something Corporate?

Andrew: Not really. When I made the record I wasn’t trying to be different, or the same. I didn’t plan on making this record and getting Jim to produce it. Jim and I have always collaborated, we’ve always worked together, and have a great time. The results are always good. We’ve really reached an amazing point in our collaboration...

Laura: You’ve reached a plateau?

Andrew: No, not at all. It has really accelerated, and kept going. Him and I have gotten to a place where we work amazingly together. I was home, and I was writing, I had some money in the bank, and I put some songs down…

Laura: And you felt that confident working with him.

Andrew: Yeah. The way we recorded these songs…we would record like a song a day. We eventually went back and retooled things, but I think because of that, it was very natural…it was organic. I wasn’t trying to make a record, I was just getting some songs out, and Jim’s my man for that. Really, truth be told, the result of him and I collaborating evolved quite a bit from the Something Corporate songs. We were willing to take risks that maybe we wouldn’t have on a Something Corporate album, just because we were just having fun.

Laura: You sport a recognizable tattoo of your personal mantra, “Be Positive”. Your music however, starkly contrasts this philosophy. Your lyrics are predominantly of somber and despondent nature. Do you use your music in a therapeutic manner, as a means to releasing the negative turmoil within your life?

Andrew: Yeah, absolutely. But I think this record is inherently positive, personally. I feel like all the songs are really hopeful. They definitely deal with weightier issues, but in most of the songs, except for maybe the darker moments of the record, it’s all contrasted. The darker stuff is really contrasted with sunnier themes. Granted, North was a much darker record, in a much darker time, but that was before I got this tattoo! I would argue that this record is a really positive and hopeful record. It’s about progress, and moving forward….things being in constant motion, and that being a positive thing. I definitely use music to help me get through harder times, and that’s a really positive thing.

Laura: Tommy Lee lent his drumming in the CD, which left many of your fans dumbfounded. Lee’s public image is one composed of recklessness and negative media attention, whereas you are associated with wholesomeness. Are you both poorly represented by your reputations, or is one of you hiding behind a façade? Was the studio an atmosphere characterized by raunchy antics, professionalism, or a combination of the two?

Andrew: I mean, we’re just people living. When it gets down to the bottom, and people reduce whatever it is that you do, to how you’re portrayed, people miss a lot of what’s there…and the same is true of Tommy, and the same is true of me. I think both of us are really dynamic people and have a lot to offer that people don’t know exists. Maybe me on a side that isn’t as wholesome, or for him, a side that is more wholesome. I would argue that we’re both really well rounded people, who like to have a good time. At the core of it, we both love to make music. Though a lot of people were confused by our collaboration, confused by the public images, whereas if you saw the two of us in a room, working, it could make more sense. I love Tommy, for the record He may not be as wholesome of a person as some may argue, but he is one of the sweetest people that I have met in my life. He’s one of the genuine, honest, and trust worthy cool guys that I’ve ever come across. He’s often misrepresented. Lately, he’s been a media darling. I think people are realizing more and more, that is a very good guy, a wonderful dad to his kids, and …

Laura: He’s being portrayed more accurately now?

Andrew: I think so. He’s getting there.

Laura: Jack’s Mannequin is a story of sorts, the tale of your summer. You plan to include illustrations in the CD jacket, and created a chronological track listing. If you adapted Everything in Transit into novel form, what would the book jacket read? How would you draw the interest of potential readers?

Andrew: Ugh! People take hours trying to think of something like that! There’s a lot of levels to the story. Ultimately, it’s a story about coming home, and having home be way different than I had remembered it. It was slightly alienating, but at the same time, motivating me to make a lot of changes in my life. Maybe not necessarily permanent changes, but to shake it up enough, to find out what was at the core of it, and the core of myself, that maybe I hadn’t been as honest with. After a few years of touring, and being in the company of so many people, and not really having too many moments by myself to understand who I was. By virtue of abandoning a lot of people, and things, that I had normally been so attached to. It gave me a chance to find out, in my own head, what it was that made me tick. I haven’t really necessarily figured that out completely, but this record has largely been about that process.

Laura: Exploring...

Andrew: Exploring and being okay with myself, and not having to make excuses for who I am, and accepting who I am. I tried to use this record as a way to further illustrate it, mainly to myself, but obviously the result will be people will learn more about me. Maybe more than I want….already more than I want…, but that’s okay.

Laura: People are ceaselessly anxious to voice their opinion, regardless of whether it is desired or not. What is the most atrocious advice anyone has ever offered you, professional or otherwise?

Andrew: I remember a guy who works at the booking agency that books my band….When we started Something Corporate, he tried to convince my management, that it was a ridiculous idea that I ever wear sandals on stage. He said no rock star could ever have sandals on, so I told him to fuck himself. I don’t know if that had any professional bearing at all, but…

Laura: Well you started a trend. People were you for Halloween.

Andrew: Yeah, I’ve seen some pictures. I think the only bad advice I get is anything that leads me away from being natural, and organic. What people don’t understand is, I would love to be as successful as I could possibly be. I would love to sell as many records as the biggest band in the world. But, I think whenever advice intentionally steers you away from what feels right to you; I think that’s the worst advice. I am not going to do these things on anybody else’s terms. I think that’s something that distinguishes me from people I’ve seen in the business that get wrapped up, and quickly misled. Often times you stop believing yourself, when you stop making good art.

Laura: Your music often references God, but you approach the topic ambiguously. For example, “Oh my God this hurts like hell”. Something Corporate’s frolicking 21 and Invincible demonstrates a yearning to affiliate yourself with a religion by stating, “Some days go by, I wish I was famous, or maybe religious, so I could go to heaven just like you.” A Buddha statue has recently been spotted atop your piano. Will you ever examine your faith using more overt techniques in song form, or do you consider it too controversial of a subject?

Andrew: No, I’m a very very spiritual person.

Laura: More spiritual than religious?

Andrew: Absolutely, yes. I’m not a religious person. I believe to each their own, I have no problem with people who have faith. I think it’s a personal decision, and a decision that everybody has to make on their own.

Laura: I think that’s a problem that many religious people face….distinguishing between a personal choice, and forcing other people…

Andrew: I think it’s also a problem that a lot of nonreligious people face too, myself included. It becomes easy to condemn people for believing in religion. I’m not necessarily Atheist. I don’t believe in the God that people talk about in religion, but, I believe that everything is centered at a core. I believe that the universe interacts in mysterious and awesome ways. That it relies upon significant energy and the energy that people put into their lives, depending on how positive they choose to enforce their interactions with other people. Your relations with the world are, to me, the most godly thing that exists. How you choose to interact with other people, and portray yourself. Over the past years, I’ve had a huge problem with God. I was raised Catholic and went the opposite direction.

Laura: I just interviewed Straylight Run, and John Nolan had a good quote. He said he was disillusioned with religion, but disillusioned by a life without religion.

Andrew: For me, I’m not disillusioned by it. I’ve finally reached a place where I understand my opinion on it. Everyone’s got an opinion on it, and for me, I definitely subscribe more to a lot of the eastern philosophies I study. I believe significantly that things are definitely interconnected. I think your plan will be based on how you choose to perceive, and interpret the world. What you do with your decisions…

Laura: I’m assuming you mean Buddhism.

Andrew: No, the Buddha thing, truth be told, as a figure, … I don’t want to mislead people, I’m not a Buddhist. I enjoy studying that philosophy, it’s brilliant, but I more believe in a Taoist perspective of things. More than anything, the Buddha as a symbol, represents peace, and slowing yourself down. On stage, I can really lose my train of thought, or get carried away. It helps me realize where I am, and keeps me in the present moment. After playing so many shows, it’s easy to focus on the kid in the front row, instead of where you are in the lyric, and are you communicating that to people. That’s why I put the Buddha up there, for those moments where I was straying, and my mind was racing, to help ground me.

Laura: You have openly expressed disdain for Something Corporate’s current label, Geffen. Are you concerned that voicing your disapproval of the company will result in penalties of any sort? Has Maverick been treating Jacks Mannequin well?

Andrew: I hope it’s not misconstrued, because there are a lot of wonderful people who work at Geffen, who have done wonderful things for myself, and my band. Without the major labels that we’ve been affiliated with, we would be a much smaller band. That being said, I feel like there are people in prominent positions at the label, who are good people, and have been good to me as a person, maybe don’t understand Something Corporate. Everybody has invested in the band, and believed in the band, but with a lack of understanding about what we are, and the right way to market us. The leadership at the top has a general misunderstanding of what we do, and who it is that listens to us. I don’t necessarily blame that for us, we were an inherited band. Geffen didn’t sign Something Corporate, MCA did. MCA tried hard to break us, but wasn’t a strong enough label to do so. Geffen is a strong enough label, but, inherited us, and understood what we had accomplished. They tried to recreate it, but didn’t try to grow beyond it. I don’t dislike Geffen, but I felt it was time to shake it up, and go someplace where I was wanted. Maverick has been incredible. I don’t think we will start the next Something Corporate album until Geffen is understanding what we are, and what we are trying to accomplish. I don’t see it as being a detriment. A lot of the people at the label understand what I’m talking about when I express unhappy feelings, and I think they understand, and hopefully, will be reeducated after this album, about the music I’m making, and my band is making.

Laura: Following the cut and dye job on your hair, message boards were ablaze with discussion. One fan went as far to say something to the extent of, “He’s dying his hair black just to be like all the other emo boys, and changing to be like everyone else”. Is it irritating to be scrutinized for factors that have no relevance to your actual job of creating music?

Andrew: I don’t read that shit. I understand why it happens, it is totally human nature for people who like music and art, to analyze things, as closely as humanly possible. At the same time, like any other person on the earth, I make decisions about my personal life, my appearance, and my choices. The cut and dye job was a long and evolving process. It was rooted when I came home from a tour, and decided that it was time I shave my life, and I shaved my head. No one really saw me, but I had a huge beard. I came home and decided it was time to reevaluate things, and the hair was the first thing to go. I had spent three years not being able to see past my eyes. It was a conversation that myself, and my girlfriend at the time had had. She had dyed her hair blonde during the spring and summer months, and when winter came, we were both going to dye our hair dark. Granted, we separated before that time came, but we both ended up dark. It has nothing to do with trying to be like anyone else. I wanted to see something different when I looked in the mirror, because I felt like I was becoming a new person. It helped me distinguish myself, from another self that I was trying to grow beyond.

Laura: The lyrical content of Jack’s Mannequin is a very intimate account of a specific period in your life. Obscenities occur more frequently, and sex and drugs are discussed more openly.

Andrew: That’s not true! There’s just as many curse words in Leaving through the Window as Everything in Transit.

Laura: You counted?!

Andrew: There’s like three swear words in the whole thing! Sex and drugs are definitely a lot more a part of this record. The fact of the matter is, when I wrote a lot of the previous records, I was young, I wasn’t exposed to those elements of life. I would say without question, I am much more exposed to those elements. I know people are concerned, I’ve heard this, to which I can say…it’s your choice to be concerned. I would rather people concern themselves with the art that I’m making…

Laura: And their own issues.

Andrew: And worry about their own issues…but, I appreciate it. I think it’s sweet that people would read so closely into certain songs, and to make themselves nervous. People have to realize that I tend to write about darker things. I tend to write about things that I struggle with, and capture moments that are thought provoking, and those are thought provoking moments. I’ve missed sex, drugs, and rock n roll as a part of rock music. I think that there was a day when music was dangerous, and exciting, when it wasn’t safe, when it wasn’t all about girls, or your parents, or your home life, it was about real life issues. I’m ready and willing to dive in there with my fucking body, and see what happens.

Laura: It feels as though you had more creative control, and were spared the misfortune of dealing with censorship. Were you at all cautious about being too blatant in your storytelling tactics and alienating fans of SoCo?

Andrew: Apparently not! My only concern with this record was to be honest with myself.

Laura: And everything else would just fall into place?

Andrew: Or not. If this is a pop record, I definitely hope that the masses will love it, and gravitate towards it. I’ve always been an honest writer, and nothing has changed. This is the most honest and real thing I have done. I think there were a lot of things in the early Something Corporate days that I was very ambiguous about. In a lot of ways, I’m writing about the exact same issues as in Something Corporate, but being more straightforward about it. I finally sat back and said, “Who am I hiding from? Why am I hiding from them?” For the purposes of making an honest record, I removed myself from those relationships, and went for it. I didn’t want to be ambiguous; I wanted people, at varying levels of artistic understanding, to get what this record was about. It wouldn’t do it justice to be hiding behind tons of symbolism that didn’t make sense to people. I wanted to make a record that was pointed, and someone listening to it could dive in, and wrap their head around it. There’s stuff that people aren’t used to me saying so openly, but I have a hard time feeling that that’s a fault. I feel quite the contrary. I feel like my honesty with myself, and my music, it at an all time high, regardless of the fact that there may be some morals in kids…

Laura: That don’t coincide…

Andrew: Yeah. That it’s not a part of their life. But, I’m writing about my life, not theirs.

Laura: What is the most beautiful and inspiring thing you have heard or witnessed in the past week, and what was the bleakest?

Andrew: The other night in a hotel in Tucson, at the beginning of a very insane party evening, I sat in a room with Bob and Jay. We listened to …I don’t know what the piece was, but we listened to Beethoven for twenty to thirty minutes. Hands down, aside from this week alone, it’s probably one of the most amazing and inspiring moments of my life.

Laura: At an odd time, too.

Andrew: Well the odd time played into it, for certain. I was having a rough moment, and Bob told me to check it out. He sensed that I was really upset, and he put it on. It changed the entire course of my night. I don’t listen to a lot of classical music. I study classical music, but it’s not something that I’d listen to recreationally. I was lying down, and it was this piece about somebody’s passing. I think it was Beethoven kind of going through the movement, but the result being this transcendence towards it. I really related to it through the past year. I sat there and the chords changed so slowly. I was getting out of breath. It was like, oh my God, you heard it just rising and swelling, getting bigger and bigger, until it hit this movement where, oh my God, he’s there, and it’s okay. Everything was fine, and I literally sat there thanking Bob all night. Usually that question I would never be able to answer, but it was amazing. I haven’t really been having bleak moments. I definitely have my shifty, moody, times …where I don’t feel right. We were supposed to finish the record two days ago. I was in New York City to master it and a bunch of things went wrong, such has been the story of this record. It’s been incredibly demanding, and inspiring. The music has come so easy and naturally, but planning things around this record has taken so much time. Three of the reels had been misdirected to Los Angeles. I’ve been saying this record is done once a month since September and I just can’t stop writing for it. It keeps evolving. That was probably my hardest moment, I have anxiety over that, but it’s getting there.

Laura: Describe a very traumatic and horrifying experience in your childhood that devastated you at the time, but provides comic relief in the present?

Andrew: It’s the story that I tell all the time! Before I turned five, there were all these advertisements for Transformer clothing. The ads showed kids going to their rooms, putting on the clothes, and when they came out wearing them, they were transformers.

Laura: This isn’t horrifying!

Andrew: It is horrifying. It’s all I asked for for my birthday. All I wanted was to be a transformer.

Laura: Were they costly?

Andrew: I don’t know, I was a kid! I literally didn’t get anything else for my birthday. All I wanted was this entire line of clothes so I could be a transformer everyday for the rest of my life.

Laura: The entire line of clothes?!

Andrew: Yep, that’s what I got. Everybody who knew me, I told them that it was the only thing I wanted. I got boxes upon boxes of the transformer line of clothing. I literally ran to the bathroom after opening the first box, threw the clothes on, and I walked out the door…expecting that everyone would see me as a transformer, and ….I was not a transformer. That was devastating.

Laura: Are Jacks Mannequin and Something Corporate fans generally the same age, personality type, etc.?

Andrew: It’s hard to say. Jack’s Mannequin is generally made up of people who found it through Something Corporate message boards and things of that nature. I don’t think we have gotten to the phase where we’re reaching out to new people. The record’s not out, and the only people who have really accessed it, are people who have searched it out, or encountered it, via already liking Something Corporate. I don’t know if it’s representative of the Something Corporate audience getting older, and them growing up. The Something Corporate fan base is constantly developing based on our reaching out to college students, and starting to play lots of college campuses. Putting out North gave us a lot more access to guys than we had in our early days. Our demographic so far is really cool. We get the occasional young kid, but it’s usually anywhere from seventeen year olds, to early twenties. I think once all is said and done, this will reach a much broader, older, fan base, just because the themes are much more relevant to people in that age group. Maybe the more precautious teens will go for it, and my hope with Jack’s Mannequin is that a group of people, who haven’t listened to Something Corporate in the past, will listen to this stuff, and like it. I feel like using Maverick and Warner Brothers as a vehicle, and touring…

Laura: It will also get Something Corporate’s name out there.

Andrew: Exactly. That has a lot to do with it. In the mainstream, Something Corporate has often been discounted as a young band, that having to do a lot to do with our older tours being geared towards younger kids. You take what tours you can get, and we had a younger following. We went uphill to gain an older, and more male, following. Hopefully this project won’t just bring new credibility to what I do, but also to the band.

Laura: In songs like Holiday from Real, it appears as though you are pining away for an escape from routine existence. Do you find that your fulfillment in achieving your musical ambitions has caused you to become overly idealistic? Is it difficult to identify with old friends that haven’t been as fortunate in their endeavors as you have proven to be?

Andrew: That’s a loaded question. I’ve always been overly idealistic, and that’s something I’m really proud about. I grew up around people who believed in having big aspirations and you might not always get them, but the bigger they are, the more likely you are to have something big happen. I always set my sights about twenty pages ahead of where I end up. Where I end up is usually pretty extraordinary. No, I haven’t alienated my friends. I live with my two best friends from high school and if you listen to this record, and look at the new website we launched, it’s rooted around me going back to that. Ordinary living is amazing, and living an ordinary life was great. I’m twenty two, and there’s nothing that says that twenty two year olds should be traveling the world in rock bands. I’ve been very fortunate. My friends, family, and the people around me, keep me extremely focused and grounded. They allow me to be the loose cannon that I am, always shooting for the next thing. My life is not ridiculously glamorous, it’s not what I do. I reach for bigger and better things. I don’t really want for anything except for people to be able to hear my music. I would love to have a nice house with a swimming pool, but as a by product of success in doing what I love. That’s always at the top of my priority list.

Laura: What is the most disturbing comment a fan has ever said to you, or inappropriate question they have asked?

Andrew: I don’t know. I’ve been presented with a lot of things like that, which I tend to forget about. My biggest frustration with fans is when they approach me in a very matter of fact way, and give me their opinion on what I do, as some sort of fact. Like, “Your hair was so much better that way!” or, “This song is way better than that one”. It’s like, I appreciate that they listen to my stuff, but I don’t think that gives people the right to come up to me, and slam me with things. Everybody is entitled to their opinion, but I wouldn’t tell someone they’re doing a bad job at their work unless their bad job was in some way, hurting me. Music is a relative thing. You have to understand that people make music for themselves, and I try to then fashion it for fans to love. I don’t think it’s fair to rudely hand down your opinions to someone you don’t know. It happens, and it’s human nature, so I accept it.

Laura: And for every bad comment, people are generally very receptive.

Andrew: I’ve had a very very positive relationship with my fans since day one. I could not ask for a better group of people to be listening to what I do, ever. I’ve seen you for years at shows. Generally, our fans have been very open to the evolution of what we’ve done, from where we started, to where we ended up, and to where I ended up. We have a sold out show three months before a record is released, with four songs on the internet, in Detroit, over one thousand miles from my home town. It speaks volumes about my fans. For the couple of comments that that shit happens, and usually those kids still love what you do, they just don’t have social skills. I play music for everybody, including people who don’t have social skills, so it’s okay with me!

Laura: Thank you Andrew.

Life: 05/13/08 | Posted By: dinorawr | 0 comments | Tags: N/A