EastScene

EastScene had the privilege to speak with Andrew McMahon, the man behind the mic and keyboard of Jack’s Mannequin and  Something Corporate.  He touched upon his current tour with the Fray, Jack Mannequin’s new single and the “Dear Jack” documentary.

East Scene: What was the main inspiration behind “Swim”?

Andrew McMahon: It was sort of one those days, I guess is probably the best way to describe it. I think we all have them and I was just kind of stuck under something if that makes sense. I sort of remember being overwhelmed by this sort of loaning feeling and I came across the word and saw the word Swim and it immediately sort of spoke to this idea that i was having one of those days and wanted to get out from underneath it. I remember sitting at the piano writing those first words “you’ve gotta swim, swim for your life” and literally unfolded quickly from there.

ES: I noticed you wanted to get fans involved in the making of this video. Is there a specific reason why you wanted to?

AM: I think when i sort of discussed the idea behind the song with the director who we were working with I think that largely I found when I was writing it I wasn’t writing it for me I felt tapped into this collective conscious. The elections were going on, you saw the financial market and everything kind of crumbling. I think when i wrote this song I felt this larger connection like the song was meant to be written not just for the people around me and the people in my life and it became important that we sort of make it about other people. All the other songs on the record are super personal and as personal this was one it felt like it was as much about everyone as it was about wanting to include fan and artist and just people from all aspects of life to be part of this video and that’s where it came from

ES: You worked with Stephanie Myer on the video for resolution what was that like?

AM: It was great. Stephanie was awesome. We were having a lot of trouble finding a good treatment for the video and something we really wanted to go out and make and that’s when the idea came to reach out to Stephanie who’s obviously a creative person she writes for a living and it would be a cool way to get a different take on the song. Working with her was awesome and I loved her vision of the video. I feel we were really able to execute on that.

ES: Was it weird working with Stephanie given it was her first time directing a video?

AM: No. The way we did it and obviously we didn’t just put Stephanie in and say hey you never directed a video here you go direct. We brought in a co-director this guy named Noble Jones who’s a pretty successful video director in his own right and done a lot of big stuff. So we brought noble in to work with Stephanie to execute on her vision. When it came to shoot day and sitting in the directors chair with do this and this you know? Noble was kind of the filter and Stephanie would give him her thoughts and Noble would kind of command the set. So in that sense i feel we got the best of both worlds we had a professional on board and somebody with a very distinctive vision, a different approach and a different set of experience.

ES: Would you ever consider working with her on another video or a DVD documentary?

AM: I wouldn’t not consider it. I think in general we’ve used a different person on every video I’ve shot to this point. Its sort of your opportunity to explore and work with new people and kind of lean your art up with another mindset. I mean it was great working with her and I would consider working with her again.

ES: On your recent  The Hammer And String Tour you decided to play this whole album in its entirety. Did you want to do it for the fans or was it something you wanted to do for yourself?

AM: Well The Hammer and String Tour was the tour we did last year and we did a couple shows where we played the whole album but mainly was sort of a collection from the record. That said, When we did do the album the couple times we went out and did that. It’s just an opportunity to sort of circulate the new body of work and let people digest it in the live sense you know? For us it’s a good way to get to know your material and in a way celebrate its release. It was amazingly done for a small group of things.

ES: The Glass Passenger was greatly reviewed and accepted. Did you feel the pressure to follow up Everything In Transit with Everything In Transit part 2 in a way or was it more of I’m going to make a record on how I feel right now?

AM: I think I definitely felt pressure maybe self applied pressure to make something I was really proud of. For me the idea of trying to follow or to replicate something I’ve done has never really been too persistent for me with any of the albums I’ve made. I can’t define myself after a year or so passed that im just off of different influences, styles and approaches. I think for me Transit was an important record for me I would say I maybe struggled with the pressure to do something that I liked as much as Transit.

ES: On recent tours you played some Something Corporate songs. What made you decide to play those?

AM: Since Jack’s started going out and headlining shows, I’ve generally always included songs. I do it because I still enjoy playing the catalog there’s still songs that feel very relevant to me and of course because we have a lot of fans who love SOCO while they’re not going to get a SOCO set while seeing JM I think out of appreciation and the fact that they’ve stuck with me as long as they have. All those people who come to JM shows and loved coming to SOCO shows, I love giving them something.

ES: In Terms of Writing for SOCO and JM, do you feel its been a different writing process or has it been the same?

AM: I think it’s a similar process just because when I wrote for SOCO, it was the really the same idea just to sit down and hatch a song that you really love and bring it to the studio/band however we would make it at the time and thats all part of the process. The thing that probably changed the most is the development of the song. The fact that I think Jack’s gives me a bit of an opportunity to dive deeper and be a little more personal because my words aren’t necessarily representing four other guys, it’s more of a personal thing. I think I hold myself to a bit of a higher standard in the sense that I sort of insist on the song and having a personally quality and sort of trying to steer that into something more universal and can be attributed and that changed the process a little.

ES: How do you feel that you’ve grown as a musician and a person since the SOCO days?

AM: That would be a whole other interview right there. I think anytime you focus on any craft as deliberately as I do every day you grow. I think my writings improved and my playings improved and my singing improved that’s also subjective, I suppose [laughs]. As a person, that’s hard to say I think I try to make my time a little more and make sure that I’m really proud of everything I make and everything that leaves the studio that goes out to the world. I think I’m able to be a little more honest with myself and make sure that what I put out is what I believe.

ES: As everyone’s well aware, you battled leukemia and the “Dear Jack” Documentary covered it, right?

AM: When it’s done that will be a huge portion of the documentary.

ES: How important was it for you to document that whole experience?

AM:It’s hard to explain the whys and the hows of the documentary process. Frankly, the most important part of my documentary days was in the time leading up to when I was in the process of recording everything in Transit and was sort of when I developed this little friendship with my video camera and really kind of ended up divulging all the day. I would sort of talk to the camera like a journal of some sort. When I got sick the camera sort of became an extension of myself like anything else. If i was up late at night and couldn’t get to sleep and had all these thoughts racing around, I would turn the camera on and talk to it and kind of leave it all there. I think in that sense it was pretty cool to have someplace to know the thoughts were out of my head and someplace else and the camera was that place for a while . At one point, I stopped documenting because it got too serious and too dark. It was pretty comforting, that whole experience.

ES: You said the documentary is almost complete. Do you know when it will be done?

AM: Our goal is to release it in September, which is Leukemia Awareness Month. We’re hoping hard to have it out and ready in September. We’ve been talking about this for years. I would hate to attach any strong expectations to a release date. It’s definitely very tentative and I’d imagine it would definitely be out before the year’s over.

ES: Is it hard for you to watch all of the footage?

AM: Yeah, I mean it was definitely harder from the start of the process. At this point I think there’s some level of desensitizing that’s gone on. I definitely need that stuff depending on what kind of mood I’m in certainly for perspective on the past and relationships.

ES: You’ve played a lot of covers in the past like Bruce Springsteen and Led Zeppelin to name a few. Which one is your favorite to play out of everything you’ve covered?

AM: “We love to do American Girl” by The Heartbreakers. That’s always been fun. Most of the covers we play we play them because we have fun playing them. Picking one out is definitely hard but I’d say “American Girl” probably has been the one we’ve spent the most time with and one that has resonated with the audience well probably bring it out from time to time on the Fray tour this summer. That said, “I’m On Fire,” the Springsteen cover, is pretty fun as well.

ES: A lot of bands are putting out cover EPs and albums these days. Have you ever considered that with SOCO or JM?

AM: I never say never to much of anything. It’s one thing I think to go to a show and have some fun and cover someone else’s track. I think the idea of recording an album of somebody else’s songs isn’t something I’m too interested in.

ES: You were supposed to play on Honda Civic Tour, which got canceled and now, you’re on the Fray tour. Was the cancellation of the Civic tour a blessing to you in a way now that you’re on tour with the Fray?

AM: The Civic tour was one of those things that was talked about for a while that never went through and things like that happen all the time. I think it got a little more coverage because it’s a bigger tour. Of course the Fray tour for us to be on it is a pretty big tour and we’re excited to be on it. If anything would have precluded us from doing it that would have been a bummer.

ES: What does the rest of 2009 hold in store for Jack’s Mannequin?

AM: We’ll be doing the Fray tour through the summer. Right now, the fall is up in the air. There’s talks of some tours of going around saying anything right now would be a bad idea cause its just talks at this point. There’s a chance we might go out in the fall on a support tour. If not, we’ll probably do colleges and radio shows while writing music and new songs for the next record and prepping the release of the film and hopefully some successful other singles.