Written by Sam Cohen | Concert Photos by Cathy Poulton for The Pop Break
20 years after releasing their breakthrough album, Everything In Transit, Andrew McMahon and Jack’s Mannequin can finally tour on their terms. After calling it quits in 2012 and a short string of shows in 2015, Jack’s Mannequin is touring the world in their most comfortable form yet and playing all the hits.
On June 4, the band embarked on the MFEO Tour, and Andrew McMahon is thrilled to be back on the road with a band that was originally never going to leave the studio. Andrew and I met the morning after his idol, Brian Wilson, passed, to discuss Brian’s influence, The Stone Pony, and stopping ticket scalpers.
It’s been a pretty crazy [recently] in the music world, losing two giants, first Sly Stone and then Brian Wilson. Tell me a little about Brian’s influence on you and what he meant to pop and rock music.
Oh, dude. I mean, he was a towering figure. The Beach Boys always played in my house as a kid. My mom grew up in the heyday of Pasadena, so I was always familiar with and loved the Beach Boys like anyone loves their parents’ music.
But gosh, by the time I turned 21 and started moving away from Something Corporate and working on the Jack’s Mannequin music, I had this profound moment with Pet Sounds. I remember listening to it in full for the first time and going, “Oh, I think I get it.” Then, having this moment where it hit, I became obsessed.
While working on Everything In Transit, Pet Sounds fully influenced the process. It was always playing, and I carried a lot of the melodic influence and arranging influence into how we produced and recorded the album. The perfection of Pet Sounds became a sort of lodestar for that entire process; it was a high bar for us to shoot for.
You were able to meet Brian and open for him. How did that opportunity come to you?
I was a vocal fan of Brian’s, and through mutual connections, I had the good fortune of seeing the taping of Smile when it came out. I got to play a charity gig, opening for Brian and his band.
When leaving for this tour, I went through my stuff and found a personal thank you note from Brian because I did press when Smile came out. I’ve always had a kind of worship for him, for his place in music and the fact that he was a true renegade in this space.
Is there a particular Beach Boys song that sticks out to you?
My first dance was to “God Only Knows.” I got engaged and had a musician come in and play the song while I popped the question. At my wedding, I had the bridesmaids walk down the aisle to “Surfer Girl,” performed by a string quartet. It’s a significant loss and will be felt when we get on stage tonight and through the rest of the tour.
On a lighter note, the MFEO Tour recently kicked off. How’s the beginning of the tour been going with Jack’s Mannequin after 9 years without shows? Are you slowly getting back into the swing of things, or is it business as usual?
None of this feels like business as usual. I think, very intentionally, this tour is really to celebrate the Jack’s catalog. A lot of these songs are getting played for the first time. I can finally see the catalog with some perspective, since I’m far removed from the era in which I wrote the songs.
Cancer disrupted so much of my life, and a lot of the music that came after Everything In Transit was really tough to write, tough to listen to, and tough to live with. It’s been 20 years, not only post the inception of Jack Mannequin, but 20 years post-cancer. Now, it’s easier to pull in songs from The Glass Passenger and People And Things, and appreciate them for what they were, which was chronicling my journey as a cancer survivor. I can appreciate how my life has changed; those songs were written in grief, and playing them live has been healing.
You have two musical projects outside Jack’s Mannequin, each with a distinctive sound. Is there a specific aspect of playing with Jack’s that you don’t feel in the other projects?
No band of mine has ever toured more than Jack’s Mannequin. It’s a studio project turned band touring over 200 days a year. It has a real “proper rock band” feel; it’s a four-piece, so there’s no coverage–we run as a tight unit and feel the pressure.
On past tours, we’d pull from 20-25 songs, but we have around 40 songs ready to play this tour. One of those deeper cuts will pop into the set list on any given night, and we have to be ready. We feel like we can finally push ourselves, whereas those early tours were a total wreck at times. It’s fun to be in this new space, playing “rare” songs and understanding we need to nail these tight arrangements or else everybody’s gonna hear it.
You play Asbury Park on June 26; as a Southern Californian kid, is there something special about playing in a beach town? How does being on the beach influence the energy of the set?
I’m a beach town guy. I live three blocks from the beach at home on the West Coast, and so much of this music is tied closely to water. The first Jack’s record was largely about coming back home to California after being on the road for so long with Something Corporate. I think there’s a frequency that beach people sort of all vibrate at, and getting to do music in that environment is always super inspiring.
The Stone Pony is such a legendary venue, so I try to play at least one of those stages on every tour. I deeply subscribe to the lore, and I love to be able to say, “You know, I played the Stone Pony, right?”
Do you have an essential beach record, something that takes you right to the sand?
Wow, that’s a really good question. I wouldn’t even say it’s a “beach record,” but Tom Petty’s Wildflowers is a big one for me. The Washed Out record, Purple Noon, has become the soundtrack to many of my vacations.
You’re known as an advocate against ticket scalpers and resellers in an age when so many artists disregard the issue. Why is it so important to you, and what is your message to artists who don’t seem to care?
I’ve made my living for the last 25 years playing live music. So, I take it personally when there are forces outside of the industry infiltrating it and forcing consumers into paying ridiculous prices for concert tickets. I’ve been fortunate that I’ve had not one but three careers, three different bands, and a lot of that success I attribute squarely to my relationship with my fans. It’s a leap of faith for a fan to stick with you for more than one record, let alone for three different projects.
Selling records doesn’t make much money, so the work that keeps a roof over my family’s head is being on tour. Seeing ticket prices suddenly double overnight is because people are abusing the ticket networks and destroying the secondary market. If we don’t speak up quickly, these things will be codified into law.
As a frequent concert-goer, that’s great to hear; it’s hard being priced out of seeing your favorite artists.
I urge every artist to take the fight to the secondary market and take it to them as hard as they possibly can. It’s easier for me because I have this loyal fan base, and it’s a lot harder for a younger artist who’s just trying to get people to show up. But, for established artists with fan bases that often sell out shows, it’s our job to say no to this and pull every trick out of our tool belt to try and stop this from happening. Even with every tool I use, it doesn’t stop it outright, but it has helped to keep ticket prices down and get them into the hands of fans who are really passionate.
What’s next for Andrew McMahon after the MFEO tour?
I have no idea. That’s kind of how I set this reunion up. A huge part of my plan was to arrive at the end of this tour and ask the question, “What’s next?” The short answer is, I don’t know. The longer answer is, experiment, explore, get my hands dirty, try some different things, and hopefully, out of that will come a piece of music that excites me to release music again.
Jack’s Mannequin, led by Andrew McMahon, is currently on a world tour celebrating 20 years of Everything In Transit. Get tickets to the MFEO Tour here.
