By: Angelina Berube
Posted In: Entertainment
Photo credit: Angelina Berube
Pushing his blonde, shaggy hair out of his eyes, Andrew McMahon, 25, perfectly tuned his instrument. Piano rock, as many of his fans have dubbed his style, is what Jack’s Mannequin is all about. Six hours before his performance, on the stage constructed by students earlier that morning, McMahon sound checked the keys of his piano. A familiar stage, this marked the second time he performed at Salve Regina, this time with his band Jack’s Mannequin.
In 2005 McMahon came to Salve with Something Corporate a month before finding out he had leukemia. For the first time, McMahon cancelled shows. Something Corporate cancelled Warped Tour dates. He battled with cancer while releasing “Everything in Transit” in August 2005. McMahon today is promoting his forthcoming album, “The Glass Passenger.” Less thematic than his 2005 release, “Everything in Transit,” “The Glass Passenger” still has that piano rock feel and catchy melodies that embody Jack’s Mannequin. For McMahon, the process of writing this album proved to be a challenge as he described the process as “Hell. Pure, total, utter, complete hell.” “There was just this consistency to the last record and I think, you know, it was hard to find that consistency. So I sort of fought it regularly with this record because there were so many subjects to kind of address and so many possible directions to go in,” McMahon said. “There wasn’t really one thing in my world that I was like trying to overcome or get through. So it definitely was a scatter brain process.” One song that embodies the bigger picture of “The Glass Passenger” is “Caves.” “It starts with this very quiet piano sort of ballad,” McMahon explained. “This haunting kind of piano walks you through the first sort of steps of what I had dealt with getting sick, you know, and then it goes into this middle piano sweet sort of thing and I can’t explain it other than it’s a little piano symphony thing and then it goes into this big rock song. It definitely says a lot about what the whole record sort of embodies.” Along with “The Glass Passenger,” McMahon will be releasing a new documentary, “Dear Jack.” It is a film that follows McMahon through his battle with leukemia. “I had these tapes and it was what I had filmed, had captured accidentally,” McMahon said. “I think what was really sort of a very real time in my life and obviously something a lot of people go through that you don’t really, I don’t think a lot of people had actually been witness to, unless they’ve seen it being in that hospital.” Intense and emotional, the documentary dives into his battle and covers losing his hair, chemotherapy, and catching pneumonia among other events. “The camera was there with me through the whole thing, but ultimately it ends and I’m still here,” McMahon said. As Jack’s Mannequin continues to make great strides, many fans are left wondering what the possibilities are for McMahon to reunite with Something Corporate and record an album. McMahon encouraged the idea of a Something Corporate record with songs that never made the albums. At the same time, McMahon wants fans to realize that Something Corporate’s music would not be the same. “People say, when are you going to get back with Something Corporate and it’s one of those situations where it’s like ‘Look, I appreciate that.’ I would never get mad at someone for being a fan of my band, but you sort of want to manage their expectation,” McMahon said. “You know, that worked because it was working. That worked because we were there in that moment making that music together and it felt right. I think for us to now to go in there and try to make an album, it would be a stretch and I don’t think it would come out as the honest piece by Something Corporate that kids would be hoping for.” Along with fans’ excitement for Something Corporate music, McMahon hears chants to play a trademark Something Corporate song, “Konstantine,” at most Jack’s Mannequin shows. He has mixed feelings concerning fans’ trying to get him to play it. “The fact that people care a lot about a piece of music I wrote is a really cool thing,” McMahon said. “But when they band together and start chanting, it definitely makes it harder to walk on stage for an encore when I know I’m not going to play it.” But the time will eventually come for a new Something Corporate record, a new Something Corporate tour, and another chance for fans to hear “Konstantine” again. McMahon is sure of it. “I would love to be in a studio with them again and I would definitely consider recording songs with those guys and definitely consider getting on the road with them too,” McMahon said. “It will have its time I’m sure.” For now, McMahon is concentrating on “The Glass Passenger” and furthering his record label, “Airport Tapes and Records.” He recently signed the band Treaty of Paris, who are also currently on the road. The future of his record label depends on the success of this year, McMahon said. “I’m sort of trying to get through the making of this record and decide whether I’m going to go forward signing more acts or whether the idea of the label is going to be one of just sort of creating a network of musicians and artists and helping that along the way,” McMahon said. “The future is sort of hinging upon how this next year plays out for me.” McMahon’s year is packed with the upcoming release of “The Glass Passenger,” an album he feels is true to itself. “It’s a really true record, a really honest record,” McMahon said. “Hopefully this summer everyone will be rocking it in their stereos and cars.”
