Something Corporate

Something Corporate plays piano based, emotional pop rock. Their singer and primary songwriter, Andrew McMahon, has been playing the piano for about 11 years now. When I asked if he thanked his parents everyday for making him take lessons, he replied, "...they didn't make me. They tried to make me to take lessons in first grade, and I hated it so much that I quit after like one lesson. And, I started on my own, just kind of took my own initiative, and I actually asked them to let me take lessons." I sat down with Andrew and Clutch at the Warped Tour, and here is what we talked about.

How did you guys hook up with Drive Thru?
Clutch: From this local club in Orange County, called The Chain Reaction in Anaheim. The owner knows Richard and Stephanie. And we've been playing this club for a while and he was like "ya know, you really should come down and check out this band, they're really good, you'd like ‘em." So, they came down and watched us play or whatever, then called us up, but we didn't have any shows coming up, and they wanted to come see us play again. We ended up bringing them down to Andrew's garage, where we practice, and they ended up sitting through a practice of ours, and usually when you play for record companies, they tell you to play three or four songs, don't give them a lot of material. But, we played for 2 hours, they just kept wanting more and asking for more, and we just kept playing more because we were having such a good time. And then, they sat us down, told us they loved us, and would love to have us on their label.

Which was probably obvious by then.
Yeah, well you never know with record labels. But they said they loved our music, they love us, they want to sign us, they want us on their label, so that's basically how it all started.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island, and could only bring 3 CDs, and 3 other things, what would you bring?
Clutch: Can they be double discs?

Sure.
Clutch: Ok, The White Album, Songs in the Key of Life by Stevie Wonder, and Rush – Exit Stage Left. Three other things, a Hawaiian sling for spear fishing, a mask, a diving mask, and hiking boots... no! A pocketknife. Andrew: Billy Joel's Greatest Hits Vol. 1 and 2, if somehow the three come all together, I'd take all three. Let's see... I'd probably take David Grey, White Ladder, and maybe Lenny Kravitz, Mama Said possibly. I'm missing a lot of really good music in there, but we've gotta hang on each other... Clutch: With five of us on the island, and 3 discs apiece... we'll work together! Andrew: Ok, three things... I'd bring a boat, not to leave, just to cruise the waters and enjoy that, I'm gonna use your pocketknife, I'd bring a boat, I'll take you out, I'd say a catamaran possibly. Clutch: I'll fish off of your boat! Andrew: Exactly, we can share. I'll eat some of your fish. I'd have to bring oh man... Clutch: 2 more dude, shoot, I would include shoes too. Andrew: Well, I'm gonna bring my sandals, I'd have to bring sandals, oh... I'd take my girlfriend too, if that's cool. This guy's (pointing to Clutch) fucked on this island, he didn't even bring a spank mag, he's screwed! And I might bring a gun to kill my girlfriend afterwards.

Ok, would you rather watch a porno movie with your parents, or starring your parents?
Andrew: With for sure. Yeah, with... yeah. Let's not even go there. Clutch: (laughing) That's a bad question, I'm sorry

Oh, there's more where that came from! OK, if you could be anyone for a day, who would you be, and what would you do?
Andrew: Ok, I have this friend who lies endlessly, like it's his job. I've always said... and this is very uninteresting to any of your readers I'm sure. But, I would love to live his life for a day, just to find out what the fuck he actually does all day long.

What does he lie about?
Andrew: Everything! I'm still friends with the kid, but he lies about everything. I would love to know what he's like, I'd like to know what's real. That's me.

What's a specific lie that he's told you that just made you go
Andrew: Oh man... what magazine is this for?

Belchin' Waffles, don't worry nobody's ever heard of it.
Clutch: (cracking up) No one's ever heard of it! We can say anything we want.

Yeah, no one's gonna read this!
Andrew: Gosh, what are some lies that he's told? Well, there are lots of girls that he's dated...

You don't have to go into full specifics.
Clutch: (with a mouth full of potato chips) He lies to all of them constantly. Andrew: He lies to all of them about everything. He's a little on the abusive side, I'd like to know how much of that is actually true. I can't get any more specific than that.

What about you?
Clutch: Ya know what? I think I would just throw myself into some totally, completely different element. Some normal person, but like someone that speaks an entirely different language, some person that lives in the Amazon Rainforest or something. Just throw myself, take myself, put myself in a total different element that I've never experienced before that's like nothing that I'm used to. That'd be so weird, but cool.

Ok, if I remember correctly, you bowl a lot right?
Clutch: Not a lot lately, I'm at the Gorge right now.

Right, but what do you usually bowl?
Clutch: The last three games, I bowled three games the last time I bowled, and I was averaging... 180? Andrew: But tell him your high score. Clutch: 233 I think is my high score. It should be better. Andrew: You should get that fuckin' tattooed on you somewhere.

Alright, you guys have been touring a lot lately. What's the craziest or funniest thing that's happened to you on tour?
Andrew: This tour, or any tour?

Doesn't matter.
Andrew: Well, I don't even know if that makes a difference. Hmm... usually the craziest things, you end up not remembering as well as you should. Last night, was pretty crazy. Clutch: Well yesterday in general... Andrew: We pretty much played an early set... Clutch: That would have to be off the record. Andrew: ‘Eh, I don't even care. We played an early set yesterday, and I think everyone was pretty much a mess from like one o'clock ‘til this morning. Clutch: We had to wake up to cross the border, and I was still a mess. Andrew: But I have to say that the craziest thing though... . catering girl. Clutch: Oh yeah. Andrew: We have some really... should I say this? I'll say it. It's not read by a lot of people you say? We had a really provocative situation happening with a... Clutch: A girl showed her breasts; she was proving that they were real. Which is fine by me, prove all you wanna prove! So, she showed them to us, and they were real... Andrew: I have a girlfriend, so I didn't look at them, but what I heard, was that they were pretty much the best breasts ever. Clutch: They were phenomenal! Andrew: But, I didn't see... I left.

So this was a fan then?
Clutch: I wouldn't consider her a fan, more of a sack chaser. Andrew: A sack chaser! That's what Clutch says. Clutch: Don't print sack chaser.

Haha. What's your take of people sharing MP3s, and listening to music over the Internet?
Andrew: I have to be honest; it's kind of a double-edged sword. I mean, the fact that people are sharing music I think is so amazing, and I think it kind of goes back to the old 60's notion of bootlegging, when that's how music was spread, and that's how bands became, not only famous, but popular over long periods of time. I mean, there's a side of it that definitely hurts the artist, and the industry without question, because people aren't buying records as a result. But it's kind of like, maybe it's a trade up that we've gotta kinda deal with. Because, so many of our fans, I know a lot of our fans don't have records, but we wouldn't have half the live shows we have if they hadn't been listening to our stuff on MP3, and to me touring and playing live is what this is all about. So, I mean... ya know, at the end of the day, I would hope that our fans, and the people who really listen to the music and like it would end up reinvesting in the band because they want to keep us around longer. But, other than that, just getting fans who like certain songs and are willing to maybe go see a show or like, they're interested. That's great, they get a chance to hear our music that they might not hear otherwise. It's kind of a toss up to be honest, but I can't say I'm anti, because I think that we've gained so much out of MP3 sharing. Clutch: Yeah, it's impossible for us to be anti, because we wouldn't be where we are without sharing music. ‘Cause it's like, it doesn't really hurt us in the long run, unless we become extremely huge. The way that it's set up, it doesn't hurt us, it hurts the record industry, the record companies. So... I'm out here everyday, and there's kids who have burned CDs, but they're rockin' out in the crowd and having a good time, then I'm stoked, if you're coming out to hang out with me and have a good time.

Alright, I just talked with Midtown. What do you think about what Midtown said about Drive Thru?
Andrew: Wow... . Well, Midtown are our friends, we love Midtown. Drive Thru are our friends, and we love Drive Thru. I mean, that's pretty much all we can say. I honestly and not informed enough on what was said exactly, we tried to stay out of it. I think Midtown feels they're justified in what they said, and maybe they are. But I think Drive Thru feels justified in their stance in the entire situation. Business breeds, and will always breed conflicts. I don't think that... I mean, I know that Drive Thru has been great to us, but I also know that Midtown are a really great group of guys. So, ya know, that's kinda just something that they've got to deal with on their own. Clutch: We're friends with these people, and we also do business with these people, so when stuff like that happens, I'm over the business aspect of it. These people are my friends. I'm friends with Richard and Stephanie of Drive Thru, I'm also friends with Midtown, it's like, the conflict they have in between them, doesn't have anything to do with me.

Ok, if you could just give some closing comments; tell people your web page, and how to get a hold of you, and maybe give some shout outs to smaller bands from your area, or that you've seen on the road, that would be great.
Clutch: River City High. Andrew: Hold on, there was a first part to that question. And the first part was...

Your web page, and how people can get a hold of you?
Andrew: Oh yeah, somethingcorporate.com, you can get a hold of us there. The e-mail is kind of a nightmare right now, just because we're on the road, and we don't get internet access with kind of sucks, because we haven't been able to keep in touch with fans.

And I heard you actually answer all your e-mails?
Andrew: We try. But at this point, I haven't been able to because we're gone so much. So, it kind of sucks, but most of our fans know that if they come to a show, we'll be there, out signing stuff and hanging out, so you can find us at a show anytime. As for smaller bands, yeah, Clutch was saying River City High. I don't really know if they're a smaller band, but they're a great band that we're always about. A couple bands locally, that I'm working with in Orange County, LA, is a band called Aria Decline, and another band called SayAnything. Those are great bands. And there are so many great bands on this tour that play some of the smaller stages, and maybe don't get as much recognition. Clutch: All the Drive Thru bands are amazing. Andrew: Yeah, if you go to that stage, you'll see good music all day long.

Yeah, I was bummed, the ticket for this show says it starts at 2:30, and I show up, and I already missed some bands I wanted to see that played at 12!
Clutch: That happens everyday. We played at 12:30 yesterday. Andrew: Yeah, we had a day when we played at 11 o' clock, and the ticket said noon. We were just like... but it's fun either way, and a big tour like this is so hard to organize, and you've gotta give props to Kevin Lyman for actually putting it on, and putting it together so kids can see the music they love for an affordable price. So, we're just glad, we're lucky to be a part of this whole thing.

BW