John O’Callaghan – The Maine (11/07/2013)
Returning to Australia this September to tour with Anberlin and William Beckett, The 59th Sound had a chat with John O'Callaghan of The Maine.
Hi Beth, this is John. How are you going?
Hey John. I’m quite good, how are you?
I’m doing well thanks.
Well thank you for taking the time to talk with The 59th Sound today.
Thanks for having us.
Now you guys are currently on tour; how has that been going so far?
Yeah, good. We’re holed up at a hotel in New Jersey right now, but we’re just about halfway done with the tour. It’s been really awesome so far.
We are fortunate enough to be out with some good friends of ours that we’ve known for like probably 8 years, 9 years now. One of the bands is called A Rocket To The Moon and the other one is This Century.
But yeah, people are coming out. Nobody is booing at us. All is well.
How have you been finding the atmosphere at the shows?
I think for us, because we haven’t been playing for a while because we were recording and this being our first tour back, we’re just excited to be on stage. And to play for whoever is out there.
As far as the camaraderie goes, a lot of tours are strange because you’ve never met the people that you’re going on the road with, prior to sharing the stage. But it’s not the case with us. These are the bands that we’ve brought out, which is really cool because it makes for a more energetic and friendly vibe.
On our end we’re just happy to be out here. And like I said, people are showing up so we can’t complain.
And as you mentioned, you guys have just recently released your second independent album Forever Halloween; how did you find the recording process for the album?
This time around it was a bit different.
First off we had a more focused effort this time. We recorded about 27 songs for Pioneer, the album right before this, and only 13 made the cut so we had a bunch of songs we ended up putting an EP together with that we released later on. But this album we knew that we wanted to have a more concise and focused effort. Brendan Benson, who produced the album, got us to let our inhibitions go a little bit. And we recorded to analogue tape this time around, and we did it in a live fashion which was pretty wild for us considering every other recording we’ve ever done has been piece by piece with drums, bass, guitar all done separately. Brendan didn’t really give us the option to think about it too much, once we all agreed on the songs we really just started to record.
And we’re all truly happy with what he pulled out of us and what we ended up being able to achieve.
Did you find that the difference in the recording process changed your approach to how you wrote your songs?
Well we weren’t really 100% on how we were going to record the album prior to going to Nashville, where Brendan records out of, so it really didn’t affect the song writing at all. The delivery, I suppose, is what was majorly affected. Brendan really made us aware of things we had fallen into with song writing over the past couple of years and the areas where we tended to do the same thing quite often. So he really told us to trim the fat, so to speak, in a lot of songs and to get to the point. He really didn’t manipulate many of my lyrics, which I was really happy about because I feel like this album, for me, was a stepping-stone for putting more of myself into the songs.
It was definitely an eye-opening experience for us, and we found out what we’re capable of as individuals and as a band at this point.
The process really didn’t allow us to cover up any blemishes or go back and fix a whole lot so we’re fortunate to have had the opportunity to do so.
Do you feel like this has also affected your live shows?
On this specific tour we’re only playing four new songs, but I definitely know that I feel way more comfortable with the newer ones, just because they’re the most fresh. And they’ve pretty much been able to be translated just the same way as it is on tape into a live scenario.
It also leaves them way more open-ended for us to do what we want to the songs on stage, which is really cool because they’re more open to interpretation.
I look forward to playing a lot of the other ones we haven’t played thus far in the future.
Well hopefully we can look forward to hearing some of those when you guys make it down here in a couple of months.
Yeah. We definitely will.
Do you have a personal favourite song from the album?
I don’t know. The album is still kind of fresh so I honestly haven’t listened to it, probably since the studio. But there’s a song called Sad Songs on the album that I’m pretty proud of, more so where the story came from because it’s pretty cool.
It’s about a taxi diver that I had in Newcastle, and it’s a story of him losing someone that he loved and my response to hearing about his story.
The album title, Forever Halloween, and the artwork are quite unique; how did you guys come up with them?
It was a title that I had floating around for a while even prior to knowing who was going to record it or really what it was going to be called. It was definitely on a list that I’d saved on my phone of other possible titles that I had. I think that it’s really representative of what I was trying to convey with not only the title, but the main artwork as well. I think too often we’re easily fooled by ourselves to think that our surroundings dictate who we are as people; like what we’re wearing represents who we are as an individual.
And this is kind of my acknowledgement of my own behaviours and recognising that I am just as susceptible to believing whatever my brain is telling me. And I think that it was really important for our band, well I think it’s foolish to say ‘to develop an identity’, but at least to put our two feet on the ground and do what we wanted and without the approval of others and the whole waiting around to get the okay to do things. I think it really worked harmoniously and it all fit together at the end of the day because it was a raw process and it’s just kind of a tell-all of who we are as a band at this point.
Now you guys are headed down to Australia soon on a tour with Anberlin and William Beckett; are you looking forward to the tour?
Very. We’re very excited. We’ve had the chance to meet William before, he actually took us out when he was in The Academy Is…, for our first time over to the UK. So it will be really good to see him. And we’ve yet to meet the Anberlin guys but we have mutual friends, and we’re very excited to be able to share the stage with them over there.
It hasn’t been too long since you were last down here, but is there anything you’re looking forward to?
I just remember how expensive it all is, but on the same token, its one of my favourite places just because of how beautiful it is, with respect to everything. I love the architecture and the weather.
I’m just excited to go back and see some things that I’ve yet to see. I’m not exactly sure what those things are though.
Do you find much of a difference between touring in Australia and in America?
I guess transportation is the biggest difference for us, just because shows over there are generally spread pretty far apart so we have to fly or do a long drive, while over here its just usually in the bunks and we just go from one state to the next.
But other than that, people love music everywhere and if they’re going to see a show, they love the music. And I think that’s a worldly theme wherever we go.
Also the accents and all the slang! I think that’s another big difference.
As the lyricist for The Maine, where do you look for inspiration for your writing?
I think it comes from everywhere. It can really be something as drab and boring as taking a shower in a foreign place or sleeping in a bed that’s not yours; anything from that to watching the sunrise over the Grand Canyon.
I don’t know. It’s something that I don’t really think about too often, just because I guess it comes naturally as far as the thoughts that I have. When it stops coming naturally, then I suppose I’m in trouble.
But I like to carry my phone around with me and a pen and paper just in case anything strikes me as significant.
Over the years, your music has changed quite a lot; do you think you’ve changed just as much as individuals?
I’d like to think we’re the same knuckleheads that we were 6 or 7 years ago, I just think that our passion for music has grown like ten-fold since we were 17-18 years old. I think from 17, when we started, to 24 (I’m going to be 25 in August) there’s a lot of room for change as individuals, but luckily we’ve all kind of kept our heads pretty level. I think it’s a lot to do with the people we surround ourselves with and that we don’t like to get involved in egocentric stuff. We really just feel like we’re in a good space mentally right now, as far as putting out the tunes we want to put out and saying what we want to say and having no regrets at this point. I think it’s a testament to our fans and to growing up and, thankfully, we’ve been grounded the whole way.
Well thank you very much for taking the time to talk to us today, and we look forward to seeing you guys on tour in Australia very soon.
Thanks heaps Beth!
Bethany Williams
Anberlin w/ The Maine and William Beckett
Wednesday 4 September - The HiFi, Brisbane - 18+
Thursday 5 September – The Coolangatta Hotel, Gold Coast - 18+
Friday 6 September – Panthers, Newcastle - Lic AA
Saturday 7 September – The Hifi, Sydney - Lic AA
Sunday 8 September – The Palace, Melbourne - 18+
Tuesday 10 September June – The Gov, Adelaide - Lic AA
Wednesday 11 September – Metro, Fremantle - 18+
Hi Beth, this is John. How are you going?
Hey John. I’m quite good, how are you?
I’m doing well thanks.
Well thank you for taking the time to talk with The 59th Sound today.
Thanks for having us.
Now you guys are currently on tour; how has that been going so far?
Yeah, good. We’re holed up at a hotel in New Jersey right now, but we’re just about halfway done with the tour. It’s been really awesome so far.
We are fortunate enough to be out with some good friends of ours that we’ve known for like probably 8 years, 9 years now. One of the bands is called A Rocket To The Moon and the other one is This Century.
But yeah, people are coming out. Nobody is booing at us. All is well.
How have you been finding the atmosphere at the shows?
I think for us, because we haven’t been playing for a while because we were recording and this being our first tour back, we’re just excited to be on stage. And to play for whoever is out there.
As far as the camaraderie goes, a lot of tours are strange because you’ve never met the people that you’re going on the road with, prior to sharing the stage. But it’s not the case with us. These are the bands that we’ve brought out, which is really cool because it makes for a more energetic and friendly vibe.
On our end we’re just happy to be out here. And like I said, people are showing up so we can’t complain.
And as you mentioned, you guys have just recently released your second independent album Forever Halloween; how did you find the recording process for the album?
This time around it was a bit different.
First off we had a more focused effort this time. We recorded about 27 songs for Pioneer, the album right before this, and only 13 made the cut so we had a bunch of songs we ended up putting an EP together with that we released later on. But this album we knew that we wanted to have a more concise and focused effort. Brendan Benson, who produced the album, got us to let our inhibitions go a little bit. And we recorded to analogue tape this time around, and we did it in a live fashion which was pretty wild for us considering every other recording we’ve ever done has been piece by piece with drums, bass, guitar all done separately. Brendan didn’t really give us the option to think about it too much, once we all agreed on the songs we really just started to record.
And we’re all truly happy with what he pulled out of us and what we ended up being able to achieve.
Did you find that the difference in the recording process changed your approach to how you wrote your songs?
Well we weren’t really 100% on how we were going to record the album prior to going to Nashville, where Brendan records out of, so it really didn’t affect the song writing at all. The delivery, I suppose, is what was majorly affected. Brendan really made us aware of things we had fallen into with song writing over the past couple of years and the areas where we tended to do the same thing quite often. So he really told us to trim the fat, so to speak, in a lot of songs and to get to the point. He really didn’t manipulate many of my lyrics, which I was really happy about because I feel like this album, for me, was a stepping-stone for putting more of myself into the songs.
It was definitely an eye-opening experience for us, and we found out what we’re capable of as individuals and as a band at this point.
The process really didn’t allow us to cover up any blemishes or go back and fix a whole lot so we’re fortunate to have had the opportunity to do so.
Do you feel like this has also affected your live shows?
On this specific tour we’re only playing four new songs, but I definitely know that I feel way more comfortable with the newer ones, just because they’re the most fresh. And they’ve pretty much been able to be translated just the same way as it is on tape into a live scenario.
It also leaves them way more open-ended for us to do what we want to the songs on stage, which is really cool because they’re more open to interpretation.
I look forward to playing a lot of the other ones we haven’t played thus far in the future.
Well hopefully we can look forward to hearing some of those when you guys make it down here in a couple of months.
Yeah. We definitely will.
Do you have a personal favourite song from the album?
I don’t know. The album is still kind of fresh so I honestly haven’t listened to it, probably since the studio. But there’s a song called Sad Songs on the album that I’m pretty proud of, more so where the story came from because it’s pretty cool.
It’s about a taxi diver that I had in Newcastle, and it’s a story of him losing someone that he loved and my response to hearing about his story.
The album title, Forever Halloween, and the artwork are quite unique; how did you guys come up with them?
It was a title that I had floating around for a while even prior to knowing who was going to record it or really what it was going to be called. It was definitely on a list that I’d saved on my phone of other possible titles that I had. I think that it’s really representative of what I was trying to convey with not only the title, but the main artwork as well. I think too often we’re easily fooled by ourselves to think that our surroundings dictate who we are as people; like what we’re wearing represents who we are as an individual.
And this is kind of my acknowledgement of my own behaviours and recognising that I am just as susceptible to believing whatever my brain is telling me. And I think that it was really important for our band, well I think it’s foolish to say ‘to develop an identity’, but at least to put our two feet on the ground and do what we wanted and without the approval of others and the whole waiting around to get the okay to do things. I think it really worked harmoniously and it all fit together at the end of the day because it was a raw process and it’s just kind of a tell-all of who we are as a band at this point.
Now you guys are headed down to Australia soon on a tour with Anberlin and William Beckett; are you looking forward to the tour?
Very. We’re very excited. We’ve had the chance to meet William before, he actually took us out when he was in The Academy Is…, for our first time over to the UK. So it will be really good to see him. And we’ve yet to meet the Anberlin guys but we have mutual friends, and we’re very excited to be able to share the stage with them over there.
It hasn’t been too long since you were last down here, but is there anything you’re looking forward to?
I just remember how expensive it all is, but on the same token, its one of my favourite places just because of how beautiful it is, with respect to everything. I love the architecture and the weather.
I’m just excited to go back and see some things that I’ve yet to see. I’m not exactly sure what those things are though.
Do you find much of a difference between touring in Australia and in America?
I guess transportation is the biggest difference for us, just because shows over there are generally spread pretty far apart so we have to fly or do a long drive, while over here its just usually in the bunks and we just go from one state to the next.
But other than that, people love music everywhere and if they’re going to see a show, they love the music. And I think that’s a worldly theme wherever we go.
Also the accents and all the slang! I think that’s another big difference.
As the lyricist for The Maine, where do you look for inspiration for your writing?
I think it comes from everywhere. It can really be something as drab and boring as taking a shower in a foreign place or sleeping in a bed that’s not yours; anything from that to watching the sunrise over the Grand Canyon.
I don’t know. It’s something that I don’t really think about too often, just because I guess it comes naturally as far as the thoughts that I have. When it stops coming naturally, then I suppose I’m in trouble.
But I like to carry my phone around with me and a pen and paper just in case anything strikes me as significant.
Over the years, your music has changed quite a lot; do you think you’ve changed just as much as individuals?
I’d like to think we’re the same knuckleheads that we were 6 or 7 years ago, I just think that our passion for music has grown like ten-fold since we were 17-18 years old. I think from 17, when we started, to 24 (I’m going to be 25 in August) there’s a lot of room for change as individuals, but luckily we’ve all kind of kept our heads pretty level. I think it’s a lot to do with the people we surround ourselves with and that we don’t like to get involved in egocentric stuff. We really just feel like we’re in a good space mentally right now, as far as putting out the tunes we want to put out and saying what we want to say and having no regrets at this point. I think it’s a testament to our fans and to growing up and, thankfully, we’ve been grounded the whole way.
Well thank you very much for taking the time to talk to us today, and we look forward to seeing you guys on tour in Australia very soon.
Thanks heaps Beth!
Bethany Williams
Anberlin w/ The Maine and William Beckett
Wednesday 4 September - The HiFi, Brisbane - 18+
Thursday 5 September – The Coolangatta Hotel, Gold Coast - 18+
Friday 6 September – Panthers, Newcastle - Lic AA
Saturday 7 September – The Hifi, Sydney - Lic AA
Sunday 8 September – The Palace, Melbourne - 18+
Tuesday 10 September June – The Gov, Adelaide - Lic AA
Wednesday 11 September – Metro, Fremantle - 18+