Sonically, The Maine now sound worlds away from what they sounded like with their debut album Can’t Stop Won’t Stop back in 2008. It’s safe to say that the Arizona rockers have done a lot of maturing in recent years. Gearing up to release album number five, the band are currently on their last tour of this side of the pond before they lock themselves up in the studio. We recently caught up with guitarists Jared Monaco and Kennedy Brock before their show at Melkweg in Amsterdam. The boys talked to us about a new album in Spring, trying new things and some fun Halloween stories.
HTF: You’ve been touring on Forever Halloween for a while now, and you’re about to get ready to say goodbye to it. What have been some of the greatest memories you’ve had?
JM: I think , just out of the gate, when we got to the studio in Nashville. We were kind of nervous, because we recorded the whole thing together at the same time to tape. We had never done anything like that before. For me, I think for all of us, it was kind of intimidating at first. We did it with a guy named Brendan Benson, who is a guitar hero of mine. So I was really nervous because I play guitar and you’re working with this guy who is just incredible. It ended up working in our favour because he showed us a lot. I learned as much as I could; I kind of became a sponge once we got there and tried to soak up everything that he knew. I think for me that was this pivotal moment where I realised there are different ways to record music and for us it made our band sound a little different and little bit more authentic, if anything.
KB: The overall recording experience was we sat there and we learnt A LOT. Then, there was an opportunity afterwards to go out and we were able to play the same songs that we had recorded live in a completely different way than we had done in previous songs. It felt really awesome being on Warped Tour. We were unsure how people would respond to this record but it was cool that it was accepted well by our peers as well. The whole experience with this has been great.
HTF: So you guys also ended up building your own little studio and recorded Imaginary Numbers yourself, just the five of you, right? Any plans for the upcoming album to follow up?
JM: Yeah, we’re going to do these last few Forever Halloween shows at the end of the year, but we’ve actually been writing some stuff at home. We have like twenty six songs , just a bunch of shit that we need to record. So, we actually have to narrow it down towards the end of the year . We have all this recording gear now, so our plan is to go out and do like a house record. We’re going to get a big house and set up our own studio, now that we have the gear to do that. Taking what we learned on the last record, we’re going to use that kind of DIY approach. We’re bringing back…can we say it?
KB: Yeah.
JM: We’re bringing Colby Wedgeworth back. He did Pioneer with us. He’s coming back and he’s going to help us engineer and hopefully produce the record. I think it’s going to be cool; it’ll be a nice mixture of the things that we’ve done in the past and we’ve focused a lot on the songwriting for the past month or two. I think we’ve got some really cool stuff that we’re about to record. I think everyone’s excited at this point.
KB: Yeah, there’s a lot of anxiousness as well.
HTF: Have you got a ballpark estimate of when it’ll be out, like Summer?
JM: Next year..
KB: Spring, sometime probably.
JM: I’d say sometime early in the year.
KB: We’re still so far out at the moment.
JM: Spring is what we’re shooting for though.
HTF: Great. Why did you decide to do a farewell tour for Forever Halloween?
KB: It just feels suiting. We wanted to be able to play a few more songs off of Forever Halloween and give a good round off to the year while we go to write and record some music.
JM: I think for us we’re lucky to have this kind of core fanbase that kind of identifies with each record that we’ve put out. I think it’s nice to kind of have closure on this record before we actually go. A lot of bands wait ten years to do that. I think it’s kind of cool to do that at the end of the cycle. We’ve done things to start cycles, you know, we played Pioneer all the way through when that came out.
KB: We wanted to solidify that we are going to be going off and doing something else now.
JM: It’s for us too. I think it’s going to help, at least for me. Close that portion of my brain off so I can focus on what’s next. I’m excited.
HTF: Basically, you guys have taken the 8123 tour around the world, you’ve even been to the Philippines and South America. How did the idea for the whole thing originate?
JM: I think it’s just the fact that we’re just lucky enough that the 8123 family is now a thing, which we always wanted to have as a band. We have all these bands we can associate with, tour with, and just people putting out good music and doing it for the right reasons.
KB: Yeah, everything’s just there now.
JM: And on top of that, our band has the ability to play shows everywhere now. Well, not everywhere but we can go global with our band.
KB: We’re lucky enough to be able to bring the bands that we want with us.
JM: It just made sense. We did it in South America and I felt like our fans there were all about it and they were having fun and so it made sense.
HTF: I feel like Brazil especially is very keen about The Maine.
JM: They are extremely intense.
KB: They are, they are. We like it.
JM: Intense in the best way possible. It’s like scary intense there , it’s really fun. I can’t read half of my tweets and Instagram comments.
HTF: It’s all “Come To Brazil”?
KB: (laughs) Yeah, it’s absolutely crazy.
HTF: You guys seem right at home actually, with 8123. Do you ever see yourself on a major label again in the future?
KB: Currently, things work really well while we do them ourselves. I mean as of right now, there’s no plan of that. I think realistically, we would but there are so many things that would need to be perfect in our situation for that to happen.
JM: As a band, we’ve never been afraid to do something different. Doing the major label thing just left such a bad taste in most of our mouths. To think about going back and doing that again after we’ve been able to do this for so long on our own, it doesn’t make sense you know? It’s like, we paid so much attention to the small details and those kind of get swept under the rug when you’re on a big corporation label. It’s not like “Screw The Maine” or anything like that, but it also kind of is because the man has so much to deal with that you become a very small portion of that. This way, it’s easier to get stuff done, maybe not necessarily easier because the resources aren’t all there but it is a very close, tight-knit operation. We like it that way.
HTF: Speaking of trying new things, you’ve done so many different releases from a Christmas EP, to a short film, to recording on live analogue tape to acoustic. Are there still any things you’re keen on trying?
KB: Things like that, ideas just kind of come as we go. I think we’re interested in just expanding and exploring and trying new things. There’s not necessarily something specific I have personally.
JM: It comes in different forms. You have this creative overflow sometimes and sometimes you don’t and have a drought when there’s really nothing. For our band, we’ve always worked in these short bursts of creativity, whether it’s writing an album or we had the idea to put out a short film when we were Warner Bros. and that was a test to see what kind of stuff they could bring to the table that was a little different than what we’re used to before, being on a major. Even that situation, at the end of the day, we probably could have done something like that on our own anyway. It’s just a process of elimination, you find out what works and what doesn’t. I feel like if something does open up and we haven’t done it before, I don’t know what the hell that would be at this point because we’ve done so many things, but we would never say no without going through and figuring it out.
KB: We’re just really open to interesting things and ideas.
JM: Doesn’t mean we’re going to be a dubstep band.
HTF: We would like to hope not! It’s been quite a long time since Can’t Stop Won’t Stop. Do you find it harder to identify with some of the older songs?
KB: I think that’s just natural because we’re further away from that time period.
JM: Well… I mean, how hard is it for you to identify with your younger self? That’s kind of what it is. We were younger versions of ourselves when we put that album out. It’s being able to go back and it’s like looking at your yearbook photos or whatever you have from a certain stage of your life, this is what you did. You kind of put your stamp on that time period.
KB: You look at it and you’re not embarrassed by it, but you realise you’ve learned from certain things.
JM: What really comes into play is when I see when we play the songs live and I feel the response is still there. That smooths over everything. I mean, we put that record out so long ago and it’s kind of the reason we’re still doing it. You have to be able to identify with it on some level. It’s definitely still there. On Warped Tour, we still played it too.
KB: Absolutely. We find ourselves in the songs. We go back and we try it with a new direction for what the song should be and that helps for us to reconnect and give it life and things like that.
HTF: But are there any particular songs you wouldn’t play live again?
JM: Yeah, ‘Daisy’ would be one. We’re kind of known for not playing that live. I mean, we say we won’t but we might.
KB: ‘Give Me Anything’.
JM: There are songs we recorded that we just couldn’t perform live , but we’ve done ‘Give Me Anything’, haven’t we?
KB: Yeah.
JM: Acoustic tour. Wait, did we?
KB: No we didn’t.
JM: Apparently, I have no clue what’s going on.
HTF: So you may say you won’t play something but you may do it anyway?
KB: If we forget that we’re not playing it, then we probably will (laughs).
JM: We’ve released like a hundred songs, or whatever it is now. There’s stuff we can pull out and rework but if you’re forcing it there’s no need. We have so much material now that we can craft a set that we are going to enjoy and our fans are going to enjoy. That’s where we’re at with that.
HTF: We know that you have a “We like to party” chant that you do before shows. Have you ever forgotten and something bad has happened?
JM: We were just talking about that! We’ve forgotten and something bad has happened, and we’ve forgotten and it’s been fine. So, it’s still a superstitious thing and we do it.
KB: It’s more like an OCD thing that we do, it’s just funny.
JM: It doesn’t really do anything. I don’t believe in that too much, I’m not a superstitious person.
KB: Me neither, it’s just fun.
JM: But you know, when you don’t do it and nothing goes right on stage, then you have to bow down and do it again.
KB: And we can blame it on that and just say “Oh, it was because of that, of course.”
HTF: The general view on the advancements in technology for music is bad. Streaming and digital downloads aside, has it also made it easier to record and so on? What are your thoughts on that?
KB: I don’t know, but all the people that we have reached around the world and in some way connected with happened because we’re using technology and the internet.
JM: I mean, it helps in some ways. You should see how many times we mess up in the studio. If it was 1970 and we had to cut tape, we’d be in there forever. That also is what makes you better musicians though. That’s what the last record taught us. There’s stuff that’s being invented even in the studio that helps you with that kind of thing. There’s this thing called clasp that we used that lets us record onto tape, so you get that sound but you’re also running it through a computer so you can edit everything on there. So, you don’t actually have to cut tape. There are little advancements like that that I feel for the technical side of things are awesome. Then there are also the online platforms and social networks and stuff that help move your stuff out to people. You can show people stuff on Instagram, Twitter and all of that.
KB: There are plus and minuses for all the technology through it. Some of it’s great, some of it’s not so great but overall it’s been a good thing.
JM: We’re not like a bitter old band from like the 60s or 70s that’s like tired of everything.
KB: We just like to have integrity.
JM: Whatever works and sounds best and what sounds real. We don’t ever want to just put out this polished robot of a record, that will never be our intention. As a rock band, it should never be that.
KB: It’s a lot of great technology, but with a grain of salt.
JM: I have Spotify on my phone, I’m not ashamed, you know what I mean? It’s nice to be able to carry your music with you. I do own a lot of vinyl too. For me, that’s what I like, but I also like the convenience of streaming. I also realise that things are heading in a different direction. I think if you don’t acknowledge that, you’re in big trouble. I think that’s a big pitfall for a lot of bands, is not being able to acknowledge that things are changing.
HTF: To fit with the theme of your last album, and the fact that your last show on it will be on Halloween, let’s end on some fun Halloween related questions. What was the first costume you ever dressed up as?
JM: Sonic The Hedgehog.
KB: A zombie.
JM: Before zombies were cool.
KB: I mean, I don’t know what I was when I was being held in my mother’s arms or something, but this is the first one I remember. I had white sweatpants and a white shirt and we taped strips of bedsheets all around it.
HTF: Favourite candy?
JM: Not candy corn. I hate candy corn. I HATE it. I just want to put that out there. That’s a very Halloweeny candy and I hate it. I’m a big fan of salty sweet stuff. Pretzel M&Ms are good and Take 5 is really good.
KB: I like that. I like just chocolate. Hershey’s milk chocolate.
JM: Salty sweet, that’s my game.
HTF: What is your worst trick or treat memory?
JM: I’ve got a good one. I was in third grade and I was on roller blades. We thought that if we put roller blades on we would get more candy because you can go faster. It was me and one friend, so it was the two of us and we had pillow cases that we were using as our candy bags. It was the end of the night and it was totally full. We were so excited and we were going home. Then this group of fifth graders came around the corner and they were on bikes. My friend was a lot bigger than me at the time and they came and got to him first and pushed him to the ground. They stole his bag, then they came after me. I was like swinging my bag at them and they ended up pushing me over but I was fighting with the kid and I kept some of my candy. He ended up reaching in my bag and just grabbing a bunch of stuff. No one saw it, it was in the park and it was really dark and we got candy robbed. I have nightmares of that. That kind of sucked, but I kept some of my candy! My friend bruised his knees and was scraped up and lost all his candy.
KB: I don’t have a beating up story.
JM: Bullies, man! I hate bullies.
KB: I don’t have a bully story. Most of my Halloweens ended up with candy. There’s the occasional Mum going “I don’t know if you should eat that!” and it’s like “But Muuuum! It’s awesome!” (laughs).
HTF: Well, that was it from me!
JM: I ended it on my bullying story, I was such a wussy.
HTF: Would you like to add something nice then?
KB: Jared beats up kids now.
JM: Now I’m the bully.
KB: He takes candy from children.
JM: All thanks to those fifth graders.
