Something Corporate: ...making things happen (and the postcards home)

Kamtin Mohager chats with William Tell and Andrew McMahon of Something Corporate

Something Corporate: William Tell, Andrew McMahon
Sound the Sirens Magazine: Kamtin Mohager

Kamtin: Aloha guys? Can you tell us your names and what you do in the band?

William: I'm William and I play guitar

Andrew: I'm Andrew. I play piano and sing.

Kamtin: So, how has the tour with New Found Glory been?

William: It's been awesome. We're really great friends with them and we've become really good friends with Further Seems Forever. Those guys are great. And obviously we have been friends with Finch for a while because we started on Drive-Thru at the same time. It really is a lot of fun. It's pretty much an extension of the good times we had on the Warped Tour. It's been a blast. It's really cool to come out and play cities like Denver for instance where we've only been once or twice before. It's cool to spend more time here to get to know the kids and the bands that are around here. Hopefully build more.

Andrew: Yeah, I totally agree. It's been more than we ever hoped it would be which is great. We're only a couple weeks through, but so far all the shows have been unbelievable.

Kamtin: How great was the Warped Tour?

Andrew: I think for us it was, well, before going out there was one of the most nerve wrecking things and I really never got over the nerves of it to be honest. Like, everyday was like the new "Oh jeez, I got to do this again", not saying about performing, but just going out and there and seeing what the kids will think about us because we're not really a punk band. And we definitely have that element of us that doesn't belong on the Warped Tour which is almost why they thought we belonged on the Warped Tour. But what ended up coming from it I think was a big help. We pretty much released our record on the Warped Tour and it sold so many more copies with the result of us going out and seeing all those people and getting the chance to sit in the merch booth all day and hang out with kids and talk to people that were seeing the band for the first time. I think the benefits of doing it were so amazing. It ended up being a great thing.

Kamtin: Oh yeah, for sure. Because at school I wore my Something Corporate shirt before a lot of kids knew who you guys were. And teachers come to me thinking it was some joke shirt thinking me mocking the corporate scene and now I think about a month ago, you guys were featured in our school newspaper. There was a huge article of you guys. So, it obviously has helped.

Kamtin: Well, I call them slippers, but why do you always wear flip-flops. I know they are so comfortable. I would be wearing them now but I will be in the mosh pit in about 2 hours and that would be hell on my feet. But, I have never seen you in shoes. What's up with that?

William: All our friends back home in California, we all wear them. It's so much easier and much more relaxed and usually the weather is decent up in California. It starts to get kind of cold on the road so we end up bringing some shoes along, but I much rather prefer slipping into these just because its the easiest thing to wear. And especially on a tour bus, at least in ours, we're in our bunk and you can only keep like a change of clothes and not much else. So you can just throw on your sandals instead of going down and getting socks out of your bag.

Andrew: But it's just like a standard cultural thing in California. It's just the thing. When people see us they thing were in uniform or something like that. It's really just like us wearing a pair of skate shoes to most kids.

Kamtin: Since you guys have gained so much success recently, are there any plans of re-releasing "Ready...Break"?

Andrew: I think, well, ok. Success or not, I know there are a lot of people want to hear it and so we're trying to work something out right now where we can put it out as a fan club thing. I mean, there's other stuff that goes along with it as far as legal shit. We have to figure out what we have to do with it before anything happens, but it's not something that we're working our asses off to make happen just because we're so busy, but it's definitely in the works. Not to stores so much, but to the kids. To me, I like the record and I love what it means to us, but I also think its best suited in the hands of people who know what it is, which are the beginnings of this band and not really where we're going.

Kamtin: "Konstantine" has to be one of the most beautiful songs I have ever heard. It is so packed with emotion and feeling that it becomes a very touching song to listen to. It seems like you are singing out to a person you love or once loved. Is there a specific story behind the song?

Andrew: I dated this girl for like a year and a half or so, and then it ended, and then restarted. There's a lot of trial involved in a relationship and it's the typical thing. You think you care so much about someone in High School to keep going back together with them when really it's not necessarily worth the trouble that goes along with it. So really it just kind of developed out of that and all the issues, problems that kind of came along with our relationship. It was a tough time. These guys know it when I wrote it, it just was what it was, but I'm glad something like that came out of it.

Kamtin: Have you guys been writing any new material?

Andrew: Yeah!

William: We have been talking about that all day.

Andrew: We're going to try and be in the studio April, May, June of this year to put a record out by like October next year. You know, its still like a year or so from now, but you got to start the planning early.

William: The planning is taking place right now.

Andrew: So we're definitely trying to make something happen. You know, there are obviously different factors that revolve themselves, but we want to be recording a record soon.

Kamtin: What are your plans after the NFG tour? Are you guys going to be doing a headlining tour anytime soon?

William: That's what we've also been talking about all day. We're trying to plan out the next year because in this business, you have to plan things so far ahead of time to get everything line-up, but probably a headlining tour, possibly co-headlining; sometime between winter and spring.

Andrew: We have some international plans to kind of fall somewhere in there so it's just kind of like trying to figure out where. How we can fit a month long trip to Europe, 6 week headlining tour of the states, and recording a new album into the next 6 months. So we're trying to make it all work. I think it will end up working. Hopefully just in time for us to be out again in the summer time.

Kamtin: If you guys do it, are their any bands you guys want to do it with?

William: There in such preliminary stages right now, we can't even say.

Kamtin: How do you feel when you turn on the radio or TV and you hear "I Woke Up In A Car" or "If U C Jordan"?

William: Well, it hasn't happened much often because we've been gone so much.

Kamtin: Here, to tell you the truth, it's on about 3 or 4 times a day. So, since I heard it, I was like "Holy shit, this is fuckin' awesome!".

William: Haha!

Andrew: Haha, that's so awesome dude!

William: Every time we hear something like that, like when I first saw "I Woke Up In A Car" on MTV2, it was just really amazing. When we were recording this record, "If U C Jordan" was playing in our home town so that was really amazing. The first few times we heard it, we were getting out of the studio and getting into our cars to go home and it was just an incredible feeling.

Kamtin: Thank you so much for sitting down with me and answering a few questions. I really do appreciate everything. Would you like to leave with a few words of wisdom?

Andrew: Yeah. Just to let them know we appreciate them coming out to shows and listening to the band. We have a good time doing what were doing, so hopefully people just keep listening. And thank you Kam for doing this.

William: Yeah, thanks man!

Kamtin: No, thank you.