J-14 is scouting out the hottest bands around... and this week's pick is Jack's Mannequin.
Here are five things you need to know about Jack's Mannequin, whose third album People and Things is out now!
1. From what started out as a side project created by Something Corporate's Andrew McMahon, Jack's Mannequin has turned in to a journey for vocalist and pianist Andrew and fellow members guitarist Bobby Anderson, drummer Jay McMillan, and bassist Mikey Wagner. "Something Corporate had done two full length records and an EP and toured pretty constantly for three, four years straight so I think in that moment it was myself and Josh, our guitar player -- we kind of decided to take a little hiatus and go and work on some other things while we were on those breaks," Andrew tells J-14. "So Jack's is what came out of it. Obviously it evolved and developed from there but that's how it began."
2. After being diagnosed in 2005 with Acute Lymphatic Leukemia amidst the peak of his career and beating the disease, Andrew founded the Dear Jack Foundation for young adults dealing with cancer. "This year we're really hoping to expand our business a little bit and get more people involved and start spreading our message which is basically help do what we can and to raise awareness and dollars to aid in the fight against young adult cancer," he says.
3. Creativity is something Andrew isn't lacking. In fact, even if he wasn't a musician, he would still be involved in writing. "I'd probably be writing in some capacity I'm sure, whether it was books or journalism or something to that effect," Andrew tells J-14. "I've got a creator inside of me. I kind of feel like making things is what I do best."
4. Andrew's favorite song to perform live changes on a nightly basis. "There's songs like 'Dark Blue' which are big fan favorites which are always fun to play," Andrew says. "It ends up being kind of an effect of the evening, sort of how the band reactions to a certain song and how the audience does so it kind of changes from night to night, to be honest."
5. "My Racing Thoughts" is the first single off their latest album People and Things. "It's kind of about a fight to be perfectly honest," Andrew tells J-14. "I think in relationships you have these moments where you kind of end up at odds and I think that this song is sort of that moment where you sort of get in to your car and take off and try and go blow off some steam."
Check out their music video for their latest single "My Racing Thoughts" and let us know what you think!
Photo: James Minchin
