It is always great to have some american spirit over here in London, but when it comes to The Maine…well, it’s unavoidable! Even though Arizona’s pop-rock quintet didn’t bring warm weather with them, they did bring a bit of sunshine during the rainy day. Nonetheless, what matters is that they absolutely killed it at the Electric Ballroom, singing 19 songs from a diverse set list, not including ‘punk-rock jams’, which has definitely made that night for all of us to remember!
Interviewing Jared and Kennedy was amusing, especially discussing the need for boxer briefs, celebrity crushes and their favourite drinks!
Hi, isn’t it your 9th or 10th time over here? What makes you coming back and are there any particular expectations every time?
Jared: Somewhere there, let’s make it 10 – nice even number! [laughs]. First of all, we are trying to grow our band over here. It’s been kind of a long process but it has always been consistently better, to some degree at least. We have been fortunate enough to get on couple of really awesome tours over here. We did All Time Low run, and we did Deaf Havana recently. There have been things, kind of little milestones over here, and it’s just made it more worthwhile to come back. We just wanted to come back and play for new fans we’ve made from supporting over here. Also to remind our current fans over here that we will be coming back! So…
Kennedy: It’s always these great shows and we have a lot of fun and enjoy our time over here. I mean, I personally remember being in this venue 2 years ago and it’s one of the highlights of being over here! I am really excited for tonight as well!
What aspect of being a musician excites you the most?
Kennedy: There are so many aspects to it that we really enjoy. Aaaah, first of all we get to play music, we get to jam with each other all the time and create things musically. And once we do that we are able to go and share it with people, which is really fun experience. It is mutual for people that are experiencing it as well as us playing music for people. Yeah, and we get to travel and …I’d rather pretty much enjoy all the aspects.
Jared: I like creating. I like being in the studio. I do like touring; we have been doing it for a while now. I think that the most fun part of being in the band is, for me at least, is going to the studio and kind of have a chance to start fresh. It’s cool that you bring it on the road to watch how people connect to it. We’ve been fortunate enough to – we’ve done it four times, we put 4 records out. So, it’s cool to have, you know, a fan base that knows stuff from most recent record and some stuff from the first one. So, I think, there are cool things to both sides – creating, recreating and touring. I think I lean a little bit towards the studio [Pat comes in and agrees with Jared, all laugh].
What is your favorite track off FOREVER HALLOWEEN: DELUXE EDITION and why?
Jared: My favorite is the song called ‘Vanilla’. We actually wrote it at my parents cabin in Northern Arizona and we went there to write some music. We probably got like 8 songs out of it?
Kennedy: Yeah…
Jared: And that was one of the tracks that came out …
Kennedy: It was kind of …when we were writing to FOREVER HALLOWEEN when we first started.
Jared: We are actually playing that song in the set over here; so it’s cool to play it live for the first time! I feel like the reaction has been very cool and feel like …that’s one is just my favourite on the DELUXE EDITION, just cause it’s very different from the ones I used to. It’s the way that we recorded the guitars – they are very like spacy, I don’t really know how to really explain it. It doesn’t sound like what we would normally do. I kind of like that about it.
What colour describes your band?
Jared: That’s a tough one!
Kennedy: I don’t know, I feel like it… [laughs]
Jared: I’d like to say red. I don’t know why – it’s just passion and anger, sometimes [all laugh]. We were a pretty angry band when we were doing PIONEER.
Kennedy: Yeah, that’s actually true.
Jared: You know, situation we were in with Warner Brothers, like a major label was frustrating. Yeah, I think we were pretty angry at that point and I think, if you listen to PIONEER, there are few tracks that reflect that.
Jared: I think now we are more kind of cool purple blue, green …
What do you think about online music sharing?
Jared: I think it’s slowing going away right now. I think, the fact that there are streaming services out like Spotify. For me, at least, you hear a lot of older musicians kind of talking down about these new services and stuff. But, as a music fan that’s awesome for me to come over here with a playlist. I pay $10/month and I can have any song that I want. On that side that’s awesome! I know that they don’t pay out artists that well but that’s a lot better than people just stealing your music, you know?
Kennedy: I think that we are also consumers in that sense too. So, we really do enjoy the aspects of having music sharing system…
Jared: If it was up to us, we would have record player, vinyls and nice set up … but on tour it’s just not possible! I feel like for an average music listener, you kind of, always travel the world. For people to have their music mobile is very cool. I don’t know…I like having it with me when I go out. Yeah, downloading thing doesn’t really freak me out anymore.
Kennedy: It has its plus and minuses.
Jared: It used to be like ‘Oh my God, what are we gonna do to make up for this thing’; but really you just need to know how to adapt and change to it. We are lucky that we have such dedicated fans. We have a really great core fan base. They buy records, they buy shirts. Its awesome to have them – they really support us! It’s never really a concern for us.
Considering the fact that you have a very close relationship with your fans, what else would you say is important to being in a band?
Kennedy: There are million things! One is just the relationship between us as a band. I mean, I feel like we are able to just kind of take any situation that comes at us and deal with it in a positive way, because we are able to do it together. And that’s something really special. There have been many groups that we’ve been out with that just don’t really able to value within themselves.
Jared: I think it’s just important to just be real people! Be authentic of what we are doing. I think it’s kind of… since the beginning – to not really change our sound or what we are thinking, or doing for other people. And we went through a pretty trying period couple of years ago. People wanting to change what we are doing, change how we sounded. I think we came out of it even stronger as far as knowing who we are, what we want to sound like. Conveying to our fans has been easy – to just do what we do. So I feel like that makes the relationship a little bit stronger too. Because, people can see through bullsh*t, pardon my language, but they can tell when you… You know what I mean? There are so many artists, especially nowadays, that lose they way when this or that happened. I think it is really important to give somebody the real picture of who you are.
Jared: Yeah, I think that kind of helped to build a bridge between our fans and us.
What are the biggest obstacles for bands?
Kennedy: Sometimes it can be a lift of the band starting. Just getting your bearings going and figuring out how to cope with just any aspect of it, the touring, the recording – all those things and …
Jared: Yeah, I think staying relevant and staying something that people care about. The best part about being a band is having that time to grow as a musician, as an individual even! And, over time, 8 years I think now, we wouldn’t be what we are now if we haven’t made the first four records at this point. So, having opportunity to stay a band – just that along – is so important. Because, there are so many bands that might come out really strong with their first album and then fade out. So, we were really lucky that we have made decisions that allowed us to continue doing. That only allows us to grow more – its only gonna help us in the future!
Now let’s move on to FUN Questions:
Jared: Okay, cool!
Celebrity crush?
Kennedy: Emma Watson.
Jared: That’s a good one! I have to go with either Jennifer Lawrence or Katy Perry, maybe?
Snog/Mary/Avoid – Rihanna, Beyonce, Nicki Minaj
Jared: Wait, what are the options? I’ve avoid Nicki Minaj…
Kennedy: I would do the same.
Jared: I would marry Beyonce, so I guess I’m making out with Rihanna!
Kennedy: Yeah, I think I’ll agree on this one. The only version I’ve seen of Nicki Minaj’s ‘Anaconda’ video was having everyone farting! [laughs]
Jared: It was awesome! [laughs] Yeah, the way I saw it was… the first thing I do when I wake up is pull my phone out and it was like ‘New Nicki Minaj video’. So, I’m lying in bed and first thing I saw was that video! I had a really weird day after that, it was just not … [all laugh] Well, I don’t care at all about it, I know a lot of people are like ‘Oh my God, did you see that?’
Interviewer: She did it on purpose!
Jared: I could see through her bullsh*t! That’s what I was talking about! [all laugh]
One Direction or Justin Bieber?
Jared: I would go with One Direction…They’ve done less things to piss me off! [all laugh]
Kennedy: Yeah, I hate them less [laughs]
Who is the most home sick?
Kennedy: As in the band/crew – it’s Peter!
Jared: Yeah, Peter gets home sick. I complain a lot. I am always complaining ‘this isn’t my house, this is not what I like’. This is just so different. We all get home sick!
Kennedy: There are just different moments where you can be more home sick or less.
Jared: I got a new dog right before this tour, so I had to hang out with him for two days… so there is that! That and family – everyone always misses their family.
Kennedy: Yeah it’s that – family, friends and just people we enjoy sharing things with that we miss when we’re gone.
Who is the funniest in the band?
Kennedy: He is not allowed to answer this, because he is [points at Jarred].
Jared: You show me funny things all the time! I think Garret is pretty naturally funny…crazy crazy kid!
Kennedy: You see, I always love it because Jarred can make me super angry [Jarred laughs] and in a split second have me killing over laughing… So…
Jared: You gonna catch me in a good mood! [all laugh]
Favorite junk food?
Jared: Chocolate! I love chocolate.
Kennedy: Pizza!
Interviewer: Chocolate pizza?
Kennedy: Yes [laughs]
Jared: Chocolate pizza? Wow…
Boxers or Briefs?
Jared: I would say boxer briefs! Put the two together.
Kennedy: I agree… Two combined are perfect!
Jared: Because briefs, that can hurt! If you are walking around London all day, briefs are just ‘UUUHHH’ [all laugh]. And then boxers are just…
Kennedy: ‘AAAAHHHH’ [all laugh]
Jared: You just feel like a nice hug and boxers do not do that! Boxers are just hi-fi, maybe, but…[all laugh].
What’s the most ‘rock star’ thing that you’ve ever done?
Kennedy: Almost starting a riot at Washington State University!
Jared: Yeah, we played a college back home at uni. It was on the big basketball court, the stage was over here and there was so much empty space.
Kennedy: Unaware completely that we were instructed not to do …
Jared: Apparently, we weren’t allowed to tell them to come closer to the stage, but we did it anyway. So, people starting jumping over the barricade and coming front of the stage. And there was a cop, a police officer, next to the stage who was screaming at our tour manager that they were gonna shut us down! And John was like ‘Come on, come’ and all the kids ran up.
Kennedy: We played with Ying Yang twins for some reason and that was caused a riot!
Jared: We thought they were gonna shut us down, but they didn’t! We were okay!
If you had to give up music – what would you do to be creative?
Jared: I would probably become a programmer or something.
Kennedy: I like drawing and paining, and things like that – not necessarily good at it, but I just enjoy it!
Favourite Drink?
Kennedy: Yours is? [laughs and points at Jarred]
Jared: Coconut water! I mean, as far as alcohol goes, probably just any whisky, maybe scotch. But, they make a lot of fun of me because I drink a lot of coconut water. So, there is that…everyone hates that except for me!
Kennedy: My favourite would be fresh apple and carrot juice, if I make it!
Jared: He is a juice guy!
Is there anything you want to add?
Kennedy: Thank you so much!
Jared: Yeah, thanks a lot for paying attention to our band – we appreciate it and allowing us coming back over here! Thanks all of you!