Jack's Mannequin
is a piano rock band from Los Angeles, California, Originally hailing from Orange County, California. A side project of Andrew McMahon, originally from Something Corporate, the band was formed in 2004 and released their first album in August 2005. In June of that year, McMahon was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), but made a full recovery. Both of the band's albums, Everything in Transit
and The Glass Passenger
, have been received well by both fans and critics alike. They are currently signed to Sire Records.
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JACK'S MANNEQUIN TICKETS
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Etymology
The band's name is a combination of the title of a song
Andrew McMahon wrote, "Dear Jack", and a band name he considered, Black Mannequins. When walking in a city he noticed that there were very few black Mannequins and wrote it down as an idea for a band name. When having to decide a name for the band when the recording process took greater shape and the project became more realised, he went back to the name, deciding against Black Mannequins because of any racial issues that may occur. In a radio interview, McMahon said that he combined the idea with a song he had written called "Dear Jack" simply because it rhymed. .
[1]
History
Formation and Everything In Transit
(2004-2007)
Andrew McMahon started out in music initially as the lead vocalist and pianist for the
Orange County piano rock band,
Something Corporate. The primary impulse behind McMahon's solo project Jack's Mannequin was a song he recorded in December 2000 titled "Locked Doors". He felt the song was too different from previous Something Corporate material to be one of their songs. He realized that if he ever decided to release it, it would be on a solo album rather than a Something Corporate record.
[2] The idea seemed outlandish until late summer of 2004 when both McMahon and his bandmates were exhausted from months of touring. They decided to take a temporary break. During his time off, McMahon laid down piano and vocal tracks for a song on
Hidden in Plain View's
Life in Dreaming
and two songs on
Tommy Lee's
Tommyland: The Ride
.
While Something Corporate's other songwriter and lead guitarist Josh Partington created a side project of his own called
Firescape, McMahon started writing his own songs. He never expected the songs to be released. McMahon took a more therapeutic approach in writing these songs, resulting in a more personal and intimate testament of his songwriting. They dealt with
"coming home, and having home be way different than I had remembered it [...], abandoning a lot of people, and things, that I had normally been so attached to [...], exploring and being okay with myself, and not having to make excuses for who I am, and accepting who I am"
, McMahon stated in an interview.
[3] Although he just planned on recording them, the songs really began to take shape collectively. He paid for the production out of his own pocket, which ultimately led to a record deal with
Maverick Records.
Their first album, titled
Everything In Transit
, was released in August 2005 and received a positive response from fans and
critics alike. A summer tour was scheduled to support the record release, but was canceled after McMahon was diagnosed with
acute lymphoblastic leukemia and had a
bone marrow transplant.
Jacks Mannequin featured in Series 3 Episode 15 of
One Tree Hill
(TV series), performing at Peyton's breast cancer benefit gig at Tric, the band performed 'The Mixed Tape', 'Holiday From Real' and 'Dark Blue'.
The Glass Passenger
(2007- Present)
The band began recording their second album in the summer of 2007. In August 2007, McMahon posted the lyrics to the song "Cell Phone" on his blog,
[4] which the band played live at several shows in 2007 and 2008. Also, in February 2008, videos of live performances of two songs off the new record ("Caves"
[5] and "Suicide Blonde"
[6]) were uploaded onto
YouTube for public viewing. McMahon appears on the cover of the January 2008 issue of
Alternative Press, which contains an interview with him.
[7]
The new record, entitled
The Glass Passenger
, had an original release date of
April 22. The date was then tentatively set to
June 3, but was released much later on September 30, 2008.
On May 5, 2008,
Paramore singer
Hayley Williams announced on
The Sauce that Paramore and Jack's Mannequin had a tour scheduled together, to begin at the end of the summer. Dates have been confirmed for August and September 2008.
[8]
On
August 5, 2008,
The Ghost Overground
EP was released on
iTunes. The EP contains two tracks from the upcoming album, "The Resolution" and "Bloodshot," and two live tracks from
Everything In Transit
. Another EP,
In Valleys
, was released on iTunes
September 9, containing one song from the album, "Swim," and three b-sides, "Cell Phone," "Sleazy Wednesday," and "At Full Speed." "
In Valleys" was expected to have a tracklisting of "Swim", "Cell Phone", "Sleazy Wednesday" and "Annie Use Your Telescope" but a mistake was made.
On
August 28, 2008, in an interview with MTV, Andrew revealed that the author
Stephenie Meyer had written the treatment for the new video for "The Resolution" and had set to direct it the following week.
[9] Of the shoot, McMahon said, "It was a very cool shoot. Music videos are a tricky thing. They require a lot of trust in the team creating the visuals and that can be a little scary. That said, there was a great vibe on the set, and shooting by the water really made it an especially peaceful day, despite all the hard work that goes into it."
[10]
On September 3rd, 2008, it was announced that Jack's Mannequin would be the headliner on a fall tour that will feature the new album. The Tour is called "Hammers and Strings: An Evening with Jack's Mannequin and The Glass Passenger". The band is expected to play the album in its entirety at these shows, touring major cities and areas with a large fan base. This much-awaited tour saw many of the shows sell out in a few days. It will be the first tour after
The Glass Passenger
s release.
On
September 30, 2008, The Glass Passenger was released, getting great reviews from music magazines (Spin, Alternative Press, Rolling Stone, etc.) and a huge acceptance from fans.
On
October 13, 2008, a three-song live acoustic video performance premiered on LiveDaily Sessions, including the songs "The Resolution," "Annie Use Your Telescope" and "Bloodshot".
[11]
On November 3rd, 2008, it was announced that Jack's Mannequin would be the headliner for the annual KRBZ's The Night The Buzz Stole Christmas, one of the largest annual alternative music events during the Christmas season. The band will tour with
The Fray in the summer of 2009.
On May 22, 2009, it was announced that the band would be shooting a music video for their next single "Swim". The fans were asked to send in any artwork that represented the metaphorical meaning of the word "Swim", that being anything to do with "hope, perseverance, courage, determination and strength". The video was released on July 21, 2009. A "Making of" video was made for the music video and was released on Friday, July 17th.
Philanthropy
In June 2005, Andrew McMahon was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, but made a full recovery. Jack's Mannequin annually participates in
The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's
Light The Night Walk. In 2008, they set a $100,000 fund raising goal which is collected through a personalized fund raising page. The money raised goes towards fighting blood cancers and providing support to patients and their families.
Members
- Andrew McMahon – vocals, piano
- Bobby "Raw" Anderson– guitar, backup vocals
- Jonathan 'Dr. J' Sullivan – bass
- Jay McMillan – drums
Discography
Albums
- Everything in Transit
(August 23, 2005) #37 U.S.(250,000+ US)
- The Glass Passenger
[12] [13] (September 30, 2008) [14] #8 US (225,000 US)
Singles
- "The Mixed Tape" #124 US
- "Dark Blue"
- "The Lights and Buzz"
- "La La Lie"
- "The Resolution" #104 US, #27 US Modern Rock
- "Swim"
EPs
- "Kill the Messenger" 7" vinyl (2005)
- "The Free Holiday EP" Online Streaming (2006)
- "The Ghost Overground" (iTunes Store Exclusive) (August 5, 2008)
- "In Valleys" (iTunes Store Exclusive) (September 9, 2008)
- "The Resolution EP" (Rhapsody/VCast Exclusive (September 23, 2008)
- "Live from SoHo EP" (iTunes Store Exclusive) (March 10, 2009)
Non-album tracks
- "Lonely for Her" – bonus track on the iTunes Store version of Everything In Transit
(2005)
- "The Lights and Buzz" – released as a digital download on the iTunes Store (2005)
- "Meet Me at My Window" – released on Sound of Superman
(2006)
- "Last Straw, AZ" – released online (2006)
- "Bruised (Remix)" - released on Snakes on a Plane: The Album
(2006)
- "Bruised (Acoustic)" – released on Fearless Records' Punk Goes Acoustic 2
(2007)
- "God (feat. Mick Fleetwood)" - released on Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur
(2007)
- "La La Lie (West Coast Winter version)"- released on Punk the Clock 3: Property of Gentlemen
(2007)
- "Dear Jack" (played live for the first time in front of an audience on 10/14/08 in Atlanta, 10/23/08 in Austin)
- "Hey Hey Hey, We're All Gonna Die" (played live 11/18/08 in Philadelphia, 11/22/08 in New York City)
- "Into the Airwaves (Remix)" (played live at Lifestyle Communities Pavilion, 4/14/09 in Columbus, OH)
- "Katie"
Unreleased Live Tracks / Covers
- All I Have to Do is Dream (The Everly Brothers Cover)
- American Girl (Tom Petty Cover)
- Changes (David Bowie Cover)
- Fool in the Rain (Led Zeppelin Cover)
- Friend of the Devil (The Grateful Dead Cover)
- Homeward Bound (Paul Simon Cover)
- I'm On Fire (Bruce Springsteen Cover)
- Kids (MGMT Cover)
- Message in a Bottle (The Police Cover)
- My Name is Jonas (Weezer Cover)
- Diane (Soundcheck)
- With or Without You (U2 cover)
- Watch the Sky (Something Corporate cover)
- For All We Know (Soundcheck)
- Get Out Of This (Soundcheck)