Interview: The Maine Talks “American Candy”, Arizona’s Music Scene, and Myspace’s Musical Legacy

By: Emily Kovacic – 

During their ongoing tour with Real Friends, Knuckle Puck, and The Technicolors in support of their fifth album, American Candy, (out March 31st), which debuted at no. 37 on the Billboard 200, we sat down with Garrett Nickelsen, bassist of Phoenix-based pop-punk band The Maine, where we discussed their new album, the musical legacy of Myspace, Arizona’s music scene, and more!

American Candy has been available for about a month now. What’s the weirdest bit of feedback you’ve gotten about it?

I don’t know man. I feel like I haven’t gotten too many weird things. A lot of it has been really positive which is awesome. I think a lot of people are really excited for the more happy kind of sound that it is. Oh actually some guy compared it to mayonnaise! Which was really fucking weird. That was very strange. He said that our band is like mayonnaise and like when you’re a little kid you throw it on everything and you love it and it’s like your favorite thing, but then like when you become a young adult you don’t like it as much and he like compared our last couple of records to like being a young adult and not liking mayonnaise. Then like you realize later on that you like mayonnaise and that was fucking crazy. I hate mayonnaise. So someone compared it to mayonnaise and that made me feel weird

The album seems more upbeat than ever before. What kind of headspace were you in when you were recording it?

I think we just wanted to make a happy record. I think a lot of people were kind of confused on what Forever Halloween was. It’s weird listening to it now because I hadn’t listened to it in a while and in my head it just seemed like the next thing to do. It seemed like the right kind of path to take from where we were in our lives, but then I listened to it and it felt really long and it felt darker than I remember it being like in my head.

I think we just wanted to make something really happy and got to the point quick. That’s why it’s so short. That’s the least amount of songs we’ve ever put on a record. Because I would always get mad when bands wouldn’t put enough songs on a record, like if they would put out an eight song record, I’d be like “that’s not a record that’s an EP.” So it was like okay let’s make it short and sweet and all the songs just hit when they need to.

What’s the meaning behind the title American Candy?

It comes from John [O’Callaghan] [lead vocal, guitar] and it was kind of his way of expressing his feelings of how people and the world makes you feel. Like how you need to be the prettiest person with the coolest clothes and stuff and that’s not real. I guess that’s why the record looks like it does. It’s like this really beautiful girl, the bubble is like a perfect circle, it looks super clean but that’s not the way life is. You’re fucked up but that’s okay.

What themes did you explore on American Candy that you hadn’t on past albums?

I think it was the first record in a while where we felt like we had a vision. Pioneer was like our let go like stoney album. Which was cool and I was really happy about, but there was no pressure, and we did what we wanted to do. It just felt right. Forever Halloween was our step up from that and taking the bluesy, and rock-and-roll aspect of what Pioneer was to the next level and recording it live together because we never did that. American Candy was like us thinking about the album we needed to make. It’s cool to see people react to it, that we can do that and we can write a song to a mood, that’s cool that people react to it.

The Maine released their fifth album, American Candy, on March 31st, which debuted at no. 37 on the Billboard 200.

Why did you guys choose Meerkat as a streaming tool for American Candy?

It kind of fell into our laps. We did the 24-hour thing when we were recording Black and White, and we did that whole thing with that. We had these guys following us around with computers and they were streaming the whole thing and we wanted to do it again because we wanted them to feel really special people who enjoy our band to see kind of like what happens. A lot of it wasn’t like what normally happens, like we don’t stay up for 24 hours when we record or release an album but just the energy behind it and how excited everyone was. I think it was the perfect situation of how you have your phone and you can do it right here, so it was us on our phones talking to kids and they’re responding. We heard about it maybe a week before we did that, so it just kind of happened to fall right into what we were doing.

The Maine has come up through various stages of social media like MySpace. What do you miss about MySpace?

My top 8. I miss showing the world who my favorite people are.

What is MySpace’s legacy to the music industry?

I think they helped a lot of bands out who are doing well right now. It was a weird time. When we started doing well, in my junior year too, I didn’t pay attention in school. I would just be on MySpace connecting with people and being “hey you like our band” and people would be like “I never heard of you” and I’d be like “here’s some songs.” So it’s crazy. I remember it being a week when it was really important and then it disappeared and it was so strange. Sorry Justin [Timberlake].

Arizona’s got a very rich, yet under-recognized music scene. Why do you think that is?

I don’t know there’s a lot of great music that comes from there. I think a lot of it might have to do with what people think of Arizona. Like we will be at a gas station and say we are from Arizona and they’ll be like “oh cowboys.” It’s so crazy because it doesn’t feel like that. We live in the desert but it’s an actual city. I don’t know all the artists from Phoenix besides Nick Santino, like Technicolors who opened the show are our best friends. I live with Sean the guitar player. We try to let the good bands shine out of Phoenix. I don’t know really why people don’t think of it as a music place like Nashville, it’s a cool place.

Your shows are known to be wild and off the wall. What are the most ridiculous things you’ve seen your fans do during your shows?

I don’t know about during the show cause it’s like an energy thing. Like when it’s happening you’re not really thinking about it, like the crazy stuff that is happening. When people are climbing on other people you can’t walk down a street and see that. It’s not a normal thing for that to happen. The craziest thing I like remember was this 87-year-old lady who came to our Denver show and it was her first concert she ever went to. Her grandkids brought her to the show. She was like “your Halloween CD is stuck in my computer.” Those are the moments that kind of make me want to cry because you’re like my grandma is listening to this. It’s amazing and so cool.

You’re about 10 years in from your first album. What can you not do anymore that you did all the time when you were starting out?

Sleep. I have a hard time sleeping now. That’s all I’ve got.