The Maine

The Maine will joining this monster Australian tour with All Time Low and Neck Deep. 2017 will be a massive year for The Maine as they release their sixth studio album Lovely Little Lonely which has already seen the release of the single Bad Behaviour. Hi Fi Way:The Pop Chronicles had the opportunity to do a quick Q&A with bassist Garrett Nickelsen about the tour.

How good is the line up with All Time Low, Neck Deep and The Maine?
Should be fun! Don’t really know the Neck Deep guys but we’re pretty friendly with All Time Low. Always have a good time when we see each other. Shows should definitely rock.

I know you’re all friends but is there a friendly rivalry that happens on tour?
I’m sure there is a little but not enough to bum anyone out. You always wanna be the best band in the room but sometimes that can be difficult when your in a room with bands like Augustana, or The Technicolors.

Is Australia the best place to play in the world?
Its always pretty fun!

What can fans expect on this tour?
It will be a good rock n roll show! New and old songs. We have a shorter set cause we are opening but we will make sure to have a mix of all the albums.

Will it lean more to the new album?
A couple new ones at first but if people are wanting to hear more of the new stuff we can always add some more.

Do all three bands get on stage at the end and do a song together or better still an Australian cover?
I don’t think we are playing any songs together. If we did we should do Crowded House Hey Now.

What is your favourite song by an Australian band and why?
Silverchair’s Straight Lines. Such a great tune, that whole record rocks actually. Good grooves

American Candy is a great album but do you think you’ve topped that with your forthcoming release Lovely, Little, Lonely?
I think we have. It feels like the album we’ve been trying to make our whole career.

Has The Maine sound changed much between albums or is that a gradual thing over the career of the band?
It’s one of those things where we just make the music we want and it’s not till other people hear it that it gets judged. We never set out to make a certain type of music we just make it and it’s up to other people to make the decision if we’ve “changed”‘or whatever.

How was the studio experience? Fun? Hard Work?
It’s always fun but also hard work. Lovely Little Lonely was one of the more difficult albums for us to make. We wanted it to all feel cohesive and that really means you need to know what your looking to do. This time it wasn’t just a bunch of songs that we made and are put next to each other. We wanted a flow to the album and make each song connect to the next. Lots of time was put into arranging things the way we wanted.

The artwork is really cool, where did the idea for the imagery come from?
It was basically the idea John wanted to record to feel like. The feeling of being at the bottom of a pool all alone.

The deluxe package is an awesome score for fans, do you have a lot of fun coming up with that stuff and doing things that aren’t normally considered as part of an album release?
We are always trying to bring a new experience to people with things we do. It was just a fun new idea that our manager and Pat our drummer thought up.

Is this the best time for a band the lead up to an album release?
It’s for sure the most exciting! I just want people to hear it already. Hopefully our fans like it as much as we do.

What do you think will be the next single?
People are reacting well to Black Butterflies and Deja Vu so maybe we’ll make a video for that next.

With a year full of touring and promoting the album what are you looking forward to doing when you take a break?
We just had a long break I’m ready to play some shows!

Interview by Rob Lyon

Neck Deep are touring Australia with All Time Low and The Maine this May on the following dates: