Bands from p 22 bands was really important for us, because it was like, there’s stuff going on. There’s something happening around this group of people, and the fact that they’re on stage and we’re on stage and we’re cheering each other on — because in the early days, half the people in the audience are the other bands waiting to play — that kind of connection and camaraderie was really important to us,” he explained. In those days, Jimmy Eat World performed and watched bands at places such as Modified Arts (it’s still around, but no longer used as a music venue), Green Room, and the Silver Dollar Club. “The old Nita’s Hideaway is probably the epicenter for the group of people that we were closest to. RIP,” Adkins said. Besides those metro Phoenix main- stays, “When we were starting, there was like a string of semi-legal places that were open for seven or eight months,” Adkins said, “I think if we saw any of those places now, we’d be horrified, but there’s some thing special about when you’re discov- ering things for the first time that makes it elevated.” Jimmy Eat World have long since been elevated out of the local music scene and onto national and international stages; besides the October 28 concert and the When We Were Young Festival, the band have been touring around the country this year and even has some Australian dates booked in 2023. However, they’re not touring to promote an album. The band haven’t put out a full-length album since Surviving in 2019, and post-pandemic, they’re pivoting to a different way to share music. Rather than releasing LPs, they’re going for indi- vidual songs to reflect the way that people listen to music today, Adkins said in a post- press conference interview. “Right now, we don’t have a record label, and for a while now, we’ve been trying to figure out what the best way forward would be in that,” he said. “We came upon the idea of trying to meet people where they’re at with how they consume music. It seems, more often than not, it’s by track or on playlists. ... And there’s so much competition for your time, so it’s sort of a lot to ask even your most hardcore fan to sit down with an hour for your new record. ... But just about every- body has time to check out a song. This is something we’ve never done before, so that’s exciting.” Their latest song is “Place Your Debts,” which came out just this week. Songwriting happens “a few ways,” 24 Adkins said. “Sometimes I’ll come to the group with an idea that has a vocal melody to it but maybe not finished lyrics to it. That might be a full arrangement of some- thing; it might be just a part. It’ll go through the band editing process and get fleshed out, get developed into something for songlike. And that’s true also from anyone else’s scrap ideas. ... Basically, someone does something, another person will say, ‘Do that again,’ and embellish it The Maine The Maine, from left: Jared Monaco, Patrick Kirch, John O’Callaghan, Kennedy Brock, and Garrett Nickelsen. and it just turns into something bigger from where it started.” The same can be said of the band them- selves, who are starting to make plans to celebrate their milestone next year while continuing to stay fresh and creative. “For us right now, we’re trying to figure out, for the things we want to do specifi- cally for the 30th anniversary, what do we want to do?” Lind said. “Because it kind of has to fit in existing ideas of what we’ll be doing that are unrelated. We want to do something cool, but we also don’t want the entire year focused on that.” The Maine Talk About the Value of Sticking Around The Maine have released eight studio albums and have their own biannual music festival. They’ve published books, sell all kinds of merch from puzzles to T-shirts to nail polish, perform around the world, and celebrated 15 years as a band earlier this year. But lead singer John O’Callaghan hasn’t forgotten his disastrous first show. He remembers feeling embarrassed because he felt like he gave a bad performance. He didn’t even face the crowd during the set. Then, the band’s former singer gave him some advice. “What he told me was, there’s a differ- ence between 99 percent of the people that you’re playing with and the 1 percent of people that just continue and don’t give up,” he said during the press conference. “You can keep going and keep trying, and it’s going to be hard, but there’s a lot to learn from every experience you have. I think as a band, we took that to heart,” he recalled. A decade and a half later, the five members of the band (O’Callaghan, lead guitarist Jared Monaco, bass guitarist Garrett Nickelsen, drummer Patrick Kirch, and rhythm guitarist Kennedy Brock) are in their 30s, some with wives and children. And not giving up has paid off. Besides the upcoming concert that they’re stoked for, the band recently released “Box in a Heart,” their latest single, and are on the bill for the When We Were Young Festival in Las Vegas. Since the latest 8123 Fest, a local event that draws fans of The Maine from around the world, was held earlier this year, there won’t be another one till 2024, allowing the band plenty of time to work on their upcoming album. (The number 8123 repre- sents the address of a parking garage O’Callaghan and his friends used to hang out in when they were younger.) “At this point, we’re gearing up and we’re writing new music, which is exciting,” O’Callaghan said in a post-press conference interview. “Being able to stand up and play together and write, that was a refreshing reminder of what it was like to write as a band, and I think that’s been really inspira- tional and really motivating going forward. We don’t know exactly what sound we’ll be, but we know that it’s not going to be the same. It’s never the same.” Kirch added, “I think our focus, besides the show, is going to be on really making the best album possible. And I guess the word ‘album’ is the highlight in that. It can be easy to piece a record together and record a song here or there. I think really making a body of work that is one thought, that’s where our heads are at. We’re going to work hard until we make our best record.” Working hard is part of what’s led to the band’s wildly devoted fanbase, thousands of people around the world who love The Maine consider themselves part of the 8123 Family. Search the #8123Impact hashtag on social media, and you’ll find fans getting together to champion mental health and participate in charity projects such as working at food banks and picking up litter. Even the band couldn’t have foreseen the way the fanbase has connected with each other. At the last 8123 Fest, Nickelsen said, it was incredible to see “all these people come together from all over the world, and it was so much more their thing than ours. We just happened to be the background music to their hangout, in the best way.” But none of it would have been possible if the band hadn’t stuck it out through the early years, the pandemic, and the rest of their decade and a half of musical stardom. “We’ve played shows for zero people, played shows for two people, and just kept going,” O’Callaghan said. “I think that’s a big determining factor. There are plenty of people that think it’s too hard and give up, and a small portion of people who decide that that’s what they’re going to do no matter what.” Sydney Sprague Is on Her Way Up in the Music World It’s hard to believe it’s only been about a year and a half since singer-songwriter Sydney Sprague appeared on the cover of Phoenix New Times on the strength of her debut LP, maybe i will see you at the end of the world. A lot has happened for Sprague since then, including touring with the likes of Dashboard Confessional, Jimmy Eat World, and The Front Bottoms, >> p 26 OCT 20TH–OCT 26TH, 2022 PHOENIX NEW TIMES | MUSIC | CAFE | FILM | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | FEATURE | NEWS | OPINION | FEEDBACK | CONTENTS | phoenixnewtimes.com
