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Pulling music from turbulence

Jack's Mannequin developed its sound through troubled times

The Columbian
Published: February 5, 2010, 12:00am

There are certainly plenty of songwriters who thrive on drama and conflict during the creative process.

Pianist and singer Andrew McMahon, who records under the band name of Jack’s Mannequin, knows all about writing albums during tumultuous times. But he thinks having a more calm backdrop to his life might be the best thing that can happen to him as a songwriter and creative person.

“I’ve been writing like crazy since this record closed up,” McMahon said, referring to the current Jack’s Mannequin CD, “The Glass Passenger. “It’s been amazing and it’s been liberating, and in some ways when you have the freedom to write a couple of different kinds of songs rather than being shackled to sort of this elephant in the room, I think there’s a freedom to that that I think will be reflected in the next thing that I do.”

o What: Jack’s Mannequin, in concert.

o When: 7:30 p.m. Feb. 6.

o Where: Roseland Theater, 8 N.W. Sixth Ave., Portland.

o Cost: $22.50 through TicketsWest, 800-992-8499 or ticketswest.com.

o Information: roselandpdx.com.

There have actually been several elephants in McMahon’s songwriting room in recent years.

Everything in flux

While he was writing the first Jack’s Mannequin CD, the 2005 release “Everything In Transit,” the status of McMahon’s well-known former band, Something Corporate, was up in the air. The band had not officially broken up, and McMahon wasn’t sure if he was taking a temporary step outside of the band to do “Everything In Transit” or if he was about to become a solo artist under the Jack’s Mannequin name.

o What: Jack's Mannequin, in concert.

o When: 7:30 p.m. Feb. 6.

o Where: Roseland Theater, 8 N.W. Sixth Ave., Portland.

o Cost: $22.50 through TicketsWest, 800-992-8499 or ticketswest.com.

o Information: roselandpdx.com.

To compound things, on a personal level, McMahon’s life was going through a seismic change of its own around the time “Everything In Transit” was developing. He was breaking up with his longtime girlfriend and, he said, he was indulging some vices.

And in a very different kind of drama, just as he was finishing “Everything in Transit” in 2005, McMahon was diagnosed with leukemia.

The ordeal is the subject of the recently released documentary “Dear Jack,” in which viewers see McMahon work through his cancer battle, which included receiving a bone-marrow transplant from his sister. McMahon is now considered cancer-free.

McMahon said he began using a video camera at the request of his label, Maverick Records, to document the making of “Everything in Transit” so the label would have footage to promote the CD. As he got used to the camera, it became such a regular part of his life that it was only natural to keep filming as he began dealing with the cancer.

“I used the camera, I think, as this sort of place to confide things I didn’t feel like confiding to other people,” McMahon said. “It was a pretty simple decision (to film the cancer episode) because I had become so familiar with it.”

The ordeal of dealing with such a serious disease, of course, couldn’t help but also filter into the writing of “The Glass Passenger,” Jack’s Mannequin’s second studio album.

“They were definitely way different headspaces,” McMahon said of the two Jack’s Mannequin albums. On one, he’s single and successful, and experiencing life outside of Something Corporate as he worked on “Everything in Transit.”

“That was really different, this bizarre period of energy. Everything felt good … I just cut the rip cord loose. And it was really intense and really fun,” McMahon said.

In contrast, “The Glass Passenger” was a much more sobering process, he explained.

“You’re like OK, now you beat this thing (cancer). You’re pretty sure you did, because your body is feeling pretty normal. And then after the whole thing, that’s when your head starts registering, A, what happened and B, do I really want to talk about it and do I really want to sing about it for everybody? So there were just so many more demons that affected the creative process.”

Several songs on “Glass Passenger,” such as “The Resolution” and “Caves,” hint at McMahon’s cancer ordeal, but in the end he made a CD that focuses more on the strength and optimism one gets by overcoming a life challenge.

Musical growth

Musically, both Jack’s Mannequin CDs have gone a long way to reshape perceptions of the kind of music McMahon makes.

When Something Corporate came on the scene with the 2001 CD “Audioboxer,” the band immediately got lumped into the crowded pop-punk genre.

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But by the time of that band’s third CD, “North,” the band was expanding beyond that label — if not outright defying it — as the songs took on more of a straightforward, piano-laced pop sound.

In no small sense, the “North” CD hinted at the kind of timeless pop sound McMahon has pursued as Jack’s Mannequin. In fact, he said, “Everything in Transit” could have turned into a Something Corporate CD had the band stayed together.

But now McMahon is fully focused on Jack’s Mannequin and is doing a tour in support of “The Glass Passenger.” He has been touring with a guitarist, bassist and drummer and likes how the live show has developed.

“It’s nice knowing the material and being comfortable with it so we can kind of perform it and adapt it and try to take it that much further,” McMahon said.

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