After a five year hiatus, California piano punks Something Corporate are back, making their live return at last month’s Bamboozle Left festival in Anaheim, CA, and recording fresh material for Played in Space, their forthcoming greatest hits package. Hear a brand new version of one of their oldest songs, “Wait,” right here!
For frontman Andrew McMahon, who moved on after Something Corporate to form Jack’s Mannequin, “Wait” was an obvious choice to record for Played in Space. “We started playing ‘Wait’ before being signed [in 2001], and it was a song we had always talked about recording,” McMahon tells SPIN.com. “Our goal was to go back to some of those tunes that we really love, that we never really brought into studio before, and ‘Wait’ was definitely one of those.”
LISTEN: Something Corporate, “Wait”
Since reuniting, the band recorded a studio version of another live favorite in addition to “Wait” called “Letters to Noelle,” which will be available exclusively on the iTunes version of the collection, which is out April 27.
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Something Corporate — McMahon, guitarist Josh Partington, bassist Kevin “Clutch” Page, and drummer Brian Ireland — will play New Jersey’s Bamboozle festival on May 1 and Chicago’s Bamboozle on May 15, and, by then, McMahon hopes to have overcome some of the jitters from the band’s live debut at Bamboozle Left.
“It was kind of a terrifying gig for me,” he says. “I really feel like people were genuinely psyched to hear these old songs again, which was comforting for me. ‘Cause I was nervous. I definitely felt exposed, for sure, getting out there.”
And while they always told their fans that Something Corporate hadn’t officially broken up, McMahon admits they truly were done, opting to save their friendships instead of keeping the band together.
“[Obviously] we had [broken up], but we wouldn’t call it that because we got along so well,” McMahon says. “For us, it became so much less about a reunion and more about getting out and celebrating the fact that we can still do it, and that there are still people who come out and support it.”
For the time being, the band is focusing solely on the short-term plan. “Right now, it’s just the Bamboozles, and frankly, there’s a lot going on for every member of the band individually,” says McMahon. “For example, Josh is juggling all this while completing his MBA and law degree concurrently. The goal is getting this greatest hits piece out there and hopefully turning some of the Jack’s fans on to the Something Corporate catalog.”
Listen to “Wait” and you decide: Should Something Corporate stick together and write a new album? Sound off in the comments section.
