Jack's Mannequin

Infobox musical artist
Name = Jack's Mannequin


Img_capt = Jack's Mannequin performing in Cleveland, Ohio
Img_size =
Landscape =
Background = group_or_band
Alias =
Origin = Orange County, California, United States
Genre = Piano Rock
Years_active = 2004–present
Label = Maverick Records, Sire Records
Associated_acts = Something Corporate
URL = [http://www.jacksmannequin.com/ JacksMannequin.com]
Current_members = Andrew McMahon
Bobby "Raw" Anderson
Jay McMillan
Jon "Dr. J" Sullivan

Jack's Mannequin is a piano rock band from Orange County, California. A side project of Andrew McMahon, originally from Something Corporate, the band was formed in 2004 and released their first album in August 2005. In June of that year, McMahon was diagnosed with late stage acute lymphoblastic leukemia, but made a full recovery. Their album, "Everything in Transit", was received with positive response by fans and critics. They are currently signed to Sire Records, and they released a second album on September 30, 2008, entitled "The Glass Passenger".

Etymology

The band's name is a combination of the title of a song Andrew McMahon wrote, "Dear Jack", and a band name he considered, The Mannequins. He stated that he had grown bored of the "the" band names, so he combined them. [cite web|last=Herbel|first=Brandon|url=http://www.absolutepunk.net/showthread.php?t=84442|title=Jacks Mannequin (Andrew McMahon) - 08.29.05|work=AbsolutePunk.net|accessdate=February 22|accessyear=2008]

History

Formation and "Everything In Transit" (2004-2007)

Andrew McMahon started out in music initially as the lead vocalist and pianist for the Orange County piano rock band, Something Corporate. The primary impulse behind McMahon's solo project Jack's Mannequin was a song he recorded in December 2000 titled "Locked Doors". He felt the song was too different from previous Something Corporate material to be one of their songs. He realized that if he ever decided to release it, it would be on a solo album rather than a Something Corporate record. [cite web|last1=Debele|first1=Gary|last2=Barber|first2=Nicole|url=http://soco-online.com/articles/jacksmannequin/index.htm|title=Interview with Andrew McMahon|work=SoCo-Online|accessdate=July 31|accessyear=2005] The idea seemed outlandish until late summer of 2004 when both McMahon and his bandmates were exhausted from months of touring. They decided to take a temporary break. During his time off, McMahon laid down piano and vocal tracks for a song on Hidden in Plain View's "Life in Dreaming" and two songs on Tommy Lee's "".

While Something Corporate's other songwriter and lead guitarist Josh Partington created a side project of his own called Firescape, McMahon started writing his own songs. He never expected the songs to be released. McMahon took a more therapeutic approach in writing these songs, resulting in a more personal and intimate testament of his songwriting. They dealt with "coming home, and having home be way different than I had remembered it [...] , abandoning a lot of people, and things, that I had normally been so attached to [...] , exploring and being okay with myself, and not having to make excuses for who I am, and accepting who I am", McMahon stated in an interview. [cite web|last=Berger|first=Laura|url=http://www.forthesound.com/index.php?categoryid=54&p2007_articleid=4|title=Andrew Mcmahon|work=For The Sound|accessdate=February 12|accessyear=2006] Although he just planned on recording them, the songs really began to take shape collectively. He paid for the production out of his own pocket, which ultimately led to a record deal with Maverick Records.

Their first album, titled "Everything In Transit", was released in August 2005 and received a positive response from fans and critics alike. A summer tour was scheduled to support the record release, but was canceled after McMahon was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia and had a bone marrow transplant.

"The Glass Passenger" (2007- Present)

The band began recording their second album in the summer of 2007. In August 2007, McMahon posted the lyrics to the song "Cellular Phone" on his blog, [cite web|url=http://jacksmannequin.blogs.com/jacksmannequin/2007/08/cellular-phone.html|title=Cellular Phone|work=Jack's Mannequin|accessdate=May 1|accessyear=2008] which the band played live at several shows in 2007 and 2008. Also, in February 2008, videos of live performances of two songs off the new record ("Caves" [cite web|url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_1plA4pvmM|title=Jack's Mannequin - Caves|work=YouTube|accessdate=March 23|accessyear=2008] and "Suicide Blonde" [cite web|url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omazhFSd238|title=Jack's Mannequin - Suicide Blonde|work=YouTube|accessdate=March 23|accessyear=2008] ) were uploaded onto YouTube for public viewing. McMahon appears on the cover of the January 2008 issue of Alternative Press, which contains an interview with him.cite news|last=Zaleski|first=Annie|title=Bodies, Rest & Motion|pages=114-119|publisher=Alternative Press|date=January 2008|accessdate=2008-01-02]

The new record, entitled "The Glass Passenger", had an original release date of April 22. The date was then tentatively set to June 3, but was released much later on September 30, 2008.

On May 5, 2008, Paramore singer Hayley Williams announced on The Sauce that Paramore and Jack's Mannequin had a tour scheduled together, to begin at the end of the summer. Dates have been confirmed for August and September 2008. [cite web|url=http://paramore.net/shows/|title=shows.|work=Paramore|accessdate=May 28|accessyear=2008]

On August 5th, 2008, "The Ghost Overground" EP was released on iTunes. The EP contains two tracks from the upcoming album, "The Resolution" and "Bloodshot," and two live tracks from "Everything In Transit". Another EP, "In Valleys", was released on iTunes September 9th, containing one song from the album, "Swim," and three b-sides, "Cell Phone," "Sleazy Wednesday," and "At Full Speed."

On August 28th, 2008, in an interview with MTV, Andrew revealed that the author Stephenie Meyer had written the treatment for the new video for "The Resolution" and had set to direct it the following week. [http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1593776/20080828/jacks_mannequin.jhtml]

On September 3rd, 2008, it was announced that Jack's Mannequin would be the headliner on a fall tour that will feature the new album. The Tour is called "Hammers and Strings: An Evening with Jack's Mannequin and The Glass Passenger". The band is expected to play the album in its entirety at these shows, touring major cities and areas with a large fan base. This much-awaited tour saw many of the shows sell out in a few days. It will be the first tour after "The Glass Passenger"'s release.

Philanthropy

In June of 2005, Andrew McMahon was diagnosed with late stage acute lymphoblastic leukemia, but made a full recovery. Jack's Mannequin annually participates in The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Light The Night Walk. In 2008, they set a $100,000 fundraising goal which is collected through a [http://register.lightthenight.org/LTNRegistration/app?component=topTeamLink12a&page=SearchTeam&service=direct&session=T&sp=ZH4sIAAAAAAAAAH1SPW8TQRAdGzvgONgG0yIsEOKjOEuhg4aAEcI6bEt2lQaNzytrnb3dy96e5TQoFU0koEg6foKLSBQ0SEi0AVGloSEFLdQIGmYvd%2F6gYIqV9u17M2%2Ff7vQH5EMNNaWHjhChYxj6zkD5yKXTQsOVRNEj7GSq%2BIcrvdtZOO%2FCCnqGj5mBqjvCMdYFymH9gVKCobznQhWFeYiBoR4bnqciaZ40DFQWuK6SQyJWvH9Y2%2FAcsi4UBzwMBO600KchFxeEXaN5LL3kcyHIXUMJgbqD2kimrTzjQlkmxruBkqFK4ZJcuM9sVmURtQMtfsaFAglNWw9OuxLxnI3msaK7LTlqqKgvGDlatecdHLJZ61jR2wnSlmeNCuyU2M9Ew%2FU0dE%2F5vpJp7Bv90GhK2HW7nXazPdrk7wp3el%2BzkKNkPM3QsEGDllmkkeGibhFyUUgIMxMlgaF5NOCJyKIrLqzN0YRJfq7%2B3481c1x%2Bmc%2Fh4fsswCSwRX%2FngjXh2DCc5A98rund4ze%2Ff2Yhswn5MYqITYIMUUtzavwF9r6%2F%2FvTq2jfiNVOehsqc1Ir8PtMvpgeXi%2Fsne%2FFQoHp2cFQNretivNs%2F%2BhLE2wLYtTw%2ForpLMTXR27oR1p6ilGw74nKJcDNcGnn6nrtvPzZvbf3JkbNG6syK1u7%2FGsWqpRaHBjLrFlj9Cy01U7NPAwAA| personalized fundraising page] . The money raised goes towards fighting blood cancers and providing support to patients and their families.

Members

* Andrew McMahon – vocals, piano
* Bobby "Raw" Anderson – guitar, backup vocals
* Jonathan Sullivan – bass
* Jay McMillan – drums

Discography

Albums

* "Everything in Transit" (August 23, 2005) #37 U.S.(250,000+ US)
* "The Glass Passenger"cite web|url=http://jacksmannequin.blogs.com/jacksmannequin/2007/12/even-if-my-voic.html|title="...even if my voice comes back again..."|work=Jack's Mannequin|accessdate=December 9|accessyear=2007] [cite web|url=http://www.virb.com/1577177630051457/videos/33684|title=Jack's Mannequin Studio Session - Absolutepunk.net|work=Virb.com|accessdate=December 26|accessyear=2007] (September 30, 2008)cite web|last=Lally|first=Jonathan|url=http://absolutepunk.net/showthread.php?t=417091|title=Jack's Mannequin Release Date|work=AbsolutePunk.net|accessdate=2008-07-19] #8 US (49,000 copies sold)

ingles

*"The Mixed Tape" #124 US
*"Dark Blue"
*"The Lights and Buzz"
*"The Resolution" #104 US, #29 US Modern Rock

EPs

* "Kill the Messenger" 7" vinyl (2005)
* "Holiday" Online Streaming (2006)
* "The Ghost Overground" (iTunes Store Exclusive) (August 5th, 2008)
* "In Valleys" (iTunes Store Exclusive) (September 9th, 2008)
* "The Resolution EP" (Rhapsody/VCast Exclusive) (September 23rd, 2008)

Non-album tracks

*"Lonely for Her" – bonus track on the iTunes Store version of "Everything In Transit" (2005)
*"The Lights and Buzz" – released as a digital download on the iTunes Store (2005)
*"Meet Me at My Window" – released on "Sound of Superman" (2006)
*"Last Straw, AZ" – released online (2006)
*"Bruised (Remix)" - released on "" (2006)
*"Bruised (Acoustic)" – released on Fearless Records' "Punk Goes Acoustic 2" (2007)
*"God (feat. Mick Fleetwood)" - released on "" (2007)
*"La La Lie (West Coast Winter version)"- released on "Punk the Clock 3: Property of Gentlemen" (2007)
*"Katie"

Unreleased Live Tracks / Covers

*All I Have to Do is Dream (The Everly Brothers Cover)
*American Girl (Tom Petty Cover)
*Changes (David Bowie Cover)
*Fool in the Rain (Led Zeppelin Cover)
*Friend of the Devil (The Grateful Dead Cover)
*Homeward Bound (Paul Simon Cover)
*I'm On Fire (Bruce Springsteen Cover)
*Message in a Bottle (The Police Cover)
*My Name is Jonas (Weezer Cover)
*The Astronaut (Something Corporate Cover)
*Heroine (Something Corporate Cover)
*Me And The Moon (Something Corporate Cover)
*She Paints Me Blue (Something Corporate Cover)
*Diane (Soundcheck)
*For All We Know (Soundcheck)
*Get Out Of This (Soundcheck)

External links

* [http://www.jacksmannequin.com/ Official website]
* [http://www.jacksmannequin.blogs.com/ Official blog]
* [http://www.myspace.com/jacksmannequin Official MySpace page]
* [http://www.dearjackfoundation.com/ Dear Jack Foundation]
* [http://sirerecords.com/artist/info/jacksmannequin Sire Records Artist Page]

References