PipemanRadio Interviews Of Mice & Men at Aftershock 2025

0:04 Hi you Lune, Yes, that's true. Why for you you? This is Pipeman here on the Adventures pipe Man W four c Y Radio, and I'm here. With Aaron and Valentino from Mice and Men Nice And I gotta say it was raining before. This table was soaking wet. I had to hide my equipment and then another miracle happened. And that's why we're talking Blue Skys I though, right, it must be because you guys are here, okay, and that new album is badass as fuck.

0:50 Thank you, brother, thank you, thank you so much. So tell us where your creativity went to on that album Compared to previous albums. We really wanted to dial up the energy and intensity a little bit, I think from the previous two, and then we also wanted to push the melodic side a little bit further, I think. So it's just sort of, I think, taking where we were at and just pushing it all a little bit further. Yeah, And especially with it being our like ninth album and everything, it's like super important to not only challenge ourselves with like the songwriting and stuff, but to be able to like write music that excites us. And that was really what we set out to do, and so far we've been releasing some music and the fans are super excited about it.

1:32 So there's just so much more awesome music to come. And it feels good that we're able to write and release music that resonates with our fans still. And there's so many new fans for the band too, especially at these festivals, Like some of these festivals are some of the some of people's first time seeing the band, right, It's like it's really cool to have that moment and share that moment with everybody. And I think too, like after doing that many albums, I don't know, I just think it's like harder and harder to outdo your and keep your core right. See that's the balancing trick. And so from what you're saying, sounds to me that another miracle like hit that right on the head. Yeah, we tried to. I mean, honestly, for us, it's sort of about managing the energetic side of music that isn't necessarily what you're hearing, but what you're feeling, and then also managing what you're hearing and trying to push the envelope a little bit with both, and then also sometimes just settling into what we feel like we know our sound to be in a way, which for us on our ninth record, I don't think is a bad thing.

2:35 Well, the way I kind of look at it is is it takes sometimes that long to really find your sound because in the beginning, there's like one mindset, and as you're perfecting and getting better and different things happen in your life, I think you evolve into what truly was gonna be your sound, but not in the beginning. Yeah, And it's also hard to say because I feel like for a band like us, our sound probably chain changes every record to some degree or another. And I think for us, maintaining that energy means we don't need to be so concerned with the sound changing as much. As long as the energy is there, then it will feel coherent and cohesive to the audience.

3:15 No doubt. And we're fans of heavy music too, so like as the genre evolves, we kind of evolve with it. We like a lot of the bands that are popping off right now, and all the bands, like the legacy bands and legendary bands and everything, like we grew up listening to this, so like to now be sixteen years deep as a band and writing music. We're still writing from stuff that inspires us, and a lot of what inspires us is new music. A lot of it isn't even metal, but like we do love metal music and we love heavy music, and it's an integral part of our sound that we're never going to abandon, you know what I mean. And so from us, it's like, how do we inject our like fan excitement into our own music to then do something that like could resonate with our audience a little bit more or something like that. So that's why we're always kind of like developing and maybe changing a little bit and trying some things that people might be like, well, what's that And it's like, well, I don't know, man, We're on a ninth album, Like what are you doing you?

4:10 You know what I mean? Like, so we're just kind of having fun with it. And first and foremost we're musicians, So like as musicians, we always want to challenge ourselves and elevate our performances and stuff like that, and you can't always do that, like writing the same song over and over again, so we kind of like write different stuff and have fun with it and kind of take some risks and have fun with it. I think a real musician experiments, and which is what you're doing. It's like, yeah, you don't want to stick like you said one, So why would you want to perform the same song over and over again? Write the same song over and over again? Then it's not exciting for you as it's supposed to be exciting for us. Well, who's the same person they were five years ago, ten years ago? And these albums are chapters in our life.

4:52 Each one is a book with the chapters of the songs and stuff like that, and mice of men like we write about the human experience, the good and the bad, and the hard and the easy and the just every kind of side of this multifaceted crazy thing that is being a human. And I think with all those different kinds of feelings and experiences, we're just trying to share our own with everyone else. And I think that really will always connect with the person that needs to hear it. That's the only person we care about, the person that needs to hear that song that it clicks with. You know. There you go, And how does it feel to be a Aftershock? Eight years later? It's about eight years since he played after Shock. It's nice and the weather's really nice. Sent me a great day.

5:33 Well now that we had another miracle and the rain went away thanks to you guys. Yeah, it's awesome, dude. These festivals are sick. Danny Wimmer brings together the best bands, really takes care of the fans, and we've got a bunch of family and friends here today. So today's a special day. Today's an iconic aftershock. For sure. I love it. And not only that, but from what I hear of at from every yard since Danny Wimmer really takes care of the artists. Yeah, oh yeah, So tell us how you love doing Danny Wimmer festivals as being treated as an artist. I mean everything from the accommodations to logistics for our crew and making sure that they're taken care of on the technical side of things. It's just really well ran.

6:16 So we're very appreciative. Yeah, Now to mention the attention he gives to the fans out there, the fact that he's able to put together festivals that bring hundreds of thousands of people together, that's seriously like what even goes into that, And the fact that all these people can come and be a community and be safe and have fun and enjoy the music. Is that's what this is all about, really, And so to have a champion of alternative music like him, bringing all these bands together, bringing the fans together, is truly something special. And the fact that of Meisa Men gets to be a part of it is seriously something we are so grateful for and it's such a privilege and we don't take it for granted. You know, we're gonna, we're gonna we're gonna break it down on stage. We're gonna kill it. We gotta do it, and it's gonna be so fun, man.

7:01 We can't wait. That's keyword fun. Yeah, Like if you're not having fun, we're not having fun. And we can tell when we look up there and I watch you guys, it's like, fuck, they're just having the time in their life man, which means I'm gonna go out there and have the time on my list. Today Aaron's first time dad here, Oh okay, brought his daughter to her first show today, that first concert. I love it. Congrats, thank you, Conic Aftershock moments nice. That's a beautiful thing about these festivals too. I find it's like you do have grandfathers, fathers mothers, grandmothers, kids likes. It's rational, dude. It's wild, right, it's crazy.

7:42 Like I've brought my kids and my grandkids and tamash pits at Danny Wimmer Festival. That's so amazing, dude. It's the way it should be, right, Yeah. Man, it's just beautiful. Man. We're so privileged and it's so awesome to be a part of this. What's your favorite Danny Wimmer Festival? If you have one, I can't pick one. I mean, we're at after Shock today, so it's after Shock. Maybe the right answer? One of them, every one of them. It's a bait answer, yeah, course, and you took the bait for sure. Of course, dude. We're here at Aftershock, man. Sacramento loves to rock. That's something I've learned. Oh, they do totally. And it's badass man. Like, we love that energy. So we can't wait to give that energy back to the audience and have it just we're gonna we're gonna play volleyball for forty five minutes today.

8:25 That's hope already. And that's why you guys are always on Wimmer festivals because you bring it every time. Thank you so much. We love it man, is. There anything else going on that you want to tell the listeners about that we haven't covered yet. Another miracle drops November fourteenth, Pick it up. That's on Century Media. We got tour dates right now. We're doing Warp Tour in November. We've got a European UK tour November December, and we're locking in stuff for next year, so keep it locked on our social media at of mice and men. Check our website of micee tickets dot com for up to tickets. And we just dropped a sick fan community called mice Space. I wasn talk, So it's kind of like a fan club, but it's more of like a I don't know, it's more just like a community online like message board, chat room. We're uploading old demos, we're uploading a studio documentary, we upload like backstage footage of us. It's just kind of it's for the fans that like that stuff, because we're fans that like that stuff. So we wish all of our favorite bands did that so we could kind of see behind the veil a little bit. So we really wanted to do something special like that for our fans.

9:33 So check it out. It's mice space, I know. Yeah, And when I was looking at the description in the way, I thought it as it's your way of giving back to the fans. Yeah, of course. I mean, dude, we've been a band for sixteen years, so the treasure trove is full of vintage gems and all kinds of stuff. We've been all over the world a million times, We've written a million songs. We got tons of demos that have never been released that we're putting up there, tons of video content, tons of photos. Like it's just something that if you like that kind of stuff, sign up. If not, it's all good. You don't have to like. It's just something fun for us, and hopefully it's fun for the fans too if that's something you're into. So check it out.

10:13 Well, I definitely think everybody should check it out. Get the new album because it's your best one yet. Thank you so much, and. I'm looking forward to some fun here at Aftershock with of myice and men. Yeah, excellent. Thanks for being on the adventures, Thank you for having us. And thank you so much. Thank you for listening to the Adventures of Patemn on w for CUI Radio.