The sweet melodies of pop-punk band MAE will soon be resounding throughout Smothers Theatre and the minds and hearts of Pepperdine students. Graphic Online Content Editor Derek Sedam took some time with drummer Jacob Marshall to answer some questions before the concert on Saturday night. Tickets can be bought from the Student Programming Board table in the Waves café.
Q: You are going to be the first major concert at Pepperdine in 18 months. How did the university contact you and were there any complications in working out a contract?
That is really interesting because there were no problems whatsoever. Our agent set up the show but I don’t know who contacted whom.
Q: After a long hiatus you are back releasing new music via your Web site.
We have more than 12 songs that are ready to go. We’ll release one each month this year and develop three EPs released albums shorter than CDs) to combine those 12 with others we are working on in a linear story frame about the span of life: Morning Afternoon and Evening (MAE). Each EP’s proceeds will go to help charitable organizations that deal with each age in life.
What was most exciting about this new music was that no one was telling what we could or could not do with our music. If we wanted to make a six-minute song or a traditional ballad we did.
Q: I saw you in Hollywood at a show during your recording sessions for Singularity so how was the whole “major label” experience with big-time producers and Hollywood studios?
We were recording demos and actually met Howard Benson (producer of “Singularity”) that night at the concert. But yeah the experience was seriously different. Mainly the budget. We spent over $500000 making that record and when the label change happened they didn’t see us as a smart investment anymore. (Their debut album “Destination: Beautiful sold more than 100,000 copies at a cost of $3,000.)
Our time in Hollywood and at Capitol was a little overwhelming, but it was really enjoyable in some respects. It was a chapter in the story that I was glad I got to experience and learn about. Basically, I learned that I would rather be at home in Virginia with no label [Laughs].
Q: You will release a song each month of 2009 and team up with Habitat for Humanity in your native state Virginia to help build a house for the family of Rhonda Floyd. How did you become involved in this project?
There was a blank canvas in front of us for the first time in our careers, and we had to ask ourselves if this was even worth continuing. We didn’t want to continue on the same path we had already been on: touring around the globe, just being on the same grind constantly and backtracking in our lives.
We had some great talks about what defines success in our careers. These were important talks that were on a deep level and it was great to discuss our future as friends and as a band.About a year ago, we tried to start reestablishing our goals, because we had always been in relationships with charitable organizations. So we started doing these acoustic shows along with our tours.
We did a Toys for Tots program on our last tour, and saw how effective it was. We realized it was possible to actually do something with our music and made it simple enough to make a big impact for people to join in on.
We were never like a Coldplay, who is all about free trade, or Sting, who wants to save the rainforest. We were always giving, but we needed to find that one cause that we could stick with and get behind with our fans.
Instead of singing with another label, we decided to do something completely different, make ourselves vulnerable to the world.
In pairing up with Habitat for Humanity, we could have something to be proud of in our legacy as musicians.
Q: All the members of MAE are Christian, but you have always said you are not a Christian band.” Since this has often been a tough subject to tackle what is your opinion on trying to find a balance?
We all grew up listening to Christian bands. Dave Elkins (lead singer) and I had fathers in Christian bands. Since being in the industry for many years we have a better grasp on things.It seems if you wanted to be a Christian artist your career was subject to figuring the ministry all out. You couldn’t ask questions you needed to have answers in your music.
And we saw lots of people we listened to growing up slowly coming out with their personal issues such as divorce or an affair. So then all these artists were becoming exposed for things they had done. If you have to have all of the answers then the whole system has led itself to dishonesty.