Austin CarlilefromOf Mice & Men recently caught up withFull Metal Jackie on Loudwire Nightsand talked about the advantages of having two vocalists, what their latest albumRestoring Force means for the band moving forward and why they’re so excited about their upcoming tour withLinkin Park!
Austin, having two capable vocalist is a huge asset for a band. What has the contrast between Aarons voice and yours, given you the ability to do as a vocalist?
A lot. Having Aaron join the band and having his voice there for us to use, [laughs] however we would need to, it gives me a lot of confidence. Its cool for us with the writing process because Ill write parts for him and hell write parts for me. Ill write singing parts for him and hell write singy parts for me. Ill write screaming parts for him and back and forth. It gives us a chance to work off of each others traits and strong points. If theres something he cant do, I probably can do it and visa versa. Its great to have that in our arsenal and to be able to have just a contrast of our voices in general. Sometimes were both singing together and most people dont even notice. It can blend well.
Theres been so much analysis of Restoring Force by critics who reviewed it. Some calling it a departure, categorizing it as a new start for Of Mice And Men. What makes the album quintessential Of Mice And Men and what aspects of it are intentionally meant to pave the way for what the band does next?
I love that question. We went into the studio and pre-production with the idea, that we just wanted to write music that we wanted to play. We wanted to write music that we would would want to listen to, that we enjoy. That took us back to, OK, do we want to write music in the vein of how the bands that started us wanting to be in a band? Or do we want to write music like the bands that started us liking music? So, we did throw back with some of the stuff we do, some of the sounds you hear are some of the same stuff we grew up listening to from A Perfect Circle, to Korn to Linkin Park, whatever it may be. Staind, Chevelle, Breaking Benjamin. We really wanted to put a record out there that was Of Mice And Men because it was Aaron, Austin, Alan, Phil and Tino. Just have good songs that we knew wed really enjoy playing.
The record turned out to be this whole other entity and this whole thing in itself. Were really grateful we got the chance to do it and were already working on new music to further that step into the world of, OK, we understand theres EDM and we understand theres radio rock and theres indie rock. KROQ has become a place where they play DJ stuff and whatever it is. The rock world is a lot smaller than it used to be. Its doing a lot less things than it used to be. From Woodstock back in the day and Rage Against the Machine, no one sells millions of records anymore. Linkin Park has sold over 50 million records and Korn has sold millions of records. That just doesnt happen with this kind of music.
But what we wanted to show was the songwriting in all of that, as well as the bands that are coming up and doing this. We wanted to take a step away from that. We wanted to take a step away from what everybody else was doing. We wanted to do what Of Mice And Men was doing and what we wanted to do. That came out to be Restoring Force and it just gave us that door to open up and play in front of new people and to tour with new bands that weve always wanted to tour with. Were going to continue doing that in our future. Our fans love it, we love it and people are liking it so far so they can expect more.
Youll support Linkin Park in Europe in a few months. From a perspective from a musician with his ear to the ground, when theyre on stage, what will you be listening to and watching for in terms of inspiring your own creativity?
Linkin Park has been a band for such a long time, for me, in my eyes. I was 16-years-old when I first heard them. I heard Hybrid Theory, and I was floored at what I was listening to. It was angry yet melodic, it had hip-hop and it had it was just different, good. Good songwriting. Id take anything from Linkin Park, from their production to how they play their guitars, how their guitar techs work. Ive seen them live before and have gotten to see how things work. Its a well oiled machine and its really cool for a band like ours to be able to tour with a band like theirs and to learn from them.
Were doing the same things we are, yeah, were a few steps behind but those are the kind of footsteps we want to follow in. Thats why we want to surround ourselves with these bands that are doing this because theyve done something right and they make good music. At the end of the day, thats what we want to do. We just want to be able to play music and support our families. I want to be as old as Mike Shinoda I hope he hears this and have an awesome life and family and support yourself because of music. Thats me, thats a dream come true already on top of what Im doing.
Check out the rest of the interview at Loudwire
