By Kelly Smith

Andrew McMahon is sitting in an armory building at a small Pennsylvania university between shows and recording sessions when talk drifts naturally to his source of inspiration: home. The California native and lead of the Pinestock headliner, Jack’s Mannequin, based much of his album, “Everything in Transit,” on his experiences returning home to Orange County after extensively touring with piano rock band, Something Corporate.

Three years after the album wasreleased, McMahon is back on the road and performing at colleges across the nation, including St. John’s nextweekend.

“It’s a good way for us to find new fans,” McMahon said. “It’s nice to find a new audience that haven’t heard the music.”

He acknowledges not everyone has heard of his band. His first albumafter suspending work with SomethingCorporate was released in 2005. He toured with Panic! At the Disco in 2006 and has opened for O.A.R., which performed at Pinestock two years ago. But since the album’s release, he hasn’t been in the limelight much.

“I’m not a MTV dude, I’m not all over the radio,” he said. “I don’t think I try to stay out of the limelight …
everyone has to choose how they want to be perceived.”

And besides, he said, like anyartist his work does the speaking for him. “I feel like my music is incredibly
personal,” he said.

That’s something fans will notice in his new album, “The Glass Passenger,” which has taken a year and a half to put together, McMahon said. The album will feature a different side of McMahon, influenced by a difficult chapter in his life.

The 25-year-old was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in 2005. The same day his first album was released he received a stem cell transplant from his sister. He went through remission three years ago and said he’s mostly recovered now.

“Probably my body more than my head at times,” he added. “The leukemia was obviously a pretty difficult thing to deal with.”

His new album will reflect being a cancer survivor, though it won’t address the illness specifically.

“I don’t think everyone can relate to it, but everyone can relate to the struggle and hope to overcome … and that’s what I hoped to tap into with this album,” he said. “It would be virtually impossible to avoid the topic altogether. Earlier in the process I tried to, but unsuccessfully.”

Recording for the new album, which was listed by Alternative Press as one of the most anticipated albums of the year, is expected to wrap up by the middle of May.

He said he’ll play one or two songs from his new album at Pinestock next weekend, as well as some songs from Something Corporate, “Everything in Transit” and a few cover songs naming Tom Petty as a possibility, he said.

“We try to give a lot of energy, he said. “Anytime the audience is engaged in the song, it’s more fun.”

McMahon added that he looks forward to college shows because students make better fans. “The college shows … becomes more of a listening and watching the band.”

Even as a twenty-something-year-old, the famous California musician lives a life far removed from his
college aged fans. He left high school at 17 and “got into a tour bus and toured the world.” But he said he still can relate to his college crowds.

“God I hope so,” he said with a laugh. “I hope 25 doesn’t make me that old.”

He said that even if some students aren’t familiar with his music, he just hopes students “hang out and hear some music and hopefully they’ll dig it,” he said. “I just like to show up and play music. We’ll have a good time.”

So long as the weather cooperates. “Us California boys don’t do well in the snow,” he said after hearing about the current Minnesota climate.

McMahon will perform with Ben Folds at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh today and then trek to Collegeville for next weekend’s Pinestock. All the touring may be exhausting for the homebody, but McMahon still finds comfort in the stage as his second home.

“We’re just doing pick up shows (now),” he said. “And in a lot of ways, that’s how I started (as a musician).”

“It’s nice to get back on the stage,” he said. “In an odd way, it’s like coming home.”

Filed under: Music by The Record Staff