Interview: The Maine

If you had to pick one word to describe your music, what would it be?

Nickelsen/Brock: *throws horns up*

What about your fans?

Nickelsen/Brock: *throws horns up*

Who’s your favorite band to tour with?

Brock: The Maine?

Nickelsen: A Rocket To The Moon’s fun because those are like our best dudes.

Brock: 3OH!3 is really cool.

Nickelsen: 3OH!3’s the bomb. The Versa[emerge] guys are awesome. Slipknot was really cool. *jokes*

Brock: They were probably the coolest dudes.

Who are your musical idols?

Nickelsen: Beethoven. *jokes*

Brock: We’re really into Beethoven. And Cher.

Nickelsen: Yeah, Beethoven and Cher.

What’s your dream tour?

Nickelsen: Beethoven and Cher.

Brock:  Beethoven and Cher absolutely.

Nickelsen: Well, Beethoven couldn’t. I heard he comes back from the grave every ten years.

Brock: So it’ll be a couple of years from now?

Nickelsen: Yeah yeah!

You have a book coming out, is there anything you can say about it?

Nickelsen: December, so if you want it maybe you’ll get it for Christmas. And it comes with a little EP with “Life Like This” and some live songs. We saw the first edits of it two days ago and it looks really incredible.

Brock: We’re really excited. It looks really good.

Do you have any plans for recording?

Nickelsen: Nothing in stone. I mean we’re always writing new stuff.

Brock: Yeah, we don’t know. Sometime next year hopefully.

Nickelsen: But it might come out in like 20 years.

Brock: Yeah, we might record it next year but put it out like 10 years later.

Nickelsen: See if anyone cares.

What is your favorite song to play live?

Brock: Probably “Everything I Ask For.”

Nickelsen: “I Must Be Dreaming.”

What is one song you’ll never play live?

Nickelsen: I really doubt we’ll play a lot of songs. As in, I really don’t think we’ll play any Bon Jovi songs. I mean that’d be cool. I just think we wouldn’t do it justice.

Brock: Probably a few Godsmack songs we probably won’t play.

Nickelsen: Not that they’re not cool. The Fray, we’ll probably never play The Fray. I bet we’ll never play an All Time Low song either. Or 3OH!3, I don’t know how we could do that.

Brock: Probably not 3OH!3.

Nickelsen: I mean Nat [from 3OH!3] came up and played one of our songs. So I guess we kind of did.

Brock: I guess we did, technically.

Nickelsen: So it turned into Maine, The OH!3. It sounds like a pop band.

Any of your songs?

Nickelsen: I don’t know, I’m sure we’ll get around to playing…

Brock: Hopefully we’ll play…

Nickelsen: Oh, “Give Me Anything.” We’ll never, ever play that song.

Brock: It’s true.

Nickelsen: I forgot about that song.

Brock: Because he forgot about it. I don’t know, we…

Nickelsen: We’ve played everything else off that EP. I’d like to, but I really doubt we’ll play “This Is The End” ever. I don’t think we’ll get around to it.

There’s a rumor going around that you’re going on a headlining tour in the spring? Any touring plans?

Nickelsen: We are not. That is false. We have no touring plans at all. We’re going away for a little while. *jokes* We’re going to Cuba.

Why do you find interacting with your fans important?

Nickelsen: So they care.

Brock: They care about us, so we care about them.

Nickelsen: We care about our music and that hopefully by doing that, it makes people care about our music – not just us. But no, it’s cool to see what people get from it. It makes me happy that it makes people happy.

What is the best tour you’ve ever been on?

Nickelsen: Soundtrack of Your Summer Tour.

Brock: Yeah.

Nickelsen: That was my favorite. That [Six Flags New Jersey show] was the biggest show to date. That was the craziest thing. That whole tour in general was the craziest thing I’ve ever experienced.

Brock: It was insane.

What would you be doing if you weren’t in the band?

Nickelsen: I thought about this the other day and I had the perfect answer and then I forgot.

Brock: I’d probably be asleep in a class. I don’t know what I’d be studying.

Nickelsen: It was seriously the best answer but I don’t remember. What he said, I don’t know what he said.

Do you consider yourself famous?

Nickelsen/Brock: No.

What would have to happen for you to consider yourselves famous?

Brock: We’d have to be in a magazine with her…

Nickelsen: Kate Beckinsale?

Brock: Mhm.

Nickelsen: Megan Fox would have to come up and be like “Hey, you’re awesome!”

Brock: Megan Fox would have to tell me I’m famous.

Nickelsen: Yeah, Megan Fox would have to tell me I’m famous. Or I’m driving somewhere random and I see myself twice. On a billboard or something. But it’d have to be twice. Like, “Oh wow, what did I do to get here?!” No, we’re definitely not. Or on the front of some magazine, not AP…

Brock: Like US or People or something.

Nickelsen: Or GQ or something. Wow, I did something right in my life. Being on GQ would be kind of crazy.

Brock: On the front of a magazine in your sweat pants, looking it at in the store like, “Oh my God! He wears clothes also!”

Nickelsen: “He doesn’t always have jeans on! Nice non Ray Ban Ray Bans, freak!”

Do you think social networking has helped or hurt your band?

Nickelsen: Helped for sure. You can’t deny that. I don’t think we’d be anywhere we’re at without it. Pat and me were 17 when we started so it’s not like we could just pick up and go on tour.  It helped a lot.

Favorite place to tour, aside from home?

Brock: I liked going over to the UK. There were certain things about it that were different that maybe I would like if I was there longer. We haven’t been too, too many places.

Nickelsen: Boston’s cool.

Brock: I like Minnesota a lot. I just like the city.

What’s your favorite thing about being home?

Nickelsen: Being home.

Brock: Yeah. Waking up in the same spot for more than a couple days.

Nickelsen: That and not having to sleep in something that’s this big. * holds out hands.* Legitimately don’t have to wake up at a certain time. Some days on tour you have to wake up at a certain time. At home, I could sleep for 48 hours and it wouldn’t matter. Besides eating, I don’t think that’s too healthy.

Brock: Two days, no eating – just sleep.

If you could create your own college major, what would it be?

Nickelsen: Metal history. That would be very fun.

Brock: That’d be cool.

Nickelsen: Would you take my class?

Brock: Yeah, I’d take your class.

Would you be the professor?

Nickelsen: Oh yeah.

Thanks to Garrett Nickelsen and Kennedy Brock for taking the time to talk with us November 20! Also, thanks to Melissa Levine and The Maine’s tour manager Max for helping set everything up! For more information on The Maine, check out their MySpace here!