a conversation with paul meany

i went to mute math's concert tonight. actually it was mae's concert, with mute math, circa survive, and discover america supporting them. the ticket was $13. once ticketmaster got done adding on fees, the ticket was nigh $25. parking was $8. my obligatory t-shirt was $15. there was a curfew enacted, so all the sets were shortened to let people out early and mute math was on stage for a little over 20 minutes for 4 songs (“chaos”, “plan b”, “control”, and “reset”). i don't regret it though. i got to hang with paul meany and darren king for a while. it's amazing how humble those guys can be in light of how talented they are. i tried to get my any of my two mute math inclined friends on the phone to talk to paul, but one of them was sleeping like a rock and his grandmother couldn't wake him up... and the other? i didn't have her cell number in my phone. sorry. really sorry about that. i tried though.

paul says warner bros. opted not to pick them up, but they're still checking out some other options. they'll be back out on tour around february and they'll bring macrosick with them. that show's gonna be on fire. they'll release the cd around the same time too. other noteworthy banter... i got to ask paul what earthsuit's "do you enjoy the distortion" was about. he had the coolest answer: "i don't really know!" but the loose theme was "the distortion" referred to the distortion of the truth. i can deal with that.

i asked him what his songwriting process is like and he said they develop over time. some songs like "ok" were written all at once. a few of the new songs for the next album came all at once. where "peculiar people" took 3 years to write. i know. i'm easily amazed. but i just finished writing a song that i had been mulling on and laboring with for over a year. it's nice to know that some of my process mirrors those who i hold to be absolutely freaking genius.

by the way, mae's set wasn't bad. i've always dug the guy's voice, and love their trademark of juxtaposing pristine piano parts with gritty guitar riffs, but paul meany was in the lobby during their set. they just couldn't compete with that. but from what i hear, mute math's short set was said to be the show stealer most everytime. i liked mae though. i bought their album the everglow used, but i listened to it, and it didn't have the magic of destination: beautiful. however, i knew to wait to see them live before making the final decision to sell their cd. they barely made it in by the catchy hook of their song “the ocean”: “you come over announced... / i need you here tonight just like the ocean needs the waves.” though i was incorrectly singing “you come over, in, and out” unawares for quite awhile, it doesn't matter now. the cd stays. i got to chit chat with my musical hero, and all is well.