As graduation season comes into full bloom, high school seniors are finding out who won their class favorites. The “Most Likely to Succeed,” superlative probably went to the valedictorian, while “Class Clown” went to the next Amy Schumer. But, we wanted to know who would be deemed “Most Likely to End Up With A Cat At Age 50″ within our favorite bands.

So, we asked The Maine who among Kennedy Brock, Pat Kirch, Jard Monaco, Garrett Nickelsen, and John O’Callaghan would win such a title. The answer may surprise you. Even in rock bands, there has to be a “Best To Take Home To Mom and Dad,” right? After quite a pause, Pat and Kennedy revealed their pick.

Watch the video below to find out who would be best at karaoke, and would sing a Backstreet Boys song to prove it.

The Maine‘s latest album, American Candy is a far departure from their previous record, Forever Halloween. With a little less than two years in between albums, American Candy has a more uptempo and carefree vibe than their previous installment. The fifth album did a complete turnaround from the “darker” sound they experimented with in Forever Halloween, as guitarist Kennedy Brock described to us. “It’s always kind of our goal to go into the studio and do something that feels fresh and new,” Brock said about the change.

We sat down with drummer Pat Kirch and Kennedy just at their start of their “American Candy Tour” in April and talked about their social media black out during the recording of “American Candy,” 90s influences in their music, and much more. Check it out below.

Halloween is quickly creeping up on us, and while most of us are spending our time preparing costumes and securing party plans, The Maine will spend the holiday working.

The band began their last tour of the year, Farewell Forever Halloween, in Pomona, CA, where Garrett Nickelsen and Kennedy Brock sat down to talk with us about the tour and catch us up on what they’ve been doing this year. Farewell Forever Halloween ends on Halloween night and following the tour the band will begin recording their fifth studio album.

Check out the video below to see what Garrett and Kennedy had to say about their Halloween plans and more.

Photography by Rosemary Vega.
[See image gallery at hollywoodtimessquare.com]

When The Maine released Forever Halloween in 2013, the band’s maturity as musicians was immediately evident. Though the band is still frequently labelled as “pop punk,” (even four years after the release of their last album which can be labelled as such, Black and White) Forever Halloween showed a transition to a more indie alternative sound, especially with songs like “These Four Words” and “Kennedy Curse.”

This year, the band released the deluxe version of Forever Halloween, which features 5 new songs. The songs show a varying mix of genres, from their “pop punk” roots all the way to classic rock reminiscent of Pink Floyd. With a re-arrangement of song position (all the new songs come at the end), the tracks add a more subtle transition from their 2011 release, Pioneer to perhaps of sneak peak of the direction they’ll take next. The upbeat “So Criminal,” “Vanilla,” “Ugly on the Inside,” and “Bliss” almost seem out of place on album, which is made up of softer rock songs. All four of these songs play with an interesting mixture of The Maine’s more pop punk days, like “Time” from Pioneer, and the alternative sound on Forever Halloween. If played right after the last song on Pioneer and before”Take What You Can Carry” (the first track on Forever Halloween), these songs would make sense.

Photo by Rosemary Vega

“So Criminal,” is a break up song filled with catchy guitar riffs, and some serious drumming by Pat Kirch, but lead singer John O’Callaghan’s gritty vocals as he calls out whoever the unfortunate “Christina” is in the chorus, really make the song. While “Vanilla” and “Ugly on the Inside” are songs that should have been around when I was in high school. Musically, “Vanilla” is less pop than the other new tracks, but the lyrics are full of angst. The chorus sings, “You’re boring, complacent / At your best, you’re still basic / You’re everything I hate about our youth,” which is a perfect anthem about being unique and staying true to yourself. Although “Ugly on the Inside” is more pop influenced, lyrically, it speaks to points, encouraging inner beauty (something that whoever the song is about lacked). Lyrically, the songs don’t seem to fit the maturity of songs like “White Walls.” But, with a fan base made up of with a lot of high school kids and young adult, the songs will probably resonate. “Bliss” is a perfect example of the maturity. In a similar vain as “Vanilla” and “Ugly on the Inside”,  the song empowers to do whatever makes you happy without fear, (“Just take the right/Allow yourself to give in to this bliss”).

The last song song on the re-release is a song many fans have heard live, but never recorded. The Maine has been playing “Ice Cave” during their live set for a while, allowing each member to shine, Garrett Nickelsen on bass, Jared Monaco and Kennedy Brock on guitars, Pat, and John. The song shows heavy influence from the “psychedelic” rock of Pink Floyd. The band adds a darker tone, heavier guitar, and a mid song break, to make for a sound much different than anything they’ve released so far. The experimentation works for the band, and seems like a natural next step. (Or maybe I’m just hoping they continue with this sound).

While the new tracks may not be exactly groundbreaking for The Maine (minus “Ice Cave,” which is perhaps one of my all time favorite songs by the band), “Forever Halloween” still proves how much the band has matured musically; most notably in the poetic lyrics, and yet still how much they can grow given their talents.

Score: 4/5

The New Year is in full swing and many of us are setting our sights on making our New Year’s resolutions a reality. Of course, being everyday folk, our resolutions usually range from “keep my room clean” to “shed a couple of pounds.” What if your resolution was “I’m going to try not to die?” It sounds dramatic, but that is the life of a musician. At least that’s what Pat and Garrett from The Maine told us their goal was when we caught up with them in December to talk about the upcoming year. We’re not completely convinced that “staying alive” counts as a yearlong goal, but the two did give us a lot of insight into what the band has planned over the next few months and what they like to do when they’re not working.

Check out the interview below to see what they had to say.

HTS: Since you guys finished the tour not that long ago, how did it go? How has the reception been?

Pat: It was awesome. We kinda weren’t sure what to expect cause, you know, us and Anberlin, I think, like have different fan bases and things like that. So we weren’t sure how the mix was going to be, but um. It was good. Can’t complain about that.
Garrett: Yeah. It was awesome. It was pretty short, so it went by pretty quick. But you know, all the bands are awesome so it was good hangs and stuff. Really fun.

HTS: So when I was talking to Lydia, I heard that you guys have a little backstage ritual you guys do. What is that ritual exactly?
Garrett: We do this little chant thing before we go on. Uh, it’s just like a clap/chant thing, but.
Pat: Besides that, we kinda just hang out and get in the mood to do a show I guess.
Garrett: Yeah, not too crazy.
Pat: We don’t have like set things that we have to do everyday or anything like that.

HTS: No one wears the same underwear for like a week type thing?
Garrett: Well, I do that, not on purpose.

HTS: Sanitary.
Garrett: Yeah, just cause I don’t shower. But I showered yesterday, so I feel good.

HTS: You guys just came out with an acoustic EP, yesterday. So why did you decide to release an acoustic EP?
Garrett: Um, it was something we’ve talked about for a long time. But our fans kind of always would say that we should do one. And then, we had a little bit of time off before the Anberlin tour, or the tour we just did. So we built a little studio in the back of our manager’s office. And we just recorded it, in like 5 or 6 days on our own. It was just us five, which we’ve never done. And it was a lot of fun, you know. Just kind of something we threw together pretty quick.
Pat: Just trying to explore a different dynamic of what we do as a band, try something else, and push what we do. Having a restriction on a set of songs kind of helps makes you think of things in a different way than you would if you knew you could make it sound big and whatever. So, I think it just made us think outside the box a little bit.

HTS: And you guys are doing an acoustic tour for that. Is your set going to be dramatically different with what you do?
Both: Yeah.
Garrett: We’ve sort of done something like that before. When our record “Pioneer” came out, we played that record full band, and then split it in half and came out and did an acoustic set of like 5 or 6 songs. But this will be the full set. So we’re going to re-work everything and make it work so it’s not loud, in your face, and its more, you know … calm.
Pat: And it’s a good chance to play tunes that don’t normally make it into the set. So we’re planning some small shows. It’s going to be like the hardcore fans that have been there forever so we’re going to play some things we haven’t played yet before, or haven’t played in years.

HTS: So which one do you prefer, acoustic or regular?
Pat: Full band shows…
Garrett: That’s what we love doing. But it’s going to be fun to do something different.

DEC 11- Fans started lining up early in the cold (yes, there was a “cold” week in Calfornia) to see Lydia, Anberlin, and The Maine at The Fonda Theater in Los Angeles. Some fans had been waiting months to see the show, as it was originally scheduled for October. Due to scheduling conflicts, the showdate was change to December. Since the show was now during holiday season, the bands teamed up with Toys for Tots, and encouraged fans to donate toys for less fortunate children.

After an opening set from From Indian Lakes, Lydia took the stage. Lead by singer Leighton Antelman, the band is made up of Justin Camacho on guitar and Matt Keller on keyboard. The band performed songs from their latest album “Devil,” including “The Exit” as well as old fan favorite, “This is Twice Now” from 2008’s “Illuminate.” Lydia’s sound is very mellow, which is always interesting to see translated live. The band pulled it off changing up each song to become lively enough to captivate the crowd. Leighton remarked, “There are some Lydia fans in here,” after the crowd was noticeably singing along to every song.

Co headlining the show with The Maine, was Anberlin. Singer Stephen Christian, guitarists Joseph Milligan and Christian McAlhaney, bassist Deon Rexroat, and drummer Nathan Young have played together as Anberlin since 2007 (although the band formed in 2002). With a discography consisting of 7 studio albums, the band played a variety of new and old songs. Songs like “Feel Good Drag” and “Paperthin Hymn” were clear favorite among the crowd. The band’s sound, distinctly different from the other bands on the tour, is more reminiscent of Taking Back Sunday, or Switchfoot. To say the band seemed a bit out of place is an understatement, but you couldn’t tell from the crowd’s enthusiasm.

I’ve been a fan of The Maine for a long time (John and Garrett were actually my first interview!), and as expected, the band has matured significantly from their start. While the band played an array of songs from each of their four full length albums, the change was especially evident at the end. The band played, “Girls Do What They Want,” from their debut album, “Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop” followed by an encore of “Misery,” from 2011’s “Pioneer.” Although the songs were released just three years apart, the transformation from teenage kids in a band to musicians was clear. These guys are in it to play music, constantly, anywhere, however. And I really hope more people will begin to recognize their talent.

The band added some holiday cheer to the show, performing their “holiday” song, “Ho Ho Hopefully,” which lead singer John O’Callaghan prefaced with, “Oh gosh. Um, I’m not 100% sure I still know the lyrics.” 

Check out some photos from the show below:

Photography by Rosemary Vega

[See image gallery at hollywoodtimessquare.com]

The popular pop-punk band, The Maine stormed through the House of Blues in Anaheim on Friday with one mission –entertain the hell out of audiences–and that they did.

The show was only the second stop on the band’s national 8123 tour, but the energy was already in full swing.

Even before The Maine made it to the stage, the crowd grooved along with opening acts Brighten, This Century, and A Rocket to Moon.  Each band had fans in the audience, making the night a pleasurable experience for everyone.

Although, the night was a little bittersweet for Rocket to the Moon fans since this is the final tour they will be performing together.  It was definitely a little sad for me because I wasn’t familiar with their music before the concert and they won me over right away. During the show I overheard someone saying “I like them, why is this their last tour?” The group played some of their signature songs like “Dakota” and “Like We Used To”–which was featured on an episode of “Teen Mom.”  They closed their set with a bouncing rendition of “Mr. Right.” Maybe, I’m crazy, but the chorus to this song reminds me of the George Harrison song “Got My Mind Set on You.” It was a great lead into The Maine’s set.

The crowd went absolutely bonkers when The Maine finally hit the stage, it was almost like being at a boy band concert…almost.  They opened with “Love & Drugs,” from their latest album “Forever Halloween.” It was a good first choice since “Love & Drugs,” is one of the few songs off the new album that is reminiscent of the group’s classic pop-punk sound. The audience was very into it and most knew all the words even though the album just came out three days ago (albeit the song was released a month ago…it’s still impressive).

The group did a good job of switching back and forth from their newer songs to the older stuff. No matter which The Maine album is your favorite, they played something you liked. My personal fave was “Happy,” the hooks are extremely catchy and John O’Callaghan’s voice sounded impeccable. Of course, not everything is all fun and bright tunes in The Maine’s world; they also performed the emotional ballad “These Four Words.” Everyone got a little emo for this one. The lights were turned down and O’Callaghan hid behind the piano. It was just his voice and his sadness. The song was extremely powerful and it was easy to spot a couple of fans crying.

The sadness didn’t last long though, O’Callaghan quickly reminded everyone why The Maine shows are so much fun. He interacted with the crowd and gave them pep talks. He actually started a monologue with, “this is me being your dad right now.” He was also looking out for everyone asking, “Hey can I get you anything? What can I get you?” The security guards proceeded to bring people in the front rows bottled waters after he said that. It was cute to see how much O’Callaghan loves his fans.

Sadly, the night couldn’t go on forever and the group closed out the night with “We’ll All Be.” They surprised the audience by bringing up all the opening acts to perform with them. It was clear to see how much the bands like and respect each other by how much fun they were having on stage.

All in all, if you’re a fan of The Maine, this is a show worth catching. The tour gets bonus points for bringing in very talented openers. Even if you’ve never heard of any of the opening acts before, you are sure to go home wanting to know more about them.

The 8123 tour is going on throughout the summer with the last stop in Austin, TX on July 20.

Set List:

1. Love & Drugs
2. Misery
3. Inside of You
4. We All Roll Along
5. Into Your Arms
6. Right Girl
7. Happy
8. Some Days
9. Kennedy Curse
10. Heroine
11. These Four Words
12. Whoever She Is
13. Identify
14. Girls Just Wanna Have Fun (Cover)
15. Count Em 1, 2, 3
16. Like We Did
17. We’ll All Be…

Contact reporter Frances Vega and follow her twitter.

Photography by Rosemary Vega
[See image gallery at hollywoodtimessquare.com]