Something Corporate has reunited after a nearly 20-year hiatus — but don’t expect them to rerecord any of their previous work.
“I get why people do it. To me, I think the beauty of these records is that they were a moment in time,” singer Andrew McMahon told Us Weekly exclusively following Something Corporate’s performance during Weekend 1 of the 2024 Austin City Limits music festival. “We captured the feeling of that moment.”
Something Corporate — shortened by fans to SoCo — includes McMahon, William Tell, Kevin “Clutch” Page, Josh Partington and Brian Ireland. The group released their famed album Leaving Through the Window in May 2002, and its 25th anniversary is on the horizon. (They went on a hiatus in 2005 after releasing North in 2003.)
Recording those songs a second time “steals a little bit of what makes it magic,” McMahon explained to Us. “But then again, I never say never.”
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Guitarist Partington compared an album rerecord to “retaking a photograph,” telling Us that “it’s gonna be different” no matter what.
While they may not revisit entire albums, the band members have songs they’d happily rerecord if given the chance.
Drummer Ireland was quick to name “She Paints Me Blue.” McMahon did say that he “would rerecord a lot of my vocals” but made it clear that “life goes on.”
SoCo announced their Out of Office Tour, their first in a decade, earlier this year. They kicked off the shows in June, but none of them imagined that the tour would be larger than life.
“I didn’t go in with any expectations, I don’t know about you guys,” McMahon said to his bandmates. “Seeing how many people have showed up, I just didn’t expect it would be this crazy — bigger than [some] shows we did when we were actually a band. That’s been really surprising.”
SoCo’s Austin City Limits set on Saturday, October 5, featured all the hits, including the nearly 10-minute long “Konstantine,” which guitarist Tell joked was a “requirement” for the festival.
McMahon admitted that it was “pretty brutal” to narrow down the setlist ahead of their performance.
“We’ve been able to play two hour shows where we can go through so much of the catalog,” he explained, noting that festivals are more about “what’s gonna get a crowd going.”
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They decided to focus on “the big tunes” rather than adding any deep cuts.
“Festival crowds are always different,” Tell added. “I think it’s fun because you get to see your people and new people discovering it and having fun.”
While it’s unclear exactly what the future holds for the men of SoCo, one thing’s for sure: if Olivia Rodrigo called, they would answer. The entire group named the “Vampire” singer as their dream collaboration.
“She’s my hero,” said McMahon, who wore a Guts World Tour T-shirt while on stage in Austin.
