Something Corporate

Welcome back to The Keys To Rock!

Thanks for coming back to check out our second piano-rock band, from Orange County, Something Corporate.  If you'd like to listen while you read, scroll down and check out the Spotify playlist I've included below.  And remember, if you love piano-rock music or love exploring new bands, you can subscribe by putting your email in the box to the right.

Something Corporate

Something Corporate, and more specifically their front-man and principle songwriter Andrew McMahon, have been very influential in my own style as a piano-rock artist.  Andrew McMahon's subsequent band, Jack's Mannequin, has been, perhaps, my sole biggest influence as an artist.  But, working in chronological order here, let's stick to the band that came first, the topic at hand, Something Corporate...

In 1998, just out of high school, front-man/vocalist/keyboardist, Andrew McMahon, along with drummer Brian Ireland, and bassist Kevin Page, formed Something Corporate.  Adding guitarists Josh Partington and Reuben Hernandez, S.C. would settle in as a five-piece.  In the fall of 2000, the band independently released a demo CD titled Ready...Break which was followed with an official member change as Hernandez was replaced (and the lineup consequently solidified) by guitarist William Tell.

In 2001, having formed their distinct piano-based alternative-rock-style sound, the band signed with MCA Records and Drive-Thru Records to release their EP Audioboxer.  The band would promote Audioboxer and its featured single, If You C Jordan, with nationwide tours.

In May 2002, S.C. released their first major label album, Leaving Through The Window, which contained two singles, I Woke Up In A Car and Punk Rock Princess, the latter of which reached #33 on the U.K. Singles Chart.  It surprises me that I Woke Up In A Car didn't break into the charts, since not only is it a personal favorite of mine, but it also appears to currently be their second most played song on such players as Spotify.  Leaving Through The Window, as a whole, would hit #1 on the Billboard Top Heatseekers chart as well as #101 on the Billboard 200.

In October 2003, the band's second full-length album, North, would debut at #24 on the Billboard 200, with its only single being Space, written by guitarist Partington.  A few months later, in February 2004, guitarist William Tell would leave the band to pursue solo work, just months before S.C. filmed their concert at Ventura Theater, which would shortly thereafter be released on DVD.  Here is S.C.'s performance of their song Konstantine from their live DVD, shot at Ventura Theater.



A hiatus followed, beginning in the summer of 2004. They promised the break would not be permanent, stating that they just wanted to reconnect with the life that originally spawned the band.  In 2006, Something Corporate would reunite to perform three songs as special guests on a show in Pomona, CA; and in 2010 the band would come together more extensively, releasing a greatest hits album titled Played in Space: The Best of Something Corporate, and following that up with a reunion tour.

Andrew McMahon, the face of piano-rock of the early 2000's, and his young five-piece band, Something Corporate, helped define a niche in the ever-evolving landscape that is the rock genre.  McMahon has been very influential and inspirational to me as an artist, and to many many others, I'm sure.

To read more about Something Corporate or Andrew McMahon and his career of musical endeavors, check out a few of the links below.  Don't forget to subscribe, via email, to The Keys To Rock, to regularly hear about more great piano-rock bands!  You can also follow me on twitter @alecryanmusic to get information/notifications about future posts, and to hear what I have going on as a piano-rock artist!

Until next time,

Alec Ryan

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Something_Corporate#Studio_albums

http://www.andrewmcmahon.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_McMahon

https://myspace.com/soco