As parents we all have done it. We are singing to our children as we are holding them. Whether it is lullabies or silly songs we as parents feel that music is a great way to communicate to our children. Have you ever wrote a song about your child? Well Andrew McMahon wrote one for his daughter while his wife was pregnant with their child. I am guessing most of you have heard it. The song is called Cecilia and the Satellite. It is a beautiful song and as a father the song really spoke to me the first time I heard it. Andrew put his words about being a father into that song and made it a worldwide hit.
Now Andrew is getting ready to release his new album Zombies On Broadway that comes out on February 10th. His new single Fire Escape is another hit! He is getting ready to go on tour. Andrew was kind enough to take some time out of his busy schedule to chat about the new album, fatherhood, and his inspiration for the song he wrote for his daughter.
Art Eddy: Let’s first talk about your new album Zombies On Broadway coming out on February 10th. What was the process like for you with this album and how did it differ from your past works?
Andrew McMahon: Like anything these processes develop over time. Going back to the last record I had the luxury of some down time. When I started working on that record I sort of wound everything down for about a year. Recorded that record and my wife got pregnant. We started walking that road in parallel.
With this record one of the biggest differences in approach was that I sort of juggling the writing process with the promotion of the most recent record. In other ways the benefit was that I never stopped writing after the last record. I had gotten into this rhythm of constantly writing and being in rooms with different producers and writers. That was something that I got really used to during the making of the first The Wilderness record.
I very consciously decided rather than just getting back on the road and putting that hat on and then hanging up the writing hat I just kept going. So when this record sort of starting winding down we were almost halfway finished with the follow up. It was huge. It was very helpful even from a promotional standpoint. From a rest and peaceful standpoint it wasn’t probably the easiest, but I am collecting some time off right now.
AE: You know as a dad that in those first few months you don’t get a lot sleep. So you are used to not sleeping, right?
AM: Yeah, it is amazing how you would think that from my prior late night party hours I would be really well groomed for not sleeping. I think the kid gets you more prepared for you being good on not getting sleep. I have benefited greatly from that workout I suppose.
AE: I love the originality in the Fire Escape video. Love the song too. How did you come up with the concept of using those inflatables as the main characters in the video?
AM: I have had a creative partner over the last two years or so. A guy named John Morris, who founded and is part of an artist consortium called The Windmill Factory. Before our first Coachella appearance as The Wilderness I reached out to a bunch of friends and asked them to hook me up with their favorite artist. John was the guy that they hooked me up with.
We sort of collaborated on everything visually since that time. If you have gone to shows in the past few years you know the crazy detonating confetti balloons that we will hand out to the audience. The inflatable guys on stage down to the wardrobe and backdrops. John and I thought it would be hysterical to make these inflatables come to life and have personalities.
It started out as a tour concept and we brought it out on the road with Weezer. When the video idea came we were like why don’t we just make them fall in love with each other and have a baby. (Both laugh.) I have been leaning more towards the absurd these days. There is enough heavy (stuff) going on in the world right now that my art can have some seriousness, but have some playfulness when it comes down to these ideas for visuals and live shows. I think we all need a bit of a break from the tidal wave of nonsense that we are encountering on a daily basis right now.
AE: Who do you feel influenced you as an artist?
AM: Gosh, there is a laundry list. Obviously everything that was on the radio when I was a kid is so important to how you develop your ears and your listening skills. For me as a kid the artist that I remember falling head over heels in love with was Michael Jackson. I was obsessed. In that same breath was Phil Collins and Genesis, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and U2. My brothers and sisters were anywhere from eight to nine to ten years older than me. I was getting a lot Classic Rock. My parents through them I was always listening to The Grateful Dead, The Doors, and Jimi Hendrix. Those were the early days.
I developed my own taste as I got into my adolescence when bands like The Counting Crows were huge. Green Day. The sort of post Grunge era. Rock was big for me too as I was growing up.
AE: When I heard Cecilia and the Satellite for the first time I got really emotional. As a father you touched on a ton of things that I felt when I became a dad. So for you what were some of the first few thoughts that popped into your mind when you found out that you were going to be a dad?
AM: I look back at that time when my wife was pregnant as one of the most charmed times in my life and in my relationship. With your first you are able to hunker down and it is really mysterious. It is almost like this dating period with this creature that is coming into your world. How are you going to receive them and how will they come to you?
There is so much beauty and mystery I think that goes along with that process as you go through it for the first time. I think there are a lot of the thoughts and anxiety of that and the excitement really worked its way into the lyrics of Cecilia and the Satellite. Most of it was written two weeks before she was born.
I was going on these writing sessions that are a lot like blind dates. You end up in a room with two or three people that you never met. People in your camp or friends of yours say that you should write with them and you would have so much fun. That is what makes writing with other people so great. You have these first meetings where you compare influences and you make something great.
I think there was so much nervousness even going into those sessions about whether or not I would be able to stay or if my wife would go into labor. We just hit it off and wrote most of Cecilia in that afternoon. Spent the next couple of days trying really hard to get the rest out and still not be an a$$#ole dad to be by leaving your nine month pregnant wife at the house without any help.
The lyrics sum it up in a lot of ways. I was glad that it still rang so true once she was born. I think all of us as parents are trying to do our best to communicate some truths to our kids. You on one hand want to shield them from the negative, but on the other hand you want them to know that there is a real world out there. You will do your best to take care of them. That for me is really where the song came from.
AE: How do you balance work and family?
AM: I have been real fortunate that my wife and my daughter have been able to travel with me for most of my touring life as I enter fatherhood. They are on the bus with me pretty much full time. If the trip is short enough where all the air travel is going to be a cumulative nightmare then it is a lot of Facetime.
Cecilia will start preschool next year in the fall. That has me a little bit anxious because I really enjoy being able to share that space with her. My wife would also come out on tour and visit quite a bit. This was the first time where we all traveled together so regularly. Luckily I don’t have to be away too often.
The way I handle that as you can imagine is not a lot of sleep. We try to work together as a team and find moments where my wife doesn’t lose her mind taking care of a baby on a bus full of seven or eight other guys traveling. (Both laugh.) Half of them are sweaty and smelling while the other half is drunk or otherwise. So it is an exercise. It is a fun life. I feel that she has gotten to see the world at a young age, which hopefully will be a good thing for her.
AE: What are some of the core values you look to instill in your daughter as she grows up?
AM: For me I just want her to have empathy for other human beings. There are a million things out there that you can try and teach your kids. My hope for her more than anything is to look at any of her neighbors or people that she doesn’t know and try her best to put herself in their shoes. Operate on the notion that the world doesn’t revolve solely around her. It is a tough thing when you have a young one to not have that orbit completely around them. (Both laugh.) I just hope that she has compassion for other human beings out there and work from that place on whatever she aspires to be.
AE: What advice do you have for new dads? 
AM: Oh man. I am a pretty fast paced guy. I have been known to yell. My biggest goal is to use fatherhood to an extent to better myself. Try my hardest when I find myself excited or agitated or want to move a little bit faster is to slow down and try to take things in. It is hammered out there by every parent on how fast it goes. I try to heed those warnings more than anything. I try to not speed through it and try not to miss the good stuff. So I would say slow down and talk quietly.
Life of Dad Quick Five
AE: Do you guys have a favorite family movie that you all love to watch together?
AM: For me I fell in love with Moana. I know my daughter and wife did so that is probably at the top of our list at the moment.
AE: Do you guys have a favorite song that you all like to sing to or dance to as a family?
AM: (Laughs.) Gosh. It is embarrassing to admit, but Cecilia is a fan of her own song. She insists on hearing Cecilia and the Satellite two to one over any song. I don’t dance as much, but I let her dance to that one.
AE: Describe the perfect family vacation.
AM: Hawaii. We did it last year and had a blast. I am all about the beach. It is my vacation of choice.
AE: First album you bought was.
AM: Pearl Jam’s Ten.
AE: Do you have a venue that you can’t wait to play at?
AM: Oh gosh, that is a tough one. Maybe Ryman in Nashville. I was scheduled to play that a while back and wasn’t able to make it. So I think that would be high on my list.
Follow Andrew on Twitter @andrewmcmahon and go to Andrewmcmahon.com for all the latest on tour dates, purchasing music and more.