Something Corporate’s Andrew McMahon and William Tell open up about reuniting after 20 years, balancing day jobs as lawyers – and Lauren Conrad’s fashion advice

Something Corporate, the wildly popular pop-punk piano band, is back in a big way, selling out huge venues and making its way across America, but only playing shows on the weekends.

After finding success in the early 2000s, the Orange County group, also known as SoCo, surprised their fans by going on hiatus in 2005.

During the two-decade hiatus, singer and pianist Andrew McMahon formed Jack’s Mannequin and later The Wilderness, while guitarist William Tell released a solo album before attending law school at USC and marrying Laguna Beach star Lauren Conrad.

Nostalgic millennials were thrilled to see the band reunite on the aptly named Out of Office tour, which sold out immediately.

To find out what it was like to get back on the road – and how the band actually got time off (two members are now literally a business thing because they’re lawyers now), Andrew and Will stopped by the DailyMail.com studio to talk millennial -nostalgia talk. , their emotional reunion and how their families are part of the tour today.

A reunion twenty years in the making

‘I turn around and it feels like this was normal last year that we did all this,” Will told DailyMail.com. ‘Or it feels like it was forty years ago. I vacillate back and forth between these two feelings.”

The band reunited for an impromptu show for Andrew’s 40th birthday, when he invited them to play a few songs together.

Andrew forgot how “magical” it was to play with the friends he grew up with, especially as they “learned to play in bands together” and called the night “bliss.”

“Now we’re older and we come in with a different sensibility, but then again it feels like yesterday,” Will admitted.

‘Over there used to be There was something in the air, even from the moment we started rehearsing for those few songs, it just felt inevitable.”

“It just felt like there was a momentum between all of us,” Will added, calling the impromptu reunion “kismet,” which led to an extended tour that kicked off in New York City in June.

Unlike their tours of their teens and early twenties, this relaunch has been a family affair, with Andrew’s daughter Cecelia dancing in the wings (and occasionally onstage), and Will bringing his young sons out a little later. Bassist Kevin ‘Clutch’ Page also has his children on the way.

‘It’s a strange experience and wonderful to see People who are like family to you, who see their descendants show up and hang out and integrate themselves into the whole unit,” Will said.

Tour preparation required a little help from ‘Robot Andrew’

Since Andrew was on tour with his indie rock act The Wilderness, the other members practiced for the Out of Office Tour with what they called “Robot Andrew,” a laptop with old recordings they could play with.

When Andrew showed up at the first rehearsal after Robot Andrew, everything fell into place.

While he decided to take some time off from writing, he took a little trip to Nashville and ended up writing Death Grip.

Andrew eventually asked his SoCo bandmates to jump on the song and they were excited about sharing the experience, releasing their first single in 20 years.

According to Andrew, the next song feels “very SoCo.”

‘It’s called Happy and it resonates [and] feels good about the band. And there are also lyrics in the song that are very referential being in this moment of life and also having had these experiences being in Something Corporate,” Andrew added.

And while pop punk is having a major moment right now, with Gen Z stars like Olivia Rodrigo getting in on the action, Andrew said it’s unlikely the band will release an all-out pop punk song, asking: “Have we ever had a all-out pop punk ? punk song?’

When Will Pop brought up Punk Princess, Andrew said it was ‘hysterical because it was so written as the most boring ballad of all time aand our producer said, “What if we did it like this?”

From father duties to rock star responsibilities

When it comes to making the transition from dad to rock star, Will admits his stylish wife Lauren helps him pick out his outfits.

‘My wife definitely just helps me sometimes gives me the knowing, disapproving nod that I put on the wrong thing,” Will said.

Andrew has started work James Fordafter discovering him on the Netflix show Next in Fashion, he thought, “He dresses a little like me, but definitely better,” and slid into his DMs.

They choose clothes for the tour together, although his wife and daughter ultimately get the final say.

Will said he “witnessed an adorable moment” when Andrew was getting dressed and his wife and daughter agreed to the exact number of buttons to unbutton.

‘It was just real sweet family moment. And it’s something that’s part of our backstage routine, which obviously wasn’t there before and just adds a really sweet, wonderful part,” Will said.

The weekend-only tour sees some members putting off their business duties, as the band now has two lawyers and a business owner, while everyone is hard at work when they leave the stage.

Guitarist and lawyer Josh Partington After the show, he often grabs his laptop and is in the lobby answering emails. Fortunately, his company was extremely supportive and enthusiastic about the performances.

“I mean, these are long weekends for a reason. And there is definitely some life and work happening between these shows,” Andrew admitted.

Millennial nostalgia makes for the perfect tour

When it came to picking the setlist, Andrew wanted to give the fans what they wanted – so he went to Spotify to see the most listened to songs.

Andrew promised that fans will see the “big Something Corporate songs” as they play for about two hours, and joked that unlike the Eras Tour, it’s the Era Tour.

“I joke that our job is just to throw the best, the biggest party that we can throw where people have a great time,” he said.

‘And it now makes perfect sense to me that we all come into contact with formative experiences and the music that shaped us.’

“At first I was surprised, but now I’m so grateful for it,” Andrew added of the emo revival that has taken place among millennials in recent years as they flock to reunion tours.

“These shows are the biggest shows we’ve ever headlined. It’s a wild one The fact is that it all came together this way.”