Alan Ashby is one happy dude. Member of insanely popular group Of Mice And Men, the rhythm guitarist is stoked to kick off the New Year with the release of his band’s exciting new record, Restoring Force.
“This is the first time we actually had as a band to take a month out and write songs and think about what we wanted to do with the record,” Ashby says. “The last couple of records we recorded, we were doing in the middle of touring, so we really got to take our time and think about what we really wanted, which was cool.”
Ashby joined the band right before 2011’s The Flood (“man, it was so crazy before I joined!”). Prior to that, there were fallouts with a number of members. Frontman Austin Carlile came and went; drama became somewhat infused within the band’s operations. After clean vocalist and bassist Shayley Bourget left in 2012 following a battle with alcohol and depression, Aaron Pauley was made tour replacement, but soon became a permanent member.
“It definitely makes you stronger, you know, all that stuff. Making music and being in a rock band, whatever you want to call it, it’s crazy,” he says. “It changes people in some ways and it affects people in others. For us, we can look at each other at the end of the day, stick together, and write music and love it, get pumped on it like, ‘Yeah, that was fucking awesome’ and hate each other. It’s definitely like a bonding family feeling.”
“We’re not the best of friends with them [ex-members] but we’re all on good terms. I don’t really see anyone much. I guess it’s just not buddy-buddy so we don’t really get input from them or talk to them about our recording and stuff.”
When it comes to the songwriting, the band doesn’t particularly write as a collective – something he says “actually works”.
“Austin and Aaron handle pretty much all of the lyrics and the vocal melodies,” he says. “I set up a little studio with my laptop in the back of the bus when we’re on tour and I write music – little riffs, bits of songs. Really, it’s just somebody having an idea and whoever has the inspiration from that specific idea takes it from there and creates a song, and if we have something we’ll contribute to it.”
“We’re not the best of friends with them [ex-members] but we’re all on good terms”Restoring Force shows Of Mice And Men delving into something a little different, yet still maintaining their signature sound. Perhaps not as brutal as The Flood, Ashby believes the album is a reflection upon not only the time they had in the studio, but the way they were able to record.
“It’s definitely a lot less – how do I say this [laughs] – it definitely covers the broader spectrum,” he says. “It’s more of a rock album where a lot of the songs sound completely different. Like, you can hear one band in this song and you can hear a little bit of this genre and that genre. Every song doesn’t really sound the same, or can be seen as one genre of music. The Flood – we wrote that record really fast. With this one we got to take our time a lot.”
“A big difference too is that we got to use real instruments on Restoring Force. We recorded The Flood with Joey Sturgis, and it was all computer guitars tones and stuff. Not saying that we didn’t actually play the instruments, but we used electronics for the style of the recording. This record we actually recorded on an SSL board with vintage Marshall amps and real instruments. There’s just that little bit of human element in this record that’s different from the last one.”
The last time Of Mice And Men were in Australia was for two visits last year. The band were part of the chock-a-block line-up for Soundwave, while also returning with buddies Bring Me The Horizon and Crossfaith for a killer tour.
“We love Australia,” an enthusiastic Ashby chimes. “Kids in Australia love heavy music! It’s cool. There’s a huge rock scene in Australia. You guys love heavy music and we always have a good time.”
Ashby didn’t refrain from reminiscing about Soundwave – a time he regards as one of the greatest moments of his life.
“Soundwave was amazing. That was like the best festival we’ve ever been on! The highlight for me was in Perth. Apparently they have the most shark-infested waters in the world? I didn’t even know that! Anyway, our hotel was right on the beach. We had a day off, and we thought, ‘we’re in Australia, you know, let’s rent surfboards and go surfing’. So we rented the boards and ended up going out. Corey Taylor from Stone Sour/Slipknot was right there surfing as well, and I fucking loved Slipknot growing up, so that was incredible for me. Like, I’m on a surfboard, hanging out in the water with Corey Taylor in Australia. THAT was the coolest.”
“I’m on a surfboard, hanging out in the water with Corey Taylor in Australia. THAT was the coolest”Ashby also considers his fan base cool. The band have very intense and enthusiastic followers that use social media in a very interesting way.
“They’re crazy. Absolutely diehard. They go nuts,” he laughs.
“A lot of them have Instagram and Twitter and stuff like that. They love making weird – I don’t know what you call them – memes? Stuff like that, putting our faces on the Disney Princesses and animals. I always see them, and sometimes I’m walking around cracking up laughing about the stuff they make. My friends are wondering what the hell I’m laughing at and I’ll have to show them a picture of a monkey with Austin’s face headbanging. It’s a lot of love, and it’s all really fun.”
“A lot of them are going through school with a lot of issues. Our lyrics are uplifting with a lot of inspiration to latch on to and give hope. That’s why I fell in love with music when I was younger. It was just a little something that gave me strength and something to look forward to. I really feel like our music did that for a lot of kids and that’s what we like to give back to them.”
So what music was the rhythm guitarist into growing up?
“My dad was really into Guns N’ Roses, AC/DC, Eric Clapton, so I loved that. Then the other side of me was really emo and goth. My Chemical Romance was probably my favourite band, even Fall Out Boy back in the day! You know, From Under The Cork Tree…so great.”
Set for the world unveiling of Restoring Force, Ashby hopes to make some great plans this year.
“I’d like to travel around the world, play people our music. Rock n’ roll! Have a good time. Make people smile. Hopefully write more music and put out another album. And I want to come back to Australia!”
Of Mice And Men’s new album Restoring Force is out now
