"It’s definitely an adventure:" Andrew McMahon talks his Emmy nomination and new material

Call it beginner’s luck: Andrew McMahon’s first foray into writing musical theatre—he penned tunes for season two of the just-canceled television show Smash—landed him a Primetime Emmy nomination, for the song “I Heard Your Voice In A Dream.” The former Something Corporate/Jack’s Mannequin singer unfortunately won’t be walking the red carpet with the rest of TV’s elite crew on September 22 (the category of awards in which he’s nominated is actually being given out this Sunday), but he’s still planning on dressing to the nines.

In fact, McMahon chatted with AP just after he picked up his suit for the big day, and talked about how he got the Smash gig, what it meant to get the Emmy nomination and what star he really wants to meet at the event.

He also gave us some insights into what he's up to musically–and what people might be able to expect from his future tunes.

Where are you right now? They said you were in the mountains, so I had to ask.
Well, I’ve actually descended the mountain. I’m in my car. I’m driving to pick up my suit from the Emmys. I just did the fitting and I’m driving out to Silver Lake to do some piano for my bandmate Joe whose wedding is next week. All of us recorded a song for their “wedding mix.” I’m doing a Beach Boys tune for him, so I’m on my way to go record that.

The perks of being a musician: Getting your talented friends to give you awesome music. That’s great.
Yeah, yeah. It’s a little funny. It is actually the song that my wife and I danced to at our wedding, so I was glad to participate.

What song is it?
“God Only Knows”

So what is this suit then? Did you have a specific designer do it? It is the Emmys, aren’t we supposed to ask that? What designer you’re going with, or something?
You know, I almost went that route, but hiring a stylist and all that shit is just so expensive, so I just went to Barney’s and picked one out on my own. I was like, “I’m just going to end up buying a suit, anyway.” You know what I mean? I’m in that phase of life where I’m going to a wedding every weekend for, like, the next five months. So, the one suit I have wasn’t cutting it anymore. It was tough.

So do you get to do the red carpet and everything too?
Well, I do, yeah. The thing is that the Emmy’s isn’t all one big event, obviously. Like the creative Emmys, which is what I’m nominated for, goes on the week before. It is the same kind of deal and there is a red carpet and all that stuff, but they air it on some obscure cable network, or something, you know? This weekend is when awards are being presented for the category that I’m in. And then the following week is when all the stars come out.

Do you have to keep it a secret for another week if you won, or does it all come out?
I don’t think so. I would imagine in this day and age trying to keep something like that a secret is virtually impossible. So, yeah, I mean we’ll get in there and they’ll be like “don’t tell anybody,” I imagine. You know, for the most part, the more kind of nitty-gritty, behind-the-scenes kind of awards are given out at this thing, I don’t know if it’d be like letting the cat out of the bag or anything if people found out.

So what has it meant to you to be nominated for something like that?
I have to be honest, it is really flattering. I didn’t ever expect that I would care much one way or another if I was nominated for an award. And certainly over the years, not being nominated has never been something that has bothered me. So, when I got the call that I had been nominated, I’m not going to lie, I was pretty giddy. To do it for something that was kind of out of my wheelhouse and a new adventure and [then to] be nominated for a thing that I did sort of out of my comfort zone is pretty flattering.

How did the entire process go that you were able to write these songs for Smash?
It is kind of a crazy story, really, My wife, when we were living in Los Angeles several years ago, worked at a lingerie store in Silver Lake and one of the friends that she made while working there was a friend of this guy named Josh Safran who was a writer for Gossip Girl originally and was brought in to write for the second season of Smash. He’d always been a fan, and we talked about doing something down the line. When this came up, he called and asked me if I’d come make some kind of a demo to go around to all of the producers to be approved as one of the writers. That was just right after I had cut the cord with management and the label and was really kind of off on my own doing whatever felt good, or whatever came my way. And sure enough, I submitted a tune and the 12 producers or whatever signed off and invited me to be a writer for the show, and that’s kind of how it all began.

What has been the biggest impact since being nominated? Do you get recognized more? Do you get more interest in doing stuff for other people?
Truthfully, since I got nominated, I was on tour and the second I got off tour, I went into seclusion into this little cabin in Topanga and I’ve just been working on music for myself. So, I don’t really know. At this point, it certainly, you know, there is a little bit of cred that goes along with it, I suppose—you know, starting to pursue other writing opportunities in other shows and films and stuff like that. It was a little bit of mood lighting in a sense. I really am more motivated now to write my best record and sort of make a statement with a full-length feature.

Oh, that is exciting.
I’m pretty excited. It’s been a pretty transformative period. I just kind of lock myself away and just focus. I can start writing some pretty amazing stuff, and I haven’t done that in a while. I have done versions of that but I really am kind of about four or five days a week in this little cabin with no cell reception or anything. And that has kind of been my world when I got home. >>>

What have you been working on? What have you been coming up with?
It’s early. I’ve got about five or six songs that are about to take shape. And I sort of play this game—kind of like leap frog—where I go up and I’ll work on a new song and I’ll start going back, and revising and working on the old songs. And this is the first time that I’ve done that in a while, where I’m really just writing a batch of songs for a week at a time. It’s probably too early to say what it is going to be. I’m definitely taking the opportunity to acquaint myself with the piano in a big way. I think my last couple of records got away from that and it was really kind of this moment where I was like, “Okay, you’re a piano-player. That is your heart and soul.” No pun intended. That’s the best of my work—with me at the piano. I’ve really just been focusing on developing the parts of the piano and really, I’m just digging in and not being afraid if it doesn’t come quickly. You know, not having any fear about revising, and rewriting and developing it causelessly and endlessly until it is finished. That is kind of the moment that I am in right now. I’m going to keep doing it until the end of the year.

It is nice to have the luxury to do that. You used to do that back in the day on Jack’s Mannequin records, but like now, you don’t have a timetable, I would imagine that the pressure is less.
That is true. For me, there is always this pressure to do things. When you tour as much as I have, when you go away from it for a while, it starts to scare you a little bit. I’ve finally come to a place where, you know what? I’m only going to get one shot to put out an Andrew McMahon record—my first full-length record under my own name. I have hired new management over the past couple of months and they, more than anything, were like, “Get off the road; what good is that going to do you if you don’t have the songs?” And I was like “Shit. I’m with you.” And so really, the game has just been writing and falling back in love with the piano and the process and not being too anxious and just running into a studio.

Once you’re going, there is so much pressure to hustle that you don’t want to fall behind, when—especially in music—there is so much competition. Either something tells you that you need to stop, or you get really sick or you’re like, “I’m done, I’m burnt out, I have to slow down.”
Well, that’s interesting. I definitely have these moments where I look at these songs that I have right now and I’m excited about them, but I’m finding all these angles inside of them that like I wouldn’t have seen if I had approached it like I’ve written and recorded in the past couple of years. It’s definitely an adventure and it’s definitely something that I kick myself about. Like if only you would have done something about this one song that you never really got your hands around. But in the interest of moving forward and I’m just trying to do my best, it seems like the right thing to be doing.

Is there anyone you’re looking forward to meeting at the Emmys?
Well, I’m a 30 Rock nut and I’m up against Tina Fey in my category, so in some dream scenario, my wife and I would get to shake hands with her.

I think you need to make that happen. And I think it needs to be Instagrammed.
I do too, man. I really love her. I still watch old 30 Rock re-runs all the time.

I love her because she’s a strong lady. And she takes no shit from people.
She’s a bad-ass. I think she is rad.

We will tag it on Twitter with Tina Fey and you and see if we can get some magic to happen.
Sounds good, yeah I appreciate that. alt.