|| The Sound Faction (dot com) ||

It's no secret that I adore The Maine. As much bad luck as I have with them, they still manage to brighten up my day. This interview meant a lot to me from the start but the story behind it and how we ended up talking with Pat means a lot too. I'm not sure why, but when my Warner contact gave me the on-site contacts number, I failed to mention that it probably wouldn't work, as American phones don't work in Canada. So it was fifteen minutes before the interview and we call Max. And we call Max again...and hey we did it for about an hour. We had our friend who was our on-site contact for the other interviews that day looking for him. We had three security guards looking for him. All the while, we were still calling Max. So as I freak out because, what up Maine interview I've been trying to get for a year. So Natty and I decide to just leave and get some air and warm up so we head over to the grocery store. (all you Toronto people know the one I mean! Lablaws, what?!) and we walk in the door and Pat is right there! So Natty said, 'Hey Pat, sorry to bother you, but we're looking for Max. We had an interview..." and he knew exactly who we were and offered to do the interview right then and there! I was excited to finally get to do an interview, while at the same time I was sorta bummed because I had a very important lyric related question for John, whom I was supposed to talk with. But I'm still super happy it happened. (and we ended up chatting with Max after and straightened everything out and Pat let them know he did it. How sweet is that?) Enjoy some Pat. He's adorable!

"I would be a unicorn that could fly." - Pat Kirch. The Maine.

So for our readers who don't know who you are, could you please introduce yourself and what you do for the band?

Hi! I'm Pat, I play drums in The Maine.

You guys released 'Can't Stop, Won't Stop' last year and then the deluxe edition this summer. How do you feel you've evolved since 'Stay Up, Get Down' to where you are now?

Wow (laughs) Um we have two new members in the band that definitely bring their own spice or whatever, so I think it's just been like a natural progression. I think we've just grown a lot and I think we have a focused idea of what we want to do. Like when we wrote 'Stay Up, Get Down' we didn't really write it as an EP, we just wrote a bunch of songs over six months and when we wrote the album we wrote it all with the intention of it all being on the same album ... I don't know if that makes any sense!

(Laughs)

So a lot of fans have been asking about a new album, any idea what we can expect to hear when you guys get around to it?

It's way too early to tell, I think. We haven't really gotten to the point where I can say what it's going to sound like because I don't even know! I don't think it's going to be like this drastic like, oh we're like a new band. But definitely, I means it's been two years since we recorded the last one. So I guess within two years you grow as a person and a musician so I guess just that natural growth.

You've got to share the stage with some pretty amazing bands. What, if anything did you take away from the experience?

Touring with Good Charlotte was f*cking crazy! Like they didn't do anything for so long. We learned a lot about being a band and how to tour and like, how to treat your crew and everything like that. I think from Good Charlotte we probably took most of it. Just because out of every band that we've ever played a show with ... (he mumbled here and I was not able to make out what he said. I'm sorry!)

You guys got to play both Warped Tour and Bamboozle, this year and last, what was your favorite part about both?

It's something different, y'know? Like, when you play this kind of a tour it sorta feels the same everyday, I guess you could say. Warped Tour (laughs) I guess feels the same everyday, but it's different because we toured for like a year before we did Warped Tour in the van and like, playing small clubs and it just got kinda routine. It was awesome to just break that mode and bo outside. And it's fun!

(Laughs)

You did some pretty amazing covers, I Wanna Love You, Last Christmas and now Pour Some Sugar On Me. What made you decide to do those specific songs and would you ever consider covering 'No Diggity' by Blackstreet?

(Laughs) as of right now I think we're kinda content and maybe aren't gunna do anymore covers, for a bit at least. We'll see in a couple years if we wanna do more. the reason we chose the Akon one was they asked us to do something for Punk Goes...Hip Hop or whatever (laughs)

Crunk?

Is that what it is? (laughs) It was supposed to be called something different or something. That's where the confusion comes from. Well they asked us to do that and the song was really popular at the time, so that's why we chose that. And then Johns dad told us to do a Def Leppard song.

So in an email interview I did with Garrett, he stated that your lie show is "like a party in your pants." Do you feel you live up to that statement?

I don't know! (laughs) I'd like to think so! We just try to have as much fun as possible.

What can anyone who hasn't seen you live expect from a live show?

I just like to see the crowd having fun. And then I have fun. If they're not having fun, I don't have fun.

The trends of the music industry are always evolving; and what is popular can easily change. What does The Maine plan on doing moving forward to stay relevant with the music industry?

Um, we're just gunna keep doing our thing. I dunno. We don't have some big plan. (we were outside for this interview and this is the part when it got VERY loud around us.) Things change everyday, so to really have a plan anymore is kinda like, not smart, y'know? We're just kinda going for it. If it works, it works and if it doesn't it doesn't. I'll go back to school or something. (Laughs)

If you were in charge of the music industry, what would be the first change you'd make?

Um...gold and platinum records. Like, it's five hundred thousand for gold and then a million for platinum. I would drop both of those down. Just because it's really unrealistic. Like bands used to sell a million records and go gold and platinum all the time, but it just doesn't happen anymore.

What advice do you have or any bands just starting out?

Do what you wanna do, I guess. The only advice is just work hard. And it'll happen. Like don't do something that you don't believe in. There was so any people in the beginning, and still now trying to tell us what we need to do. And like, we're not gunna listen to that necessarily. (laughs) Probably come back to bite us, but whatever! I think just do what you believe in.

So at the end of our interviews we try to end with five random questions, ae you up for that or did you want to (pointing to the line up of girls behind us) ...?

No, no let's do it!

Okay so, if 'that's what she said,' what did she say?

I like tacos!

(laughs)

What's one male or female fashion trend that absolutely confuses you?

Um...this is hard, this is hard! Like...Ed Hardy shirts. Those are really gay.

(for the record, I didn't know who Ed Hardy was at the time of the interview, but I looked after and I, and everyone else on this site, agree in full with Pat. That's enough, Ed Hardy.)

If you went to Oz, what would you ask the wizard for?

A pumpkin.

Would you carve it?

No. I would throw it at a tree.

If you were a superhero what would your name be and what power would you have?

Paco (Sorry if I spelt that wrong, Pat!) And I would be a unicorn that could fly.

What's the deal with the color purple?

ahh...what do you mean?

What's the big deal? Why does everybody love purple?

I have no clue! Kennedy went on this big phase where he loved it and then we made fun of him a lot so he doesn't wear it anymore! (laughs) I dunno. I guess it's kinda cool.

Did you notice that almost everybody in line had purple on?

Yeah it's almost like Gabe. It's like borderline...if you're wearing pink, you can't be cool. But if you're wearing purple you're on the line!

(Laughs)

We would like to thank Pat for taking the time after the whole mix up to stop and talk to us in the most random location! Please check out The Maine at their MySpace Page

and if you ever go to a show give this guy a hug for being super awesome!

BACK