Something Corporate Releases First Single in 20 Years with 'Death Grip', Dreams of Collab with Olivia Rodrigo (Exclusive)

In an interview with PEOPLE, Andrew McMahon opens up about reuniting the band and whether they'll make another album.

In the pop-punk prime of the early aughts, Something Corporate became a Warped Tour favorite. But with just two studio albums — three, if you count their indie debut — and two EPs, the band went on hiatus by 2006. While there were a few, rare reunions over the years and a greatest hits collaboration, the project — comprised of vocalist/pianist Andrew McMahon, guitarist Josh Partington, bassist Kevin “Clutch” Page, drummer Brian Ireland, and guitarist William Tell — largely went quiet.

But over the years, Something Corporate fans weren't entirely deprived of the band's pop-punk charm. McMahon, 41, has spent the past 20 years focusing on solo projects — first with Jack's Mannequin, and now with Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness — which gave him the opportunity at live shows to play some of his first band's favorites.

But for diehard Something Corporate fans, it seemed like a tour wasn't likely. That is until the band reunited for We Were Young in Las Vegas in October 2023. It was the catalyst for the five members to reunite for their current tour Out of Office tour. In addition to hitting the road, Something Corporate is releasing their first new single in 20 years, the breezy indie-rock-tinged "Death Grip," which PEOPLE is premiering along with its accompanying music video.

In an interview with PEOPLE, McMahon opened up about the making of "Death Grip," his dream of collaborating with Olivia Rodrigo and whether a Something Corporate album is in the band's future.

What has it been like for you to reunite with Something Corporate on tour?

I mean, joyful to say the least. We've all stayed friends for all these years, but I think there's admittedly probably a little resistance on my part just since I've been continuously trying to do new projects and see what was next. But, in this particular moment, I think we're on the same nostalgic wave that our fans are on.

What's been the most challenging aspect of getting the band back together?

Look, I wouldn't say it's been challenging — I think everybody's wanted to do it. After we did the reunion at We Were Young [Festival] and did the first night where we did a headliner warm-up show in Vegas and just seeing the excitement, I think all of us were like, "Let's figure out a way to do more of this." Probably the most challenging thing has been aligning schedules. As you can imagine, everybody has gone off into their own various worlds and everybody's individually successful in their own right with their chosen profession so just figuring out how to make sure that we can all get the shows together and that it works for everybody's lives,

Are there any surprises that fans can expect from the reunion shows?

We built this amazing production that, I mean, I don't know if it will be surprising, but it's certainly for us, it's the largest scale production that we've ever had the good fortune of touring with. There's really beautiful video content, but a lot of it ties back to where we came from. I wouldn't say it's a narrative that runs through the show, but you get sequences of us from the past merged with where we are in present, and I think that part of it is pretty unique to any show that any fan would've seen back in the day.

Is there any Something Corporate song that you'll never play live?

I don't know that I ever put a target on the back of any of those songs. We only put out two-and-a-half records, but I can't think of one. There's certainly some that won't make it in this particular set list.

“Death Grip” is Something Corporate’s first single in 20 years. What made this a Something Corporate song vs. a song for Andrew McMahon and the Wilderness or Jack’s Mannequin?

When people would ask me, “How do you pick which song is for which project?” My answer was always, “Well, it's just whichever band I'm in at the time.” Weirdly, I'm straddling the line, and I'm in both [Something Corporate and Andrew McMahon and the Wilderness]. Honestly, I wrote this song just a couple of months ago — got the writing session and the demo, which is very much a Wilderness process where I write in the room and work on the track. Honestly, [it was] several months of not writing intentionally. I've just been trying to live, be quiet, be home and just enjoy the moment that I'm in. This was the first song I've written in a long time where I was just like, "Oh my God, I want this to come out right now."

When I was thinking about it, I was like, "Do I really want to put out a Wilderness track in the middle of Something Corporate tour? This is such a beautiful moment." And I immediately called Josh, who was the co-founder of Something Corporate. I was like, "I want to send you a song. What would you think about bringing the guys together and doing this as a collaboration?" He was so genuinely enthusiastic about it, and it was almost like a healing moment. Josh and I were, we've been best friends forever, but you end a band, you move on, you just don't know where people stand, and he was so excited. So, I brought it to the other guys and merged this Wilderness-esque production with my original band playing all the instruments. It became this beautiful moment that felt, weirdly for the first time, all of these bands coming full circle and feeling like for once it's one thing in one place.

How often do you see that Something Corporate guys, apart from this reunion?

I mean, a whole lot more often than I used to, I'll say that. What's funny is, Brian, my drummer, lives all over the country, so I would always see him on tour. Josh and I and our families get together a few times a year. Same thing with Will and Clutch. We've all stayed in touch. We have a group thread that is permanently alive, and we're always telling each other jokes or reminiscing. But honestly, we probably see each other a few times a year. Right around my 40th birthday when I reached out and was like, "Would you guys want to do a surprise set at my 40th birthday party?" And they said, “yes,” it rehashed this energy for all of us.

What was the process for writing “Death Grip” like, and what's the meaning behind it?

My inclination after the last Wilderness record came out was that I was a little burnt on the hamster wheel — tour, come home, write record, rinse, repeat. I took the end of last year off other than Something Corporate shows. In the beginning of this year, I was like, "You know what? I'm just going to not write, just live and be home with my family and focus on some other projects that I was working on." But I, in the pencil sketch of my year, was like, "I'm going to put a week on the books to go write in Nashville." So many of my favorite artists and writers have since defected from Los Angeles to Nashville. I put a little schedule of hangs and writing sessions with friends together. I wrote wrote a bunch of songs that I really liked, but I was like, "Okay, well this isn't the next thing. It doesn't feel like the future for me." And on the last day, I had just said, "You know what? It doesn't matter if you create something that you want to release, just enjoy yourself, be with your friends and see what happens." I actually had this conversation with my therapist. The front line of the whole song is about a conversation I had that very morning, which was put yourself in the posture, let gravity do its work.

Who did you collaborate with on the track?

I came into a session with Ivory Lane, who's one of my oldest writing friends. We've written for other records for the Wilderness, and then Luke Niccoli who I wrote with for my last album. We got into the studio at Luke's house and this song just showed up. It was like magic. We just were laughing and ripping and talking about this idea of what it means to be present, what it means to let go. At the core of this song is a message about being where you are in life, accepting where you are in life, and letting it come — not being afraid just to say what's on your mind. Where the idea to bring my old bandmates back into the fold in the studio for the first time in 20 years came out was just like, "This is about letting go, let go. Embrace that you're working with your old best friends that you learned to play music with. Let's do it together.”

Tell me about the making of the visual for “Death Grip.”

In my mind, the next few years are really about exploring this idea of taking my time, only putting out music when I have a moment like the one I just told you, which was where I leave a studio and say, "I want the world to hear this now." That was what started this whole ball rolling out of nowhere. And if that happens, and if it's Something Corporate song, great. I imagine it'll probably take me some time to even collect enough songs that you could call an album. Like I said, I'll never say never, but I wouldn't hold out any hope for an immediate Something Corporate album either.

So, there’s another Something Corporate song on the way. Can you share any more details about the next single?

The song that's going to come out next was actually written for the last Wilderness record. Luke, who produced and co-wrote “Death Grip” with me, wrote a few songs on my last album. This song was a part of the sessions that we did together. It was the first time where I was like, "This feels way more like a Something Corporate song than it does a Wilderness song that belongs on this record," and so I always just had it in my back pocket.

And then when Death Grip came up, and the band seemed legit excited about getting back in the studio, I forwarded them this other track, and I was like, "This is just a demo, but if we're all together, maybe we should try and cut another song," and everybody raised their hand and was excited. So, we cut both in the same weekend. That song was written during the pandemic. There were lyric changes and things that I had to make to say, "No, let's put this in the present universe." But it's really about just trying to source your happiness in the middle of a difficult moment. It’s called “Happy.”

At this stage in your career, is there anyone you'd love to collaborate with as a solo artist or in Something Corporate?

Gosh, that's probably a long list. Honestly, my favorite artist right now — which maybe does or doesn't sound like me — but I'm obsessed with Olivia Rodrigo. It'd be a dream. The female pop stars that both myself and my daughter love are high on my list, Olivia, Hayley [Williams]. Sylvan Esso has long been one of my favorite acts that are out right now. And then there's the legends like the ones I grew up with — Sheryl Crow, Neil Young, Billy Joel.

Does your daughter have a favorite Something Corporate song?

Well, of course Cecelia and the Satellite from [the Wilderness]. The last I checked in with her, “I Want to Save You” [from Something Corporate] was at the top of the list.

Could a Something Corporate album be on the way?

Look, I never say never because, well, I shouldn't say I never because I have said “I never expected that Something Corporate would get back in the studio.” There's definitely another Something Corporate-Wilderness collaboration that will come out at some point in the next couple of months where we're going to invert things, and it'll be Something Corporate featuring and reversing the other way around in some ways even more tied to Something Corporate aesthetic, both lyrically and musically. But look, I won't count anything out.

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