Jack's Mannequin with Treaty of Paris and Northern Room

February 10, Fieldhouse, 6:30pm

Andrew McMahon's music career started out initially as the lead vocalist and pianist for the well-known California piano rock band, Something Corporate. The primary impulse behind McMahon's solo project Jack's Mannequin was a song he recorded in December 2000 titled, "Locked Doors." He felt the song was too different from previous Something Corporate material to be one of their songs. He realized that if he ever decided to release it, it would be on a solo album rather than a Something Corporate record.[1] The idea seemed outlandish until late summer of 2004 when both McMahon and his bandmates were exhausted from months of touring. They decided to take a temporary break. The first album titled Everything in Transit was released in August 2005 and received a positive response from fans and critics alike.

Treaty of Paris

When his new band wanted to play a show in their hometown of Chicago, guitarist Phil Kosch agreed, but said they’d have to perform under a pseudonym to prevent his old group (which included his brother among its members) from finding out. “I hadn’t told them I was quitting and the two bands knew each other from the local scene,” he explains. “I wanted to avoid any problems.” Kosch, a bit of a history buff, suggested Treaty Of Paris as a temporary moniker. “It had a nice ring to it,” he laughs. “Picking a band name is always tough, but that one seemed to go over really well.”

Northern Room

Formed in the Autumn of 2004, Andrew Jonathan, Michael Morgan and brothers Micah and Tony Olla emphatically pieced together this celestial rock outfit to employ their delay pedals, vintage keyboards and the hundreds of melodies running through their heads. The band held off the standard rituals of touring to write the greatest songs of their lives. The release of Northern Room's Last Embrace EP, and their unhinged live act, has marked the beginning of history for not only the band but for the heart of the world.