OF MICE & MEN's AARON PAULEY: 'We Love The Process Of Getting Together And Making Music'

In a new interview with the JJO Discover New Music Podcast, OF MICE & MEN vocalist/bassist Aaron Pauley spoke about the band's ninth studio album, "Another Miracle", which will arrive on November 14 via Century Media Records. Regarding what musical direction he and his bandmates wanted to take on the new LP, Aaron said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It's funny, 'cause I feel like we never really know. We've never discussed it. I don't think we've ever sat down one time and been, like, 'Where are we gonna go with this one?' But the feedback has been that this record is one of our heaviest in a long time. Some of the songs, I think, are our heaviest songs that we've ever dropped. And then I think it sort of takes the experimental nature of 'Echo' [2021] with some of the melodic nature of 'Tether' [2023], but then it dials up the intensity."

Aaron continued: "Much like our third album… And it's funny, 'cause going back in time and looking at things retrospectively, you always glean more from it. One thing I realized about that record is it was one that we had made where we did a significant portion of the writing, recorded a little bit of it, went on tour, and then we still had that sort of stage energy fresh in our minds when we went back into the studio. And this record was very much the same thing. 'Cause we started working on this basically shortly after releasing 'Tether', because — I don't know — we're just crazy. We always just start working on new music immediately. We really like the process. We love the process of getting together and making music. So once the record's done, we're, like, 'Okay, well, let's just start making music again.'"

Asked why it was "so important" for him and his OF MICE & MEN bandmates to handle the production process themselves this time around, Aaron said: "It's just something that we really enjoy. Like I said, we really love the process. It's a definite challenge when you take the reins for yourselves. But there is also a lot of creative freedom and just freedom especially with regard to time, when it's your own project. For us, doing it all in-house, if you can't sleep one night and it's 2:30 in the morning or something and you wanna wake up and put an hour of work in, you can do that. Usually when you're working with a producer, even though you are the one hiring them, there's always this feeling, especially with regard to experimentation, like, 'Well, I don't wanna waste too much of this person's time experimenting with an idea.' Generally the feeling when you're recording with a producer is, 'Oh, I should have been more prepared so I could just come in and record my parts.' But when you're sort of doing it yourself, you're sort of left to your own devices, which then is a perfect avenue for problem solving, which is a perfect avenue for growth and learning."

Reflecting on some of the downsides of producing an album themselves, Aaron said: "For us, it's really, really important that we have deadlines because otherwise we will sit and tinker with things forever. So for us, in a lot of ways, our deadline is sort of our producer. Plus, we've been really fortunate throughout our careers to work with some of the best producers in rock and metal, from people like David Bendeth and Howard Benson and Josh Wilbur, and every single one of them taught us invaluable lessons and made themselves available to us even when we started self-producing. Just 'if you ever need anything, just let us know'-type vibes, which, for us, you this is our third record that we've done that, and it was sort of borne out of necessity during the pandemic because everything closed and we still have to make music. So we just wanted to figure out a way of doing it to where our fans could still enjoy it, 'cause, regardless, we would still…I don't know. Even if nobody was listening, we would be getting together and making music. We're addicted."

Earlier this year OF MICE & MEN released "Another Miracle"'s title track which marked their first new music since 2023's "Tether" and their first since signing to new label Century Media Records. More recently they shared "Wake Up", which spent several weeks climbing the Active Rock Radio chart in the U.S. while in the U.K. it received strong support from Radio 1, Kerrang! Radio, TotalRock and more.

OF MICE & MEN had played the new singles as well as fan favorites this past summer at major festival appearances in the U.S. OF MICE & MEN will then embark on a headline run in Europe, with dates kicking off November 27 and concluding December 14.

Photo by Carissa Dugoni