TRANSITION
Of Mice & Men rides energy of new album amid lineup shift
Of Mice & Men did not skip a beat after the departure of its singer late last year.
If anything, the band has become stronger because it had to. Aaron Pauley took over vocal duties and continued playing bass after Austin Carlile departed due to health reasons. The re-formed band released its new album, “Defy,” in January. The band spent the better part of last year writing and recording the album between touring. It was inspired by being out on the road and seeing people all over the world “rocking out” at festivals and coming out to see its headline shows.
“We hadn’t been on tour in a really long time, and it really inspired us to write a very energetic and live album, a live-sounding album,” drummer Valentino Arteaga said. “We created it with Howard Benson, who is an amazing producer, and he helped steer it in the right direction. We’ve got 12 songs on an album that takes you on a journey from start to finish. We’re pretty proud of it. It’s not only for fans of heavy music, but at the same time it’s very much so. I feel that there is something for everybody on there.”
The transition within the band did not significantly change how the band writes music.
“For us, the music was kind of flowing in a natural way, and so for us, we were kind of, like, hey, we’re kind of hitting our stride here,” Arteaga said. “We could be onto something really cool. So in a lot of ways, it kind of stayed the same as far as how writing goes and everything. It felt very familiar, so it didn’t necessarily feel so daunting. It kind of just felt like, well, this is what’s happening now, and we have to move forward the best way that we know how, and that is through music, so that’s exactly what we did.”
During the album cycle, the band had been listening to Pink Floyd’s classic album “Dark Side of the Moon.” The band’s producer encouraged the musicians to cover the song “Money” from the album, which they were initially reluctant to do. The response to the cover has been positive, with some fans thinking the song is a Of Mice & Men original.
“I was thinking, how do you not know it is a cover song?” Arteaga said. “They’re a huge influence to rock music, and without Pink Floyd, we wouldn’t have hardly any of the music that we have today and be where we are as a society. It’s too fitting and crazy it was written decades earlier and now we’re singing how money is the root of all evil, and it is relevant to what is going on now.”