2005 was a notable year for 22, going on 23-year-old Andrew McMahon. In March of that year, his new project, Jack’s Mannequin, was set in motion at SXSW. In June, he was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. And in August, Jack’s Mannequin’s debut album, Everything in Transit, was released.
After his sister Katie stepped in as a stem cell donor, the former Something Corporate lead singer underwent surgery and returned to the stage that December. The California-based group went on to release two more albums, The Glass Passenger and People and Things, before disbanding in 2012 as the frontman went on to pursue a solo project, Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness.
As Everything in Transit nears its 20th anniversary, McMahon calls the album a seminal moment, personally and creatively.
“I think the initial phase of being in both Something Corporate and Jack’s Mannequin was this really frenetic, beautiful, sort of dream-coming-true moment,” he says. “[This album] represented a willingness to take a huge risk, which I think was something that I needed in my life at that point.”
He continues, “I had such a sense of purpose around the music that became Everything in Transit, and then a lot of that was steered by my personal circumstances in my life and this need to feel independence. … It left me feeling this sense of empowerment and excitement, and it really helped me develop a style in the studio and on the stage that was powered by all of these external [and] personal forces.”
In celebration of Everything in Transit turning 10 years old, Jack’s Mannequin reunited in 2015 and performed the album in full at a small run of shows before disappearing again. Now, as the record hits another milestone, the reconnected band has launched the MFEO Tour, which extends through November.
Although named after a track from their debut, McMahon says the trek will offer fans a full picture of Jack’s Mannequin’s original eight-year run. The same goes for the singer himself, who says much of the glory of the band’s early days was caught up in his cancer diagnosis.
“When I was well enough to get on tour, we were going at it, like, 100 miles an hour. So the significance in these moments is that I kind of get a second chance at really enjoying what it means to have written these songs,” he says.
Ten years removed from Jack’s Mannequin’s first reunion tour, McMahon adds, “I think there’s just a much greater sense of peace and appreciation around this particular outing that maybe wasn’t so much attached to the 2015 run of shows.”
The band’s SXSW appearance falls in a gap between MFEO’s headlining tour dates. On returning to the festival, McMahon says: “[It] feels kind of fated in a way. The Jack’s project really launched out of South by Southwest … I was the frontman coming from Something Corporate and I was really hellbent on the idea that I wanted the music to be able to stand on its own two feet.”
Excited to get “back in the van,” he says, referring to the band’s early years touring by way of a 15-passenger vehicle, the artist adds: “To be able to get a little flavor of that as we’re starting this journey towards playing bigger rooms and festivals over the year, it feels right …. There’s a lot of Jack’s Mannequin history in South By, so when the offer came through, it just felt like the absolute right thing to kick off this year of shows.”
Aside from performances with Jack’s Mannequin, the musician will also speak at a SXSW featured session about the ongoing issue of skyrocketing concert ticket prices. On the “despicable” act of price gouging, he declares, “I think it’s the worst kind of greed. What they’re doing is they’re leveraging relationships that, in my mind, are sacred, which is this bond that artists and fans share with each other. And it pollutes the medium when all of a sudden somebody has to make a decision to buy a concert ticket against maybe paying for something that is essential in their life.” (After the session, McMahon heads from Ballroom EF to Convention Center Room 10C to sign copies of his 2021 memoir, Three Pianos.)
Ticket affordability at McMahon’s shows is crucial, he explains. He believes that his shows are meant to be enjoyed by everybody, regardless of their socioeconomic status. Suggesting that Congress should make ticket inflation and scalping illegal, McMahon highlights the importance of other prominent artists joining the fight. He offers, “I think if we had the Taylors [Swift] of the world step up and say, ‘I want to see legislation around this, I don’t want my fans to pay any more for these tickets than I’m charging,’ I think the needle would move, and it would move quickly.”
Jack’s Mannequin
Wednesday 12, 4pm, Austin Convention Center, Ballroom EF (session)
Wednesday 12, 5:15pm, Austin Convention Center, Room 10C (book signing)
Wednesday 12, 9:30pm, Stubb’s (Jack’s Mannequin Performance)
This article appears in March 7 • 2025.