Powerspace is definitely one of the hottest properties on the Fueled By Ramen label, which has spawned star acts like Fall Out Boy, Paramore, The Academy Is, Cobra Starship, and Gym Class Heroes. Not only is Powerspace well on their way to the cream of the crop, they also look to help reestablish Chicago's former dominance on the music scene. Hailing mostly from a few points of the northwest suburbs of Chicago (by way of Miami of Ohio), the home area of Fall Out Boy and the Academy Is, Powerspace is definitely going to be one of the power players of 2008.

Here is Amy's interview with bassist Dan McMahon.

Amy:  How does it feel to have a full length out?
Dan:  It feels great. Um kind of like you know, it was a long time coming and it was definitely a huge goal that we accomplished. So I’m happy about it.

A:Was it exciting to record?
D:  Um it was and it wasn’t I mean it is kind of uh nerve wracking, that creative experience. We got through it and we did have a lot of fun while we were doing it. So um we ended up being happy about how it turned out.  And that was the main goal so, I guess it worked out.

A:  Who thought up of the name The Kicks of Passion?
D:  We really don’t like to discuss how we got the name of the record so I’m gonna have to hold off on that one.

A:  What was your inspiration for writing The Kicks of Passion?
D:  Like influences? We all listen to a lot of different kinds of music and that’s what sorta shaped the sound of the record. I know that Alec is into David Bowe and Van Halen. Tom is into you know, a lot of shredding guitar players and also like electronic music. I’m into like post punk and Indie Rock kinda stuff. It kind of all just blended together. I don’t think you can listen to the record and pick out influences. Song to song.

A:  Do you have any other plans for making another full length?
D:  Uh not at the moment, I’m pretty confident there will be another one, but at the moment we don’t have plans. We are focusing on supporting this record and hitting the road.

A:  How did you come up with the name Powerspace?
D:  It was kinda a grueling process for me and Tom. We were thinking of a ton of names for when we were thinking of starting a band. We made a list of about 300 names or so. They were pretty cool and like we couldn’t figure out which would be a good one. So, one night tom and I were gonna go out and Kevin the drummer was talking to us on aim. And we were like alright the next name he types will be our name. And the next word he typed was powerspace. So that’s kinda how it happened. Kind of a lame story.

A:  What’s your favorite song to play off of The Kicks of Passion?
D:  Favorite song to play? Um I’m really happy now, we actually only played it once live, it was uh Dancing in the Future. It’s one of my favorite songs on the record. We first played that at out last show, actually at The Vic.   Which I’m oddly standing in front of right now.

A:  How was making a video for “Right on, Right now”?
D:  It was a lot of fun. We worked really hard on the concepts. It ended up turning out how we wanted it to. We had an awesome director Andrew Paul Bowser who really got across our sense humor and what we wanted to do, however stupid it might have been. It was fun.

A:  I see your going to be playing with Forever the Sickest Kids for about a month, any comment about that? Are you excited?
D:  Yeah, I am really stoked to be playing with them. I like them a lot and um we had a chance to play with them at a festival thing in Plano, Texas, I guess they are from around there. The dudes in the band are really cool.  We hung out a bit and we ran into each other a couple times, since then, and we have always been like we need to do a tour.  We need to do a tour.

And it is funny because now we are.

A:  If you guys could go on tour with anyone, dead or alive, who would it be?
D:  Prince, and, or, uh Monty Are I.

A:  What did you guys do for New Years?
D:  I just kinda like hung out around my hometown, by Lincoln Heights, caught up with some friends, went to some bars. It was pretty cool. Nothing too crazy.

A:  What’s currently on your iPod?
D:  I got one of those big 80gig ones, so I just dump everything on there.  Right now I’m listening to…oh! Our producer, Mark McClusky, just started a band called the Intergalactic Vigilante I’ve been listening to that a lot, it’s really cool. Also, um the Fall of Troy is kind of a band I just got into recently, and uh, let’s see, Foo Fighters. All the time. But that’s pretty much it.

A:  Where is your favorite state to play?
D:  I love playing Southern California. The kids are so cool there. I love playing in Portland, Oregon actually. We’ve played there a couple of times. It’s a nice town, scenic area.

A:  When you’re on the road, do you ever miss your friends and family back home?
D:  Oh yeah. Nothing out of the ordinary. But it is always the grass is always green. You think you want to get home. But once you get home, you want to be on the road again.

A:  Do you ever wish that you weren’t in an up and coming band and instead doing something else?
D:  NO. Absolutely not.

A:  Do you have any crazy fan stories?
D:  Crazy fan stories? Not really. Um, I mean some people can get a bit carried away. But it’s usually in a really nice and sweet way. Like people buying us stuff that we don’t need, on the road and um, but our fans are really cool. They support us and get on the internet and just plug the shit out of us. So, I’m grateful for the crazy fans. Whatever they do.

A:  Do you guys ever have crazy prank wars on tour?
D:  Oh yeah. Um, uh I mean there are kind of a lot. I remember the Hawthorne Heights tour. They kinda pranked us. They came on stage and stole Kevin’s drum set. Like them and Brighton and a couple other bands on tour and uh kinda fucked with us while we were playing. It usually goes down on the last day. If you ever go to a show on the last day of the tour its usually kinda funny. The last day of last tour was Mayday Parade and Madina Lake. It was Travis from We the Kings, came on stage and tried to light us on fire with cologne and a lighter. He got yelled at by the club owner. I know we toilet papered We the Kings set. Um, just a whole bunch of shit happened that night. It was pretty crazy.

A:  Who is one of your heroes that you hope you could meet?
D:  That I hope I could meet? Uh, Dave Growl probably. I would say Kurt Vonnegut, but he has unfortunately passed away. Perhaps Ill visit his grave one day.

A:  How does it feel knowing that, to some, you are their heroes?
D:  That’s definitely flattering if anybody would say that, I don’t ever really remember hearing that.

A:  Do you have any advice of bands that hope to make it big one day?
D:  Um, well you know, we are still kind of a band that hopes to make it big one day. So I don’t know if I’m in the best position to give the best advice. I would just say write killer songs and promote them. Work really hard, and network with people, meets the right people. You know, hopefully something will happen.

A:  Thanks for taking time to talk with me!
D:  Cool, thank you too. I’m glad we got a chance to do this! Bye